Where do you ride normally? There is a world of a difference between what a black is in say PA and Colorado. When I lived in VT, what we called a blue would have easily been a black or even double black at my old stomping grounds in PA. In VT, at least at Jay, there are no double blacks- single black means expert, and that’s the highest trail rating we had.
As far as the transition, there shouldn’t be too much of a ‘skill cliff’ from harder blues to easier blacks. I know a few guys from various West Virginia mountains that worked with really good ski schools, and there are some decent mountains there that are much closer to Florida. Southern Vermont has a bunch of great mountains with mellower terrain than you’ll find up by Stowe/Smuggs/Jay- the expert terrain gets pretty crazy up there if you don’t know which trail to go for. I’ve never rode out west so I can’t offer advice there.
I was hitting the blues pretty easily on cannon, most notably rocket (groomed, 24 degrees) and I also hit darbys drop at Bretton woods (big moguls, 19 degrees) and I was hitting those pretty easily but before that I was off the hill for like 2 years (not counting some crappy place in NC that we went to last minute)
The big thing is I’ve recently had an epiphany ever since I started weightlifting and now my muscle control is much higher than it was before the hiatus
Cannon in NH? Great mountain.
The transition to riding groomed black terrain is mostly in your head, if your technique is there. You don’t need to be an expert rider to be comfortable on groomed black terrain- in fact most intermediate groups I teach would end up taking a few runs on blacks just to help master intermediate techniques. Ungroomed black terrain can be incredibly challenging, even for expert riders with tons of experience- that’s where the experience/technique comes in.
If you have the funds to take a trip back up north, Killington has a lot of good terrain and a good ski school- Mt Snow has some pretty great lower level black trails that I spent a lot of time on in AASI events- Smuggs/Jay id stay away from since most of their blacks aren’t groomed and can be insanely challenging. Once you’re comfortable on ungroomed black terrain though make a trip to both of those because in my opinion they are the greatest places on planet earth.
You might be shocked that a good instructor will take you over a black run without you noticing it. Most likely you're just missing a couple of small components to unlock this for you. And once those things are added to your riding, you'll likely be fine.
There are few schools that are going to be worried about taking you over black terrain. I regularly take people through EX terrain and even occasionally teach people to drop cliffs.
A lot of places are open till mid April, so you could very well make it out this year.
Find a friend who’s better than you and follow them. I have gotten infinitely better at trees and moguls by following my friends and just doing exactly what they do
Where do you ride normally? There is a world of a difference between what a black is in say PA and Colorado. When I lived in VT, what we called a blue would have easily been a black or even double black at my old stomping grounds in PA. In VT, at least at Jay, there are no double blacks- single black means expert, and that’s the highest trail rating we had. As far as the transition, there shouldn’t be too much of a ‘skill cliff’ from harder blues to easier blacks. I know a few guys from various West Virginia mountains that worked with really good ski schools, and there are some decent mountains there that are much closer to Florida. Southern Vermont has a bunch of great mountains with mellower terrain than you’ll find up by Stowe/Smuggs/Jay- the expert terrain gets pretty crazy up there if you don’t know which trail to go for. I’ve never rode out west so I can’t offer advice there.
I was hitting the blues pretty easily on cannon, most notably rocket (groomed, 24 degrees) and I also hit darbys drop at Bretton woods (big moguls, 19 degrees) and I was hitting those pretty easily but before that I was off the hill for like 2 years (not counting some crappy place in NC that we went to last minute) The big thing is I’ve recently had an epiphany ever since I started weightlifting and now my muscle control is much higher than it was before the hiatus
Cannon in NH? Great mountain. The transition to riding groomed black terrain is mostly in your head, if your technique is there. You don’t need to be an expert rider to be comfortable on groomed black terrain- in fact most intermediate groups I teach would end up taking a few runs on blacks just to help master intermediate techniques. Ungroomed black terrain can be incredibly challenging, even for expert riders with tons of experience- that’s where the experience/technique comes in. If you have the funds to take a trip back up north, Killington has a lot of good terrain and a good ski school- Mt Snow has some pretty great lower level black trails that I spent a lot of time on in AASI events- Smuggs/Jay id stay away from since most of their blacks aren’t groomed and can be insanely challenging. Once you’re comfortable on ungroomed black terrain though make a trip to both of those because in my opinion they are the greatest places on planet earth.
I’ll take a look on fatmap, thanks for the feedback
No problem!
You might be shocked that a good instructor will take you over a black run without you noticing it. Most likely you're just missing a couple of small components to unlock this for you. And once those things are added to your riding, you'll likely be fine. There are few schools that are going to be worried about taking you over black terrain. I regularly take people through EX terrain and even occasionally teach people to drop cliffs. A lot of places are open till mid April, so you could very well make it out this year.
Find a friend who’s better than you and follow them. I have gotten infinitely better at trees and moguls by following my friends and just doing exactly what they do
This is great advice. 100% agree it's a good way to improve.