Having just spent two glorious weeks in the Three Valleys, first with 10 other lads, and second with my wife,  I was struck by two major departures from the Skier’s Code which I was taught when I started to ski over 30 years ago.

Firstly, the number of times that I came across a group of (Usually British) snowboarders sitting in the MIDDLE of a busy piste. Over the years since they first appeared on the pistes of the world, we have become accustomed to the group of boarders sitting, just over the edge of the ridge, and just out of view, and acknowledge the fact that they need to sit there, in order to make it easier to stand up. Sitting bang in the middle of the piste, is however another matter. There were 11 of us there for the first week, and we decided that action should be taken to combat these bad manners and the flagrant disregard of the Skiers Code. Therefore, on the occasions where it was safe to do so, (at least three times a day) those unfortunate boarders sitting in the middle of the piste, received 11 snow soakings. In the interests of eveness, the woman skier who was also standing in the middle of one of the reds into Les Minuers, on the phone, received the same treatment.

Secondly, why does nobody - particularly, but not exclusively, boarders - bother to look round before they move off!

I guess manners is a thing of the past - if you can’t beat the, join them!

Yeah, one of my pet hates too. Not just boarders though. On the busy home runs I skied this week, skiers and boarders were lined up peering over the edge of the next steep pitch and hogging the whole width of the slope - this I found to be even worse on areas that have busy intersections. It’s daft. And just as you move off thinking you’ll skip ahead of them all, they move off too!

It’s because the pig-ignorant instructors of the ESF teach people to do it:

a relevant blog

Chris

hahahaha that is so true see it all the time I love the name aswell a “squatt” .

Yes, I too have found boarders (and skiers) parked in the middle of the piste. On crowded pistes it is sometimes easier to ski at the edge of the piste and slalem the markers! The skiers seem to avoid the edges these days in case they go off piste perhaps. Pistes should be patrolled like in US and those parked in the centre warned of the dangers.

When I was learning to board I quite often found myself sitting in ridiculous places like the middle of the piste, however, I was sitting there as I had just winded myself again/was seeing stars/thought I’d broken my wrist (I wasn’t a natural) so now when I have to dodge boarders in the middle of the piste I don’t always spray them with snow as it brings back some painful memories!

Yes one person recovering from an injury we can easily avoid, but is the line of boarders straggling across the piste that is anoying. Skiers tend to stand in line down the piste, boarders across the piste. As you come over the ridge you have to make a quick decsion: is that gap bewteen boarder 6 and border 7 wide enougth to ski through.

John

I think one of the most dangerous things some boarders do is after sitting down for a little rest in the middle of the piste, they just get up and move off without so much as a glance up the piste, its most infuriating when you have seen them, planned a safe route round them for their safety, only to be faced with them moving off into your chosen route and for them to blame you for the near miss!!!

In the car we should Mirror, signal, manoevre.

On the piste boarders should, stand up, look up piste, move off.

Off course skiers should also look up piste before moving off, (if you have to get up first its probably because you have already crashed into a boarder).

Don.

Ah, the old skier / boarder debate…

I’d say that we’re all guilty of stopping at the top of a steep bit every now and then - to catch our breath, admire the view, wait for friends, plot our route or just steel ourselves for the next descent - and though I’ve never done it, I’d say it’s probably not to easy to stand on a stationary board, hence the sitting down. But yes, why right in the middle of the piste…?

I just silently laugh to myself when I sail past one on a flat bit…

I’m back again after being accidentally deleted - along with everything I ever posted. (SPAM ISSUES in the Site Display Problems section explains.) I remember this topic and remember replying (almost certainly as 4th post after johnc, Wendy and Chris). I can easily imagine what I would have written even if I cannot remember quite how I wrote it.

johnc, post #1:  (a side issue first) why usually British? Perhaps because they are the ones most likely to be in sizeable groups (board-school or chalet-party-size).

johnc, post #1: almost as bad are the groups of skiers who line up DOWN the MIDDLE of the slope (well, not right in the middle, but still fifteen or twenty feet in from the edge). They should leave only enough clearance initially to form the line, then all shuffle back when it is formed.

..and another bad thing: they think that if there is a big enough gap in oncoming traffic for the first two or three to start off safely, then the rest of them - especially if a ski school class - have the “right” to follow off in turn without looking themselves.

Wendy, post #2: giving way at busy intersections isn’t daft, it is mandatory. [I don’t think I included that point first time round.] Queue-jumping at the top of a steep bit is naughty, though perhaps forgiveable if you are on your own, do it slowly and safely, and leave room for those waiting to restart when ready. Maybe some of the people you complain of should be at the side (admiring the chaos, waiting for friends to catch up, etc) but my guess is most or all will be waiting their turn for safe clearance ahead and around before starting down themselves. The one thing that made me (a sensible intermediate) slow down even more was the sound of overtakers close behind. And don’t say that if intermediates need to take the steep carefully then they shouldn’t be on it - you did say home runs, so they have no choice.

Richard