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Melon optics. Just had a week away with mine and were spot on.
Piemonster, got to shop. Try on some goggles with your helmet. Buy the ones that fit best.
Just got back from week in serre che.
Fairly busy with all the ski schools going with the little gremlins, but fantastic weather. Had a dump of fresh powder first day we were there and cloudless days the rest of the week.
Few brown patches appearing towards the end of the week and the lifts were giving temps of 12 degrees on saturday at 2000m.
Piemonster: yeah, what Flashy says. As with many things, fit and comfort are as important as tech specs and reviews.
Take your helmet and your face along to a shop and see what goggle fit well.
Bit worried about all this talk of high temps: off to Les Deux Alpes on Friday.
I believe the idea is to lighten the tips to get faster changes of direction. Either way, Kastle skis are lovely to ski, but they do look a little 'Hedge fund manager's skis' for my liking!
Hey Flashy, no it wasn't the Kastles! I like those skis though. It looked more like someone got a hammer and put a dent in the tip (at the part thats off the snow). Just a bit odd looking and I'm trying to remember who made them. Saw a few of them last season and the season before, haven't been as aware of them this season.
Re the other thing, I call myself a 'biker' since I'm a mountain biker, so its makes sense for me to call snowboarders 'boarders' 😛 .
It looked more like someone got a hammer and put a dent in the tip (at the part thats off the snow).
Rossignol are pretty blunt nosed, certainly.
Or do you mean more like these?
[img] 
[/img]
No, not those either 🙁 . It was more a dent inwards like a small inverted cone almost. Hard to explain! Think of half a 3D drawing of a black hole, that kind of thing.
ocrider - Thanks!! That's this evening sorted!
Ah, I think I know what you mean. Something like a Scott Crusade?
[img] 
[/img]
I can't quite tell from that angle but could be it! Thanks! Just one of those small things I needed to know.
No more talk of melting snow please.
We're not away until the Easter holidays (7 year old so school holidays, 3 year old so half term is a bit cold).
Les Gets, so we can always scoot across to Avoriaz if needs be.
Sorry but more talk of melting snow, it's not just warm here in Saalbach, it's hot. Snow was getting soft by mid morning never mind mid afternoon. the good news is that after lunch we felt a marked drop in air temps. fingers crossed it continues this way but double figure temps forecast for the rest of the week.
Serre Che in late season gets stupidly hot. The key is to get up early and get up high.
Oh, and dispel any thoughts of a nice ski back to the village. Stay high, then download on a lift.
In short, get up, get some altitude and stay up there. Spring skiing in a nutshell.
Oh, and lightweight kit and lots of water and suncream obviously.
Righty ho, Ta Goggle responders
Always fun surfing the slush back to the village for cold beers at the end of a hot day on the slopes.
from ocrider's heads-up:
http://www.tetongravity.com/films/jeremy-jones-further/watch/
Free to watch until Tuesday 11th - which is today, if you're reading this today. I assume it's an American 11th, so this evening should be good.
Mind-blowing film, proper modern day adventuring. click HD and HDMI it onto your telly.
Turns out Terje is quite a funny guy!
And did I say how much fun we had in Les Gets?
Got lucky with the snow. Knee deep pow and face shots were findable most days. Funnest laps were back and front (skiiers) right of Mont Chery and under the Pointe de Nyon lift - great fun spotting drops and lines from the lift, and your tracks from the run before.
Fresh tracks down the off-piste tree run to the door of the chalet was a bit of a treat!
Shame they only let it stream and prevent you from downloading it (though I understand why).
I won't have time to watch it before it expires 🙁
greetings from a sweltering Morzine you lot!
Loads of snow around, but it's getting silly hot in the afternoons now. The blues in the woods off Prolays are riding well all day. Avoriaz bowl goes a bit mleh after noon, but nice in the morning.
Hire snowboard is a bit crap, but I dont deserve anything better frankly. New quads and calves would be nice though. And why did Mr Intersport give me a funny look when I asked for -30deg/-5deg on the bindings? We're not all duck-footed rad to the gnar doods you know! 🙂
Off for a big tour via Mossette, morgins and champoussin tomorrow. If we get stuck in Switzerland, some one send a St Bernard with a barrel of beer round his neck please...
greetings from a sweltering Morzine you lot!
Git.
😉
why did Mr Intersport give me a funny look when I asked for -30deg/-5deg on the bindings?
Well for one thing.. -30,-5 means both your feet would be pointing backwards, which is.. erm.. [i]unusual[/i] 😀
Also, I think pretty much [i]everyone[/i] rides at least a bit duck these days.
Unless you're doing this kind of thing:
[img] 
[/img]
Try it - maybe you'll find the hire board isn't quite so crap after all?
And your quads and calves might stop aching too!
(I ride +15,-12 myself)
I will have a fiddle about graham, cheers .
And backwards? Well that's how we roll in malvernistan.
I read your angles should never have more than a 30 degree difference.
I found +15 -9 to be about right after a few tweeks. Shop set it at +9 -6 which felt terrible. It was my first time riding so didnt know any better.
greetings from a sweltering Morzine you lot!
We were there until late Sunday evening. Proper hot on Sunday. I don't think I've ever skied in such hot weather even through I've been out there much later in the season in previous years.
Another sweltering day in the Austrian Alps.
Very busy pistes, filled with a lot of people who are skiing very badly (including moi). The apres ski starts about lunch time though and you know how good the Austrians are at that.
No snow forcast until the day we go home -typical.
Can ski back to the centre of town on the black, however I'm done in by mid afternoon.
Funny to see many empty bottles of jagermiester (sp?) thrown under the chair lifts.
One of the highlights of today - a ride on a new 6 man chair with automatic bar lift, fantastic!
too hot, will transform the snow low down!! Forecast for more snow next week, great!!
2100m here in Obergurgl village and the festkogl cabin drops us off at 3050m. It's warm but fantastic skiing on piste. Off piste is tracked and slabbed......
Snowing on Saturday though.
A great contest to kitzbuhel 3 weeks ago that was bone dry and getting nasty....
Buunyhop how is Saalbach? I was there two weeks ago and snow was vanishing vast . Was 18c in the town.
Oh and I hated those automatic lifts, bad for snowboarders !!
One of the highlights of today - a ride on a new 6 man chair with automatic bar lift, fantastic!
I was on one of them a couple of times last week. It also seemed to have foot rests that moved forwards and backwards before the bar raised/lowered. Higher chair backs too.
GrahamS - Member
why did Mr Intersport give me a funny look when I asked for -30deg/-5deg on the bindings?
Well for one thing.. -30,-5 means both your feet would be pointing backwards, which is.. erm.. unusual.
I think the stoney one was probably intending to practice riding switch that day
Automatically lifting bars sound like a great way to create more chaos than normal on the chairlifts. People seem to have enough difficulty when they have full control of the bar themselves!
I think the stoney one was probably intending to practice riding switch that day
😆
Except it'd be awful for switch too as then his back leg would be at 30 and his front at 5! 😀
howsyourdad1 - Saalbach is bearing up well and the pisteurs are doing an incredible job of keeping as much snow as possible.
Was very warm at the top 13+. This of course means in cloudless skies a heavy frost at night.
Personally I'm finding the spring conditions very tiring, especially the moguls of slush. As the saying goes - a bad day on piste is far better than a good day in the office.
Our friends are going night tobogganing later, I've bet them half a million G.N.A.R points that they won't go down together in tandem luge stylee, wearing the skin suits.
Tell them to wear their snowboard boots.
Every time I've done tobogganing someone on the bus has knackered an ankle!
I twiddled the bindings to +20 - 6 and seem to be comfortable. The reason I think I had them forward was something to do with my own board not being very wide but I have massive booties and my toes had been catching. The hire board is a wide so I can have my boots straight across.
The snow is taking a beating from the sun now. Some valleys are holding up better than others but there won't be much that isn't suffering by the weekend.
I've got some epic panda eyes coming on though...
I'm in awe of the skiers with impaired vision at the Winter Olympics. I've spent hours bashing gates as a lad and have so much respect for these people. Just such great team work, trust and very tidy technique. Great stuff from team GB too.
For those with the skills and kit for such things there are going to be some fantastic backcountry / touring conditions in Scotland for the next couple of months.
Bring on the steeps!
Ok, so looking at ideas for the 2014/15 season. We might finally be able to afford a ski holiday. dd will be around 2 and a quarter so looking for family friendly package companies. Who's good (without paying Mark Warner prices) and when will the 14/15 packages be available to book?
I quite like the sound and what I've heard about Esprit. What have other folk used?
For those with the skills and kit for such things
😥
Gits
DD, www.skifamille.co.uk get very highly rated here. Haven't used them myself.
We're in a similar situation for next year, but will almost certainly be doing the same as before, and a BA flight to Turin, car up to Serre Che and stay in our usual place. We've got folks out there we know well who've already offered to help re childcare, so could be a winner! Failing that, might try and persuade my parents to come along for some fresh mountain air.....!
One thing I would suggest is to look for somewhere with a short(ish) transfer, especially with ickle people. Getting off a flight on to a 3 hour coach journey is no fun at the best of times.
look for somewhere with a short(ish) transfer
Noted!!
Spin,
Any ideas where to start looking/reading/browsing to put together a Scottish backcountry tour? Done plenty of touring, never skiied in Scotland at all. I know the names of some of the ranges and resorts, but that's about it!
Is back half of April totally ridiculous? - obviously there'll be more hiking involved.
[b]double-d[/b]: if you are going package/hotel then[url= http://www.neilson.co.uk/ski/france/les-deux-alpes/neilson-hotel-aalborg/facilities#tab ] the Neilson place we are staying at next week in Les Deux Alpes[/url] might be of interest.
We picked it with our 3.9 year old and 9 month old in mind. In its favour: kids clubs, ski in/out, baby room, evening child care, children's menu and early dinners, ski school meets right outside, rental shop is underneath, spa for mum. I'll report back if it lives up to expectation.
I also started this thread a few months ago and got some good responses:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/snow-where-to-skisnowboard-with-young-kids-this-year-any-good-chalets
http://www.chaletmorzine.com/ in particular looked fantastic but was fully booked for this year.
This year will be our fifth with Ski Famille. Used Esprit previously and prefer SF, though I hear Esprit have upped their game. You will want to consider whether you want a nannies based system (SF) or crèche (Esprit). Either way they will take the children out to play in a big gang. Email in profile if you want to discuss.
If you can go in the next week or two SF have some very good deals in the Reberty (3 Valleys at the Les Menuires, with I think a lift straight to VT) - £1600-£1700 for 2 adults and 2 kids, half board including flights, transfers and childcare. Can't go as our eldest is at school these days.
Edit: transfer length and facilities for children on the bus are good points to note. Hence why we do Les Gets (please stop warming up).
Cheers guys.
GrahamS, you may ignore my email (which you may already have). 🙂
Ah yes one more thing.
Because with SF you do your own flights, you can go at sensible times of day. Getting children to an airport for a 0600 flight (plus check-in time) is not fun.