Steepest groomer in the world?

[skiNEwhere]

I know there's been a few "Steepest trail" threads before, but I'm wondering if anything in world can top this 46 degree groomed trail in Austria

 

[steamboat1]

Lower Ovation at K.

 

[St. Bear]

Weak. I didn't see anybody on rockered fatties.

 

[〽❄❅]

Pretty sure i skied something like or darn close to that in Switzerland, crazy fun with good snow, iced up would be a nightmare.

 

[fbrissette]

Sorry but this is incorrect. This is 46% and not 46 degrees. No groomer can go on a 46 degrees slope. The way these guys are skiing is not compatible with a 46 degree slope. On top of that, on the second sign, you can see that the % sign is covered up.

 

[kingslug]

They groom 1 run off the K-22 chair at Squaw Valley that is pretty nuts...and you cannot groom something that is 46 degrees even with a winch...an old story about how they tried to groom the Hobacks at Jackson is a pretty fun read if you can find it...once the groomer landed after soaring for about 200 feet..they never asked again...

 

[MadPatSki]

Sorry but this is incorrect. This is 46% and not 46 degrees. No groomer can go on a 46 degrees slope. The way these guys are skiing is not compatible with a 46 degree slope.

Correct.

The steepest runs in ski areas are generally 35 degrees. And you are generally correct about a groomer couldn't do a 46 degrees slope...however...

They groom 1 run off the K-22 chair at Squaw Valley that is pretty nuts...and you cannot groom something that is 46 degrees even with a winch...an old story about how they tried to groom the Hobacks at Jackson is a pretty fun read if you can find it...once the groomer landed after soaring for about 200 feet..they never asked again...

...I was in Whistler in early April 1996. They had one groomer at the top of Saudan Couloir on Blackcomb (original name of Couloir Extreme) using its winch to pull the other up. It was really impressive plus I had never seen a winch cat before. They were prepping the terrain for the Couloir Extreme Race (or whatever it was called). Saudan Couloir is approximately 45 degrees, but that was a once a year event.

 

[skiNEwhere]

How steep is Ripsaw at Mt Snow in comparison? I've heard 37%

 

[MadMadWorld]

No way any winch cat makes it up a 45 degree slope. Hell, loose snow can't even stick to it. Watching a winch cat on Birds of Prey is pretty impressive.

 

[MadMadWorld]

How steep is Ripsaw at Mt Snow in comparison? I've heard 37%

Most of Ripcord is in the high 20s. Some small sections get into the low 30s. ASC notoriously blew this number out of proportion.

 

[thetrailboss]

Nice find. Man, that slope looked slick. What about White Nitro? That really drops off there below Crosscut.

 

[jrmagic]

Sorry but this is incorrect. This is 46% and not 46 degrees. No groomer can go on a 46 degrees slope. The way these guys are skiing is not compatible with a 46 degree slope. On top of that, on the second sign, you can see that the % sign is covered up.

46% is somewhere around 25 degree so it shouldnt get the moniker for the steepest groomer in the world:razz:

 

[MadPatSki]

No way any winch cat makes it up a 45 degree slope. Hell, loose snow can't even stick to it. Watching a winch cat on Birds of Prey is pretty impressive.

Seen it with my own eyes, but it was two winch cats. As described above: one on flat top above the Couloir and pulling the one below. But it wouldn't be done on a regular basis. Unfortunately I didn't take any picture of it.

 

[skiNEwhere]

Found this. Good reference

 

[Smellytele]

so 23 or 24 deg

 

[BenedictGomez]

That clip looked steeper than 23 degrees.

 

[fbrissette]

That clip looked steeper than 23 degrees.

On the side views it is very easy to postprocess by compressing the images along the vertical axis. The trees stay vertical but you steepen the slope.

Having said that, it looked steeper than 23 degrees.

 

[bobbutts]

http://www.skiernet.com/angle-of-ski-trails.html
seems to be pretty good and reasonably accurate comparison of trails we all know..

I didn't think the trail looked exceptionally steep, I'd believe 23 deg, but it's hard to tell in a video.

 

[Cheese]

1:30 - Leader white outs both friends. Not cool!

 

[drjeff]

Here's a clip from Mount Snow former marketing department weekly video "Right Arm" from March of 2008 where they winched Ripcord (me and Vcunning from the board *might* have had a little to do with getting then snowreporter Luke Stafford into the cat via our lobbying efforts ) It's not HD GoPro video quality, but it is kind of cool IMHO to get the view from inside the cab while Ripcord is getting winched! The footage is between the 1:30 and 4 minute mark