J2Ski Holiday 2014

CatP went right first, and then waited for the rest of us. The snow was really deep powder, but I wasn't sure if this was unpisted piste or off-piste.

We'd gone past the bit where there's a turning to the left to a chairlift which takes you back up, but in any case we knew it wasn't going because I'd looked at the huge illuminated map by the Groste gondola showing which pistes and lifts were open and that chairlift the Spinale 2, number 38, was shut.

In retrospect, I think the first section, that goes down to the chairlift, had been pisted at some time because things got far deeper and more difficult after we went past it.

CatP waited at the back to help Davidsa2 and Billip1, and I went first followed by Simon, with the camera man in the centre. Whether we were on an unpisted piste, or off-piste, all I knew was that it felt off-piste to me :shock:

I hadn't been on anything like that without an instructor before - and I was desperately trying to remember what I'd been taught and try not to fall over!

I was ski-ing along, managing not too badly I thought, when suddenly the ground/snow gave way under my skis and I slid sideways in what felt like a mini-landslide and my right ski came off :shock:

It's hard to remember exactly what happened but I don't think I actually fell over. I remember yelling to Simon so that he'd know where I was and not ski on top of me because I was over the ridge and I knew he wouldn't be able to see me. Anyway - he and Sinbad14 stopped and gingerly came over to see what had happened to me.

I was OK but it was very difficult getting my right ski back on, because the slope was very steep and the powdery snow was really deep. I had to make a shelf to put my ski on, clean off my boot without overbalancing into the snow (it's a good thing I'd been practising standing on one leg) and then get my ski back on.

I expect an experienced off-piste skier would have known not to ski over the top of that mound of snow - but I never thought about it giving way like that! The avalanche risk had been high when we arrived at the beginning of the week (which is presumably why they'd closed that piste then) but by Saturday the risk was much lower (which I suppose is why they'd re-opened it).

Sinbad14, the cameraman, tested the snow depth a couple of times with his ski stick, and it was quite alarming to see the way it disappeared downwards to it's full length - like a knife through butter :shock:




After the scary episode where my ski came off, Simon decided to go first. He's done quite a bit of off-piste ski-ing so he was feeling fairly confident. And Sinbad14, the cameraman, followed him. Looking at the video after the event, I think this is where the alternative route comes back in from the left (Simon is heading straight down). I think we skied right, around a patch of trees, and the other route went left and then both paths converge.

At that point I was in the middle of the group, with Simon and Sinbad14 ahead of me, and CatP, Billip1 and Davidsa2 behind. I was getting a bit worried, because I hadn't seen anything of the 3 behind for a while, but I carried on because there wasn't much I could do about it. Some of it wasn't too bad and I could manage OK, but I had to make several very scary turns and I used the step turn method that our instructor had been teaching us in our off-piste lesson in Tignes. It's supposed to be the safest way of turning on steep slopes when you're off-piste (apparently). Basically you step out with one ski, so you're on one leg, and then bring the other ski next to it, resulting in a change of direction. Anyway - it worked for me - and I managed to turn without falling over :D

Here's Simon, now definitely back on the unpisted piste, with a yellow bag thing to the right. I'm wondering now if they had black piste markers to the left, and yellow bags to the right, and the piste markers had been covered up by the depth of snow. If that's correct, then we shouldn't have turned right past the yellow bag and we should have kept straight on.

However, Daved, looking at this video over breakfast on Sunday, said that the way we went was much easier than the route he and CatP took during the morning! He said they had a narrow steep gully plastered with moguls and very deep snow! :shock:



I was very glad when I got to the section where I could see this black piste marker - the first one I'd seen for quite some time!

The Go Pro video ends then, but I can remember what happened after that.

We came out of the low cloud and we could see perfectly, and we were at the top of a very steep piste, with the gondola station at the bottom. I could see Simon and Sinbad14 ski-ing below me, so I knew they were OK. But I waited for quite some time for the other 3, becoming increasingly worried ... :(

Eventually, I decided to ski down to the bottom and re-join Simon and Sinbad14, and as I said at the beginning, I didn't even notice how steep the slope was! I was just so pleased to be back on a real piste, and I was worrying about the other 3.

When I got to the bottom I tried ringing CatP and Billip1 - but they didn't answer! I should have tried ringing Davidsa2 as well, but for some daft reason I didn't think of that. I had everyone's mobile number on my phone, and I'd made sure that Davidsa2 and the other 2 had my number. I wondered if they were out of signal, and I was really hoping they were together and OK - but of course I didn't know :(

The last time I'd seen everyone together had been where my ski came off. I discussed it with Simon and Sinbad14 and I decided to go to the lift station and ask the woman at the till how long we should wait before asking the rescue people to go and search for them. She found it very hard to believe that we'd skied down black 70! She tried to tell me we'd been down the much easier 74 (which we'd done before) but I insisted we'd been down 70!

And I also told her that I suspected we'd been off-piste because of the poor signposting, and that they needed to sort out the signs. We decided to wait another 10 minutes, before activating the rescue people, and very luckily, before the 10 minutes was up, I heard a shout from the other 2 and I rushed over to the bottom of the piste and looked up - to see someone with a yellow jacket looking very like CatP up at the top of the piste :) :) :)

So I told the lady at the till that I thought we were OK now, but I'd come back if there was still a problem. And shortly afterwards the other 2 appeared - and I was so pleased that everyone was safe :)

Apparently Billip1 had had a nasty fall flat on his face in the deep powder and it had taken CatP ages to get him back up and ski-ing again. She says she knew how to do it because she'd seen it on YouTube!!!

We had to ski straight home after that, because we'd lost so much time, but once we'd gone up all the lifts we stopped for a much needed drink at the Monte Spolverino mountain restaurant :)

That was the first time all holiday that we made 3 stops in mountain restaurants. And I was so tired, because of the stress of worrying about the 3 who had been lost, that I had a little sit down myself on the fairly easy (albeit rather choppy and lumpy) red piste on the way back :(

But it was a straightforward overbalance and I got up again fast enough, with no damage done :)

The others all said how much they enjoyed our little off-piste trip, and for CatP it was the highlight of her holiday! But what ruined it for me was worrying about the other 3. They said they had their phones on silent, which is why they hadn't heard me ringing them, and they were so busy coping with Billip1's predicament, that none of them thought of phoning me to let me know they were OK.

Next holiday I will make sure that everyone has their mobile on full volume when we're ski-ing something difficult like that piste!

I was also very glad I'd bought travel insurance which covers ski-ing off-piste without a guide. I hadn't intended to go off-piste, but this story just shows how it's possible to go off-piste without intending to! And in fact, I still don't know if we were technically off-piste, or if the whole area there is like an itinerary route.

On my last day, Sunday, I met some Italian expert skiers, and they said that piste is the hardest in the whole ski area, and they ski off-piste there.

At the top of the steep last section of the piste there's a flat section like a shelf, and a sort of roadway, or piste. I think that's where all the people in this YouTube video of the Spinale Direttissima came from, and it would explain why the last section is like a proper piste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0aWrSnsUUU

Very Nice Ally, those yellow bags are actually mini snow cannons - they are the insulation jackets - I went over to take a look at one on an earlier piste. Never seen these before - but they must think they need them to stop the nozzles getting iced over!!

I'm sure eventually, you'll twig I changed from Sinbad14 to Pistepaul - but didnt have to go through some wierd initiation!!

PistePaul wrote:Very Nice Ally, those yellow bags are actually mini snow cannons - they are the insulation jackets - I went over to take a look at one on an earlier piste. Never seen these before - but they must think they need them to stop the nozzles getting iced over!!

I'm sure eventually, you'll twig I changed from Sinbad14 to Pistepaul - but didnt have to go through some wierd initiation!!

Oh - thanks PistePaul - I will have to remember you've changed your J2Ski name! Maybe I should go back and edit my posts to Sinbad14/cameraman/PistePaul ...

I had wondered if those yellow bags were to do with snow cannons - but they look so small! OK - well if those were down the right hand side of the unpisted piste, then we definitely shouldn't have turned right past the one on that junction! So maybe we were really off-piste?