Hey all, a quick correction on this video: around 1:48, we mentioned that the green/blue/black rating system has become a "widely recognized standard worldwide." We should have clarified that "worldwide" does not refer to every region, and that several areas in Europe, South America, and Asia abide by different standards. This system is really used in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand-and to a certain extent in Scandinavia, with greens and blues being easier than in other countries. Thanks for watching!

Who else can’t wait for ski season to start???

These are actually not the same worldwide. In most of Europe Blue (no specific shapes used) means about the same as Green Circle in America, Red corresponds to Blue Square (not just to Double Blue Square) while Black is similar to Black Diamond (but typically groomed.) A few European countries use Green for very easy. Some use Orange or Yellow for expert or off-piste (ungroomed) itineraries, corresponding to Double Black Diamond terrain.

Here are some tips I gathered from skiing out West for a few years. If you typically ski alone and want to venture into double black/extreme terrain, wait at the Avy Gate for other people to ski in first. Don’t flag people down, but if someone else stops politely ask if you can ski with them on the particular run. Nine out of ten times people will be kind and receptive. More eyes on the variable terrain the better for everyone as long as you keep a safe distance from others. Plus, it’s often easier to execute a line if you see someone else do it first. Always know how to self rescue and self arrest. Go into avy gates with a charged phone or walkie talkie. Know where to stop above and to the side of a fall line. Make sure your boots are tight. Take your time. Don’t speed run if you aren’t confident in where you’re going, even if you’re a good skier. Traversing often makes skiing down extreme terrain easier, but don’t get cliffed out. Practice your kick turns on easier runs. Stay clear of tree wells. If you found a powder stache, that’s great. Make sure you know how to get back to the defined tracks because a powder Stache can appear before cliffs. Make sure your skis are the proper width and underfoot for extreme terrain (rentals might not cut it depending on the mountain). Use powder baskets on polls. Wear a helmet. If nothing I said here made sense, google is your friend and maybe find a ski instructor for your first time!

2:57 I was thinking “that tree looks familiar 🤔” then I realized it was the same one i almost hit learning how to snowboard at Tahoe 😂

Also remember that the green/blue/black designations vary from hill to hill and are relative to that hill only. A black diamond in the east will likely be very different than a black at the western slopes.

I remember once my novice friends decided to try a black diamond trail that was like 6 feet wide and was almost straight down. We tried it on our snowboards and we ended up sliding on our butts the whole way down and that was when I decided the mellow runs are actually way more fun and chill, plus less chance for hurting yourself.

Wow, that Disney connection to the trail ratings is really interesting... Ive skied my whole life and never once asked myself where the system came from. Thanks for including that!

Rather than "beginner, intermediate, advanced," the colored symbols are often described as denoting "easier", "more difficult", "most difficult". This helps make clear that they are explanatory of RELATIVE difficulty among various runs for that particular resort and do not provide information related to other resorts. My daughter, raised skiing and riding Washington State, with some experience at resorts in Canadian and Oregon, found herself at a small resort in upstate New York during grad school and came away with the observation that a black run there was the same steepness as a steep green in the Pacific NW.

An under-rated trail sign in Canada is "easiest way down", which can frequently use green or perhaps skip green when snow or grooming is poor (especially in spring melt) to denote where snow conditions (and not only angle) are in fact the safest way to the base

In Austria, Germany and Switzerland, we have a blue, red and a black circle. For trails there is a red diamond or for the hard ones a red diamond with black edges.

I grew up skiing in the Alps and after moving to the USA and skiing there a bit, I've found that I still prefer the European designation of trails. The green slopes there are your bunny hills/easier greens, the blues there are trails that are steeper than greens but are still groomed and don't have bumps. Reds are trails that are steeper than blues but still groomed with the introductions of some bumps; this is what I find blues to be like at least on the east coast. Then blacks are ungroomed, steeper terrain which is equivalent to black diamonds here and then there are expert blacks which are your double blacks and above. In addition, I've found that resorts in the Alps at least all have trail markers along the way with the color or grade of the run and number markers every so often. This helps a lot not get lost when conditions are bad and I think I've only seen something similar once at Hunter mountain (which you featured earlier in the video =) ). I wish more resorts did that.

Content is evolving and I’m all for it, keep it guys I absolutely love the videos!

Besides the incredibly informative video, the quality is amazing. Some of these shots, especially at the triple black diamond trails, were so crisp.

Whenever i visit a new mountain i always start with the green and work my way up the levels so there are no surprises.

I love how you showed my home mountain Stowe so much

Another great video, well done!

Great content! Keep up the good work!

I've been skiing for 14 years and still found this video very helpful

I was genuinely enlightened by the content in the video.

All your content is fantastic, love this channel! I’d be interested in a video going over the ski gear you use Sam, how you maintain it, and how often.

Best channel on yt, hands down.

I'm like 400miles from the nearest resort, and i still watch this with genuine interest lol

All I can say is that the orange oval should be treated like a black diamond. The amount of kids I jumped over and close calls I had in the park this year was concerning and honestly infuriating

Great explanation

I’ve never skied before and I might go skiiing in 2 weeks so thanks for this video😊🎉

OMG I LOVE BEAVER CREEK SO MUCH I KNEW THAT’S WHERE YOU WERE!!

This is so interesting! It seems that American resorts are very different from European resorts in several ways. For one, basically all marked runs are groomed and cleared of obstacles in Europe. There are some ungroomed free terrain runs, but they are a rarity. Many of these double and triple black diamond runs seem like they would involve quite a bit of avalanche risk? I wonder if they are closed a lot of the time? Especially with the american approach to liabilty, it would seem many of these are a lawsuit waiting to happen (not saying that's right). In Europe, anything in a forest or dropping off a cliff or something like that would be considered off-piste, which is something many skiers consider something of a diviving line that many are hesistant to cross.

I would rate myself a blue square 🟦 snowboarder but it’s still so much fun! I love it

This was quite informative and accurate to my knowledge. I ski the intermediates or easy blues starting with the greens at the start of the season. I go to different resorts in East Coast, west coast and also in Europe. The ratings of terrains are definitely relative across resorts, so much that I can ski 'black' in a small ski area. However varies the blues and blacks are, the easy ones are always good for beginners in the USA. But to my surprise, I found the Stubai Glacier in Austria to be rated quite differently. I literally got stuck at one easy run as it was steep like a blue in the USA and very long. I hit it by mistake and it was my first day skiing in the season. I couldn't do it. I had to be helped down by another very kind and expert skiier and I fell a lot, which I never do even during the blues. (My legs were not in the best shape strength wise tbh but I never fall regardless). I did write to the resort to share my experience and ask if the trail was rated accurately and they said that it was an easy trail and marked as such. I cannot agree with that but I don't know enough about their rating system. How are the ratings different across the European resorts compared to the ones in USA?A video comparing ratings internationally would be great because I plan to skiing in different countries.

During my first time skiing 3 years ago, in two days of skiing with family i started from learning how to properly stand or walk with skies, to going down the really steep slope. I was scared as hell when i saw how high it really is close up, but after i did it my confidence sky rocket, ive been on that resort 2 times (now it will be my third) and no matter what i still love that, small, long, high slopes, after one year of pause everything feels like i learn it again but with a little more confidence, its great

I’m so excited to ride all the double blacks

How do you keep making these videos so entertaining. Keep up the amazing work and are you going to visit eroupe any time

Always thought double black and EX marked trails were the same difficulty and have definitely treated them indiscriminately. Good to keep in mind for the future!

Europe has blue runs for advanced beginners and low intermediates, and red for intermediate runs.

I'm going snowboarding on my first snow-trip this coming January in Colorado. I'm super stoked, and hope to accomplish a blue square or two by the end of the trip. We'll see if I'm being overly ambitious LOL

I’ve only seen snow twice in my life but this video was very entertaining

good video! well done

I've never been skiing, nor do I know if I will ever ski in the future, and still got this in my recommended for some reason. And you bet your bottom I'm going to watch the entire thing.

compared to European runs: green circle = groomed blue runs (and green runs France) blue square = groomed harder blue or easy red run double blue square = groomed red run black diamond = ungroomed or groomed black runs or yellow mogul runs double black diamond = ungroomed black runs, yellow mogul runs or unmarked routes (usually only trails found on fatmap, other apps or by guides) triple black diamond = ungroomed unmarked routes in harsh steep terrain with rocks/cliffs (usually only trails found on fatmap, other apps or by guides)

as a former AASI level 3 instructor, I think this video should be the new compulsory orientation video for all newcomers.

5:59 that's paradise at MRG!!! That is the one part of it to avoid if you like your skis, the rock is always exposed. It would probably be labeled as double black to extreme most places. 7:37 is a mandatory cliff! I love that bit!

As a person who’s completed a black diamond and is looking to do a double black diamond this is quite helpful👍

You should do one of these type of videos for mountain biking as well

I'm going a on a ski trip with my class tomorrow im so hyped

Pretty accurate. Black diamonds in my experience have just been steeper but i've been to the same sight many times becuase it makes me feel comftorble

Excellent essay.

As someone who has never seen snow, I think this is cool

In the 90s copper mountain had a blue called Bouncer that was my entire childhood. Crazy jumps in and out of the woods off the main run. Man I miss those days with my family.

I’ve done all of these, and I’m on a ski trip rn in Colorado doing ex’s, there so much fun

Good Video 10/10

I’m just here to see the crazy expert terrain these guys shred.

Great video

Good snow as videos!

Great video! Would it be possible to get the locations shown in the Double and Triple black section? I recognize some of them, but the others make me say I need to ski them ASAP!

Well this video sure helped me. I went on Eldora’s hardest blue my first day ever skiing. My second day I successfully went down a black diamond!

Europe, Japan, and Australia all have a red trail before black and after blue.

I have never been skiing in my life but I watched the whole video

FULL SEND!

the highest ive done was double black, some were hard some were easy, glad to know that im actually not as good as i thought id be, would be down to try something harder, its a shame that quebec can only offer so much respect the difficulties & stay safe

I git convinced i to doing a double black in Marmot Basin with some buds, tv and there were times where I was worried for my life. Mind you, I only ski a couple times a year and most of those are hill skiing, at the time I hadn’t been on a true mountain for over 4 years

Hey I recognise some of those trails from Briançon! What an awesome mountain

Depends on the conditions also. Rode a bkue black run. But that day the trail was more of a black diamond. Came back 3 weeks later same trail with more snow the trail was significnatly easier to ride.

The system works well enough that it has been extended over to the mountain biking world to rate MTB trails. The orange freeride circle has also extended over to MTB to designate a trail with jumps, drops, etc.

In Chile 🇨🇱 we use green for beginner. blue for intermediate. Red for intermediate/expert. Black for expert

When I skied my first (and last) EX run in Colorado, I celebrated like I made a hole in one! I was so proud, but haven’t wanted to ski that run again lol!

Here in Norway we also have a red marcker. It is in betwean blue and black

In the canadian rockies we also have designated freeride terrain that requires a shovel beacon and probe to go into

Im a mug skier but ended up on the double black birds of prey at Beaver creek. I didnt realise it was meant to be expert till afterwards. Nice and steep but wide enough to make turns and snow was soft enough that you could hold an edge. OTOH some of the gladed blue runs there were well beyond my comfort level and the black tree runs would have killed me!

Snow sports are so fun, but I live pretty far away from any good places to do it regularly. I do try to go at least once a year and always have blast even though I'm pretty nooby.

It makes me happy that I recognized every single run minus the greens in this video.

I love skiing and I have been on double black dimond

I tore my ACL on a double blue when I was 15 😅 Be careful out there, a bad injury can really happen anywhere!!

Interesting video! I didn't realize Colorado mandated the EX terrain. Would be interested to hear how that came about in another video. And if possible, would you be able to throw a small label in the corner denoting which mountain each video clip is from? I find myself enviously wanting to visit the amazing places shown in your videos, but don't always know which mountain they are from. Thanks!

one thing to keep in mind is that the ratings are more often than not based around sking not snowboarding, trails that are rated to be hard are usually more easy on snow boards. im not sure how true this is but ive been told this alot

Be aware that the green circle, blue square and black diamond system is mostly unique to the USA. For example in most of europe the slopes are classified with blue for easy, red for medium, black for hard, yellow/orange for off-piste and in some countries green for very easy. (Heck, even to describe slopes Americans need their own measuring system xD)

The rating is the same as for mountain biking. Except past double black there is orange diamond called "pro line". Mandatory gaps, jumps, dropdowns.

been snowboarding since like 9 but still thoroughly enjoyed this. I would add on to the end: terrain park features are usually individually marked with a size from S to XXL, some resorts also have XS. The sign at the entrance to a park will say "this park has S-L features", for example.

I tried Blue once, and my life flashed before my eyes! I'll stick with Green, thank you very much.

@ 1:50 these ratings are not used worldwide. In Europe (at least the Alps GER/CH/AT,) they are different as we use blue (easy), red (intermidiary) and black (expert). Also there are no shapes attached to them.

Personally I prefer expert terrains in dense forest although I'm a bit more weary of forced air as I've gotten a commotion during one once but weirdly enough if it's in the forest i wont mind as much the forced air since i usually go pretty fast in these terrains which makes the landing smoother. I believe that here in quebec 3 diamonds might be less difficult then what you showcased but I haven't skied in the last 2 years

Love the content, You guys coming to Mt hood this season?

First place I ever skied was the little place of Badger Pass near Yosemite. I was hauling ass down their beautifully groomed blue square runs and feeling like I could take on the world. Then I went to Bald Mountain at Sun Valley, Idaho thinking their blue square runs were just as easy. Boy was I wrong.

In Poland we grade difficulty only in colour. Bunny slopes are green. Easy slopes are blue. Medium are red and hard are black

Was some of the footage filmed at Hunter in NY, I think I recognize it.

I first saw that in Webkinz Polar Plunge

Was on a black diamond as a kid and remember having someone tell me I did good only falling over 3 times (end of my first week skiing)

I’ve never ski’d in my life but I’m here button ------------>

In Austria there are circles for prepared slopes and diamonds for unprepared ski routes. In Austria there are no green slopes as far as I know, only blue, red and black. I have seen green slopes in France and also lots of unprepared black slopes that simply had a black circle. The only thing you can really trust are the colors.

Vail tends to underestimate their trails. Greens at Vail, I’ve found, we’re more like blues everywhere else and some blues are more blacks.

If anyone is wondering where he is skiing in the intro it is deer valley in utah

seeing this makes me want to hit the slopes again. after crashing going threw a glade and injurying my knee, i never felt like going back

God i wanna go back and snowboard more. It was a decently expensive trip though XD

In Canada, specifically Ontario. Double black diamond runs can be very easy. They just use the title's reputation to get attention and attract customers.

Palisades has gone back to listing runs as double blacks on their trail map.

I’ve done black and double black diamonds… in Wisconsin

Bro, the first time I went skiing, my friend took me to these very hard forest courses. lol

The Little at Big Sky was absolutely nuts. Next to corbets I think it’s the hardest run in America

In France terrain parks are designated with XS, S, M, L, XL (similar to clothes sizes), not sure if any other country uses this system.

One word to beginners. If you lose controll when skiing and are just going straight down just try fall to your side so you slide down and slow down :D