Independent Study: Terrain Preferences of the Average Northeast Skier

[loafer89]

My terrain preference would also depend on the location of the resort. A Mid-Atlantic area would need wider, not overly steep, summer manicured trails to ensure for optimal snowmaking. In these places you would likely be forced to stay in bounds and on groomed trails.

Further north, one would expect more extreme terrain with narrow, twisting trails, more limited snowmaking and sparse grooming.

So my point, I think, is that you will see different answers also based on where people live in New England/Mid Atlantic.

 

[Greg]

So my point, I think, is that you will see different answers also based on where people live in New England/Mid Atlantic.

Perhaps. Which is fine. Just looking to define the overall preference.

 

[Hawkshot99]

I see plently of those twin tip types in the park too .. snowboarders have no sole claim on parkratdom :lol:

What you sayin?:lol: My skis may be twins but that doesnt mean I know how to use them.;-):lol:

 

[loafer89]

I am going to ask Warren what he likes as far as terrain is concerned and then I will set up an account for him to post with my help. I figure he is old enough and he certainly likes to talk alot.

He keeps a Killington trail map on the breakfast table, something is wrong with him.

 

[cbcbd]

10 questions? Hmm... so I guess you'd be looking for questions that target some obvious terrain feature opposites like:

-Trail width?
Wide (GS turns)
Narrow (short quick turns)

-Bumps?
flat
seeded moguls
natural moguls

-Steepness?
Steep
Cruiser - most blues
Mellow - lower blues, greens

-Obstacles?
none, open trails
glades
trees (denser)
rocks, trees
drops, rocks, trees, everything


Are you thinking this survey/study will be more multiple choice sort of thing or would you expect people to answer questions with writing?

edit: duh, nevermind, just reread your original post... multiple choice it is. In that case, I made some changes above.

 

[Greg]

He keeps a Killington trail map on the breakfast table, something is wrong with him.

The brainwashing has been successful!

 

[riverc0il]

Well consider this. One primary metric is skier visits. For every 5 green/blue skiers out there that skis 5 times per year, there might be one advanced skier that skis 25 times per year. Still 25 skier visits...

I would suspect it might be closer to 15 or 20 to 1. There is a reason the ski area profits live and die by four or five weekends out of the entire season. Those are the folks sticking to the wide open groomers for the most part. Even during mid-season, most people enjoy the wide open groomer. One way to look at is this: there is very limited natural snow terrain at most mountains. I suspect the average mountain has no more than 25% of their trails not groomed excluding glades, most are probably 15-20% or even less. How often do those trails feel crowded compared to the main boulevards and groomed out routes? If it was a 5 to 1 ratio, I would expect to feel MUCH less elbow room. Hard to measure stuff like that though as a lot depends on which mountain. The MRG's and Jay's of the world hardly compare to the Okemo's and Snow's as far as what type of terrain is offered. Who gets more skier visits? The Okemos and Snows.Demographics in ability is another issue as well. The most dominant ski level out there is intermediate and the majority of skiers fall into the perennial category. Even many accomplished expert skiers may prefer groomed and wide slopes, especially if they are getting up in years... where a large part of the skiing demographic is heading.

 

[mountaindude]

I need some back up here .. you just wait until he gets back home then your going to be in trouble all you skiers ..
:argue:

This sounds like a good time to create some hate....but don't put too much stock in what DMC has to say. I've read these forums for a long time and many of the things that he says are down right comical.

 

[Greg]

I would suspect it might be closer to 15 or 20 to 1. There is a reason the ski area profits live and die by four or five weekends out of the entire season. Those are the folks sticking to the wide open groomers for the most part. Even during mid-season, most people enjoy the wide open groomer. One way to look at is this: there is very limited natural snow terrain at most mountains. I suspect the average mountain has no more than 25% of their trails not groomed excluding glades, most are probably 15-20% or even less. How often do those trails feel crowded compared to the main boulevards and groomed out routes? If it was a 5 to 1 ratio, I would expect to feel MUCH less elbow room. Hard to measure stuff like that though as a lot depends on which mountain. The MRG's and Jay's of the world hardly compare to the Okemo's and Snow's as far as what type of terrain is offered. Who gets more skier visits? The Okemos and Snows.Demographics in ability is another issue as well. The most dominant ski level out there is intermediate and the majority of skiers fall into the perennial category. Even many accomplished expert skiers may prefer groomed and wide slopes, especially if they are getting up in years... where a large part of the skiing demographic is heading.

Well, my 5:1 ratio was totally arbitrary and there was no thought put into that other than trying to make my point while keeping the math simple. . As far as the Jay/MRG vs. Snow/Okemo comments, I would bet that has as much to do with geography (proximity to metro areas) as it does terrain. Again lots of grey areas. My point with all this it's all still conjecture; which may very well be true based on your accurate assessment of which weekends/weeks ski areas live and die by. I still want to see the numbers. However, the feeling I'm getting is "don't bother", i.e. the results won't be what I'd like to see of less groomed boulevards...

 

[BushMogulMaster]

A lot of you have mentioned that on any given day you see far more skiers on groomed greens/blues than natural/bumped steeps. I think that's highly dependent upon what ski area you're discussing, and when you're there. I skied Mount Ellen at SB over 90 days this year. When Cliffs (a moderate black) was bumped nicely, there were easily as many people on it as on the cruisers. Five or six of the steep bump runs were quite frequented.

Don't misunderstand me... the greatest percentage of skiers do, in general, appear to make up the cruising/intermediate category. However, I see plenty of people on the natural steep and bumpy terrain.

 

[snoseek]

I want it all. does that make me a bad person?

 

[darent]

the majority of skiers definetly like the groomers, why else would they groom 98% of the mountain before the weekend arrives after a great dump .this has happened at most NE ski areas that I have skied. K-MS=O-SR-SL-Attitash-BW-SRATTON.weekends are the money, weekend skiers want it groomed, this is a very common mountain manager refrain

 

[bill2ski]

Given unlimited options in choice of terrain My personal fav is the transition type. ie, terrain where you can encounter variation. Starts with groomers, leads to a glade, has bumps enroute, dumps you in the pipe/park, gets narrow, steep, and has an alternate route through the trees, unknown to all but a few. Sometimes achived by running a combo of trails. Basicly, the stuff we all yap about here.

 

[Mike_451]

I like trees wider Trails = less trees :x

 

[skier90]

http://www.montfarlagne.com

Lower right hand corner.
Groomed 29%
Powder 31%
Bumbs 20%
Ungroomed 22%

 

[threecy]

A related question that might be worth while is high speed vs. fixed grip lifts - would one rather wait 5 minutes for a 5 minute ride or wait 1 minute for a 9 minute ride

 

[Vinny]

A related question that might be worth while is high speed vs. fixed grip lifts - would one rather wait 5 minutes for a 5 minute ride or wait 1 minute for a 9 minute ride

Those short lines on slow lifts look so inviting that we've tested this a number of times. In the vast majority of cases the total time to the top is less with the detachable. Usually considerably less. Anywho's, if the total time was equal, then for me it would be totally dependent on weather. I'd take the longer fixed ride on a nice day, and wait at the base for the detachable on the cold windy day.

 

[maplevalleymaster]

For me, I would have to say that Sugarbush has the best variety of terrain. It has great cruisers (Spring Fling, Snowball, Organgrinder, etc) yet has the classic new england trails we all love (Castlerock). I love to have my first run be a wide open, beautifully groomed boulevard, but after that, I want to head over to things like Castlerock, Paradise, Moonshine, etc.

 

[Jonni]

I agree with Maplevalleymaster above. I need to have a bit of variety at times, but chances are pretty good that I will usually start my day on something groomed if not spend my entire day on groomed if that's the only thing available or the only thing that I feel like skiing that day. There are days that I would rather ski like a bat outta hell down some high speed groomers over picking my way through the woods finding a new line that I've never skied before. It all kind of depends on mood and what me and my body want to do.

Don't get me wrong though, I can pretty much say with certainty that I can ski most anything that you throw at me. I may not like to ski it at the time, but I can get down it.

 

[darent]

I'm with bill2ski, variety,variety with all kinds of combinations that you put together. makes for a interesting day.