Need Recommendations for Mountains Near Geneva

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:50:21 -0500, "Bob D"
wrote:

One more question - are "intermediate" slopes in Europe similar to US? I
tore a meniscus two years ago and this will be my first time back on ski's,
so I want to avoid steep terrain.

Thanks,

Bob D.


Pistes in europe are classified by colour.
Green(Beginner) is very easy and never contains any steep slope, more
likely to be flat.
Blue (Intermediate) is the next level. These rarely contain steep
slopes but if they do the steep section will be very short.
Red (Advanced) These can contain steep sections but these are usually
easily handled by an experience skier. Many red runs are the resort''
race piste. In fact some very steep slopes can be found on reds but
these are usually very wide allowing plenty of room to travese across
the piste.
Black (Expert) These can be steeper than reds but are often only
different because of awkward sections with a combination of angle
piste, narrow, icy, moguls etc. The resorts race Slalom piste is
often classed as Black.

Some resorts suffer from red green colour blindness.

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:50:21 -0500, "Bob D"
squeezed out the following:

One more question - are "intermediate" slopes in Europe similar to US? I
tore a meniscus two years ago and this will be my first time back on ski's,
so I want to avoid steep terrain.

From my limited experience, yes. Green and Blue per USA, Red is
equivelant to Diamond and Black to Double Diamond. Italy tends to
grade its slopes harshly - Red slopes there will often be as Blue
eslewhere.

--
Colin Irvine

Colin Irvine wrote in
news
On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:50:21 -0500, "Bob D"
squeezed out the following:

One more question - are "intermediate" slopes in Europe similar to US?
I tore a meniscus two years ago and this will be my first time back
on ski's, so I want to avoid steep terrain.

From my limited experience, yes. Green and Blue per USA, Red is
equivelant to Diamond and Black to Double Diamond. Italy tends to
grade its slopes harshly - Red slopes there will often be as Blue
eslewhere.

And note there are no greens in Switzerland.

--
Jeremy
R1200RT

On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:30:39 GMT, "Jérémy"
wrote:

And note there are no greens in Switzerland.

There's an eco-joke there somewhere.

--
-Pip

On Feb 14, 3:30 pm, "Jérémy"
wrote:
Colin Irvine wrote innews
On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:50:21 -0500, "Bob D"
squeezed out the following:

One more question - are "intermediate" slopes in Europe similar to US?
I tore a meniscus two years ago and this will be my first time back
on ski's, so I want to avoid steep terrain.

From my limited experience, yes. Green and Blue per USA, Red is
equivelant to Diamond and Black to Double Diamond. Italy tends to
grade its slopes harshly - Red slopes there will often be as Blue
eslewhere.

And note there are no greens in Switzerland.

--
Jeremy
R1200RT

I found most of Swiss Reds were like French Blue.
And most of French Reds are like US Diamonds.
Also in France few times I saw green slops gradually turning blue and
then red So I suggest you try blue for the start.
As for resorts Megeve is nice place, not so difficult as Chamonix and
not far from Geneva, couple of hours by bus

Enjoy your stay

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:37:28 -0000, in
, "Paul S"
morespam@nothanks wrote:


"Bob D" wrote in message
news
Thanks for the feedback.

I have not heard of anything about visa restrictions in France. I am a US
citizen - I drove through France last year on my way from Paal, Belgium to
Barcelona, Spain and never even had to show my passport. If this is an
issue, I would need to stay in the Swiss Alps since I depart this Saturday
for a week long business trip. Please advise.

Those countries you mention are part of the Schengen (spelling?) group and
have open borders, I'm pretty sure Switzerland isn't included.

You're wrong. Switzerland was an original signatory of the Schengen
agreement, although it's not totally implemented yet. So there are
still border checks, but mainly just the Swiss stopping people on the
motorway borders to make them buy the the road toll Vignette (40chf
for a year).

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:50:21 -0500, in
, "Bob D"
wrote:

One more question - are "intermediate" slopes in Europe similar to US? I
tore a meniscus two years ago and this will be my first time back on ski's,
so I want to avoid steep terrain.

For French and Italian resorts, the progression is normally green,
blue, red and black, where the latter are roughly equivalent to US
single- and double-diamond blacks. In Switzerland there are no greens,
so blues and reds span a wider range, as it were.

But as everywhere, the colour gradings are not always a good
indication of steepness, as they also take into account narrowness as
well as propensity fot ice and moguls. In good condition many Swiss
reds are great long motorway cruise runs, with just a few steep bits,
so don't be put off just by the colours.

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:25:35 -0500, in
, "Bob D"
wrote:

I just found out I will have an open day in Geneva during my upcoming
business trip to Europe.

I know nothing about the Alps and would appreciate any information regarding
nearby mountains would be greatly appreciated. I am interested in
intermediate terrain, so lack of extreme slopes is not an issue. I found
some info on Verbier, including a 10KM toboggan run for those in my group
that don't ski - but wanted to get more objective info.

Most of your questions seem to have been addressed by others,
including good resources for info (like the skiclub site in my sig)
and lists of suitable resorts. But I'd be failing to live up to
expectations if I didn't recommend Flaine/Grand Massif, which is, IMO,
one of the very top resorts (for skiing) in the world.

Also - how is the snow this year in the Alps? I have not been able to glean
much information regarding overall conditions.

Again, the ski club site may help, but I've skied 35 days or so this
season, and can definitely state that it is a very good year so far.
Just back from a week in Davos, CH, where it's been beautiful sunshine
every week, but with temperatures remaining just sub-zero, and no wind
whatsoever, the snow has remained excellent throughout.