J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

At that point I was in the middle of the group, with Simon and Sinbad14 ahead of me, and CatP, Billip1 and Davidsa2 behind. I was getting a bit worried, because I hadn't seen anything of the 3 behind for a while, but I carried on because there wasn't much I could do about it. Some of it wasn't too bad and I could manage OK, but I had to make several very scary turns and I used the step turn method that our instructor had been teaching us in our off-piste lesson in Tignes. It's supposed to be the safest way of turning on steep slopes when you're off-piste (apparently). Basically you step out with one ski, so you're on one leg, and then bring the other ski next to it, resulting in a change of direction. Anyway - it worked for me - and I managed to turn without falling over :D

Here's Simon, now definitely back on the unpisted piste, with a yellow bag thing to the right. I'm wondering now if they had black piste markers to the left, and yellow bags to the right, and the piste markers had been covered up by the depth of snow. If that's correct, then we shouldn't have turned right past the yellow bag and we should have kept straight on.

However, Daved, looking at this video over breakfast on Sunday, said that the way we went was much easier than the route he and CatP took during the morning! He said they had a narrow steep gully plastered with moguls and very deep snow! :shock:



I was very glad when I got to the section where I could see this black piste marker - the first one I'd seen for quite some time!

Sinbad14, the cameraman, tested the snow depth a couple of times with his ski stick, and it was quite alarming to see the way it disappeared downwards to it's full length - like a knife through butter :shock:




After the scary episode where my ski came off, Simon decided to go first. He's done quite a bit of off-piste ski-ing so he was feeling fairly confident. And Sinbad14, the cameraman, followed him. Looking at the video after the event, I think this is where the alternative route comes back in from the left (Simon is heading straight down). I think we skied right, around a patch of trees, and the other route went left and then both paths converge.

In retrospect, I think the first section, that goes down to the chairlift, had been pisted at some time because things got far deeper and more difficult after we went past it.

CatP waited at the back to help Davidsa2 and Billip1, and I went first followed by Simon, with the camera man in the centre. Whether we were on an unpisted piste, or off-piste, all I knew was that it felt off-piste to me :shock:

I hadn't been on anything like that without an instructor before - and I was desperately trying to remember what I'd been taught and try not to fall over!

I was ski-ing along, managing not too badly I thought, when suddenly the ground/snow gave way under my skis and I slid sideways in what felt like a mini-landslide and my right ski came off :shock:

It's hard to remember exactly what happened but I don't think I actually fell over. I remember yelling to Simon so that he'd know where I was and not ski on top of me because I was over the ridge and I knew he wouldn't be able to see me. Anyway - he and Sinbad14 stopped and gingerly came over to see what had happened to me.

I was OK but it was very difficult getting my right ski back on, because the slope was very steep and the powdery snow was really deep. I had to make a shelf to put my ski on, clean off my boot without overbalancing into the snow (it's a good thing I'd been practising standing on one leg) and then get my ski back on.

I expect an experienced off-piste skier would have known not to ski over the top of that mound of snow - but I never thought about it giving way like that! The avalanche risk had been high when we arrived at the beginning of the week (which is presumably why they'd closed that piste then) but by Saturday the risk was much lower (which I suppose is why they'd re-opened it).

CatP went right first, and then waited for the rest of us. The snow was really deep powder, but I wasn't sure if this was unpisted piste or off-piste.

We'd gone past the bit where there's a turning to the left to a chairlift which takes you back up, but in any case we knew it wasn't going because I'd looked at the huge illuminated map by the Groste gondola showing which pistes and lifts were open and that chairlift the Spinale 2, number 38, was shut.

Billip1 and CatP back up and proceeding down the piste as planned ...



Everything was fine until I got to here - where the piste divided, and I didn't know which way to go ...
So I waited for Simon and then the others to come up behind me so we could decide which way to go. I couldn't see any piste markers to my left or right, although I'd been following them down the left hand side. As far as I was concerned they'd simply vanished! And there were very few tracks of people who'd gone before us, but there seemed to be an equal number going straight on and going right. And there was some netting on the right, but it had been rolled up as though the way had been opened up.

In the end we decided to go right ...

The first casualty of this piste - Billip1 does a little wobble and has a quick sit down, but is up so fast I didn't even know about it until I watched the video afterwards! I was concentrating on ski-ing very slowly and carefully and following the black piste markers down the left hand side.



Second casualty of the piste - CatP also has a little sit down, but finds it very difficult to get up because she's fallen over on a comparatively flat bit and the camera man helps her up (I have this problem as well if I fall over on the flat).

I don't know why they fell over on this section of the piste - I suppose it must have either been the powdery lumps or the fact that the visibility wasn't that great. I think it must have been low cloud because it cleared as we went down.

Here are the 6 of us setting out down the hardest piste in the ski area - the Spinale Direttissima, piste number 70.

We have - Sinbad14 (the camera man), Davidsa2 (all in black), CatP (bright yellow jacket), Billip1 (white helmet), Simon (black jacket with white sections), and me (red jacket and white helmet).

Here's the sign at the top of the piste
(story to be continued later...)