57 Open Trails on Tomorrows Official
Preview Report!
Keep your fingers crossed for progressive Soleil Opening!
Some "progressive" or gradual trail openings, but Hey!....
we're headed in the right direction!
More detail Apres Ski...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fast!
There is no doubt that there is a significant icy component
to conditions.
Our thanks to Steph Ferry and O Town Miller for todays pic's
- Steph Ferry Photo. All rights reserved.
- 1.4.11.Steph.Ferry.photo.d.jpg (240.56 KiB) Viewed 2941 times
temp of -8C and a moderate South-West wind moving
across the Summit from Soleil toward Nansen. There has been
a slight dusting of fresh snow, and every bit helps, but the
underlaying base is very "firm" with icy patches.
- Web Cam Snap Shot courtesy of www.tremblant.ca
- 1.6.11.Summit.Snow.jpg (17.02 KiB) Viewed 2941 times
tools they have at their disposal to make the conditions as good as they
possibly can be.
We think one analogy could be that it's like playing poker with
Mother Nature, humans can only "draw" to the extent of their tools,
while Mother Nature can "Draw" infinite numbers with her vast
and dynamic hand. We have great respect for the Tremblant
Mountain Crews that do so well under such dominant Natural
factors.
We have specific feedback from both Skiers and Snowboarders
that indicate major differences in the coping capabilities of the
two disciplines.
The skier feedback is less harsh on the conditions and the following
from yesterday's Apres Ski, is why we think it is so.
(Caveat: Not meant to suggest anything other than mechanical
differences)
1)
"We think that Skiers are going to have a bit of an advantage in these
conditions due to virtually double the working length of metal edge
on the ground."
2)
"Theoretical Concept:
The ultimate Tremblant icy conditions ride is a
short radius, medium flex, slalom ski with fresh, sharp edges.
A full out, race room ski will have too much inflexible camber, so
it will not be compliant enough at slow speed to maintain ideal
surface contact.
The detuned, reduced flex of readily available recreational slalom
radius skis, is in our opinion, as close as ideal as we can get to.
In almost 40 seasons of actual Tremblant slope testing, we have
not found any other Alpine Descent device that can match the holding
capability of the recreational short radius slalom ski.
The bottom line with this point is that with the sharp edges of
a pair of short radius slalom skis you can skate.
Being able to skate in direct association with anything "icy"
has obvious advantages."
On this point we'll add one more thing about a skiers coping ability in
icy conditions that should have been included above.
(Caveat: Not meant to suggest anything other than mechanical
differences)
The value of independent leg action with skis (and poles) in icy conditions
allows the skier a variety of "platform" configurations:
1) "wedge" or "snow plow" shape, for braking, speed control, turning
and balance.
2) "Parallel"/"Skidded" This "old school" technique is still an important and
very useful element in the repertoire of a skiers skill set as it allows the skier
the ability to swivel the skis underfoot in either direction for flexibly adapting
to surface irregularities at very low speeds with the proper use and timing of
the "pole plant".
3) "Skate" ...as per previous
4) Expert and confident intermediate skiers can use any/all of the above
in the execution of a single turn and beginners can go anywhere slowly
using number 1 above.
What would be really helpful here is if there was an expert
Snow Boarder out there that could come on here and provide useful
technical insights to a Boarders coping abilities in icy
conditions.
Developing skills, refining skills is a much more productive use
of brain power than complaining, at least in our experience. As kids
in the '70's, there just was not either the high tech snowmaking
or grooming of today. We had to figure out how to ski "icy" on our own
and we still had fun anyway. Attitude is going to be a big ingredient
whenever things are not ideal.
Here's a copy of today's Official, Downloadable,
pdf Trail and Grooming status, courtesy of
http://www.tremblant.ca
48 Open Trails with Duncan and Taschereau
as Progressive(*) or gradual openings.
- Screenshot Courtesy of www.tremblant.ca
- Picture 21.png (169.58 KiB) Viewed 2953 times
Freshly tuned, sharp edges as well as a positive
attitude will allow you to have a great day outside
at Tremblant!
Just be careful with speed and watch out for icy bits!
Links:
http://www.tremblant.ca
http://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/winter ... port-e.htm
(*)
Understanding Trail Counts - http://alturl.com/n54pyhttp://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/trailmap-e.htm
http://www.tremblant.ca/galleries/webcams/index-e.htm
http://translate.google.com/translate_t ... =fr&tl=en#
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CAQC0360
.