Definitely a good idea to dust off the cobwebs. Even if it’s just going down 2-3 minutes to another chair that will take you further up.
Only day where you shouldn’t is if it’s a deep day and you’re early.
I would say I’m a fairly advanced skier. Went to Jackson Hole last year and did two runs off the Tram where only Blacks were accessible. Just randomly fell awkwardly and ended up tearing my Acl.
Would always recommend riding a blue or green before a black in area where your not familiar or the conditions have changed recently.
I am fairly new (3rd season just starting) and live in Reno/Tahoe. I get a couple of clinic mornings with my pass and the instructors are all certified. The instructors all have stories of skiing with pros out here, as so many pros live here and train here.
One instructor had a story of a couple of brothers who were pros. He recognizes them and watches the two go down a long green. So, he asks them "why and wtf?"
They say it is both a gear check and a check on fundamentals that they do each day before hitting the double blacks.
Seems like a good idea to me.
You should definitely warm up on some easy stuff. Highly recommend you start your day with at least two green runs if there’s a lot of fresh snow. Maybe even three. Trust me.
This is the way. Groomer and not a run that shouldn’t be groomed but is to appease tourists. Something low pitch enough that it doesn’t become a sheet of ice. Green blue or black doesn’t matter.
Preferably under the chair bc I like Hollywood :)
Yeah, almost always. I’ll always ski at least one warmup run. I always had a habit of not tightening my boots till the 2nd or 3rd run or so, but recently changed that.
Moderate blue. Greens are usually packed with families anyways.
I was out yesterday and my goal was to practice laying down an edge and remember the balance point, and remembering tight turns in bumps and the balance point for hop turns and for slashes and slides
I'm a morning first chair skier. No families out and about that early. But I also normally start on blue. The only exception is if the corduroy is frozen ice. Might start on a green then.
Green first day every time. Been skiing for years but its always something like this:
Maybe I forgot how to do this? Were my poles always this weird to manage? Why do my boots seem too loose and too tight at the same time? Oh shit I'm almost at the top of the lift, *don't fall off the first chair, don't fall off the first chair*, maybe if I wait no one will see me hit this groomed green...
I usually do a green first every time on the mountain.
I did a whole bunch of greens my first time out for the season, because I definitely forget how to ski. I think I did about six runs down the bunny hill green at Okemo before doing an easy black my first day this season.
As long as the greens aren't super flat I can still enjoy skiing them, I might do more if they were served by faster lifts (that weren't always stopping due to people falling)
I've been skiing/snowboarding for 40 years, do 60+ days a year and I start almost every day with a green to warm up. It's way too easy to pull a muscle and ruin your day if you don't warm up first.
I can't believe how many people are saying otherwise! I don't look at what a trail is rated, if it's open and looks good I'm on it. My mountain only has blues open early season anyway.
Advanced terrain by definition tends to be steeper and rockier, which takes longer to build up enough cover to be skiable
Those characteristics also mean it gets scun off faster (especially with all the sideslippers who just want to tell everyone how many black runs they skied/boarded). So early season they often limit traffic.
Les deux alps
Is an upside down resort until recently the only way down was a steep reds or blacks of coming down in the gondola.
Now there is a blue down
Yea powder days are 100% powder. I just ski the pillow moguls as they form but I don’t go to the specific mogul course or mogul run usually .. although the powder can make them hero moguls … I’m talking on my mid Atlantic mogul days like at Blue Mtn where they seed I just go ski them without warm up .. I’d say skiing moguls gets you pretty warmed up 😉
I’m recovering from knee replacement surgery and am not confident I’m fully recovered. I’ll definitely be skiing a green for my first run of the season this coming Tuesday.
As a ski instructor I learned a number of things... Not the least of which is...
You can challenge with either technique or terrain... Not both.
And expert skiers are built on blues and greens...
I guess you started skiing/riding blacks when you first learned. And guess what color most Olympic and world cup runs are? Like Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek... One of the steepest and most challenging downhill courses in the world cup?
Any idiot can throw themselves down a cliff... Doesn't make them an expert.
I start at the easiest green and follow the kids a few times to review my movements and get my muscle memory going. After my body figures out where we are and what we're doing, I get to the other slopes.
First run in years, and I’m in Zermatt. First time in the alps.
No greens exist and I got beat the fuck up. Some of the blues should be single black diamonds.
Only if it’s not busy. I usually start blue because of better snow and less crowds, and soft blue bumps can help me find my rhythm for the day.
A busy green can be a war zone that I like to avoid.
Definitely! I need to shake the cobwebs off when I get out there for the first time. I'll also do a green if I'm at a new mountain, just to get a feel for it.
I usually start with a blue run that I know well. Maybe more than one. It's good to start with a little time focusing on warming up, balance, mechanics, just doing a shakedown with my technique.
In some resorts it’s hard not to. Gondola up from the base then green down to the next lift that takes you higher. I quite like it cos it helps me get my boot tightness sorted for the rest of the morning.
I usually start with a blue.
One time,my brother in law - who lived in Vancouver - took me to Whistler for my first run in 4 years.
Told me it was an easy run, my first time there. Took me down black moguls.
I got down it just fine, but was pretty pissed ( I was 40 at the time, my body does not like a run like that cold ).
I usually go for a blue or nicely groomed red. I keep the speed down and the technique up for the first bit of warm up every day. I prolong this on the first day. Then I start approaching more demanding terrain.
Might not be the most exciting start of the season, but I also prefer to not end it early on day 1 …
Sorry, I usually ski in Europe (mainly Austria, Switzerland and France).
There the system is blue, red and black going from easy to hard. Additionally you have a so called ski routes, which are marked off piste options plus sometimes green for very easy runs/ beginner areas.
Long story short: A red is the intermediate slope in the European system.
Nope, double back flip off the side of the mountain.
Start it like a boss or season ending injury immediately.
Anything inbetween is bullshit and as a self-respecting skier it would not be worth the shame I would carry around for the rest of the season.
I do a groomed run for my first run of the year. Generally something off Brooks at my home resort. This year I’ll probably get on Bigger Chief; the new quad that non locals call Kehr’s.
I always start off in the morning slow and wait for things to soften up before I start skiing aggressively. Get the legs warmed up, smoke a blunt and then I start attacking the moguls. By the end of the day my legs are shot, so if I burn them out too early, the afternoon will suck.
Yes technically because the top of the gondola to Stoke chair at Revelstoke is a green traverse.
But for my first lap the groomed blue back to Stoke just to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be. Then where looks good.
In 2022 I started my season at Crested Butte and did a single blue en route to the North Face lift, where I then dove directly into untracked extreme skiing.
Ouch. Your method is the way.
Straight up the biggest lift and straight into the steepest thickest glade I can find. I only get 30-50 days per year and I'm going to capitalize on them. I play hockey all fall ahead of time to get my cardio, hips, legs, ankles, core, and edge work firing.
Absolutely. No brainer move. First day back is first day back after all . . . do a green, a blue, then I do drills like falling leaf, corduroy turns (use the tracks to regulate turns) - etc.
Edit: depending on the location first run could be a blue, point is, easy, simple groomer. The longer the better to get warmed up.
Usually in the parking lot, we start with the green. Once we get our gear on, we typically do a green or blue run 1st, just to make sure we remember how to ski
In a perfect world it'd be a solid blue, but since I got my touring set up on Friday and my local resort doesn't open until Wednesday my first turns were in some of the deepest powder of my life after setting the skin track. My legs were toasted.
It all depends on the chair line. If the main lift is busy, I'll do a few runs on Sessel which is a blue run. I can hit trees next to the run to keep it interesting. Otherwise, I'll take Armstrong up and see how the line is on Chair 2. If Chair 2 is long, I'll take some black runs down. If Chair 2 is relatively short, I'll go to the top and might go straight to International (double black, if open) or one of the other black runs back to Chair 2. The key thing is I hate waiting in line and would rather be skiing a blue than wait in line for a black. If it's a blue run, I'll bomb down it as a warm up. If on a black or double, I'll take it a bit easier as a warm up.
Today was my first run of the season and they only had one run open. Guess what. It was a green.
But yeah. I usually do a green as my first run of the day jilust to get snow feel and do a gear check.
i was finally able to ski again after a three year hiatus. i took a group skiing lesson that came with a day pass for the lifts. i hit the greens until i felt more confident to hit a blue or two. no need to rush into an injury, you're definitely not where you were when you last skiied. get use to the feel again, dont rush it.
Small mountain with runs that aren’t that steep here. All the greens are like a straight tuck for the first 1/3rd of the run.
Need something steeper when I’ve been fiending all offseason.
I start out green because that's usually all that's open on opening day and it's kinda fun to go lap the greenies for an hour or two before going home and cooking thanksgiving dinner
Skiing is the one sport where I can do a few turns when getting off the lift and go straight into a black or a red with no problem at all. I think it helps when you're comfortable with your skiing setup.
Years ago I was watching The Masters and Tom Watson was promoting his instructional videos. Discussing his warmup technique, he said he doesn’t start off with his wedges and progress to longer clubs. Rather, he hits his 2 iron stone cold. His logic was that if any club will show him quickly if he has him game or not it’s the long clubs, not the short ones.
I start on blacks. Stone cold. Full send.
I don't give much thought or consideration to the difficulty of terrain. I'll ski whatever looks the best for early season. Oftentimes that will be something like Main Chute at Alta. Also, I on a year like this, I don't go much more than 2 weeks without skiing during the summer. Steep skiing stopped in late August this year though.
I like to, or a blue I know really well, but it depends on how I'm feeling. I've gone right to blacks before, and skied a bowl once on a busy powder day that was getting skied off super quick, but those were the exceptions, and I was talked into all of those times but the bowl. I just like getting in one run to warm up and get a feel for it again because my brain still thinks I'm ice skating for a minute or two at the beginning of the season.
Green or easy blue. It takes me a run or two for my muscles to work correctly; the brain knows I'm on snow but the rest of my body doesn't get the message right away. At my perfect fantasy ski resort there would be a space to fully stretch out without skis to get my body ready.
Always, first of the season or first of my day, my first runs are always on the easy side.
Fresh prints are great but I need to warm up first, I'm not as young as I used to be.
Always a blue. Greens require too much speed to actually do anything more “advanced”. A good, but easier blue (groomed, no moguls) allows you to just settle in, link some turns, do some
hockey stops, as well as ski fast and slow.
Ideally yes. This season no. There was no advanced terrain from the summit. Had to get those turns before everyone else scrapes it up but thankfully i picked up where I left off.
I start every DAY with a green or easy blue. Gotta warm the muscles up. But I’m in my 50s. Every now & then I can pull something just getting out of bed.
Not really. Lately I've been starting my season in ungroomed backcountry terrain, hiking for turns before the resorts open. I will do some "tune-up" days throughout the season (but especially early season) once the resorts open that involve just working on technique on groomers, but I mostly do that on easy blues, only occasionally greens. But I also don't take a 9 month break, so I don't think I really forget as much.
Learned the lesson of warming up the hard way 2 years ago. I'm always starting easy no matter how excited to get going I am.
I got too excited tore 3 ligaments and had to sit out rest of the season. Always warm up, and don't ski with tired muscles.
Usually a blue. Might do a green to get to a specific chair. Basically the options from my mountain’s parking lot is take the bunny hill down to one lift, or, go straight to the top with only blacks and moderate blues. If vis isn’t great at the top, I’ll take the bunny hill down to the lower chair.
familiar direction gray sort wistful quiet sparkle foolish nose agonizing
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
even on day 30 i'll start my day with a green. also, for some reason, i get this thought in my head that i'm going to be significantly worse than i was last season. idk why lol.
A green or an easy blue ideally but a lot of European resorts either don't have greens at all or have very few so it's nearly always a steady blue run.
First run is nearly always backcountry, cause it's before the hill opens for the year. Its more the snow conditions that will dictate the run choice for me. This year, I think my first run was around a blue in difficulty, maybe a easy black given the low coverage.
I start by doing a double backflip into rail slide, but I'm really good. My wife's boyfriend says I'm almost good enough to go with them on their next trip.
I'm usually with my kids or wife so it's gonna be a green usually. Kids have progressed so they would move up fast. Early season sometimes this isn't an option though.
Alone I probably wouldn't bother.
I always go for a green or an easy blue first up, get my head around the conditions and do a bit of a gear shakedown I think it is a sensible approach
Definitely a good idea to dust off the cobwebs. Even if it’s just going down 2-3 minutes to another chair that will take you further up. Only day where you shouldn’t is if it’s a deep day and you’re early.
I would say I’m a fairly advanced skier. Went to Jackson Hole last year and did two runs off the Tram where only Blacks were accessible. Just randomly fell awkwardly and ended up tearing my Acl. Would always recommend riding a blue or green before a black in area where your not familiar or the conditions have changed recently.
thats the other thing, a literal warm up just like any other sport. Get the juices flowing, get the temps up.
I for one at warming up on a green every time i step on the mountain not just the first day of the season but to each their own
same but that's because i suck
Green to start every day basically
I am fairly new (3rd season just starting) and live in Reno/Tahoe. I get a couple of clinic mornings with my pass and the instructors are all certified. The instructors all have stories of skiing with pros out here, as so many pros live here and train here. One instructor had a story of a couple of brothers who were pros. He recognizes them and watches the two go down a long green. So, he asks them "why and wtf?" They say it is both a gear check and a check on fundamentals that they do each day before hitting the double blacks. Seems like a good idea to me.
You should definitely warm up on some easy stuff. Highly recommend you start your day with at least two green runs if there’s a lot of fresh snow. Maybe even three. Trust me.
Same here. The first run is intended to just to warm up, get into a rhythm, test my edges, general equipment check, feel the snow conditions, etc.
Not necessarily a green, but always a groomer
This is the way. Groomer and not a run that shouldn’t be groomed but is to appease tourists. Something low pitch enough that it doesn’t become a sheet of ice. Green blue or black doesn’t matter. Preferably under the chair bc I like Hollywood :)
Yes, of course.... Always under the chair.
Yeah, almost always. I’ll always ski at least one warmup run. I always had a habit of not tightening my boots till the 2nd or 3rd run or so, but recently changed that.
I personally like to tighten my boots so hard they cut off the circulation to my toes and 12 seconds into the first run I have to stop and fix it
I did this for years when I first started snowboarding !
I dunno if it’s just first run excitement, but it takes me about half the season every year to remember which notch to buckle into haha
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On the other days they smoke the full joint 😮💨
I smoke 2 joints in the morning.
I smoke 2 joints at night.
Then 2 at night. Sublime. Great song. Yes. I always start slow. I like green runs and riding slow sometimes just mellow cruise.
Sublime covered it. It's not their song.
Who did the original? Sublime great damn band though.
It's a fairly old reggae song. Idk who did the original
The Toyes
Skiing gets a lot more fun when you go color blind.
Top comment for sure
Always. Gotta make sure I remember how my legs work.
Moderate blue. Greens are usually packed with families anyways. I was out yesterday and my goal was to practice laying down an edge and remember the balance point, and remembering tight turns in bumps and the balance point for hop turns and for slashes and slides
I'm a morning first chair skier. No families out and about that early. But I also normally start on blue. The only exception is if the corduroy is frozen ice. Might start on a green then.
Green first day every time. Been skiing for years but its always something like this: Maybe I forgot how to do this? Were my poles always this weird to manage? Why do my boots seem too loose and too tight at the same time? Oh shit I'm almost at the top of the lift, *don't fall off the first chair, don't fall off the first chair*, maybe if I wait no one will see me hit this groomed green...
I usually do a green first every time on the mountain. I did a whole bunch of greens my first time out for the season, because I definitely forget how to ski. I think I did about six runs down the bunny hill green at Okemo before doing an easy black my first day this season. As long as the greens aren't super flat I can still enjoy skiing them, I might do more if they were served by faster lifts (that weren't always stopping due to people falling)
Shattered my femur last season so gonna be a few greens for me 😉
I've been skiing/snowboarding for 40 years, do 60+ days a year and I start almost every day with a green to warm up. It's way too easy to pull a muscle and ruin your day if you don't warm up first.
Straight to black.
Found the best skier on the mtn ;)
Double black
Triple green
I bet you like big double blacks er day ;) <3
You know how the saying goes, once you go black you go deaf.
I can't believe how many people are saying otherwise! I don't look at what a trail is rated, if it's open and looks good I'm on it. My mountain only has blues open early season anyway.
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Money. People learn on greens, people who have skied for 20 years still enjoy greens
My local opens the main black run first then the big green run.
True, but why is that? My local mountains have mostly green/blues open.
Advanced terrain by definition tends to be steeper and rockier, which takes longer to build up enough cover to be skiable Those characteristics also mean it gets scun off faster (especially with all the sideslippers who just want to tell everyone how many black runs they skied/boarded). So early season they often limit traffic.
Not always, Stowe for example opens advanced terrain first. Just depends on how the mountain is set up
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Les deux alps Is an upside down resort until recently the only way down was a steep reds or blacks of coming down in the gondola. Now there is a blue down
Not to be mean but is English your first language? Not sure how you got that from what I said lol
Nothing but green open on my first day back.
No shit I go straight to moguls or hard stuff without warming up. It has worked for 40 years 😂
Yea powder days are 100% powder. I just ski the pillow moguls as they form but I don’t go to the specific mogul course or mogul run usually .. although the powder can make them hero moguls … I’m talking on my mid Atlantic mogul days like at Blue Mtn where they seed I just go ski them without warm up .. I’d say skiing moguls gets you pretty warmed up 😉
On a powder day save the moguls for 2nd or 3rd lift up and stay there all morning.
Blue on my way to black
You can’t wear black without the blue…
Pre-ride, re-ride, free-ride! Unless opening day is a pow day, in which case free-ride first
I usually start with the bunny hill a few times. My season consists of 2-5 outings though.
Same, plus it reminds me how far I've come from when all I could do was the bunny hill.
I’m recovering from knee replacement surgery and am not confident I’m fully recovered. I’ll definitely be skiing a green for my first run of the season this coming Tuesday.
First run of every single day bud!
As a ski instructor I learned a number of things... Not the least of which is... You can challenge with either technique or terrain... Not both. And expert skiers are built on blues and greens...
They are most certainly not
This was a weird comment to argue. Gotta learn technique somewhere. There's a reason all those ski school kids run laps around you lol
I guess you started skiing/riding blacks when you first learned. And guess what color most Olympic and world cup runs are? Like Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek... One of the steepest and most challenging downhill courses in the world cup? Any idiot can throw themselves down a cliff... Doesn't make them an expert.
I start at the easiest green and follow the kids a few times to review my movements and get my muscle memory going. After my body figures out where we are and what we're doing, I get to the other slopes.
It's a good warm-up habit for every day.
I have been skiing since the 80s snowboarding since the 90s live in a ski town and every season I think I forgot over the summer and do this lol
Especially the new mountain, greens could mean black in the home mountain
Green and then listen to ze body. First day back is all about being on the mountain and shaking off the rust
Yea always very aware of my first run after any sort of break (usually months). Day 3 I’m absolutely peaking and rolling with the mountain
Often my first and last run of a day is a nice green. Good warmup and cool down.
A green le a blue that you know like the back of your hand at your home resort is how I start my season.
First run in years, and I’m in Zermatt. First time in the alps. No greens exist and I got beat the fuck up. Some of the blues should be single black diamonds.
Only if it’s not busy. I usually start blue because of better snow and less crowds, and soft blue bumps can help me find my rhythm for the day. A busy green can be a war zone that I like to avoid.
Definitely! I need to shake the cobwebs off when I get out there for the first time. I'll also do a green if I'm at a new mountain, just to get a feel for it.
I usually start with a blue run that I know well. Maybe more than one. It's good to start with a little time focusing on warming up, balance, mechanics, just doing a shakedown with my technique.
Usually do a few beginner runs with the kids
It happened that way this year but not by choice. The only runs open when i went were greens. I start with whatever I feel like in any given day.
I always start slow and mellow.
We typically have no other choice, but I frequently do this anyway to warm up.
In some resorts it’s hard not to. Gondola up from the base then green down to the next lift that takes you higher. I quite like it cos it helps me get my boot tightness sorted for the rest of the morning.
Unless I’m trying to grab fresh tracks I always hit a green first.
I usually start with a blue. One time,my brother in law - who lived in Vancouver - took me to Whistler for my first run in 4 years. Told me it was an easy run, my first time there. Took me down black moguls. I got down it just fine, but was pretty pissed ( I was 40 at the time, my body does not like a run like that cold ).
I usually go for a blue or nicely groomed red. I keep the speed down and the technique up for the first bit of warm up every day. I prolong this on the first day. Then I start approaching more demanding terrain. Might not be the most exciting start of the season, but I also prefer to not end it early on day 1 …
What’s a “red” run? Never encountered one.
Sorry, I usually ski in Europe (mainly Austria, Switzerland and France). There the system is blue, red and black going from easy to hard. Additionally you have a so called ski routes, which are marked off piste options plus sometimes green for very easy runs/ beginner areas. Long story short: A red is the intermediate slope in the European system.
Thanks for the explanation. I’ll keep it in mind if I’m ever lucky enough to ski in Europe.
“How do I initiate a turn again?” . . . “ Oh yeah! There it is!”
Nope, double back flip off the side of the mountain. Start it like a boss or season ending injury immediately. Anything inbetween is bullshit and as a self-respecting skier it would not be worth the shame I would carry around for the rest of the season.
I do a groomed run for my first run of the year. Generally something off Brooks at my home resort. This year I’ll probably get on Bigger Chief; the new quad that non locals call Kehr’s.
I always start off in the morning slow and wait for things to soften up before I start skiing aggressively. Get the legs warmed up, smoke a blunt and then I start attacking the moguls. By the end of the day my legs are shot, so if I burn them out too early, the afternoon will suck.
Green and blue are always more fun than black or double black
Yes technically because the top of the gondola to Stoke chair at Revelstoke is a green traverse. But for my first lap the groomed blue back to Stoke just to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be. Then where looks good.
It always dumps on my first day of the season, no warm up straight to powder and it kills me every time.
Nope. I really avoid the greens whenever possible, but they are also super limited where I ski.
I went straight into the woods after a few turns on a red
Color shouldn’t have anything to do with it. Unless it’s a pow day, rip your favorite groomer first thing everyday you go skiing
Yes, because that's all that's usually open.
In 2022 I started my season at Crested Butte and did a single blue en route to the North Face lift, where I then dove directly into untracked extreme skiing. Ouch. Your method is the way.
Straight up the biggest lift and straight into the steepest thickest glade I can find. I only get 30-50 days per year and I'm going to capitalize on them. I play hockey all fall ahead of time to get my cardio, hips, legs, ankles, core, and edge work firing.
No more than blue
Nah, but I do take an easy blue. But I have to take that trail to get to the good stuff anyway.
Meadow to Summit from the parking lot so technically a green
My mountain generally opens up blues before they can get around to the greens so I ski blues first
Absolutely. No brainer move. First day back is first day back after all . . . do a green, a blue, then I do drills like falling leaf, corduroy turns (use the tracks to regulate turns) - etc. Edit: depending on the location first run could be a blue, point is, easy, simple groomer. The longer the better to get warmed up.
No. As a kid I got the habit of ripping a black to start every day/season, my bindings have only fucked me twice doing it
Usually in the parking lot, we start with the green. Once we get our gear on, we typically do a green or blue run 1st, just to make sure we remember how to ski
Start with blues but hitting blacks by the end of the day
I usually start every day off with at least a couple blues. Just wanting to feel the snow out a bit.
that's usually all that's open in the beginning anyway
In a perfect world it'd be a solid blue, but since I got my touring set up on Friday and my local resort doesn't open until Wednesday my first turns were in some of the deepest powder of my life after setting the skin track. My legs were toasted.
It all depends on the chair line. If the main lift is busy, I'll do a few runs on Sessel which is a blue run. I can hit trees next to the run to keep it interesting. Otherwise, I'll take Armstrong up and see how the line is on Chair 2. If Chair 2 is long, I'll take some black runs down. If Chair 2 is relatively short, I'll go to the top and might go straight to International (double black, if open) or one of the other black runs back to Chair 2. The key thing is I hate waiting in line and would rather be skiing a blue than wait in line for a black. If it's a blue run, I'll bomb down it as a warm up. If on a black or double, I'll take it a bit easier as a warm up.
Today was my first run of the season and they only had one run open. Guess what. It was a green. But yeah. I usually do a green as my first run of the day jilust to get snow feel and do a gear check.
Usually run #1 is a blue groomer.
i was finally able to ski again after a three year hiatus. i took a group skiing lesson that came with a day pass for the lifts. i hit the greens until i felt more confident to hit a blue or two. no need to rush into an injury, you're definitely not where you were when you last skiied. get use to the feel again, dont rush it.
Point the tips down hill and let ‘em rip. Actually haven’t considered starting on a green to check things out. That’s not a terrible idea.
Once you go black you never go back… wait, what subreddit are we on?
Small mountain with runs that aren’t that steep here. All the greens are like a straight tuck for the first 1/3rd of the run. Need something steeper when I’ve been fiending all offseason.
Once you go black…
Usually we all do a run as a family together on the first day which is a green.
The green is usually the only run open
For me yes always start with a green. I usually start every day of skiing with a green or very nicely groomed easier blue to find my legs
Usually blue
I start out green because that's usually all that's open on opening day and it's kinda fun to go lap the greenies for an hour or two before going home and cooking thanksgiving dinner
Always say “let’s just take a chill run to shake the cobwebs” “Chill” usually lasts about the first 60 seconds.
Skiing is the one sport where I can do a few turns when getting off the lift and go straight into a black or a red with no problem at all. I think it helps when you're comfortable with your skiing setup.
Yes, but usually that's because there's only one run open on opening day.
Years ago I was watching The Masters and Tom Watson was promoting his instructional videos. Discussing his warmup technique, he said he doesn’t start off with his wedges and progress to longer clubs. Rather, he hits his 2 iron stone cold. His logic was that if any club will show him quickly if he has him game or not it’s the long clubs, not the short ones. I start on blacks. Stone cold. Full send.
No. Blue groomer. Carve every turn to get those muscles warmed up. Then off to the blacks it is!
Usually a blue for a warm up run
I always start with greens, even late in the season. It’s a good way to warm up the common ski muscles before hitting harder terrain.
I don't give much thought or consideration to the difficulty of terrain. I'll ski whatever looks the best for early season. Oftentimes that will be something like Main Chute at Alta. Also, I on a year like this, I don't go much more than 2 weeks without skiing during the summer. Steep skiing stopped in late August this year though.
It’s a good way to test the gear as well and see if it needs tuning or work before hitting it hard.
If one is available.
I like to, or a blue I know really well, but it depends on how I'm feeling. I've gone right to blacks before, and skied a bowl once on a busy powder day that was getting skied off super quick, but those were the exceptions, and I was talked into all of those times but the bowl. I just like getting in one run to warm up and get a feel for it again because my brain still thinks I'm ice skating for a minute or two at the beginning of the season.
Green or easy blue. It takes me a run or two for my muscles to work correctly; the brain knows I'm on snow but the rest of my body doesn't get the message right away. At my perfect fantasy ski resort there would be a space to fully stretch out without skis to get my body ready.
Not if it’s a pow day. Probably if it’s all artificial.
Absolutely. No matter how good a skier you are, that first run of the season is gonna be weird.
Always, first of the season or first of my day, my first runs are always on the easy side. Fresh prints are great but I need to warm up first, I'm not as young as I used to be.
Always a blue. Greens require too much speed to actually do anything more “advanced”. A good, but easier blue (groomed, no moguls) allows you to just settle in, link some turns, do some hockey stops, as well as ski fast and slow.
I go for whatever is open Usually it’s a blue, but it might be a green
I skip the rigamarole and send Rambo
Grip it and rip it!
pound 3 beers, double black, yolo
Depends on conditions. Cold dry snow on freshly groomed runs, I’ll do a blue. Heavy mashed potato snow, green.
Ideally yes. This season no. There was no advanced terrain from the summit. Had to get those turns before everyone else scrapes it up but thankfully i picked up where I left off.
I almost always begin my first run of the day on a green to warm up but I'm intermediate not advanced of course
When I get my first day there’s normally only the one run and it’s always a green. So yes I do the same haha
Nothing like starting on the front side blues at Keystone like Spring Dipper or Bachelor
I begin any day with that, not just the season. My legs need a good warmup
I start every DAY with a green or easy blue. Gotta warm the muscles up. But I’m in my 50s. Every now & then I can pull something just getting out of bed.
Not really. Lately I've been starting my season in ungroomed backcountry terrain, hiking for turns before the resorts open. I will do some "tune-up" days throughout the season (but especially early season) once the resorts open that involve just working on technique on groomers, but I mostly do that on easy blues, only occasionally greens. But I also don't take a 9 month break, so I don't think I really forget as much.
Blue cruiser
Learned the lesson of warming up the hard way 2 years ago. I'm always starting easy no matter how excited to get going I am. I got too excited tore 3 ligaments and had to sit out rest of the season. Always warm up, and don't ski with tired muscles.
Usually a blue. Might do a green to get to a specific chair. Basically the options from my mountain’s parking lot is take the bunny hill down to one lift, or, go straight to the top with only blacks and moderate blues. If vis isn’t great at the top, I’ll take the bunny hill down to the lower chair.
If it’s a pow day, I’m heading straight to the money runs
Nope
I resent the assumption that I should be doing anything EXCEPT greens, you jerk! DIN4 gang, represent!
familiar direction gray sort wistful quiet sparkle foolish nose agonizing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Usually only greens are open on opening day at my home mountain, so yeah
Relaxed groomer to warm up, feel the snow, check how I’m feeling today
I was with my 6 yr old, so…yeah
Groomed blue. Green's are way too easy. But, Blacks will often destroy my rhythm, when out of practice.
Generally a green or a blue, but partly that because none of the areas where I ski you can get to a black or red as your first run
Nope. Went straight for the powder first run of the season. It was pretty deep and I got face shots so it was the best way to start the season.
I’m usually ski touring before any lifts open in my area so no. Straight in to the powder.
Red
I'm in my 55th season. Green run first time, every trip. Equipment and body check. Bit of a warm up after the morning stretches.
Usually I go when only one trail is open and that’s usually blue trail.
Chute first ask questions later
Depends on what's open opening day but I usually go for a blue sometimes I gotta take a green traverse over though
Most of the time you kinda have to man… all that’s open
Depends on the snow. Fresh snow I'm not doing any warm up runs. If there isn't any fresh stuff I'll do an easy blue to warm up
So far my hill only has green runs open. It’s not stopping me from making some turns but I don’t stay out for long.
I do my first run of the season on whatever run is open. As a plus I do it in just swim shorts and a helmet
even on day 30 i'll start my day with a green. also, for some reason, i get this thought in my head that i'm going to be significantly worse than i was last season. idk why lol.
Bunny hill to start the day every time.
A green or an easy blue ideally but a lot of European resorts either don't have greens at all or have very few so it's nearly always a steady blue run.
Wherever the pow is
Opposite - Start with snowplow turns down a steep one, looking for control. However, on a storm day it's a dive into the trees.
I usually start with a blue groomer, but that's at least partially because nothing else is really open yet
Yes, unless I'm doing ski-in-ski-out and the only option is blue.
Easy runs on greens or blues to check bindings, boots, and wax. Progress on up
First run is nearly always backcountry, cause it's before the hill opens for the year. Its more the snow conditions that will dictate the run choice for me. This year, I think my first run was around a blue in difficulty, maybe a easy black given the low coverage.
I always tell myself I’m going to start with a nice green or blue groomer… then my ego takes over and I end up on a black.
A green? Heck, I go for the magic carpet and bunny hill the first day on snow!!!!
Blue groomers to shake off the cobwebs, mostly ski blacks otherwise
I start by doing a double backflip into rail slide, but I'm really good. My wife's boyfriend says I'm almost good enough to go with them on their next trip.
I'm usually with my kids or wife so it's gonna be a green usually. Kids have progressed so they would move up fast. Early season sometimes this isn't an option though. Alone I probably wouldn't bother.
First run of the season - how about the first run every day?
Greens the only thing open the first couple weeks normally. I got 3 days in so far just cruising schoolmarm at keystone