hard to tell exact distance from the edge as it's shot on a webcam, but one very lucky chappy! And I certainly wouldn't have gone back to the edge for a better look. Darwin candidate for sure!
schnullelieber - Member
OK, looks like there are practice fields over here. Anyone know of any in the Portes du Soleil?
I've not come across one. Seen plenty of others in Europe but not in PDS.
In many of (most in fact) the avalanche deaths I can remember in the area I ski, the victims died before the snow stopped moving. Only a handful died of hypothermia or suffocation. A fresh powder avalanche in a snow bowl is often survivable, however, the fall, icy cornice, plaque à vent, ice blocks, rocks, trees etc. often kill or seriously injure victims before the avalanche stops.
I sometimes wonder if there would be less deaths if beacons, air bags etc. had never been invented. Lees people would go out in dogy condition and take less risks.
My eyes popped when he stepped further out!
I'd be walking on the rocks there for sure. Easier walking too!
I certainly wouldn't have gone back to the edge for a better look.
I assumed he was checking to see if anyone below him got caught in it, though I'm not sure what he could do about it if they were (other than call it in).
At 0:27 it looks like it has set off a slide further down the mountain.
The other obvious question is what was he doing in terrain like that on his own?
Advice please
So i'm trying to book a place for a group of 8 (range of begineers to very good) and although i susually go to the 3V, i'm a bit concerned about the snow levels and not promising forecasts.
People have been saying Austria has not been as badly affected, but i don't know the areas well enough to work out if Kaprun, St Anton, or anywhere in between is a better bet for late Feb.
can anyone help point me in the right direction for more snow sure Austrian resorts, or is teh expert opnion i should trust the snow gods and there is (or will) be enough snow in the 3 valleys and i should stick to my guns and local area?
There was plenty of snow in Austria over Xmas - even in small/low resorts. I'd imagine you'd be fine in 3V too though TBH.
St Anton is a great resort/area though IMO.
I assumed he was checking to see if anyone below him got caught in it
Probably making sure he got some sick footage for his edit. 🙂
Tricky one. Late Feb is still a few weeks away and - given the season so far - literally anything could happen.
We went to Saalbach for Christmas week. There was no snow, very few runs were open. We still had a great time but we thought it didn't matter because we are off to Morzine late January - there'll be plenty of snow there! Oh no there won't be....
We went to Kaprun at Christmas and conditions were excellent (if icy). That does make it more busy though. Kaprun seems to still be getting snowfall here and there. Not sure about the other resorts you mention.
It will be a gamble anywhere. It will be 8 degrees in Morzine next week - if it stays like that for the rest of the season then it'll still be crap in late February. That risk will be the same wherever you book.
The time has come to pay the balance of the cash for our family trip to Les Gets at Easter.
Now we've been at Easter before and snow cover has never been a problem, but this year part of me is thinking "lose the deposit and go higher".
I know no one can say for sure, but please reassure me that the snow will come this year and some will be left for Easter, before I pay out enough money to buy a small car - or even a decent mountain bike.
Now we've been at Easter before and snow cover has never been a problem, but this year part of me is thinking "lose the deposit and go higher"
I bet the contract doesn't allow you to just lose the deposit, you'll be liable for the whole lot regardless..
I've not booked yet going early Feb. It's a lot of cash to board on ice or dirt. Canada is no better it's very cold, very cold
Quick update from the 3V for you. Conditions here are alright given the snowfall but it's at least 10 degrees warmer than we'd expect for the time of year. The dump that came and caused chaos on the roads was well needed and timed given the crowds that were here over New Year but we definitely need more. It has snowed a little since then but not in any great quantities. VT is holding up well and the higher areas across the 3Vs are in decent nick but lower down is getting a little icy and scraped.
In the short term we are due a top up on Saturday/Sunday followed by not exactly cold weather but colder than this week. Temps are currently forecast to fall next weekend (17th Jan) but who knows what will happen that far ahead let alone in February. There are lots of crossed limbs, fingers and any other crossable body parts round here at the moment.
On the plus side for holiday makers rather than holiday companies there are lots of empty beds in the 3Vs this week so the slopes are probably quieter than usual.
Footflaps, that's not the sort of reassurance I was looking for...
Just had another brilliant week in the Austrian Oztal, loads of snow, it is cold and crunchy late afternoon, but full cover. So good in fact that the next James Bond film crew are on site in Solden, just down the valley from us....
Taking my kids for first time this year. Got the eldest (5yrs) kitted out but struggling for the baby...
Where is the best place for toddlers ski clobber? 18 months.
When ours started (10yrs ago +) we used Decathlon for almost everything. Their kids clothes were ace. I think their prices have increased more recently but I am sure you could get the whole lot under one roof by buying their own brands.
Trespass is good for children's stuff - the outlet at Castleford (beside not in Xscape - there are two shops) is worth a look if you're ever along the M62
Or friends with children slightly older
Anything similar on the other side of the Pennines? Tried Decathlon and Winfields. Choice a bit limited... You know what women are like, they want their lickle treasures to look adorable! Even tho whatever we buy will be redundant after the week.
Decathlon ski gear = cold soggy kid
Trespass ski gear = warm dry kid
Dare2b is good for kids too. Madame wears junior's cast off on wet days.
Decathlon ski gear = cold soggy kid
Not IME but each to their own
I'm off to Tignes 14th Feb.....what's the snow like there at the minute?
Off on the 17th Jan , its rubbish now btw . There is no point in asking whats it like now , when its 40 days till you go.
Bit like asking 'Is the Dusk till Dawn course muddy?' on 30th July
I know.....starting to slightly worry though haha!
Still 22 days to go.
But a rather manic bubble of excitement is starting to build. 8)
Just booked to go to the Lyngen Alps for a week. 1st holiday with Mrs Mugsy without the wee ones for 2 years. 🙂 😀 😆 😛
Jaffejoffer - Try the Surfanic outlet online?
Prices ain't too bad. Sizes come up larger than expected (think Tesco kids clothes sizes)
Nice, mugsys_m8. When you going and are where are you staying?
I've just finished herding 9 cats into an airbnb place in Lyngseidet in the 1st week of March. flights, beds, cars all booked! Just got to sort my skin glue out now.
Dumping snow in Norway at the mo, Voss is having a fantastic season and Hemsedal and Trysil are getting loads now too
From April 12th for a week. Staying at Magicmountain Lodge for first 5 then will airbnb it in Tromso.
Dumping snow in Norway at the mo, Voss is having a fantastic season and Hemsedal and Trysil are getting loads now too
Handy, consider dieting where we've booked 😀
Dear autocorrect. Go **** yourself. 😀
Handy, considering where we've booked
Just got to sort my skin glue out now.
I have this very same task on my list - I've just taken delivery of a roll of brown paper to remove the old dirty glue and will be using the BD re-glue sheets - what method are you thinking of nedrapier?
Part of me thinks it would have been simpler to buy new skins ...
Tube glue is easy as long as you keep it warm. I've never tried the ironing method, just pick the worst of the crap off and slap the new stuff on. Works fine.
I've been patching the skins with tube glue for the past couple of seasons so it's now time for a proper re-glue I think - doing the whole skins with Tube Glue would be impractical, hence I thought I'd try the re-glue sheets
I found it quite straightforward doing the whole skin with tube glue but I haven't tried other methods. I strapped the skins to a long baton and clamped that in the work bench. I kept the tube of glue in a glass of warm water and spread it on with a plastic spreader. It doesn't look as neat as the factory applied glue but they're still super sticky - good enough for wet Scottish conditions which we all know are the ultimate test of a skins adhesion!
Edit - the warm glue is essential, the first time I reglued I didn't do this and it was like trying to work with snot from the worst cold of your life!
Cheers Spin! 🙂
... and back to the subject of avalanches, this incident from last week is worth checking out.
NOTE: video contains some swearing so possibly NSFW:
http://www.henrysavalanchetalk.com/avalanche-foglietta-north-january-5th-2015-ste-foy-tarentaise
NOt sure exactly where the 'Island of safety ' is in that film. All 4 standing too close together almost directly below the slope the skier is going down.
The slightly higher area to the far left or far right would have been slightly better , although this slide is so wide I doubt even that would have been totally safe.
There is a good tranceiver practise area in St Anton. You can choose the number of 'victims' and the target time to find them all.
My skiing buddy and I spent around an hour practising a co-ordinated technique to use our equipment to its best capability. His receiver gets a ping approx 20m further away than mine , then mine gets down to 40cm , then 20cm easier . So whilst Im pinpointing the victim he can be putting our shovels together and the probes.
The pingers in St Anton are only shallow , less than 1m and are a biscuit tim sized box that switches off when struck.
I would feel confident in finding anyone with a beeper very quickly and if other people were around , in organising a team of diggers to extract them/ watch for secondary slides / sort helicopter landing area etc
The predicted snow fell as rain. skinned up over rocks twigs and branches then skied piste down yesterday. Junior went out this morning and came back soggy, I didn't bother.
Tube glue on my skins, no problems.
Interesting vid, Digby. With the proviso "it's easy to be wise after the event": it's clear they knew they were on a highly avalanche prone slope and then traversed it rather than skiing straight down it. Traversing is more likely to trigger an avalanche and repeatedly traversing creates a lot of break lines.
Lovely mugsysm8! MML is a great spot and Henrika and Patrick are brilliant people. We'll be dropping in for sure when we're there. Food's usually pretty great too!
Digby - we've been going late season on wet snow and there's a lot of water that's got into the glue. The glue's still plenty sticky, but it's gone all gooey and comes off on your hands and on the base. Apparently that's water that's been worked into the glue. You can apparently drive out the moisture and smooth/redistribute the glue by ironing the glue with siliconised parchment paper over the top. I've heard several people say this, including this: http://www.larryscascaderesource.com/weird/weird_files/skins.html
and the backcountry ski tech guy at Costwolds in Betys y Coed who seemed to know his stuff.
Apparently the baking parchment [u]has[/u] to be siliconised, otherwise it gets very messy indeed!
Some serious snow forecast for the West Highlands this week. Could be looking at some good touring conditions in Scotland come next weekend.
Well, it's paid.
And our 4-inches-Friday-coming younger son did his first lesson of a nine week course at Xscape yesterday.
Grins all round.
More snow now please
Others might have seen this already, but [url= http://unofficialnetworks.com/2015/01/watch-avalanche-takes-out-a-group-of-skiers-in-the-alps ]here's an avalanche taking out a few skiers in the alps recently.[/url]
Can't see the video , comes up as 'private'
Can't see the video , comes up as 'private'
It's the same as the one in Digby's comment above.
