Freeride World Tour

[powdork]

Midway thru a 5,000’+ pow run off the back side of Heavenly. There were no lines

[californiagrown]

Midway thru a 5,000’+ pow run off the back side of Heavenly. There were no lines

Yes, and how often is that in skiable shape? And did you hop back on a lift at the bottom?

FWIW i skied a 9200' fully lift served lap with my 60 yr old groomer zoomer inlaws in Yurp a couple years back. Hopped back on the lifts at the bottom. We took the intermediate way down, because Chamonix is fucking scary.

NA ski areas<Yurp resorts< Alaska. Sound about right?

[powdork]

It's in at some point most years. Typically you drop a car at the bottom or hitchhiking always seems to work. You can easily do three in a day.

[powdork]

NA ski areas<Yurp resorts< Alaska. Sound about right?

I'll settle with some ski resorts are better than others. Some are in Europe and some aren't. I agree Chamonix is an amazing place. But if you asked whether I wanted to ski in Chamonix or Little Cottonwood my decision would be based on the snow conditions at each place. FWIW, as long as lines don't alter things, I see no benefit to a 1500m vertical run as compared to two 750m runs, especially when the 750m run keeps you in the good snow conditions.

[TahoeJ]

Praise be that you can ski 1run of 400m
( MORE THAN 1000FEEET OF POW!!!!!!)vertical pow with 1000 others and wait in line for 2hours for another chop run and call it a pow day.

I mean I get your patriotism, but get a grip. Every second resort in Europe trumps 90+% of the terrain in North America.
I mean I only skied revelstoke in NA....but I was pretty underwhelmed.
I've skied Austrian family resorts with better terrain.

You know Alaska is in North America, right? lol... have you skied there?

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

Why are you bringing up AK when the dude is clearly talking about lift-accessed terrain?

[subtle plague]

And I guess you can't Tour 1500m from the car in Europe? [emoji6]

[altasnob]

Europe clearly has the far superior lift skiing. They have chopped down every tree they have, eradicated all native species, put roads, chairlifts, houses, and cows on every conceivable surface. You can be fat and clueless and easily ski just about any nook and cranny you want. It's like Disneyland took over a mountain range.

[TahoeJ]

Why are you bringing up AK when the dude is clearly talking about lift-accessed terrain?

Because the original conversation wasn't just about one resort, it also referenced the surrounding mountains. So like I said, to just dismiss the Eastern Sierra is a little foolish.

Anyway, moving on, this is boring...

[abraham]

I thought the initial discussion was comparing the size of the Sierra and the Pyrenees before a bunch of dick waving got involved and someone wanted to count the Alps in the total area. Overall the ranges are very similar in area, but if you're looking at the high regions it looks like the Sierra are 1.5 to 2x larger.

[californiagrown]

if you're looking at the high regions it looks like the Sierra are 1.5 to 2x larger.

It is legal in both NV and CA now....

[altasnob]

Ya, and in the Pyranees, you have to try to figure out what signs like this mean

[abraham]

Ya, and in the Pyranees, you have to try to figure out what signs like this mean

On no, poor baby, they don't cater to English or romance language speakers. Keeping languages alive should be applauded, you're just a guest.

It is legal in both NV and CA now....

Ha, but there's lots of fed land.

[powdork]

On no, poor baby, they don't cater to English or romance language speakers. Keeping languages alive should be applauded, you're just a guest. Ha, but there's lots of fed land.

If you can't read the signs, they all just say 'Open'.
I've somehow managed to get high on federal lands close to 100% of the days for the last 28 years.

[powdork]

I didn't mean to dismiss that area at all. I spent about half my weekends in college at Mammoth, and I spend about half there now. I spent half a decade skiing Squaw. I absolutely love the Sierra. I always find it funny when I hear people in socal talk about 'skiing out of state' as if it is much better than what is found in California. California compares favorably to any state in the US when it comes to skiing. I don't want to get people to start comparing things, but I think lots of socal people don't realize that they have one of the truly great mountain in North America within weekend shooting distance. Judging by the crowds, obviously many DO realize it. But I sometimes hear them talk about going to Colorado ski much better mountains, and I don't think they really get what they have here.

I have never skied in Europe, so it is really hard for me to know how it compares. I have seen tons of footage/photos of Cham/Verbier and those spots, I just don't know all that much about the Pyrenees. I think most would say that Verbier is in a different league than Mammoth, but I am not the person to ask as I ski Mammoth, not Verbier.

I grew up skiing back east. Sorry to piss anyone off, but the mountains in the Sierra DESTROY the places in New York and Vermont that I skied as a kid. I would think we can all agree on that.

I feel incredibly lucky that my winter weekends are a decision between Mammoth, or Baldy and maybe some surfing. I also think that among big resorts in the US Mammoth is one of the most underrated.

Powdork,

I would agree that Mammoth is not necessarily the best place to hold an inbounds comp. Don't get me wrong, I love the mountain, but while it does have some technical steeps and cliffs it's more about long, open lines. I have never competed, even when Iived in Tahoe I sucked, but I would guess that for a comp you want long lines with multiple cruxes. There is not really a whole lot of that in Mammoth. In the Paranoids area you could start in the P4/Kiwi area, but once you are done with that there is not another area below it. Unless you are doing something NUTS like Guerlain it does not offer a whole lot of options with multiple cruxes.

Back when I lived in Tahoe (I left in 2004) some of my buddies competed in a comp at Mammoth. I guess the guy who won on the first day straightlined the Paraniods. The last day was held in the Top of the World, which is a sick place to start, but you would want at least one more zone below that. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing guys ski the TOTW and rip lines I ski VERY slowly and cautiously, and that is only in big years, but you want a bit more for a comp. I'm trying to remember who put that contest on, but it was a ways back.

I think years ago they were going to do the final day of the Mammoth comp at Mt. Mcgee. I'm not sure if that ever happened.

The line Guerlain Chicherit put down is still one of my favorites to watch. What is crazy is how different what he did was compared to everyone else. I actually saw this on TV back after it happened. I saw guys like McConkey, Kreitler, I think Davenport, maybe Gordy Pfeiffer, all guys I had been watching in movies for a while. Then this French guy I had never heard of comes in and just goes nuts. I wish there was more footage of Chicherit available.

Just saw this for some reason. I think I saw the Chicherit run on TV too. Didn't he end up with a bloody nose from one of the drops (maybe even the front flip). You're exactly right about Mammoth for comps. Mount McGee was the year that Hale Woods tried to do the Nissan Quest at Mammoth (Top of the World) with the finals at McGee. Due to weather, alll they could get off was one day on Oh Shit Ridge.
Here's an interactive map I made in advance of the event (hover over sections for closeup). The page is orphan now so the links may be broken
https://www.aboutlaketahoe.com/ski_r...e-mountain.htm

[total_immortal]

After the last two pages I learned that California has mountains and Europe has mountains and it's stupid to try and compare them because of significant differences in development and culture.

Can we discuss FWT now please? BobInch posted a nice dream roster of venues, let's discuss that instead of getting butt hurt our local ski resort isn't hosting an event.

[altasnob]

On no, poor baby, they don't cater to English or romance language speakers. Keeping languages alive should be applauded, you're just a guest.

It was a joke. My only journey to the Pyranees was 20 years ago, train from Barcelona to San Sebastian, with stops in Bilbou, and Biarritz (surfed Napoleon's go to spot). First indoctrination into the Basque culture and language. It blows my mind they have words unpronounceable by native English speakers. They are not even sure where the fuck the language and Basque people originated. Possibly Caucus mountains.

[californiagrown]

After the last two pages I learned that California has mountains and Europe has mountains and it's stupid to try and compare them because of significant differences in development and culture.

Can we discuss FWT now please? BobInch posted a nice dream roster of venues, let's discuss that instead of getting butt hurt our local ski resort isn't hosting an event.

I still want my AK stop back. Alien terrain that was just on another level, but didn't make me fear for the lives of the riders like nearly every other stop.

[subtle plague]

You know Alaska is in North America, right? lol... have you skied there?

Yeah, twice. You?
And this is getting weird.

Since we're getting all high, I just want to add that you never ever should get into a weed smoking session with a spanish guy, much less with an Euskadi guy. I've never seen anyone anihilate weed like Basque climbers. Truly astounding.

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

Can we discuss FWT now please?

Sure thing. I would like to formally request all FWT be moved to Heavenly.

[total_immortal]

Sure thing. I would like to formally request all FWT be moved to Heavenly.

Only if it's the backside of Heavenly with a car shuttle...

Agree that another AK stop would be super rad and I would like to see it come back.

[powdork]

I like it! Only change would potentially be Jackson. Where would the venue be? Everything is pretty short compared to the Euro stops. Maybe trade it for Snowbird, Tram Face at Squaw (if it's in), or maybe Big Sky? Off the top of my head, very few venues in The States worthy of a FWT stop. Kirkwood meets the bill for sure, but I'm struggling to think of any venues with more than 1000 feet of vert.

Oh! and what about Fieberbrunn? I really like that venue.

Kirkwoods is 1600'. Haven't been a huge fan of snowbird really it seems to get more monotonous than some others. There are tons of >1,000' faces here, if they could do it like in Europe where it's on faces near the resort rather than closing off part of a resort (like Shuksan Arm (is that featured enough?).

[altacoup]

I’d love to see them run a comp on Mt superior in LCC but I’m afraid the logistics with the road are too much. I do believe that Snowbird owns most if not all of the south face of superior. Also I’m sure the BC skiing community would put up a huge fight as I think the fwt would demand that the face stay closed for a few days prior to the comp. North Baldy is a great comp venue but it’s been skied so many times that the lines seem repetitive. But the same could be said for the Bec, although that’s considerably steeper and much more exposure. Baldy bowl at the bird could be a sick venue, but seemingly the Bird has zero interest in allowing that.


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[ASmileyFace]

South face of Superior would be a fantastic comp venue imo. Won't ever happen with the road and the backcountry community as you said, but damn would it ever be fun to watch.

[P.A.B.C.]

Superior would be awesome if it weren't south facing.