Posts Tagged ‘Hobacks’
Top 5 expert runs in North America
We had a heated argument in the pub the other night about the top 5 epic expert ski runs in North America. The debate was fierce – what makes a ski run ‘epic’ – pitch, scale, snow, exposure, elevation, scary terrain features, fear factor, what?
Pitch can be conquered with bullet-proof technique. Scale means stamina. Runs always change their character in different snow conditions, weather, light and time of day. Exposure makes you feel alive. Elevation – no pain, no gain. Scary terrain features? I laugh in the face of ‘mandatory air’! Fear factor – beats the crap out of the X-factor. What should be included, and what criteria should we use? Does Snowbird have better terrain than Kicking Horse? Is the snow depth and quality in Fernie better than Crested Butte? Who can say, but in my opinion a truly epic ski run needs five qualities – (1) a degree of difficulty that keeps you thinking and working hard the whole way down. (2) a fear factor. (3) a tick-the-box factor. (4) an aura. (5) a scale that’s off the dial.
