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Extreme Skiing - Ski Extreme Back Country Terrain
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We need to define exactly what we mean by extreme skiing!
This is about alpine skiing down a steep mountain side with snow on it;
it's not about leaping off rocky outcrops and landing head first after
a three hundred foot drop. (He was fine when he spoke from his hospital
bed).
See his amazing extreme skiing video of how
not to do it!
'Ski Extreme' was developed by Sylvain Saudan, the nerveless Swiss
skier from Lausanne. He made it his own at the start of the seventies
by dropping down some of the hairiest mountains in the world and we'll
come back to him later.
The pistes we ski on as holiday skiers generally range from 20 to 30
degrees gradient, but sometimes we may ski a black run that goes up to
45 degrees. The degree of incline of prepared slopes is delineated by
worldwide colour codes. The easiest is green then blue, then red, with
black being the most difficult. Pitches are not always calibrated the
same way from one country to another, however, and the US has even
added an extra degree of difficulty, the double black diamond.
Take it that anything over 45 degrees can be considered as extreme
skiing. It will be off piste as snow grooming machines dislike anything
this steep. At the top end 70 degrees is about the limit snow will
settle on a slope - over this and it will drop off or avalanche very
quickly.
It's a good idea to mention avalanches here. Before you attempt
anything in the way of extreme skiing, away from the prepared piste and
people who could rescue you in case of trouble, find out if the snow is
stable. A small avalanche of the top few inches may be OK as long as
there isn't anyone below you when you start it off. Check weather
forecasts and if you are not familiar with the base structure ask a
native.
It's not a good idea to try anything like this alone, but if perchance
you do, for goodness sake let someone know your plans and when you
intend to be back, and if you have one carry a mobile with you and key
in an emergency number.
Find out about how to survive skiing away from the normal piste and go
to 'Secrets of Better Skiing'
The ski extreme technique has to account for the steepness and in
certain areas the width available to ski on. The sharper the gradient,
the more you will want to brake the skis at the end of every turn, and
because you will probably be skiing between rocks down a gully, there
may not be much more than the length of the skis to turn on. You will
need to do jump turns as you descend through the narrowest gullies
braking the skis against the slope. Planting your pole a long way down
the hill by bending low will get your weight in the right place.
Sylvain Saudan spent the summer months preparing for his next project
by skiing down rocky mountainsides just joining together turns with
very little moving forwards. He wore the skis out pretty quickly. In
1970 he skied down the steep side of the Matterhorn and then on to ski
Mount McKinley, Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro, and the longest ski of all
from 26000 feet on a 50 degree incline, the Hidden Peak in Pakistan.
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