Agreed 👍🏻

Chalk vs ice completely changes how much ‘fun’ we are about to have 😂

on the other end, the more fresh snow there is, the easier. i remember the first time i skied there it was pretty easy to ski, simply because it had snowed hard for days before, and when they opened the lift again, there was like 1 meter of powder !

I've skied it once, and that was on ice. Legs were pumped by the end. Took lift back up to enjoy one of the best mountain view beers. Good fun

I also have childhood memories of that top section hiding the rest of the slope!

I did it last Wednesday, poor visibility and incredible bumps and ice. I can ski quite well but this thing: impressive. It was hard and really did turn after turn. Halfway I thought: mummy …

Thanks Simon. I’ll be the first to admit that when I filmed this, conditions for this run were pretty much as good as it gets!

Thanks so much! Grandes Combes in Avoriaz is my favourite chairlift on the planet, it has about 6 runs which drop down from it

I need to check that one out too 🙏🏻

Grand Couloir is my favoriete Black Slope

Good comment thanks. I’m guessing there’s plenty of other runs that are harder but the Swiss wall will always be a classic 👌

@@Avoriazskischool absolutely! and i don't think i have ever seen bumps that big for that long. hope i get to ski "les portes du solei" again soon.

😬😬 they often close it if too icy for this reason

Yes I was going to say I remember that when I first did it back some time in the 90's and remember looking back and thinking, "oh well no going back now" ! I did it again 25 later and it wasnt any easier on the legs

Tell me more about this if you know it please as I have been skiing it for years but today the snow was great and the drop in seemed a lot easier than I remember it.

Yes this was this month!

Thanks Ian 🙏🏻Hopefully we’ll get the light to film it on Friday, but editing it before the 21st (whilst teaching full time as well) might be a bit tight!

There are many slopes which piste badgers can groom whilst using cables, although I’m not sure if long 38 degree pitches are a bit too much. Plus the bumps are fun!

My guess is: marketing. If they start to groom this slope, it'll lose it's distinctive character. Although I've never been there myself, I've heard tell that the "Gamsleitn II" in Obertauern, Austria used to be similar to this, until they started grooming it, and that skiers who knew the old slope were greatly lamenting it's loss.

Go on….I’d like to build a list 🙏🏻

45 degree ice 🥶🥶🥶

What is the name of the run?

Have fun! You’re gonna love this sport

Noted, thanks!

That’s a great couloir but it’s quite short compared to Swiss wall albeit with a long run out. Where you go in makes it very hard or fine. It’s not for intermediates though.

Not your cup of tea Greg? haha

@Avoriazskischool don't reckon so 🤣. My 20yo daughter and I visited my son in val d'isere last week and le face was quite enough! It even ate her iPhone 😬

K2 wayback 106 x 179 with duke pt 👌

Thanks for the comment - would be interested to know names of similar/more difficult runs 🙏🏻

Is the Salomon one

With mips and boa

Pole plants certainly do make it easier in the moguls, so only getting them on one side is a bit harder

I’ll stick it on the list 🙏🏻

Um you mean 'Palisades Tahoe' where a blue run is like a black at most ski areas.

Hard luck

That’s pretty much it yeah - plus a lot of mogul skiing fun in between to two ends of the spectrum

A good point to make, thanks. Will definitely have one in the tutorial video

Thanks I’ll check it out 🙏🏻

Exactly what I was going to say. Squaw and Whistler.

Merci - je vais l'ajouter à ma liste

Yes, for an "easy" resort those blacks above Montalbert are pretty difficult

Are North American black runs (single blacks/double blacks) more difficult than European ones?

@@Avoriazskischool we just ski lots of bumps due to the fact that we have way more in-bounds, off piste terrain.

@@Avoriazskischooldepends on the moutnain. The trail ratings are only against the other trails at the mountain

Right?! Wide open bump run without a chute or rock band. Go hit Jackson Hole, Wyoming or Kicking Horse, BC then decide.

North American Skiers : Why do i now know where you were born dude??

Thanks for the comment - I’ll add these to the list 🙏🏻

Do you mean Pisteurs couloir? Piste Perdu varies a lot with the amount of snow. It’s often easy but great fun. It can be very dangerous end of season and with heavy snow. It just collapses in.

Yeah it was in one of the best moods possible on this day !

Thanks Marcel - one day I’ll check it out 🙏🏻

To be honest I agree - to say something is the hardest in the world is silly - but I’m asking for names of runs that are more difficult. They do need to be actual runs though. Of course we’re excluding backcountry couloirs, gullies etc

@@Avoriazskischool Kiwi flat at Mammoth is absolutely insane., never done it and probably never will, but I would ski this without a second though. Hangman's Hollow there is not insane, but the top is harder than this and it funnels down to a very narrow choke point between jagged rocks that can make standing on the cornice at the top quite intimidating. Once you pass that choke point. it's way more open and less steep...so basically. the easy part of Hangman's seems like this. Phillipe's there is a much narrower and consistently steep 50 degree chute, that may have a small mandatory air over some rocks at the super narrow exit. There's Big Couloir at Big Sky, and LIttle Couloir is even more extreme. Ramb0 at Crested Butte is 55 degrees, the steepest cut run in the U.S., but I guess they decided to stopo cutting the trees cause if you see video of it, there are little Christmas trees at every turn. ...so compare 55 degrees dodging obstacle with every turn. to 38 degrees and wide open. Highland Bowl at Aspen HIghlands looks big like this, and all the terrain there is 38-45 degrees. Kirkwood has a lift called the wall, the main section under the lift is nice and open...I was crazy enough to straighline the whole face in smooth snow conditions once, but if you traverse along the ridge from that lift you can get. toridiculously gnarly lines like "once is enough"...Google that and you will probably agree with me that 0 times is enough..... I've never skied at Squaw Valley / Palisades, but that has tons of crazy terrain...the chutes at Mt. Rose are way steeper than this with way more obstacles...I could go on an on....the east wall at Arapahoe basin etc

This has to be a joke right? Most of Crested Butte, Big Sky, Jackson, Squaw, Kirkwood, Whistler, Red, Mammoth, Revelstoke, Meadows, Taos, Silverton and numerous other ski areas have dozens of inbounds areas harder, steeper, more exposed than this. And that’s just West of the Continental Divide in North America.

Literally anything in utah?

In France I would say the Grand Couloir in Courchevel is more challenging than this run. Very commited entrance to the run and the steepest section comes as you enter the narrowest part of the run.

Just got back from Snowbird; can confirm.

@avoriazskischool ever tried out La Lauziere in St. Francois Longchamp. It also has a ski route / black run under the elevator, which is never groomed. Not sure if its more or less difficult, but I got similar vibes of it. When you at the top, you dont see the bottom and it has very nice complexities in it. Loads of moguls, I’ve skied with 2 meter high ones in January. Defo worth a visit.

Its really not that bad. until it’s icy

That far right at the top part has been soft and chalky goodness recently. We’ve been lucky

Probably not. Sometimes it’s actually pretty easy, although the combination of moguls and ice can sometimes be hideous

Definitely not… though I’d still like to ski it 😀

Thanks Tobias. They are 179cm Wayback 106 with Duke PT binding

Long, steep bump run, but at less than 40 degrees and no wicked rock or cornice features I can’t put into the top ten hardest runs for North America - sorry I don’t know Europe, but suspect Chamonix may have something to say. Very nice skiing down the bumps, smooth and controlled. Look forward to more from you.

@@davehoover8853 Thanks for the comment Dave - just to be clear - the Swiss Wall only has any sort of claim at most difficult if it is only being compared against other marked runs. The backcountry is of course excluded!