J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Snapzzz

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.

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 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.

Ally, that would be nice....i could do with huge cuddles and tons of sympathy.
My Mrs is just packing all our gear into cases to go in the loft.....

Yeah, the snow was fine high up, a little thin and icy in places but on the whole ok.
Low down was another story.

Would i go back? Well not anytime soon as some of the runs are pretty steep for my daughter and partner. How they can get away with calling some of those runs blue is beyond me. I intend to start another thread about this later on.
Next time i will be looking for a resort that has plenty of greens and gentle blues as my partner is a very cautious skier but is building up slowly.

If it were just me then i would have no problem in going back as the place is huge and has enough to keep me occupied for a while. Lack of Apres and extortionate prices of food and drink has to be weighed up though.

Re teeth, they are in fact totally buggered. My last dental bill was over £3k. :-(

I have a small camera that i tied to a ski pole and filmed a run or two in La Plagne last week.
Although the lens isn't wide enough to capture the greatest field of vision the results are not too bad.
And for £50 on eBay, i can't complain.

sm4sh wrote:
And yh i im well Dunno what im going do after that lol

You will be doing what we all do.....longing to be back on the snow.
Within 3hrs of being home i am already on the interweb researching my next trip which is unlikely to be till next winter now. It hurts soooooo much i could cry!!
Does that sound really gay?

Grizwald, keep your fingers crossed for more snow. It was +8c at 2000m yesterday in La Plagne....
The pistes are holding up fine high up but low down they are suffering.
The warm sun is gorgeous but it must change soon or they are going to have serious problems.