Skier Code question

[Bolder]

I ski like I drive or cycle -- I assume that everyone on the piste/road is out to kill me. Doesn't mean I won't let it all hang out, but I pick my spots. I've managed to avoid serious crashes in 35 plus years of skiing, MTB and road cycling, and driving, including in NYC, NJ and now Paris.

I don't really care what others do. As I said, I just figure they're all completely oblivious and self-absorbed, so I'm pretty obsessive about maintaining a safe distance from downhill skiers and I always look behind me, don't make abrupt 90-degree turns and don't stop below blind spots etc. Part of that is I have an expensively surgically repaired hip and would like to remain active into my 60s and 70s.

As for the instructor trains in Europe, I'll also give them a wide berth. But I haven't noticed European skiers in general being more or less observant than North American ones.

 

[François Pugh]

Personally I like the Colorado and Montana law as they make the skier's code mean something. Those to cling of to the papal infallibility of ahead/ downhill skier are clearly not correct in all circumstances e.g. where other bits of the code come into play like look before you set off or join a trail.

Yes, I think everybody, except those who choose not to understand it, knows rule 2 by now. Let's talk about Rule 3, "Do not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above." I see a violation of rule 3 far more often than I see a violation of rule 2.

I came across a group of snowboarders taking a coaching course the other day. They were sitting across the entire run, just around a blind corner.

In their defense, they were in the trauma park and can place partial blame on the park's design. The hill is quite small and does not have enough snow this year for big challenging features. Guessing they compensated by placing the biggest jump in a location that requires you to cleanly carve a tight turn at the bottom of the the park in order to carry enough speed to get good air on the jump. If you miss the turn you will end up in the trees, if you mess it up you will land half on and half off the landing. The place where you have to turn is almost always polished by folk scraping their boards (or skis) trying to turn, leading to boot-out if you have wide feet, narrow skis and try and carve that tight a turn. There is an alternative though, carve a turn in the other direction up a connecting trail that is now closed off, ski up to the fence and then turn around and hit the jump from that direction. Doing it that way you will get some air, but not as much as if you carry speed from the top of the trauma park and make a clean turn. On the other hand the connecting run is around a blind corner, which may require you to abort your jump if you don't have a spotter. The group was taking turns on the jump from half way up the connecting run (with a spotter), and the snowboarders were sitting in a row across the run, almost blocking the entire run.

 

[fatbob]

@Francois Pugh, yep and also that if you're hiding behind a crowd of mates ot hiding your kiddywink behind you, you are also violating Rule 3. Most dumbassery re stopping in inappropriate places comes from hiding behind crests or standing on lemming ledges right across the piste. Even more so if the lemming ledge is immediately after the offramp of a chair.

 

[Jacob]

Happens ALL the time. In Europe at least those in ski classes are often most guilty of it but large family groups are also primo culprits.

IMV an instructor should be bawling out a student each time they set off without looking until it becomes second nature. Doesn't seem to happen much. Worst are the instructors ( usually in Europe) who lead a whole line of ducklings out directly across the flow of traffic without allowing for the length of their "train". This just to my mind seems to imprint "not something I have to be responsible for" behaviour.

Honestly, even the instructors don't check uphill before setting off. So, I just treat skiers/borders who are stopped the same way that I would treat someone who is sliding very slowly, and I assume it's my responsibility to avoid them.

 

[fatbob]

Honestly, even the instructors don't check uphill before setting off. So, I just treat skiers/borders who are stopped the same way that I would treat someone who is sliding very slowly, and I assume it's my responsibility to avoid them.

I'm slightly more militant than you. I, of course, ski to avoid them if they are stupid enough to set off but I feel no guilt if that results in me buzzing them quite closely ot making an "emergency scrape" noise behind them.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Whether by code or law there has to be a common sense aspect.

At one place, in order to get to a lift it's nessesary to take a cat track downhill, across a beginner trail, and then uphill on the cat track. At the bottom of the downhill I had to stop to avoid some beginner kids in full snowplow tuck. If I had gone straight across to keep my speed for the uphill, the kids would have crashed into me. Common sense says it would have been completely my fault, but by the code I would have been the downhill skier?

 

[luliski]

Happens ALL the time. In Europe at least those in ski classes are often most guilty of it but large family groups are also primo culprits.

IMV an instructor should be bawling out a student each time they set off without looking until it becomes second nature. Doesn't seem to happen much. Worst are the instructors ( usually in Europe) who lead a whole line of ducklings out directly across the flow of traffic without allowing for the length of their "train". This just to my mind seems to imprint "not something I have to be responsible for" behaviour.

I thought I had learned the safety rules in Europe (that's where I took many lessons growing up). Maybe it was my dad who taught me then. Or maybe the Swiss ski school was more orderly?