What happened to me at belleayre...unbelievable

[koreshot]

Well, we have different experiences on this. I have raced and practiced at dozens of different mountains in New England and have viewed dozen races and training sessions that I have not participated in and out of all of those races both participant and observer, as I mentioned I only saw a course roped off once. Almost all race courses have a sign at the start of the course and often rope off the starting area. The video you cite is not from New England which is where I have had all my experiences. Pro and National and F.I.S. probably do things differently.

I am not doubting you. I never raced and you have much more experience in NE and in racing to base your statements on. I was just explaining why I would expect the course to be roped off. Because based on my experiences - they always are when run on a public and open trail. You are correct, this was the US ski team training, FIS I suppose, and they might have different standards and more resources available to them.

This is very educational for me though, possibly injury/life saving... based on my prior experience I could have ducked into a race course under the assumption of "not roped off = not in race use". Now I know not to do that.

 

[ctenidae]

Wow. Whoduthunk this would hit 5 pages?

Seems to me, the take home lessons are:
1) Don't ski race courses unless you're part of the group using it. If you do, don't enter in the middle, and be aware that someone will probably be running it at full speed, so get out of the way.

2) If you're using the course, be aware that someone may be on it going slow.

3) Don't be a jackass.

That about sum it up?

 

[tjf67]

How? If there were no ropes or signs saying to stay off, how is a BEGINNER skier skiing on a BEGINNER trail (as this was) supposed to know? Hell - until this post, I didn't have any idea that gates are set up for training without being roped off. For that matter, this is the first time I've even heard the term "gates". Sure, I've seen ski racing on TV during the olympics, and I know they do racing down Challenger at Wachusett, but every time I've experienced ski racing the trail has been closed (the entire trail).

I've always thought that if the trail was open, you could ski the trail. I didn't assume gates were put up and removed at random, I always thought they were just always there. When the trail is closed, they're being used for racing. When the trail is open, they're not. I've never skied through gates mostly because I don't know how and don't feel comfortable with it, but by the end of this season I might have considered it.

Point is - how on earth can you expect beginner skiers (or even skiers who aren't beginners, like me, but have only been skiing a couple or few years and have never raced) to know that a course is closed if the course isn't closed????

I absolutely fault whoever put those gates up without roping them off. It's like expecting a driver's ed student to be able to drive through a construction zone without telling them they have to go around the cones.

On the other hand, the skier involved here had a right to be angry. I can definitely see where it would be a serious safety issue to have a non-racer running down a race course. I think the comment about boarders was totally out of line, but the anger was certainly genuine. But I think that the anger was misdirected - the skier should have been pissed at whoever failed to rope off the race course. Like I said, you can't set up a race course on a beginner trail and expect beginning skiers to have a clue that they can't ski in there (hell, most beginners I know wouldn't even know that it was a race course!)

Just my opinion as a skier who has spent a lot of time on green trails in the last year.

Jason

Jason you can't. From what you said three or four were comming down in succession. Which leads me to believe they were screwing around and not training.
There is a way to handle things and the person you encountered did it entirely wrong.
It a tough way to learn a lesson but lesson learned non the less

 

[thinnmann]

Road rage: Old news. Slope rage: A new diagnosis, suffered by the original racer. Same cure: Understand that you have no control over the actions of other drivers/skiers. See yourself as being "on the same team" with the goal to get somewhere safely. Cooperate with other drivers/skiers, and congratulate yourself for not letting other driver/skier actions control your emotional responses.

After reading this thread I have a theory. I googled around to see if maybe it could be backed up by actual studies or statistics. Here is my theory: There are more injuries from collisions on green beginner trails than on black expert trails. This is due to to several factors including but not limited to

• higher traffic
• lower skill levels of beginners in controlling themselves
• less skiing experience
• lower levels of fitness
• inferior or rental equipment
• lack of knowledge of skiing rules, both written and unwritten.

So I have my conclusion for safe skiing: Stay off the greens. :flag:

 

[MRGisevil]

RPM, I'm jealous. This thread went crazy and I didn't even start it Maybe I'm losing my touch Lousy Jessica Alba makin' me look bad....

 

[Marc]

RPM, I'm jealous. This thread went crazy and I didn't even start it Maybe I'm losing my touch Lousy Natalie Portman makin' me look bad....

Fixed. :dunce:

 

[MRGisevil]

Wow, Natalie Portman, huh? I really have gone downhill.

 

[wa-loaf]

Wow, Natalie Portman, huh? I really have gone downhill.

I disagree, Natalie Portman is a step up from Jessica Alba. Much classier (even taking into account that Star Wars travesty).

 

[Paul]

Not so sure Portman is that much classier. Alba hasn't done anything with gratuitous nudity etc.. seems to keep her nose clean and out of the tabs. Natalie said she'd never do a nude scene, then did one, then whined about it afterwards. Of course, Natalie is an Ivy League math-geek, whereas I have no idea about J. Alba's edjumacashun.

 

[SIKSKIER]

Jason,Don't take any of the advice here personally.Your right when you say "how would a beginer know not to ski the gates"?Race training happens at all mountains and as RiverCoil stated they can't be logistically roped off.Just understand from now on that the gates are not there for the public unless they are in a race arena like nastar which will usually charge pre run.That does not justify the jackass from yelling at you like youre a moron.No excuse for that.

 

[Marc]

Not so sure Portman is that much classier. Alba hasn't done anything with gratuitous nudity etc.. seems to keep her nose clean and out of the tabs. Natalie said she'd never do a nude scene, then did one, then whined about it afterwards. Of course, Natalie is an Ivy League math-geek, whereas I have no idea about J. Alba's edjumacashun.

I do believe you've isolated the sole reason for my preference.

 

[JimG.]

Early season race training is always a bit of a problem.

There just isn't alot of terrain available for racers to go all out without having to care about speed and other skiers.

I see the hordes of race kids every season high speeding the human slalom...and it's still a problem even in years with a good start like this season.

It's the cause of alot of anger and cursing every year.

 

[thaller1]

IMHO you can't put a race course on the only open novice run and expect the novices to stay off of the course without, at least, roping it off and putting up signage explaining that it's a closed course. How the hell are they supposed to know?

I completely agree w/ this statement... I also believe the course should be closed or well roped off...I had a similar incident at SR last week...T2 wasn't closed and three uf us skied down next to a course....well, the course started on the left side and finished close to the right side making a very narrow exit for the rest of us... and that exit ran into the exit gate of the course... NOT cool..

 

[wa-loaf]

I do believe you've isolated the sole reason for my preference.

Wasn't much of a nude scene if you want to call it that. I thought the math geek part was your favorite?

 

[koreshot]

I do believe you've isolated the sole reason for my preference.

Oh please... now you are pretending that her math geekiness has nothing to do with your preference?

You probably fantacise about a bikini clad Natalie doing complex differential equations on a secluded beach. When she is done, she leans over and whispers in our ear about new techniques for testing lift cable tensile strength.



Wow... thats actually kinda sexy.

 

[rpmk104]

wow, great discussion. Not bad for a second thread by me. The only other thread that I created was to ask about lodging at killington!

Lessons learn.

 

[Marc]

Wasn't much of a nude scene if you want to call it that. I thought the math geek part was your favorite?

Oh please... now you are pretending that her math geekiness has nothing to do with your preference?

You probably fantacise about a bikini clad Natalie doing complex differential equations on a secluded beach. When she is done, she leans over and whispers in our ear about new techniques for testing lift cable tensile strength.



Wow... thats actually kinda sexy.

Harvard grad in psychology, actually, not math. But still, I probably shouldn't have said the sole reason.

 

[JimG.]

Lessons learn.

Not hard to stir the pot around here.

You never know what you might cook up either.

 

[Phildozer]

Most importantly, the conversation about not being in the course should have been made with by a coach, embassedor, patroller, etc., and should have gone something like this:

"Excuse me sir"

"Yes"

"This course is not open to the public. I realize that it's not roped off, but our racers would appreciate your cooperation."

"Oh. I didn't know. Thanks."

AMEN!

Too many hypersensitive people out there.

 

[Phildozer]

You probably fantacise about a bikini clad Natalie doing complex differential equations on a secluded beach. When she is done, she leans over and whispers in our ear about new techniques for testing lift cable tensile strength.

Natalie, no.

Monica Belucci, absolutely.