Top car park at Cairngorm full today. People must be desperate.
In les gets, no snow. 1 slope open for beginners but that is it. Al least kids can have their lessons.
2 sweet powder days in the high alpine in Whistler. Makes up for the fact there's almost no snow in the village.
The woman's downhill from VdI looked as if it had been snowing
TMH just back from Savoie, Tignes and Val D have enough snow for partial opening having been cold enough to hold the snow that has fallen.
Rumours of Avoriaz not selling lift tickets to anyone who is not staying in the resort, too much pressure on limited number of open pistes. That's understandable but could get ugly.
Attention au verglas !
Soaked snow freezes to produce conditions that made ski crampons useful up a blue run. A constant helicopter shuttle service between the pistes and the local hospital.
One advantage of the mild conditions is the attire of some ladies. Mini skirt and boots. 😛
Filthy old bugger 🙂
Bike Verbier and Alpine Roots have been out riding trails (Facebook and Instagram posts), it did occur to me my bike would have been useful last week, if you can't ski the upper slopes why not ride down to the valley !
I enjoyed playing on the MTB (with spikes) on closed green runs a lot more than scraping my way down the open pistes this morning. The piste bashers are doing their best but when the raw material is water ice it only take a few skiers to scrape back to ice.
Merry Christmas everyone 🙂
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😀
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Seasons greeting from the trees in Norway
Not sure if this just more spin but...
@weathertoski 10:18pm - 25 Dec 14:
Still very confident we will see 30-60cm snow (locally more) across W. Alps this wknd - especially French and W. Swiss Alps.
@weathertoski 9:49am - 26 Dec 14:
Batten down the hatches - big storm to hit western Alps tonight! http://tinyurl.com/d9cz7z2 pic.twitter.com/9Tk38k9XyT
https://twitter.com/weathertoski
Days 4-6 Ischgl Weather Summary: A heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Mon afternoon. Extremely cold (max -13°C on Wed night, min -20°C on Tue night). Wind will be generally light.
From snow-forecast.com
Fingers crossed but still 4 weeks to go.
Where abouts in Norway is that?
Saalbach is a very different resort today. The valley is now white. Cannon have been on for 24 hours and quite a few more runs open. Wish we weren't going home tomorrow!
piemonster - Member
Where abouts in Norway is that?
Hemsedal , 2.5 hours from Oslo. Great Place!
Avoriaz and PdS announcing that with recent and predicted snowfall they will be removing lift pass restrictions (ie resort guests only) and putting prices back up to normal. Good news.
left les Gets at 6pm last night and they were expecting a lot of snow .
and looking by the pictures this morning they were right .
despite the lack of snow it has been a great week .
kids had a perfect week to learn , high temperature and sun shining .
it was a bit boring for me to do the same slopes all week but better than nothing . and after nearly 20 years of not skiing , it all came back really quickly .
really liked Les Gets and hoping to go back in the future .
Currently dumping in Morzine, about 6-8 inches in town so far. The slope at the bottom of the Pleney, which was a green field yesterday, is now looking like it should. Should be a good day tomorrow.
Landed in snowy Munich this morning and skiing in pretty good conditions at Auffach from 1 pm.
Getting cold now and more snow on the way.
Yay!!!!
So the sister in law and family are driving out for a extended family holiday in La Plagne. Their kids first skiing holiday.
They have made it as far as Chambery after sitting in traffic for hours. Roads are now closed - no access to the mountain tonight. Cue us finding them a hotel in Grenoble.
Nightmare. Sympathies to anyone caught up in that.
@torso, yes saw that. Hard to imagine 10 days ago it was green fields and +12 on the road below La Plagne.
Anyone stuck near Grenbole welcome to come and stay with us. 6km from Grenoble aiport. About 10km from Exit 9 on the Lyon-Grenoble autoroute. DanjDOTheywood@gmailDOTcom
We had the same thing last year in Val Thorens, massive dump the day we arrived and the roads were all blocked, so transfer took ages and we finally arrived at 4am having set off at 5pm for the 2 hour drive the day before!
Great news for all you alps / Europe bound shredders!
according to the french news there are 15000 cars blocked in Savoie tonight .
what ski daysac's are recommended - looking at either an osprey Kode or a north face patrol.
I use a DaKine Heli: 11 litres as opposed to the far bigger Heli Pro, space for a hydration bladder, ski loops for carrying (and straps for boards if you're that way inclined), not to bulky so no issues leaving it on when on chairlifts
Conditions are excellent on piste. Off-piste there are lots of "requins" (things sticking out to trip you up) so be careful.
The jams are clearing and Winter tyres will get you past the Gendarmes to most resorts now - it was chains or turn around yesterday.
what ski daysac's are recommended
Another vote for Dakine. I ride with a Hell-pro II when hiking. Just big enough for day trips, possibly overkill for in bounds. Dakine make some great packs that last and aren't crazy money.
My current pack is the Black Diamond Bandit.
http://www.snowsafe.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=45&products_id=315
Good minimal size (11L) for the resort/slackcountry riding I do. I like it because the outside is pretty plain. I don't like loads of straps because they are just one more thing get caught up. Built-in Avalung is nice to have too.
Both the North Face Patrol sizes, the 24l and 35l are really great packs.
Very well thought out. One of those items you look at and keep thinking "oh, I like *that*" as you work your way around.
Definitely worth checking out. If you're looking at packs. The small one cinches down really nicely, if you're thinking it might be too big. I've ridden with pretty much just a shovel and probe in there and it just hugs your back and disappears.
Oh yes...!
Call me a killjoy but I don't like that.
I'll be a killjoy too: "I've got money than anyone else in rallycross so if I get a good start and push off anyone who tries to overtake I'll win. If I get a bad start I'll just lean on those in front rather than brake for the first corner and take 'em out that way".
If you try to mix motor vehicles, and boards or skis it's always going to be a naff vid.
While we are on Ken Block, what do you lot make of the "controversial" video of him riding pow at Baldface with his son on his shoulders:
Seems harmless enough to me (helmets, goggles, low speed, deep pow, fairly open glade) but from the Facebook comments some folk seem to think he should be prosecuted for child endangerment. 😕
oh that was well advertised.
finally got round to booking some trips. austria in a week, dollies 2 weeks after that. then need to sort another a few weeks after that.
Cheers for that, flashy!
Cheers, I was just wondering when that was due to start.
Anyone know when [s]Celebrity A&E[/s] The Jump starts? Ch4 website just says Early 2015.
Can anyone recommend a Hotel in Chamonix for a short stay? B&B or half board would prefer not to self cater.
Would also consider Grand Massif if you have a good recommendation.
"Cheers, I was just wondering when that was due to start.
Anyone know when Celebrity A&E The Jump starts? Ch4 website just says Early 2015."
I lad I know has been asked to coach on it this year. It's going to have snowboarding as well as skiing.
Is it time for a new opening sequence? This one must be three or four years old.
