Off piste is for most the summit. When riding you should aware about everything beneath and above you. Many times you look upward and realized that particular rock/cliff could be nice for a jump but it didn’t look that way when standing on top of it. More dramatic is the rock and cliff that DO look nice to jump of when standing on top. Later when you look back (after a alternative route) you think, “That cliff could kill me definitely!” The moral is that you should know for 100% sure that the landing zone or de way you going to take is safe and controllable by your capabilities.

In my opinion it is better that those edges areN’T marked or signposted. It will definitely give some people the feeling that safety people control these areas. You should only rely on your own skills or the one’s of the guide.

André

A difficult area, perhaps. The off=piste area in question had been heavily skied, and was generally known to the young man from a trip the year before.

His body took quite a while to find and there is a suggestion that because of the cliff formation, when viewed from below, it may not have been very apparent of the inherent danger.

The area in question, it is understood, was subsequently marked to highlight the danger.

This a view of the run in question. The bumps run is under the chairlift. The cliffs are visible from the bottom of the lift.

http://www.raveaboutit.com/images/cote_brune_off_piste.jpg

If you are skiing off-piste you should know where you are going.  End of story.

If you don’t know the area, check your route first. Too many people go shooting off with no idea of what is below them. The perfect example of this is the Pas de Chev - Chamonix where you find numerous people traversing the cliffs looking for the exit couloir.