Steep and Deep

[willywhit]

Carving on groomers is one thing. Carving on some real steep pitch...priceless.

What was that trail at sugarloaf that paulk was rumored to have torn up at ECES on friday I think,in great conditions. I went up and rode the trail 2 days later in crap conditions. it's steep, wide and groomed.

Amazing stuff !

[RicHard]

No picture?

[willywhit]

No picture?

of me on the same trail ? I could dig it up but not very exciting.Looks like this one.

[RicHard]

I think I didn't understand your post ("amazing stuff"...)

Ok, please ignore mine.

[Przemek/Brooklyn]

Love steeps, carving blue trails are boring, My favorite trails in Killington are Lower superstar, cascade, east fall and outer limits (when is groomed) actually this is a reason i go to Killington, Stratton and Okimo are just too mellow.

The biggest problem with steeps are the "penguins" ; when it gets a bit more icy and bumpy they tend to stop right in the middle or slowly and pathetically There should be a rule against this kind of behavior. Ski patrol should revoke ski passes for failing to pick up therein appropriate to the skill levels.

[Neil Gendzwill]

So according to this, lower Superstar is 25 degrees, which is moderately steep but would be a really fun pitch to carve. Anyone got another reference that catalogs assorted steep trails?

[Przemek/Brooklyn]

Interesting..... , superstar is not perfect has this long flat in the middle but

lower section is good enough to really carve. There are also good width of the trail and fast quadruple lift (good ski/mile dollar value)

Also has a good "hero factor"

If you ask me it could be steeper. still think it is steeper then anything in okemo, stratton and south VT.

I never had a chance to carve ovation (last time it was open it was 2 seson ago) but it looks nice.

Outer limit is very nice but has a slow lift.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

There's a nice run under the Paradise Chair in Marmot Basin (I think it's called Showoff) that's got a medium pitch but is damn nice and fast. Love that run (plus you get yells from the lift!), but they seem to like to make it moguls half the time.

There's a great combination at Louise...I don't remember what it's called higher in the mountain, but it comes into a wide-open, easy Green called Wiwaxy, and you get enough speed from up top to just rip it up. Then it goes into the Men's Downhill run, which I think it pretty damn steep at its middle point. Unfortunately it often gets so icy and chopped that it's hard to make a go of it, but occassionally if I get it in the morning it's a great run to get the adrenaline pumping.

greg

[Neil Gendzwill]

There's a lot of good carving at Louise, if you can hit the groom when it's fresh. Men's DH, especially that steep section, is fun. I like Ladies DH even better but it's popular and can get a little bumped up and icy. The blues off Larch are also a hoot, gotta watch for crowds there. Far skiers left on the frontside, I want to say Meadowlark? but not sure, is a green/blue that's not that steep but often empty and you can put your foot down.

[willywhit]

here it is, not sure which of the 3 trails. Looks like this

[willywhit]

upper gondola line, most likely

pretty steep for carving

PaulK - carvemeister ?

[kjl]

That first pic of Patrice is sweet. Since when did he start wearing a helmet?

[Paulk]

upper gondola line, most likely

pretty steep for carving

PaulK - carvemeister ?

Can't take credit as the carvemeister(CMC's claim to fame?)....but here is a video clip from the 04 eces vid, I'm in the second, slightly sped up clip on Upper Gondola. It wasn't a pretty run for the camera..

http://www.bomberonline.com/store/video/highlites.wmv

the trail was Upper Gondola line... and in years past I've dragged a number of riders over it, including Eric J(boing), Arc Rider, and YYZ Canuck. All of these guys killed it. Only once in the past 3years did we all actually carve it from the summit, as opposed to hitting it from the cat-track.

Good times!

[yyzcanuck]

Only once in the past 3years did we all actually carve it from the summit...

That attempt cost me a brand-new pair of Level mitts! I tried to come into the trail without stopping so that I had a 'rhythm' going, made two turns and then went face first down the pitch. It was a very firm morning and the cord burned completely through my mitts and shredded the liners.

What's the name of the trail that comes down from the communications tower at the summit? I've yet to nail that one.

[Neil Gendzwill]

That upper right picture Whilly posted looks like about a 25 degree pitch, if the trees and the camera angle aren't lying. Nice steep pitch for carving.

[trailertrash]

here is a recent pic of upper gondi.

[willywhit]

is hood really this steep ?

http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/profiles/article/0,21214,724880,00.html

[Hans]

That first pic of Patrice is sweet. Since when did he start wearing a helmet?

Season 2005/2006 (at the ECS 2006) when helmets became more usual in Europe. I am wearing a helmet since 10 years.

[Paulk]

Snowbasin Utah, "Wildflower Downhill".

Part of the 2002 olympic downhill..Its too bad they currently don't have enough snow to groom all the way up to the start house, otherwise known as "mens start"...that would've been beyond epic. Instead that part of the trail resembled Tuckermans Ravine in New Hampshire

[Dan]

is hood really this steep ?

That must be the Palmer snow field at Timberline. No, it's not as steep as it appears in the photo.

[Justin A.]

Those guys over on the other site have it wrong...I'm reasonably sure that a 100% slope is vertical-therefore lower superstar would be approx. twice as steep as they quoted. I'm just saying this because if 45 degrees were a 100% slope, then a 14% grade (warrants signage) wouldn't really be a big deal...25 degrees is fairly mellow looking at a protractor.

I would say that the best steep carving trail I know of is either Avalanche or Paulie's Folly - both at the big frozen icecube that I love so much.

From the looks of the photo, the first picture that Willy posted looks to be about 40-45 degrees to me. But I've been wrong before.

Edit: Avalanche covers about 984 horizontal feet while dropping 630 vertical feet, then it runs out where it's nearly flat. Good trail.

[skatha]

Grade and pitch are 2 ways of measuring the same thing...a grade is usually feet of altitude lost (or gained) per 100 feet and thus is measured as a percentage....a sheer wall would have a 100% grade

a pitch is an angle and thus measured in degrees-so a sheer wall would be a 90 degree pitch, or drop, in this case

most slopes I've seen are measured as pitches....

a typical blue averages 30 degrees of pitch

a typical black averages about 40-50 degrees....

based on the pics posted I would say an ice coast black would be a blue out west

[thomas]

Snowbasin Utah, "Wildflower Downhill".

Part of the 2002 olympic downhill..Its too bad they currently don't have enough snow to groom all the way up to the start house, otherwise known as "mens start"...that would've been beyond epic.

I was in Utah 2 weeks ago and was carving in Snowbasin for three days. Most of the time on the mentioned Wildflower Downhill; the part after the short cat track was groomed all the way to the bottom. I will try to make it back there before the end of the season.

And it was beyond epic.

- Thomas

[Mike T]

That must be the Palmer snow field at Timberline. No, it's not as steep as it appears in the photo.

Definitely taken on an angle. No place at TLine is that steep, and the only parts of Meadows that are that steep get groomed maybe twice a year.

[jnshapiro]

100% grade is a 45 degree angle.

Grade is figured by dividing the vertical change by the horizontal change. On a 45 degree grade, 1 unit down moves you 1 unit over (feet, m, doesn't matter). That gets you 1/1 = 1 or 100%.

Or a 22.5 degree angle is a 50% grade. 1 unit down moves you 2 units over. or 1/2 = .5 or 50%

Some definitions use the same definition for both slope and grade. Others don't.