Mayrhofen Scavenger Hunt...

The bottom line is there is a sign there, and details on the website, stating the slope is 78%. Your opinion on the use of that sign is not really important to be honest. Perhaps you should contact the website and ask them to withdraw the 78% statement if you feel it is so useless?

Now we've sorted that out - who's going down it (head) first?

ha ha, this is great !! 72% was what i was told at the time but i had only been skiing for 3 days so i knew nothing really. my point was really meant to be that it is not as bad as ppl say.

I'd like to see it again if i go back as i'm sure i would think it was pretty tame now.

I was also told that it was the steepest piste in austria... but i know i have done steeper.

I'm glad that it has caused debate.... but the question is why has Mr_Mayrhofen not skied it.... surely you must have skied every piste there a million times.....

Well, I haven't tried it yet, due to some of the horror stories bandied about.

if conditions were really favourable I would give it a go.

Ellestine did it last year and found it pretty ok I think?

freedapeople wrote:ha ha, this is great !! 72% was what i was told at the time but i had only been skiing for 3 days so i knew nothing really. my point was really meant to be that it is not as bad as ppl say.

I'd like to see it again if i go back as i'm sure i would think it was pretty tame now.

I was also told that it was the steepest piste in austria... but i know i have done steeper.

I'm glad that it has caused debate.... but the question is why has Mr_Mayrhofen not skied it.... surely you must have skied every piste there a million times.....

Did you ski it with a class, or on your own/with family etc??

I'm genuinely interested.

Admin wrote:Quiet at the back please, who threw the paper-plane?

Plenty of people confuse grade with degrees, and almost all of us over-estimate the real steepness of the slopes we're on.

The official site, linked by Tony, states the Harakiri to have an average incline of 78 percent.

78 percent is the equivalent of a little under 40 degrees.

A 100 percent slope is 45 degrees - which, surprisingly, is well on the way to being un-skiable by any but the most expert skiers.

[edited - ise beat me to it]

That overestimate tends to be around 8 - 10 degrees, I don't know why and it's not scientific but I notice people typically get that same error. This matters as off-piste avalanches tend to occur around the 28 degree mark so knowing a slope angle is a big deal, that's a reflection of a two part fluid dynamics problem if we looked at a spontaneous failure of a slope but it's also worth considering the mechanics of a skier on the slope, a skier creates about twice as much traction on a 45' slope as opposed to a 20' slope. This is why skiers need to understand a little of slope angles and maths if they're venturing off piste and be able to read and understand information in guidebooks and on maps. It's also why I personally carry an inclinometer.

Steep off-piste is easier than steep on-piste in my book but that might be relative :D

Tony_H wrote:The bottom line is there is a sign there, and details on the website, stating the slope is 78%. Your opinion on the use of that sign is not really important to be honest. Perhaps you should contact the website and ask them to withdraw the 78% statement if you feel it is so useless?

it's useful to me, I know what it means )

freedapeople wrote:well, the teacher said we were not ready to ski it... so two of us went off in the afternoon to do it anyway !! bit silly as were prob were not ready, but was not that bad... only one tumble when snow plough turned !! lol

BTW.... i meant to say % at the begining.. not degree :oops:

Well, I've learnt something today about measuring steepness of slopes in percent.

I thought previously it was a typo and meant 78 degrees - hence I found it so unbeleivable.

It's a pity one persons mistake is an opportunity for another to try and make them look foolish though. No need really.