[Closed] The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2013-2014 season

1. Ski Famille, Flashy, you've been told once already.

2. Some Now IPO bindings - well I'd been interested in them and with 40%,off the 2013s...

They don't go to Serre Che. 🙁 Look ace, though!

Have friends out there, and love skiing there, so don't really want to 'change resorts' just because of Little Miss CFH. Am selfish like that!

Well hopefully I'll be doing my first non indoor boarding at some point....maybe Scotland for Xmas, Serre Che or Tignes through ucpa in Feb, maybe Jansa over Easter.

New kit....I need a helmet and goggles and a decent jacket to hit the slopes in. Tried some Burton Mission bindings at the weekend, much preferred them to my K2 indies...hmm...!

Doing my first freestyle session this Friday 😯

Never ever call snowboarding 'boarding'. 😉
http://whitelines.mpora.com/features/debate/dont_call_it_boarding.html

Snow & Rock have a massive sale on Ski wear at the mo..

I'm booked for Solden mid January with the boys plus need another one, maybe new-year, with the girls. Just bought a new board and [i]really[/i] going to try to not spend any more "this season", though I've been thinking about a 'sponder...

You have good taste in jackets CFH. Love how light it is.

Snow and rock at port solent has a sale on at the moment but not a massive amount in it I thought. Did get a half decent set of poles though with 40% off.

It's all about stealth jackets and LOUD trousers if you ask me!

This is the look I was 'rocking' last season. Black jacket and two pairs of trousers one Kelly green one bright blue.

We should be going back to Morzine in Feb for the third year in a row. I just have to not hire horrible Salomon boots and to not bugger up my ankle again.

Hmmmmmm..... I want more lessons with Darren Turner in Serre Che next year but I love Austria. Decisions, decisions!

I have a pair of 188 Whitedot Directors (they're actually prototypes...) When I first skied them (on piste, on the way to the good stuff) I thought they were a massive mistake. They're terrible on piste, as in really bad. Then I tried them in deep snow and never looked back. I just have to make I don't get them out if I'm only skiing with the family... Also, the guys at Whitedot are very friendly and know their stuff. The new carbon skis looks great!

Yay! Summer solstice has been and gone. Winter's on its way 🙂 \o/

New gear for this year will be a new jacket I think. And some more base layers probably. Quite tempted to do an N+1 (well N+2 I guess?) on skis.

Played about on Whitedot One's and Movement Jam last yr. Like the latter, but really wanted to play some more on them. Too similar to my Rictors though.

Also had a play on a pair of Stöckli FIS Slalom skis for a day. Something along those lines is now very much on my "I really need a pair of them" list. Pricey, but I might just say sod it and order a pair. Ace on piste, and didn't kill me.

Where to go...? Dolomites again probably. Austria for some weekends again (drive down after work and back on Sunday pm). Then either Meribel, or Tignes, or Folgarida for a potential week of skills enhancement. Oh and maybe somewhere for Christmas.

Got withdrawal symptoms now.

I've just had my first weekend skiing of the season 8)

Mt Hutt on Saturday, Broken River on Sunday.

Where to go next weekend??

Aaaaahhhhhh.

Cairngorm for the season, Lecht and Glenshee, probably with a couple of trips to the Alps, Austrian in variety methinks 😛

We should be going back to Morzine in Feb for the third year in a row. I just have to not hire horrible Salomon boots and to not bugger up my ankle again.

3rd year in a row? Time to be buying your own boots, I'd say! Get thee to a decent shop and buy some!

Agree with Flashy, worth buying boots for next season.

There'll be no new kit purchases and I'm faced with the possibility of no ski trip this year too 🙁

Got fed up with work so from the end of the month I'll be jobless. However, I'm hoping that I'll be a student for just one year and will start to have a lot more annual leave than I've ever had!

Serre Chev......went there in 1986, never found anywhere better since!

I just booked a cheeky 4.5 days skiing between christmas and new year taking my 13 yr old daughter. We fly BA to munich £300, pick up a car £120 drive 1hr to Neiderau, stay 4 nights in a Hotel £350 and have the whole area to choose from....Soll, Westendorf, Kitsbuhel. Ski passes about £120 for adults. Food and drink is cheaper than at home!

Just a little warm up before my Boys trip end of Feb to the same area.

Rockape - Hotel Staffler and a Salzburger Superski pass?

I would love to buy some boots but unfortunately because of my knackered ankle (I broke it on my first ever day of skiing). I don't know if or when it will be fixed properly so I don't want to commit to boots until it is better. At the moment skiing hurts quite a lot and it is difficult to turn right because of the force I have to use on my left ankle. This year should be better as long as I don't have a silly crash again.

Either way I think I am going to get a new helmet and possibly goggles for this season.

We've booked flights and accomodation for Feb half term.
Same as last year.
Fly LH Manchester-Munich.
Pick up a hire car and over the Brenner to Kronplatz.
Brilliant little family run Gasthof outside of Bruneck that we've used about half a dozen times over the years. [url= http://www.neunhaeusern.com/ ]http://www.neunhaeusern.com/[/url]

My 14yo daughter will need new skis this year too. She's got her heart set on Volkl Race Tigers but she's probably a bit light to get the best out of them. Any suggestions for other 80%+ piste ski for a light but very fast & capable intermediate? (not looking for a full-on GS ski)

Rockape - Hotel Staffler and a Salzburger Superski pass?

Correct Hammerite! well almost...I'll be there in Feb/march but couldn't get in in December so found a place just up the road that will do the job.

Regarding boots, I nearly bought some last year as I went twice. However I didn't, but hired in Norway and Austria and both were great!

Meanwhile my pal who spent a LOT of money on his, had all the inserts etc struggled with them.

so I'm sticking to hiring again this year.

Any suggestions for other 80%+ piste ski for a light but very fast & capable intermediate? (not looking for a full-on GS ski)

I tried some Nordica Spitfires a while back and was very, very, very impressed. Well worth a look. (Not sure what their 2014 range looks like yet, though)

Ecky....is it really worth buying ski's for a 14 yr old? I'm finding the quality of hire ski's in the better shops is very good. What are the maths?

Not got any buying plans. I bought my first solid board for 13 years at the end of last season, a Dupraz D1 5'5. Beatiful thing, and more fun than any snowboard I've ridden for a long time.

I might get a new set of bindings, though. Old Salomon Relays are getting a bit tired.

No plans so far other than to go back to the Lyngen Alps in northern Norway, hopefully for two weeks.

Two days this year just whetted the appetite!

Thought it might be. I was looking at the Staffler last week as a budget possibility just in case we can manage to get away next season.

It is a bit cheap and cheerful (staffler) and you all have to sit down to eat at 6.30pm which is a bit early. But great skiing all around.

One of my chums has just bought an apartment in Bourg St Maurice so we'll be going there for some touring in Jan. I did a gearfreaks overdose at the end of last season and bought a complete touring set up. No more piste for me....

#adds to favourites#

I hope to get over to the Alps this year, there was so much snow last year that a) the local stuff was great b) the roads were awful and I didn't fancy being stuck for days.

No more piste for me

We get by quite nicely on cheap and cheerful Rockape, so long as there's a bed and the food is edible we're not too fussy! The skiing is much more important.

Ecky....is it really worth buying ski's for a 14 yr old? ...
... What are the maths?

In purely financial terms, probably not.

Being the first on the slopes in the morning - priceless. 😀

Ah well fair enough....I'm arriving midday so a quick detour via the hire shop will be okay. Plus none of the hassle with dragging them out there.......

I've decided not to go this year

I've done 1-3 trips a year since 2000 and I'm getting jaded with all the powder in Canada

1st world problems and all that

Just need a fresh challenge

Time to go skiing in Scotland then plumber (in an average season that is)

Did my first freestyle session tonight.....not as easy as it looks is it 😯 plenty of spills but my ego bore the brunt of them 🙂

Coaching is definitely required!

Going up to Hemel for a midday play on monday if anyone's around? Need to cool down! New forest nearly ended me today!

Ahhh, the Fridge! Love a bit of a play there! Used to session it silly when testing skis. OK, so not exactly shredding the gnat, but great fun all the same.

Used to work in the Glasgow one so I don't mind them at all. They've got a deal of £60 for the whole month. Mon to thurs only though I think.

I'll be at the Cfe for a few hours tomorrow night attempting some more freestyle!

😳 I managed 20 mins before Mrs B had to drive me home! Initially thought that I'd broken my wrist-hopefully just a sprain though.

Need any helpful advice you guys have.

I used to ski a little as a kid - bit of alpine, mainly cross-country. I wasn't great but I could parallel on a set of 210 straight edged XC skis.

Then I did my knees in my early 20s.

These days I ride a snowboard, but my 7 year old (who is disturbingly competent on skis) is desperate for us to ski together.

Now I can't snowplough, but if I can skip and parallel straight off then I reckon I might be OK.

I've been to Cas Xscape and they said private lessons and rocker skis and I might well be able to do it (I don't want to try for the first time in the Alps and wreck a week on the snowboard).

So. Am I mad? What (constructive) advice do you have?

My personal opinion is that it's best to have a strong foundation to build on, so that means nailing the basics. If you accidentally take a wrong turn down a more technical slope, or even just when in the lift queues, snow plough comes in handy.

At braehead, we used to get lots of people coming in who had not been skiing in years and didn't know where they would fit in with the lesson structure. Private lessons is a good but pricey call. I'd book onto a level 2 group lesson and explain the situation to the instructor.

Anyways, just spent 3 hrs bumming (ahem) about hemel. An older local guy I've met a couple of times turned up with his tellies as well so had a wee brush up on technique. Felt like stepping into a sauna when I left though then traffic jam on m3 in this heat while needing a piss. Not fun.

igm, there's a school of thought among modern instructors that it's better to skip snow-plough and go straight to parallel turning anyway. Bit like using a balance bike instead of stabilisers to learn to ride a bike!

Even so, I think you would struggle to find group lessons following this approach. Private lessons may be the best way to go.

Plowing kills my legs but is necessary for two reasons.
1. I'm crap.
And More importantly.
2. Because my kids cant ski at the same speed as I do when parallel so I need to plow to ski next to them.

Is it your knees that are stopping you plowing? If not then it would be good to learn to parallel if only to be slow enough for your kid.

Taking the family to Bansko in early Jan and then the main event...my annual trip with the lads early March. Snows been great over the past few years so hopefully it'll be more of the same next year. Can't wait.