⛷️ ❄️ Skiing and Snowboarding 23-24 🏔️ 🏂

I’ve been to Grand Bornand a couple of times and stopped up in Chinaillon both occasions. I really like it. Very family feel to the resort and just enough of an area to not get bored, though you can pretty much do every run in a day. My only issue is it’s pretty low down and unless I’d know there’s a good base I’d not book to go there that far in advance. Same with La Clusaz, it’s usually meant to open to May but this year when I was sorting a late season trip at the end of April whilst you could ski back in to Val D’Isere with full coverage, La Clusaz was a sorry muddy mess at resort level.

We (2A+2C) have just booked a week in Les Coches, La Plagne for Easter. Being right by the Vanoise Express means we can make use of the whole Paradiski area which is massive with great variety. I have never been there and not had a great time.

I will wait until later to look for a last-minute deal for the 2nd week.

Anyone have any experience of Les Sybelles or any of the others in the Maurienne? 

Am looking for a January or March week with the Mrs, perhaps somewhere new. She is fit and strong, likes plenty of intermediate terrain to zoom around on and good grub. 

Anyone planning to travel by train? I'm looking at Interrail passes for us to get to Cervinia from Scotland via Paris and Turin. The price isn't bad, but it does add on 2 extra says for the travel. I think we can leave Edinburgh around 12:00 noon and be in the resort by 16:00 the next day. 🤔

Anyone planning to travel by train?

Yep, but it's relatively easy from Belgium.  Eurostar put on snow trains to a bunch of resorts during the ski season.  I just can't do the 10 hour drive any more and flying isn't happening.   Have taken the sleeper a couple of times as well and that's a nice option if available

Grrrr, i typed up a bit reply to two questions then lost it when the page refreshed as i switched tabs.

Anyway, yes we've skiied Les Sybelles. It was ok, nothing special, we've never been back

Took the train the year, it was great and would recommend. Interrail is a question though, iirc you need to pay extra for the Eurostar leg and possibly for some intercity trains on the continent. Would advise checking on Snowheads as it's been discussed there recently i think. On that note though, check this thread, you're probably not going to get to Cervinia by train as a massive rockfall in the Maurienne means the Paris-Turin line likely won't run till next summer

https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=165791

Sorry to be slow on the reply, busy week at work. Still looking but it's been great to get some ideas so thank you

Thanks @nbt. I did know about the reservation fees, but I haven't checked the costs yet.
Looks like that rock fall may have killed the plan anyway. 🙁
I'll have a shufty on snowheads.

This mayhelp you if you still fancy trying the train @oldtennisshoes

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/paris-to-milan-alternative-trains.htm

Thanks @nbt I had considered the Milan route, but I assumed it would take longer than that. That looks very doable 🤔

Currently looking at a long weekend in Jan with a mate, French Alps most likely as his Mrs wants to do Italy and we want to be able to make this a regular thing so not pissing the wives off makes good sense. Think we'll book it over the weekend.

I've not had a snow holiday in probably 15 years so I'm somewhat looking forward to it! Back when I last went helmets were a rare sight so I need to sort one of those out and as Mrs M has no idea what my goggles look like I might just sneak a new pair in while I'm at it. Thinking a Smith Vantage lid coupled with Smith I/O goggles - gonna be a large lid so not sure whether to go standard or XL I/O's ... could be a case of tossing a coin!

Reckon there's still life in the jacket & trousers, they've had plenty of outings in MK/Hemel over the years. Might give them a wash and re-proof though.

Does anyone know what time in the morning the Eurostar snow train tickets go on sale?  I know it is the 17th Oct (for the Belgian ones anyway) but don’t know how early I need to wake up.  Cheap tickets seem to go instantly

In case anyone is ever looking for this info (or me when I forget and look again next year) then answer is that Eurostar tell  you the time about a week in advance and that time is 9am.  The cheapest tickets also go within a couple of minutes but there are still some cheaper youth tickets available 25 minutes later in standard class.  All the adult tickets in 'comfort' class are gone before they ever make it to the eurostar site.

The eurostar site isn't great for getting the cheap tickets as you can't select the times until 9am which slows you down.  I had it all set up in a Belgian train site so I could just click 'search' as soon as 9am rolled round so I managed to get them on the second attempt.

In the end you save 20% although if you are taking a bunch of people 26 and under and go for standard class then there is probably 50% to be saved.

Driving to Morzine for Feb half term. Changeover day is the Sunday so we’re thinking of leaving Hampshire Saturday lunch time and stopping Sat night part way down through France.

Any recommendations for cheap, clean, family friendly hotels?

Ideally, I’d like to push on as far as Dijon but Troyes would be good to. Reims is too far North as I like to brake the back of a journey before stopping.

Ibis Styles Dijon Sud was nice

Troyes is a decent town, think we stayed in a roadside hotel (likely ibis as well), had an underground carpark and was a short stroll into town. It was a long drive from the tunnel, but if that's what you want, it's probably a good option.

Stopped in March on the way to Chamonix and it was t-shirt weather there at that point, just.

Troyes? Just be wary of the local sausages and you'll be ok.

We made it to Dijon but had a mid morning Eurotunnel train. Wouldn’t have wanted to go much further. It did let us get into resort (grand massif so more or less same as morzine) by lunch so we could ski in the afternoon

Thanks folks, ended up booking a Logis hotel near Troyes. Thought Dijon would push it.

Tignes

Sainte Foy

Areches

Grimentz

Sainte Foy

Georgia

Sainte Foy

Norway

Tignes

😄

Thinking of booking Hemsedal in Norway for the second week in April, anyone got any experience of there or indeed any other Scandinavian resorts which would be good for that late in the season? Desperately trying to get my resort count up to 50 in 50 in time for my birthday in April… (at 47).

If anyone is thinking of Zermatt this winter shoot me a DM. Mrs 10 does ski vacation stuff, and there's a package trip to Zermatt, nice hotel restaurants etc. Apparently, it's good for non skiers and skiers.

A week in morzine in December then a week with Stevo in Sainte Foy in January.

I have been very lucky with the snow for a good few years so slightly nervous that my luck will run out in a El Niño washout or two.

anyone got any experience of there or indeed any other Scandinavian resorts which would be good for that late in the season?

Did Stryn as a rest day on a kayaking trip... it wasn't great.... But it was July, so fair enough.

Riks was mind blowing. Skiing at 90kmh behind a skido on a frozen lake was a highlight. Amazing powder almost every day. That was beginning of June iirc.

Also done Gauatablick and a few others further south. Highlight was some crappy little one lift effort that we headed to a rest day on an ice climbing trip when there was too much snow to safely climb ice.
Empty carpark. Lift not running. Nobody about.
" oh no, why are you closed?"
" we're not closed, there's just nobody else here. Give me a minute and I'll fire up the lift."

I guess we must have ridden for three solid hours without taking the rear foot out of the bindings. Just round and round and round with fresh tracks through the trees every time. The afternoon was more crowded as another carload of people turned up.
That was twenty odd years ago though, and I'm guessing it's got warmer since 🙁

It looks as though the base for this season is going well. Let's hope there isn't a warm patch and most of it thaws.

I concur!

Partial opening in Tignes on 18 November. Let’s hope this is the start of a big season.

Had my first turns of the season today, took the splitboard up to the top of the funicular at Tignes. Nice snow all around, lots of grooming going on on the pistes. Lots more snow forecast.

Quick pano on my insta story if anyone wants a look, didn't get any riding shots.

I have some questions for those familiar with the Grand Massif.

I'm interested in a smaller resort this year with some fun runs but nothing has to be massively challenging. Holiday will likely be wife and me only, in the past we've gone as parts of bigger groups and also just as a 4 with friends who are more capable than we have been. Resorts over the past few years have all been ace places like meribel, Les mens, tignes, so parts of really well put together resorts.

Looking at Flaine and I was thinking it looked promising as smaller, but still good enough. Then read 65 drags Vs 26 chairs. Am I being spoiled thinking I'd rather look elsewhere as I prefer a quick hop in a chair as opposed to an irritating drag to the top of a run? (And yes, yes I am generally quite spoiled!)

I've done quite a few weeks in le Grand Massif, staying in Les Carroz rather than Flaine, but skiing across the whole area. The main uplift is either gondola or chairs, with little reliance on drags to access most of the good stuff. I wouldn't be over concerned. 

Half the drag lifts at Flaine are never running anyway 😉

samoens seems to have about 12 just on the beginner ski school plateau

can honestly say I hardly remember catching a drag lift at GM except for the Gers bowl lift, which to be fair gives access to probably the best off piste in the resort

Yeah - you can almost always avoid the drag lifts in GM. Aside from Samoens beginner slopes, there are 4 in Sixt (I've never made it to Sixt in 5 visits to GM, aside from skiing Cascades down to it and getting the bus back to samoens), there's the fun park in les carroz, a couple running parallel to the kedeuze gondola and Lapiaz in flaine which runs parallel to Aup De Veran. You can reach the top of those from the gondolas anyway.

Gers and Veret give access to some pretty lovely off piste. The biggest drag-only area is the stuff on the extreme skiiers left of the flaine bowl - Grand Grenier and Aujon leading to pistes like Calcedoine and so on. Quite mellow terrain but can be good if there's fresh snow and when pisted can be excellent as the pistes are so rarely used becuase of the drags. Aujon is a bloody vicious drag though, I've seen it lift adults off the ground...

I liked Flaine, a long time ago, but would consider going back. Too long ago for any useful info though.

On another topic, 2nd hand gear. Anyone got any tips for buying and selling? I've got an eye on eBay but are there any other good classifieds (I'm not a member on snowheads)? Looking to buy/sell some kids boots etc and maybe get something to use on dryslope.

there are a few groups on facebook. = skibay, skibay uk, ski and snowboard buy & sell uk, plus various others with names relating to skiing and boarding. those three seem fairly active

snowheads is free to join and use, you will just need to host images elsewhere

There are some good eBay shops in the EU flogging ex hire kit. Had some good skis from them. Most likely will have had a heavy grind on the belt sander to make the bases look new so check what edge is left. Most of them will have hire bindings so whatever size your feet’s are you should be fine.  What kids stuff have you got? Need some 140 kids SL. 

thanks @nbt and @TheDTs I'll check those out . The kids stuff that I could do with shifting is the smaller end of stuff (not measured up yet) - boots and skis.

Wup!

Hello the STW ski and snowboard thread and all that sail in her!

My 5-year hiatus is coming to an end this year. Can't believe it's been that long. Last trip was 2 months before eldest was born - last day involved a getting down the SE face of the Aiguille d'Entreves in a different way than I'd planned. Going to feel funny getting back on planks!

Just been invited on a hut to hut trip with a couple of mates and guide called Babar they've done a bunch of trips with. Destination is "somewhere in the Hautes Alpes". Last time I saw Babar he pointed me towards the Vallée de la Clarée. Had an amazing few days with my wife, so I'm hoping we'll be going there.

I never really got on with my Venture Zephyr split for 3 or 4 decent reasons. Reminiscing over Clarée photos made me realise it's over 10 years old so I could certainly justify getting a new one. Tootled about online for a bit and found a half price Amplid Milligram! Jumped on that. Happy Friday to me!

The Milligram is a rad board, been riding one for 3 years now. It's worth getting a few piste runs in on it to get a feel - the carbon core has a "snap" to it which feels a little different to a wood core. Not better or worse, just different. It can feel really poppy out of the end of the turn which can be off-putting if you're not ready for it or can lead to powerful, snappy turns if you are!

Given how light they are, I think they're actually pretty robust, but you need to be a little careful when touring not to "bridge" the ski across a gap with your full weight on it and not go out of your way to abuse it on the way downhill.

I did break one of mine, but it was pure rider error and I have no complaints. Had an invisible (under the snow!) rock at full compression in a high-speed toeside turn. Blew the edge out! Amplid were great and helped me out.

Hey Stevo! I found your insta from the link you posted up the thread - saw you're an Amplid test centre so I figured you'd have some time on the Milligram. Heard nothing but good things about it, glad you're not the first to say you hate it! 😀

Happy with the comments about pop out of turns. I like to load the tail and the rockerflatrocker profile on the Venture Zephyr never did anything for me coming out of turns.

Had an invisible (under the snow!) rock at full compression in a high-speed toeside turn. Blew the edge out!

Sounds like it wouldn't have been fun on any board! Would you have expected a more standard weight board to shrug it off?

Nah, it was a big hit, any board would have taken damage.

I haven’t been on skis since I left Canada 20+ years ago, but I would love to go again.

The way you all talk though makes it sound slightly more complex than I am used to.

If one skipped the booking, and just rolled up in the car park of a mountain, is it not possible in Europe just to buy a lift pass on the day and ski?

/sorryformyignorance

Yes @saxonrider, you can do exactly that. In fact it’s not uncommon for me to have done that in the past.

Logistics mean you’ll need to hire kit too I’m guessing so give yourself time to do that too. And obviously if you’ve not been on skis for 20 years go easy on the first few runs, maybe pick a resort with some nice long greens to get your eye back in.

If one skipped the booking, and just rolled up in the car park of a mountain, is it not possible in Europe just to buy a lift pass on the day and ski?

Yes, very much so. Much easier than in Canada, in fact (where day pass prices are generally ludicrous and everyone buys cheap early-buyer season passes).

The main difference is probably that most European resorts have loads of accommodation and very developed resort villages right at the base of the lifts, which is often not the case in Canada, so it's much more common to stay somewhere ski-to-door than to drive to resort each day. Parking is a nightmare in some places, easy enough in others.

Flights booked to INN for new year. Kids keen on St Anton again ( me too) and it has the advantage we know it reasonably well.

Missus wants to go somewhere new, which I guess means Ischgl, unless I'm missing something.

Any recommendations for good off piste sans guide in that area? ( ie not too committing)

From Ishgul you can ski out the back to the Heidelberger Hut (I think). I've got a ski map somewhere if you want to borrow it.
Plenty of day tours from the top of the valley too.

@thegeneralist
Link below is to the ski map of Silvretta which is from the S. of the Ishgul valley and West into Switzerland. I think map 28/2 in the series covers further down the valley.
The area is very popular for touring so should be easy to get info. The tracks marked with solid lines on the map are regular skiable routes, snow permitting, the dotted are more variable and conditions dependant.
Plas y Brenin used to run their off piste and touring courses from Galtur. There's loads to go at. If staying in huts they are generally large and busy.
If it's cold the pistes as Kappl further down the valley face South, are quieter and catch the sun.
Definitely do at least day from Galtur at the top of the valley. Ski bus links the villages.
Definitely a recommended place (although it's 15 years since my last visit).
https://www.mapsworldwide.com/maps-charts-atlases-c1811/walking-hiking-maps-c1814/alpenvereinskarte-map-26-silvrettagruppe-paths-and-ski-p11200

Looks like i'll be sticking to Scotland again this season. Glenshee/Glencoe and Cairngorm.
Spent NYE and NYD last year at Glencoe.

Speaking of Cairngorm, any first hand, local update re the funicular?

Finally pulled my finger out at the weekend and booked the annual family ski holiday. Off to Alpe d’Huez at the start of February. We’ve never been to Alpe d’Huez before, has anyone who has been got any useful tips, or recommendations, eg good places for lunch, good areas/slopes to ski as a mixed ability group, etc…
TIA.

Akers, not for many years but it is a nice resort. Lots for most people but possible to do a day at Les Deux Alpes or La Grave if you are feeling adventurous.

Notable things about ADH, my mum did the tunnel run on her arse after being knocked over at the very top, broken ribs only thankfully.

Saw a bloke get cut up by a small child on the goat track at the bottom of the Sarenne. Resulting crash ended up with the bloke, in a onesie, going over the wall on a bridge and doing a full immersion in the stream.

If he didn't end up with hypothermia, I would be surprised! It was quite comical if you were watching. His ski suit kind of filled up with water and was bulging around the legs.

Finally got our act together, Zermatt proved too spendy so going back to an old fave. Serre Che 20th Jan. Now I just need to stop fixating on Webcams and weather prediction and get some work done!

Has anyone seen any good deals on decent ski gloves?

My old Black Diamond Patrol are  knackered after 9 years

I use Black Diamond Dirt Bag gloves with a thin liner underneath and they’re bombproof. Current pair have done about 8 years with between one and two weeks a year. Still going strong and can be had for under £40.

@akers

Alpe D'Huez - get a lesson with Cookie at ESF (he's an English guy who alternates summer and ski seasons - snowboards and skis). We had a private lesson - 3 different ski levels and every one of us got lots out of the lesson. You can follow him on instagram - he's posting snowy dog walking videos at the moment.

His tuition was the highlight of a mediocre week at Neilsons.