The nearest thing I’ll get to skiing this season is the 10 minutes sledging I did on Saturday. It put down over 17cm of snow in our garden on Thursday. It’s snowman city around here 🙂

Quite enjoyed ‘The Jump’ last night. Actually recognised some of the slebs on there.

Surfanic do decent sized split rollers at £40-50 – stitching on of zips can be hot and miss with Surfanic so check before you buy but decent quality other than that.

Used them summer and winter for three or four years now.

Harryjan

Easily possible BUT you have to be brave with waiting till 6 days to go before booking, and accept that the choice will be limited.

You might need to book a 1/2 day holiday on monday am to get the very best prices.

SuperBudget . Crystalski
Budget Ski world last minute chalet deals
Then Iglu /Ifyouski lastminute bargains

If still no joy Ebay for accom and train / bus / drive out

Slightly more expensive, but still discounted Neilson and Mark Waner

Won’t somebody think of the base!

No treble?

No, Graham. Because you know I’m all about that base. No treble.

Be alright, couple of sticks of p-tex and a light belt sand, maybe.

To be honest I’ve seen worse conditions at Cairngorm.

Where’s good for base layers these days? All my previous HH ones are a bit knackered and need to get a couple each for mrs DD and myself. Found some bargain jobbies from Dare2B on outdoorclearance.co.uk – mix of cotton and bamboo 😕

Anyone else found anything good for less than twenty calamari?

I use Aldi stuff when they have it. On-one merino is good too for the price

where did you book for in the end?

Not much wrong with Smelly Hellys – you can usually find them fairly cheap somewhere. Likewise the Aldi (Crane?) stuff is fine. Tinky Maxx sometimes have stuff in too at this time of year.

Personally I’d avoid cotton as a base layer as unless it has something clever done to it then it just doesn’t breathe well enough. Merino is supposed to be great but I’ve never found one that doesn’t itch a bit (including all the “non-itch” ones). Maybe I’m just a sensitive type.

Worth looking on Absolute Snow, SportPursuit and other bargain sites. Plenty on there for less than £20.

If you are going in March then there is a fair chance you’ll end up in a t-shirt anyway 😀

Sports direct have their own brand ones for £6.25

I decked out the whole family with Devold merino thermals, when they were on offer at Sportpursuit.
Really comfy, great fit, no itching and no smells.
Merino comes in different grades, you need the finest that you can find: Ultra fine (under 16.9 micron) or Superfine (17 micron to 18.9 micron) should not itch.

HH stuff is still very good too.

Ok, thanks folks. Plenty of options to go and look at. Yeah, won’t be touching cotton. Oh hang on, just realised I was talking out of my arse (nothing new under the sun) about those Dare2B ones – they’re a mix of polyester and bamboo.

Dare2B is the worst name for a clothing brand ever.

What I normally do for baselayers is look for a local outdoor store that has been acquired by JD Sports and is in ‘closing down sale’ mode, then stock up. I have a mix of Helly Hansen (the ‘Warm’ stuff is good), Columbia (still undecided about the stuff lined with tin foil dots), and various brands of Merino stuff. You do get what you pay for with Merino I find.

If you can leave it until the last minute you can easily do a ski/snowboard holiday for £5-600 (if you’ve got your own gear anyway). I’ve had half board accom./flight in Austria for around £250-300 a couple of times. Lift pass is usually around £170.

Beers etc out there aren’t generally too pricy but you do have to be a bit strict about not eating/drinking out too much if you want to stick to the budget.

Dare2B is the worst name for a clothing brand ever.

I stopped giving a shite about that kind of thing years ago tbh. If it works, and is good value, then who cares what it’s called.

Crap (Winter) Sports brand-names (not necessarily crap gear though)…let’s have ’em. 🙂

Trespass!!

Avalanche ski gear might not crap but the name is.

am now awaiting delivery of a new Dakine Split Roller… this bastard website! 👿

You’ve made a good choice there. Could have gone a bit more budget-conscious, and gone for an Animal, but you’ll be pleased with your choice.

I’ve been using heat tech long sleeve t shirts for base layers now for ages from Uniqlo, they seem ok. Am I missing something? My inner snob has never tried Helly Hansen as its a brand for posh sailor lads ?

Agreed dare2b is an appalling name. Trespass, Protest, Head .

I’ve got a couple of decent Dare2B bits that were super cheap. Don’t really care about the name.

BTW for Lancashire/Yorkshire folk, Another World in Ogden has decent snow and is plannin to open every night this week under the floodlights. It’s short but there’s a few different runs and jumps and a great friendly setup. Get down there! Check em out on Facebook.

Could have gone a bit more budget-conscious, and gone for an Animal, but you’ll be pleased with your choice.

I dunno. I’ve been using my Animal bag for skiing, normal holidays and bigger work trips for about ten years now and it’s nearly flawless. One buckle broke, but the lovely people at Animal sorted me out a replacement without even asking about any sort of warranty period.

Normal work travel bag for 3 day trips is a top end Samsonite that gets used a lot more, and sadly is soon to be replaced. Am pondering going for Osprey to replace both eventually.

The DaKine ones are damned good, mind you.

Actually…..Animal is a rubbish name! I remember buying one of their watchstraps in about 88 and loving it, but they’ve just got too big now. And their “sponsorship” of Mitsubishi plumbers wagons is awful.

It’s ok flashy, I’m sure yours works fine. Sometimes, the budget option Is worth the risk.

🙂

If it works, and is good value, then who cares what it’s called.

As a wise man once said……

😉

(I also remember when Animal was all kinds of cool btw.)

I also remember when Animal was all kinds of cool btw

Sad, really. Only good thing now is it stands out nicely on the baggage carousel! Always a problem when you have something really common (No, not like that!) like a Samsonite on a business flight or a DaKine on a ski flight.

Other brands that have died a death include No Fear (used to wear it in early MTB years and when I was in to skydiving, wouldn’t touch it now!), OceanPacific and Gotcha.

I’m sure I had a No Fear t-shirt at Uni. 😳 Only barely remember Gotcha. OceanPacific doesn’t ring any bells.

Timely reminder – I must remember to get some nice **** straps to pop round our split rollers (We’ve got two y’know 😀 ). Might get some matching Mr Darcy and Mrs Darcy ones. Well, if you’re going to be a ****, you might as well go the whole hog. 😀

Might get some matching Mr Darcy and Mrs Darcy ones. Well, if you’re going to be a ****, you might as well go the whole hog

😀

How about one saying Mr **** another saying Mrs **** and one more saying Young Master ****?
😉

FWIW, I’ve always preferred using either a BA luggage tag on hold bags, or something like a piece of brightly coloured accessory cord from a climbing shop looped around a luggage strap. Both help me easily spot mine among the masses.

Every time I see those personalised luggage straps, I immediately think of Daily Mail readers in driving gloves and velcro strapped shoes…..Sorry!

I just use the built-in ID label:

Nice big obvious initial with details concealed below and more details on the reverse.

Should be Gee!

(And on the back: “Whizz”)

PSA: bunch of Arc’teryx gear on SportPursuit now.

Mens Alpha SL or Beta LT Hybrid Jackets for £149! (RRP £300)

If you are not already a member then follow this invite link.

Mens Alpha SL or Beta LT Hybrid

Good jackets but bear in mind they’re the lightweight/packable versions, I doubt if they’d last the 10 years my last Arcteryx Beta jacket did. On the other hand if they had Beta ARs for £149 I’d be all over it.

New skis and skins arrived this week courtesy of Sport Conrad – K2 Wayback 88 with Fritschis, for bit all round fun. Would’ve preferred Dynafits to the Fritschi for the cool factor but couldn’t justify (afford… 🙁 ) the extra cost…

First test run out this weekend I think, as long as the snow lasts – tour up and over Helvellyn and ski down the Lakes Ski Club runs on Raise.

I have nothing to do with these boards but there are some absolute killer snowboards on ebay at the moment. Two of the best from ‘modern’ times in my humble opinion

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Snowboard-BURTON-UNINC-156-promodel-Romain-DEMARCHI-/321656345654?pt=FR_JG_Sports_Hiver_Snowboards&hash=item4ae4365436

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Burton-UnInc-160-Snowboard-/151572504666?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Skiing_Snowboarding_Snowboards_CV&hash=item234a6ce05a

Nice skis, davetrave!

I’m always amused that K2 have someone working on their back country stuff with the brilliant job title of “Director of Backside Development”

My best mate lives in Innsbruck, spent New Year getting round the Tirol, using his and decided they were exactly what I wanted for a bit of everything. Helped that Sport Conrad were knocking them out for 220 Euros – new skis, bindings, skins and poles for £500, with free delivery too.

That’s an awesome job title!

New skis and skins arrived this week courtesy of Sport Conrad – K2 Wayback 88 with Fritschis, for bit all round fun. Would’ve preferred Dynafits to the Fritschi for the cool factor but couldn’t justify (afford… ) the extra cost…

First test run out this weekend I think, as long as the snow lasts – tour up and over Helvellyn and ski down the Lakes Ski Club runs on Raise.

Got the same setup, been on them for a season now, they ski well, very soft though, the Fritschi bar bindings are a heavy bulky lump, Dynafit Speed Radical are cheaper than Fritschi anyway, i would have put them on if i were you.

Just got a pair of Dynastar Cham 97 HM with Fritschi Vipec on from Conrad, worked out at pretty much 30% less than I could have got them here.

Oh and be prepared for a decent carry in to Helvellyn, we were over Dollywagon on Saturday, its heavily wind scoured now but managed to skin from the sheep fold on sticks to the summit of Dollywagon but had to walk round the tops as the snow depth is next to 0 up there.

I’ve got 2013 waybacks with Plum bindings and love them coming from Bandit B2’s and Fritshi’s. Wayback’s are now available in different widths.

Got the same setup, been on them for a season now, they ski well, very soft though, the Fritschi bar bindings are a heavy bulky lump, Dynafit Speed Radical are cheaper than Fritschi anyway, i would have put them on if i were you.

Wanted something with a DIN setting and brakes though otherwise, yes I was looking at the Speed Radicals as they’re 250 Euros from Sport Conrad…

they ski well, very soft though

Yeah, that was the only real problem I had with them, on piste, hitting really bare, icy patches and the lack of bite, dumped me on my backside once. But then, there were a lot of people on purely piste skis who were sitting down a lot on the same run…