Snowboaring, coloured slopes?

Question

Hey, im fairly new to snowboarding. (had about 4 hours lessons and maybe 10 hours practice). I can link turns fairly well, and control my direction and speed, but i still fall over a h**l of a lot. Im going to chamonix in 6 weeks time, and im at uni so wont be able to practice again.

Im wondering what colour slopes i should attempt. I was thinking blue for starters, but my mat seems to think we would be wasting a day and to go straight to greens and quickly progress to red. He has begun learning and the same time as me, and is a lot more confident with his speed, but maybe not so apt with turning.

Should i attempt greens straight away, or should i try it out on blue and risk wasting a day. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.

Answer 1

The other thing to keep in mind is that there is no standard for trail ratings.  A double black at my home mountain in Pennsylvania is about equivalent in difficulty to some of the steeper Blues at Whistler.

Chamonix is known as an extremely challenging area for pretty advanced skiers (as evidenced by the number of folks who have died riding/skiing there).  Anohter thing to keep in mind is that regardless of the trail rating, you are likely to encounter a lot of powder and deep snow which requires a lot more experience, stamina, and board control.

Unless you've been there before, there's no sense overly planning your runs. I would take it easy your first day and keep working your way up to more difficult trails as long as you're still comfortable. Besides you don't want to hurt yourself right away and waste the whole trip.  Plus if you're from the US, you don't want to get hurt in another country trust me.

Answer 2

red? there are red slopes?!?

anyway.. make sure you can make it down green easily, then blue. if you're feeling extra confident, try a black or two.

Answer 3

Not to sure where you are in the world but i would keep away from blues runs untill you can master the green runs,these are for beginners and there is no point trying to take a blue run on if you cannot do the basics ......eg link turns and control your speed. Once you have these 2 covered you will far injoy the steeper runs and not just end up going done them falling leaf

the order in steepness

easy to hard

1:green

2:blue

3:red

4:black

5:black diamond

also another point,if you injure yourself on your first day you might not be able to snowboard for the rest of the holiday

Another thing

Get some wrist guards and a crash helmet

Answer 4

Run down blue a few times before you bang your head on a tree and die.  You guys are very much beginners until you have good control of your turns. Try to get down blue without falling then move on.  Nothing like fresh meat laying on the slopes.