How to spot ice patch

[RichGuo]

As weather begins fluctuate, we will encounter more or less ice on slope, do you have any tips to spot ice prior approach it?

I heard from rest room talking that, some place like right below steep slope starts, steep slope ends, pillar surrounding area, underground there are big stone etc.

but more tips will be big help to for us intermediate skier avoid sore ass when hit it unexpect.

 

[dbostedo]

Three things I can thing of to recognize ice (actual ice - as opposed to just very hard packed snow) :

1) Places where it's unnaturally smooth.... i.e. everything else is chops up or granular, and one patch is perfectly smooth
2) Places where the color changes.... if everything is white, but there's a patch of grey, that's the ice. Could also be blue-ish depending on how it was formed
3) Shiny patches.... this one's a little more obvious - ice is shinier than snow

 

[CalG]

As weather begins fluctuate, we will encounter more or less ice on slope, do you have any tips to spot ice prior approach it?

I heard from rest room talking that, some place like right below steep slope starts, steep slope ends, pillar surrounding area, underground there are big stone etc.

but more tips will be big help to for us intermediate skier avoid sore ass when hit it unexpect.

On a busy week end, just look for a bunch of skiers and boarders all piled up in a mess just downhill of the ice.

Around two o'clock, there will likely be rescue personnel with a toboggan there as well.

;-)

 

[scott43]

On a busy week end, just look for a bunch of skiers and boarders all piled up in a mess just downhill of the ice.

Around two o'clock, there will likely be rescue personnel with a toboggan there as well.

;-)

Kinda like Chip's Run at Snowbird...

 

[dbostedo]

You can also look for any scene like this (though it doesn't look terrible - still hard and icy, if not actual ice) :

 

[Lady_Salina]

That looks like Franz's ) yup, that's how to spot ice, see the sign (Franz's Run), look over the lip and see a lot of that. In between the ice is usually some corn bumps that the groomer will turn in to corduroy for a few hours tomorrow morning. Well at least minutes.

 

[Bad Bob]

at the top or more likely bottom of the stairs going into the lodge.

 

[Mendieta]

Three things I can thing of to recognize ice (actual ice - as opposed to just very hard packed snow) :

1) Places where it's unnaturally smooth.... i.e. everything else is chops up or granular, and one patch is perfectly smooth
2) Places where the color changes.... if everything is white, but there's a patch of grey, that's the ice. Could also be blue-ish depending on how it was formed
3) Shiny patches.... this one's a little more obvious - ice is shinier than snow

That's exactly right in my experience. As a beginner, I guess in my first season, I would seek these slick surfaces. Because slick/smooth seemed safer

It's a trap! The only thing I would add to @dbostedo is frozen coral or whatever you call it: natural snow that froze after a warm day. That's by far the worst. You can absorb some of that by flexing a bit and letting your legs try to deal with it, but it's a lot worse (all things equal, such as slope).

I think it's best to always cruise runs that could be frozen, first. Take them easy on a first pass, see how the terrain is. Next run you know what to expect. If in doubt, I take it slow and easy.

 

[dbostedo]

Also - don't lean back into the hill. The natural reaction would be to lean back uphill, which will put you on the tails of the skis (or over-weight your inside ski) and make you slide worse with less control.

If you're going to be skiing on ice, stay balanced, and make good controlled turns. I don't always do it, but when I remember to, things generally work out fine. Often I hit ice in the middle of a turn... if I'm well balanced I may slide downhill a bit, but I can continue the turn or slide off the ice. If I'm back on my tails, I may get out of control or fall much more easily.

 

[François Pugh]

As said above, look for smooth polished snow, maybe of a grayer colour. I ski a lot in flat light, so I often find myself on ice unexpectedly. The other day I was skiing without glasses and a borrowed pair of goggles - I almost skied into a snow bolder, but saw it at the last second and turned towards the two bits of fencing that I thought were a lift line entrance, but were actually stored beside the lift line entrance. Unseen ice is one good reason to ski with lots of angulation to go with your inclination (see CSIA definitions) recoveries from unexpected slides are a lot easier that way..

 

[fatbob]

Under snow cannons and in the middle of the piste are the hot spots along with any gap in a slow fence ( I never know why resorts are too lazy to move the gaps around when they are clearly creating a polished channel)

 

[graham418]

You can always move to Ontario to work on your ice skiing technique.

 

[scott43]

Pretty sure we could play hockey on my back patio this morning... I couldn't open the back door last night..the rain had frozen in the button.. My mechanical thermometer says 0C despite the fact it's actually -16C right now!!

 

[karlo]

Or, look at it another way. Where is the snow? Edges of skied off trails? Or, if the wind is or was blowing, which side of the hill or mountain or the trees did it get deposited?

 

[AmyPJ]

Three things I can thing of to recognize ice (actual ice - as opposed to just very hard packed snow) :

1) Places where it's unnaturally smooth.... i.e. everything else is chops up or granular, and one patch is perfectly smooth
2) Places where the color changes.... if everything is white, but there's a patch of grey, that's the ice. Could also be blue-ish depending on how it was formed
3) Shiny patches.... this one's a little more obvious - ice is shinier than snow

Or, if it's man-made snow, it will often be yellowish.

 

[graham418]

Or, if it's man-made snow, it will often be yellowish.

In the immortal words of Frank Zappa- "Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow"

 

[mdf]

Also - don't lean back into the hill. The natural reaction would be to lean back uphill, which will put you on the tails of the skis (or over-weight your inside ski) and make you slide worse with less control.

If you're going to be skiing on ice, stay balanced, and make good controlled turns. I don't always do it, but when I remember to, things generally work out fine. Often I hit ice in the middle of a turn... if I'm well balanced I may slide downhill a bit, but I can continue the turn or slide off the ice. If I'm back on my tails, I may get out of control or fall much more easily.

Lok at hte guy in the greenish-yellow jacket at 0:35 in the video you posted. He doesn't expect the ice, loses his edge, and gets thrown off balance. But he doesn't panic, rides it out, and resumes skiing at the edge of the ice patch.

 

[Monique]

at the top or more likely bottom of the stairs going into the lodge.

OMG. I thought I pulled a back muscle yesterday just avoiding a fall walking from my car to the grocery store last night. That was in casual boots. Those are the WORST. I did have a really bad fall on the deck in front of the lodge about a month ago in ski boots - I managed to avoid falling backward, but slammed down hard onto my knee.

 

[scott43]

OMG. I thought I pulled a back muscle yesterday just avoiding a fall walking from my car to the grocery store last night. That was in casual boots. Those are the WORST. I did have a really bad fall on the deck in front of the lodge about a month ago in ski boots - I managed to avoid falling backward, but slammed down hard onto my knee.

Yeah I got my feet taken out from under me in hockey skating backwards...fell on my ass and bonked my head on the boards...now I have minor whiplash and tension-related headaches! Too old for this..I should switch to beer pong...

 

[cantunamunch]

As weather begins fluctuate, we will encounter more or less ice on slope, do you have any tips to spot ice prior approach it?

I heard from rest room talking that, some place like right below steep slope starts, steep slope ends, pillar surrounding area, underground there are big stone etc.

but more tips will be big help to for us intermediate skier avoid sore ass when hit it unexpect.

One of my favourite Red Dwarf quotes applies here: "before you see something, you've already passed through it. Even with a 6000 IQ it's still brown-trousers time."


Stop thinking about spotting ice in advance. A) you will forget b) it is very likely to be too late. A far better tactic is to change your skiing so that you're skiing as if you were on ice all the time. Stay balanced - always important. And make your skiing inputs proportional to the grip you would have on ice. In other words, if you are likely to have no grip on ice, ski gently , don't make large corrections, don't make big braking moves, and turn constantly so you don't have to do it all at one moment.

Ice doesn't punish balanced skiers who don't demand overmuch from it.