#He'll be coming down the mountain, as he comes

[johnckirk]

I've been on holiday in France for the last week, staying at Les Deux Alpes with some friends (susannahf, mrpj_antarctica, elvum, and terpsichore1980) to do some snowboarding. This was a fun week; I've got a few bruises, but I've definitely improved during the week

Comments

[stagknight]

The other problem was that my "snowplough" technique didn't seem to work, and I'd go down the main (learner) slope, up the shorter slope at the bottom, and hit the barrier that stopped people falling onto the big slope.

Yeah, that happened to me, too. :(

[totherme]

In my case, I'm "goofy" (i.e. I put my left foot at the front of the board), so my feet are pointing to the right.

Dude, I think that's regular.

[johnckirk]

Ah, fair enough - I recall Bob saying it was the other way around. That "get someone to push you forward" test sounds useful, although not necessarily something where I want a horde of volunteers :)

[pozorvlak]

As elvum pointed out, the "steepest point" may only be an inch long.

This is actually part of the problem on climbing walls too. If the French system (3, 4, 5, 5+, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a etc) is used, then the grade only refers to the difficulty of the hardest move, not how sustained or exposed the route is. But you're right, it depends on who set the route too.

On outdoor routes, the grade is initially set by the first ascentionist (who also names the route), but is often modified later to reflect the opinions of subsequent ascentionists and guidebook authors.

[pozorvlak]

More generally, I wonder whether I should give skiing another chance.

I've been thinking that the next time I go skiing, I'll probably try snowboarding. My legs aren't as good as they used to be, but I was lucky enough to be taught to ski on technically demanding terrain as a teenager, so the kind of skiing I like to do consists of ticking off black runs and interesting-looking bits of off-piste I see on the way. Bumps'n'rocks'n'ice :-) Snowboarding would bring the challenge back to easier routes, and let me challenge myself while staying with my friends.

Then again, if I go skiing with my Scottish friends, they'll probably all humiliate me with their elegance, poise and technical accomplishment on near-vertical ice :-)