is it possible? everything i see (videos and pics) shows people ON the piste. i want to know: can i hike off and shred fresh powder on my own (with avalanche safety first)? does it depend on the area?

First off, I wouldn't ever condone hiking off into the backcountry on your own, and if you do, make sure ski patrol knows where you're heading to.  Don't fuck around without a beacon/shovel/probe either. Sounds like an avalanche training course would do you some good.  As for riding off-piste in france or switzerland, virtually everything that isn't a trail in europe is considered off-piste which makes it a bit deceiving.  In the states, if its in-bounds, its not "off-piste" even if its gnarly an not a trail.  But "in-bounds" in europe doesnt really mean its patrolled.  So you could be two steps off the piste and be riding terrain that isn't regulated or marked for obstacles.  If you want a taste of what "off-piste" really means, spend a little time in the Chamonix Valley.  Its bascially like this...here's a few lifts, now go where ever you want at your own peril.  I have heard of people being prosecuted in Switzerland for being "off-piste" and causing avalanches that resulted in deaths, but I don't know the true legality of it all. 

thanks for the concern, but ill be traveling with two people. we just want to build a kicker in unmaintained snow. you know..like the movies. ill check out chamonix. ill be spending four months about a mile west of villars-sur ollon studying, so thats where ill ride for the most part i think (and les diablerets/ gryon)

I can talk about France because this is my country.

There are not resort in France were the off-piste is forbiden (we are not in USA). The mountain is a natural place and it is a fondamental human right to go where you want when you want. The mountain doesn't belong to the resort, the lone thing belong to a resort is the ski lift. If you want to ride a piste without skipass u can. The resort got a domain in the mountain with the responsability to secured it. When you go out of the domain you are not out-of-law but with your own responsability.

It's true if you make risk for other you can be judged like a criminal. It already happen in France. If u are in an avalanche the rescue team could ask u to pay the intervention.

The problem is that the resort and the snowboard's video always show us picture of freeride, backcountry and extreme snowboarding. And when you go to a resort the people say u "don't go in off piste it's dangerous" and don't want to give you information about the avalanche risk.

It's important learn the maximum of thing about the moutain hazard, to get an ARVA and to know how to use. But I think it's wrong to say there is no danger to go 10 metres from the edge of the piste. There is a lot of accident because people think they are safe because they are between two piste.

To answer at challenger4 the avalanche risk never depend of the area ! The snow mantle change in the time. When you have snow you have avalanche risk. The rule is easy : never make off-piste without information of the snow and daily avalanche risk.

Damn ! My english suck


[Edited by bucolica on 1/24/2009 at 6:47 AM]
[Edited by bucolica on 1/24/2009 at 6:50 AM]

Cheers Bucolica, your english is prety good dude so no need to put yourself down

Posted by Dante2cubit
Cheers Bucolica, your english is prety good dude so no need to put yourself down

Dante you are right!!!!! Bucolica your english is brilliant! and i am not an english native speaker!!!!

AND you say so many right things. i just can agree to you bucolica. i m snowboarding off-piste very often. never without prope, shovel and avalanche transeiver and never alone. usually im riding with people who know the resort very well and to listen to the daily avalanche report is necessary!!!!

so take care
babsi

Very nice Bucolica. You said a lot of important things. Your English is quite good, especially since I'm in France now and a lot of the French do struggle with it (A lot are quite fluent too though, you're one of them!).

I've done back country once. Me and nine friends hiked most of a day for one ride. We hired backcountry kits from a snowshop, did the mountain research, weather research, everything down to make sure we could have the most fun for the least risk to ourselves and others.

I fine that there often small 'off-piste' areas between runs that have nice powder and if you're careful you can have a semi-off-piste experience in small doses. Currently I pick my track when I go up the lift, noting a few small unridden/untouched areas where I can enjoy the powder.

A problem I find is the 'off-piste' days are mainly for Skiers, and being a non-French speaking Australian, I wouldn't fit in very well.

I think the off piste days being for skiers is dependant on the resort you are riding at, if you go to a boarder friendly resort you should find more guides willing to take out us boarders. Whcih resort are you in?

Meribel - Three Valleys. I see 1 boarder for every twenty to thirty skiers...

This is my third season and whilst not a god in the park, I can really kick it on the slopes, adding some style with ground tricks (Nothing special though.)

I respect the skiers, I'm a courteous snowboarder, trying to get rid of the bad reputation that boarders often have. But some of the skiers and snowboarders here, locals it would seem, definitely have that 'holier than thou' vibe. Oh well. My friends here are all beginners so I often go off solo and as long as the 'locals' aren't in my face, they can do what they want.

Comma maybe the problem is that your are not French and you meet people who hates the stranger.

Lot of people who works in a resort are people 40 - 60 years old are grown up with the ski. This people do a lot for the development of the winter sport and do some amazing thing when they was young, they have experience and know a lot of thing about the mountain.
But this people think they are the lone who know the mountain and the young rider with their freeride and freestyle are dangerous and take risk for fun. They doesn't want to know the new winter sport and how it work.

The winter sport change, and the rider too. Our reputation is wrong. For example : in the 80's, nobody ride with an helmet. Now, all the freestyler and freerider ride with an helmet.

The mentality are going to change. In the French resort les 7 laux they have make a ski lift who enable the access in a off-piste domain.  The access of the lift is open if you have an ARVA and the avalanche risk less or equal at 3/5. In my resort Orcières-Merlette, in the skimap you can see "recommended" off-piste. The resort start to understand that if people can't go off-piste, they climb the mountain with their own way and don't buy any skipass (this is what I do).

Yeah, I suppose. The Russian's I've met are really friendly, the English too. What has really turned me around about them is that after yesterday, I've no 'met' more friendly French people than non-friendly. There's one guy who runs the lift at the bottom I go on every day and he's always smiling and talking and generally giving off a good vibe for example. It's just that occasionally I'll be going down the run and a skier will zip past me or cut me off or just generally be a little disrepectful. But I'm getting over it though.

I'd really like to ride more off piste, however I just settle for making my own way down the mountain, whether it's the nominated runs, or jumping between runs through unkempt snow.

Just tallk to the locals who work in the bars dude, most will take you out if you get on well with them and show you the best off piste, and they will be safe to ride with too