East/West trail difficulty rating comparisons

[NYSnowflake]

I have never been skiing out west, but I have been to a lot of mountains here on the east. How do the trail ratings compare at say Whiteface/Killington/Stowe/Sunday River/Sugarbush with trail ratings at Whistler Blackcomb? If you can ski all the blues without fear at these east coast mountains will you be able to do the same at Whistler Blackcomb? What would White Heat, Vortex, Skyward, Mountain Run, Wilderness, Northway, Outer Limits, Sigis Ripcord, and Stein’s Run, etc. be rated (Black, blue, etc.) at Whistler?

I am going to Whistler Blackcomb for 10 days at the beginning of April. Looking for intel. Thanks!

 

[trackbiker]

If you can ski blues here with hardpack and icy spots you can easily ski the soft snow you generally run into out west.

 

[DomB]

I have never been skiing out west, but I have been to a lot of mountains here on the east. How do the trail ratings compare at say Whiteface/Killington/Stowe/Sunday River/Sugarbush with trail ratings at Whistler Blackcomb? If you can ski all the blues without fear at these east coast mountains will you be able to do the same at Whistler Blackcomb? What would White Heat, Vortex, Skyward, Mountain Run, Wilderness, Northway, Outer Limits, Sigis Ripcord, and Stein’s Run, etc. be rated (Black, blue, etc.) at Whistler?

I am going to Whistler Blackcomb for 10 days at the beginning of April. Looking for intel. Thanks!

Have fun! My free advice is worth what you pay but two things.

Agree with Trackbiker with one clarification: on powder, if you have not skied it, (1) I suggest outside ski have 60% of pressure versus the 90 or so percent you would do out here.

Why? The snow has less initial resistance to you (think whipped cream versus surface tension of milk or an ice cube) when you are pushing against it to generate the forces (or manipulate the existing forces) that cause a turn on skis.

My first turn in side country labelled double black I tomahawked on my face about 4 years ago. I had too much pressure on my outside ski, poked it too quickly and deeply through the ungroomed powder (no crust really) and did a front release). It was. a really fun trip.

Also, may be obvious, but in side country, or chutes, which may or may not be marked double black, you are more likely to hit rocks.

(2) Be cautious of tree wells. Was not an issue for me but they get much more snow so if you fall near a tree you essentially could get sucked into the base of a tree and not be able to get out. It is relatively speaking deadlier than avalanches I believe.

 

[trackbiker]

Only thing I would add to Dom's powder suggestions is; Don't try to go slow to get the "feel" for it. You need some speed to get the float and to turn. I liken the balance of the left and right ski akin to turning on water skis.

 

[raisingarizona]

Ratings are complicated. For instance, over at Alpines Zone the Hunter loyal say that the terrain is much more challenging than Plattekill. As a western skier I don't see any difference. Eastern cut ski runs that have been leveled and get groomed are the same damn thing in my mind. Plattekill has a great pitch for powder skiing and Hunter has longer runs with similar or greater pitch but is any of it technically harder? I don't think so. It's more strenuous if you're skiing a ttb sure, but it's all the same to me.

Eastern skiers like to think that if they are good at railing steep icy groomed trails they can ski anywhere. Well, it's a great foundation for sure but it's not going to prepare most for technical steep skiing you can find at Snowbird, Jackson, Taos or Crested Butte. That stuff requires a mental toughness and dynamic ski moves you aren't going to get to practice very much or at all skiing in the Catskills or even in the Green Mountains.

Steep out east is generally right around 35-38 degrees with a few exceptions getting up around 40-ish. Steeps at ski areas out west can regularly be in the 50's and even 60. These aren't the cut runs like Rambo at CB but the off the map zones, in between the lines on the map that drop down through boulders and cliff bands.

And to go even farther, you can't generalize ratings in an east vs. west format. Are the black diamonds the same at Mountain Creek as they are at Mad River Glen? How about Howelson Hill in Steamboat compared to Silverton? See what I'm saying, it's all subjective and ratings are based on specific locations.

 

[rebel1916]

I have never been skiing out west, but I have been to a lot of mountains here on the east. How do the trail ratings compare at say Whiteface/Killington/Stowe/Sunday River/Sugarbush with trail ratings at Whistler Blackcomb? If you can ski all the blues without fear at these east coast mountains will you be able to do the same at Whistler Blackcomb? What would White Heat, Vortex, Skyward, Mountain Run, Wilderness, Northway, Outer Limits, Sigis Ripcord, and Stein’s Run, etc. be rated (Black, blue, etc.) at Whistler?

I am going to Whistler Blackcomb for 10 days at the beginning of April. Looking for intel. Thanks!

Their blues will be steeper, but the lack of ice makes em easy.

 

[snoloco]

From my experience, I find that black trails are typically not groomed in the west, while they sometimes get groomed in the east.

 

[Q*bert Jones IV]

Ratings are complicated. For instance, over at Alpines Zone the Hunter loyal say that the terrain is much more challenging than Plattekill. As a western skier I don't see any difference. Eastern cut ski runs that have been leveled and get groomed are the same damn thing in my mind. Plattekill has a great pitch for powder skiing and Hunter has longer runs with similar or greater pitch but is any of it technically harder? I don't think so. It's more strenuous if you're skiing a ttb sure, but it's all the same to me.

Eastern skiers like to think that if they are good at railing steep icy groomed trails they can ski anywhere. Well, it's a great foundation for sure but it's not going to prepare most for technical steep skiing you can find at Snowbird, Jackson, Taos or Crested Butte. That stuff requires a mental toughness and dynamic ski moves you aren't going to get to practice very much or at all skiing in the Catskills or even in the Green Mountains.

Steep out east is generally right around 35-38 degrees with a few exceptions getting up around 40-ish. Steeps at ski areas out west can regularly be in the 50's and even 60. These aren't the cut runs like Rambo at CB but the off the map zones, in between the lines on the map that drop down through boulders and cliff bands.

And to go even farther, you can't generalize ratings in an east vs. west format. Are the black diamonds the same at Mountain Creek as they are at Mad River Glen? How about Howelson Hill in Steamboat compared to Silverton? See what I'm saying, it's all subjective and ratings are based on specific locations.

This really destroyed my confidence.

 

[rebel1916]

This really destroyed my confidence.

It shouldn't. Paradise, for example, is way harder on an average day, than lots of famous west coast runs. It's probably less consequential, but it's usually harder.

 

[raisingarizona]

It shouldn't. Paradise, for example, is way harder on an average day, than lots of famous west coast runs. It's probably less consequential, but it's usually harder.

Why is it harder in your opinion? I guess my ask is what makes a run harder specifically? Paradise is technically interesting for east coast ski runs but is it that hard? I never had an issue skiing it back in my teens and I wasn't that great of a skier back then. I could always make it work and never had an issue with it. It was fun but I didn't see much that was super hard to ski it. Theres lines at Crested Butte that make most strong expert skiers question their abilities and risk acceptance standards so much more. It gets really fucking exciting at these places. You seriously have no idea if you're trying to make these sort of comparisons. Comparing Paradise to Body Bag at CB or Alta Zero at Jackson is fucking cute at best. Sorry not sorry.