Piste Grading Inconsistency.

I strongly suspect that to the more experienced and seasoned skier this subject has been done to death previously but i thought i would just have my say.

Having just returned from La Plagne i am still a little shocked by the gradient of some of their blue runs.

My daughter (10) can handle what i would consider to be a blue but nothing more as she still hangs on to the snowplough. So most days we set out armed with our piste maps and toured the resort via the blue trials which was great until faced with sudden steep slopes. Of course once committed to a piste there is not much chance of walking back up or even getting a chair down.

For example we can take the Mira piste from the Grand Rochette. It is a blue on the map but i don't believe it should be. My poor little girl had to kick her skis off and slide on her bum to get down. But it is only the first bit that is so steep.

So heres the questions:

1. should runs be graded according to their most difficult part?

2. do resorts deliberately 'mis label' runs to make them appear to cater for all?

3. Can you really trust the grading system?

4. Are issues such as this common place across many resorts.

By the end of the week i generally didn't worry too much about the colours on the map, I went and took a look and made my own mind up but as i said previously....its a bugger to get stuck halfway because you trusted what the resort tell you about a pistes difficulty level.

I am definitely with you on this one! It has totally put me off going to a new resort as I don't trust the grading system until I have done the route personally. As at the moment I have to do easy runs, we are going back to the same resort.

Saying that I have done a hideous red which (like your daughter) I took my skis off and slid down on my backside. I had damaged my hamstrings which put pay to that ski hol! Not cool! But I have also done a black which was ok and much easier than the red. I think a lot has to do with the snow- I hate to say that some snow conditions are easier than others! Also narrow treelined blues, can be very icy and difficult. But they are rated blue. Very interested to see what other people say!

I didn't recall the blues in La Plagne being unduly difficult - slushy at the end of the day & thus hard work and at times icy in the mornings but not technically demanding.

andymol2 wrote:I didn't recall the blues in La Plagne being unduly difficult - slushy at the end of the day & thus hard work and at times icy in the mornings but not technically demanding.

Andy, on the whole i didn't think that the blues in La Plagne were graded wrong, only that some were or had difficult (not blue) parts.
The one in particular i was talking about is from the Grand Rochette. As you come out of the cable car station you go left, then a short way down you branch off to the left towards plagne centre. That bit is steep for a blue.
When you get to the bottom of that short steep run you merge or split off to other routes so i would prefer to see that section labelled red in its own right.
It wouldn't matter because you can get a chairlift to this intersection.
The only reason i can think of that this route would be listed as a blue is because if it wasn't then the only pistes down from that gondola would be red and reduce visitor numbers.


Edit:

A quick google on this particular run brought up this quote from The Telegraph.

" Warning: the Mira piste from Grande Rochette back towards Plagne Centre is the steepest blue run we have ever encountered – it should without question be red; lower down it turns into an excellent cruise."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/france/la-plagne/6763195/La-Plagne-piste-guide.html

So it seems that this question has indeed been raised before.

I am looking at this problem from a wholly different angle. Your daughter is too young to fund her own ski lessons ,yes? Yet she can't cope well with a French blue grade piste, and feels the need to slide down on her butt. As a responsible parent, you don't feel it appropriate to buy her a private lesson or two, which will enable her to descend safely?

Yes, piste grading can seem random and vague, it also differs across countries and regions.

Bandit, i am not sure how i should take that comment. My first reaction was probably to feel a little insulted but i suspect you didn't mean to imply i was an irresponsible parent.

Megan had just finished a three hour private lesson with Oxygene in Plagne Centre costing me 160 euro in order that she should be able to cope with blues. So i take her safety and progress VERY seriously, thank you.

What however she cannot cope with is a blue that suddenly becomes what should probably be a red. An icy red too, leaving us in a position where she felt frightened. At times like this she falls back to the safety of the snowplough, however wrong that may be.
Had i seen that one or two of these runs became as steep as the did i would not have taken her there.

My only downfall, as far as i can see, was not to ski that route alone before taking her there. I was expecting all the blues to be of a similar difficulty as the coding system leads us to believe.

I'm not implying that you are not a responsible parent. It's just that the pistes are not going to change their gradient much. Slopes get widened, flattened, do-stoned, but sooner or later you have to cope with what's there. Did you discuss your daughter's experiences with her instructor, and decide on a solution?

IMHO there is nothing wrong with the humble snowplough. Women generally can plough much better than men, because of the way our bodies are built.

Edit: This British ski teacher in Les Deux Alpes has a good reputation for building skiing confidence in nervous skiers. She only takes private students or small groups at the same standard.

http://www.easiski.com/index.html

bandit wrote: It's just that the pistes are not going to change their gradient much.

BUT my point is that a few runs in La Plagne DO!!!! Mira, as i said changes dramatically.