stevo:
In my experience the... blend of underfoot camber and an early-rise nose offers optimal all-mountain performance.
Yes!!
Me and Pete, we're on the same page. The B 10/30 looks great. Thanks!
Right, if anyone can get get 60-80% off Amplids, let me know! 😀
Any recommendations for good family resort, parents + 3 year old on first outing. Obviously access to slopes, other stuff to do and pool would be ideal. Short transfer and critically can fly from Edinburgh. Not mega worried about budget to be honest.
And to echo comments - buy good boots, get them properly fitted and use good quality footbeds. Shell shape is main thing then customisations once you are standing properly. (Ex instructor and boot fitter!)Nothing worse than teaching people who are rattling around in their boots.
my experience the... blend of underfoot camber and an early-rise nose offers optimal all-mountain performance.
Is that like a Jones then?
Dunno, possibly. They've probably got a bunch of different profiles for different boards and different uses.
Just looked. it's like Jones' Directional Rocker
Any recommendations for good family resort, parents + 3 year old on first outing. Obviously access to slopes, other stuff to do and pool would be ideal. Short transfer and critically can fly from Edinburgh. Not mega worried about budget to be honest.
Morzine has been good for us for the past 4 years. Our youngest was 2.5 when we first went, 90 mins transfer from Geneva and plenty to do in the town when not skiing.
Thanks - Morzine was one that came to mind.
Les Gets (you drive through it ten minutes before Morzine on the way from Geneva) is best characterised as a family resort for parents who ski / snowboard to an OK standard with kids who are learning. We've got on well with Ski Famille for accommodation / childcare and 360 for children's lessons. Esprit also do Les Gets but I think they use ESF - we didn't like Les Gets ESF. That said ESF do lessons from 3, while 360 is private lessons only at that age (our 3 year old, now 4, did a couple of private lessons in 2014 which he liked).
I think of Morzine as having more teenage / adult learners and Avoriaz even more so.
But others will have other views.
We use ESF at Morzine and find them pretty good, they have remembered our youngest every year we have gone back. I have had ski and snowboard lessons with them and found them pretty good. However I have nothing else to base this on apart from the snowdome in Tamworth.
In the past we have put them in for morning lessons then lunch and they get a proper feast at the resteraunt next door. This year I couldn't do anything due to an operation so we put then in for mornings and afternoons and I had them for 3 hours over lunch. It was cheaper, I got to spend a bit of time with them including letting them use the drag while I chilled with a beer, and they progressed loads. Our eldest can now parallel ski properly and is better than I ever was at skiing.
ESF varies a bit. They have a good reputation some places and not others. Also it wasn't the teaching we didn't like - our eldest (only at the time) just didn't get on with them.
we used ESF at les Gets last year . The lack of snow made it difficult but they were flexible . thy swapped the group lessons i booked for some private lessons . my boys , 11 and 8 , were skiing for the first time and by the end of the week they were able ski .
booked a flat in avoriaz this year .
youngest boy wants to learn snowboard , any recommendations ?
@NZCol if you're going for Morzine/Les Gets pick your week carefully, they are very low and can suffer really badly of snow is poor. Late Feb/Early March making sure to avoid French and UK kids half terms
It's been ok at Easter the last few years.
At least Les Gets has - Morzine less so but you can always go up the hill.
nedrapier, well yes. But then again no. Says a man with an extensive Amplid quiver... 😉
The splittys are great too.
if anyone on here has any connections i am looking for a job for the coming winter. spent the last two winters in austria as a ski technician and in a rental shop. happy to work anywhere in the world. confident in fixing all skis and boards and can fit fischer vaccum boots. please get in touch if you know of anything.
singletrackmind - Member
Stoner. 2nd Colin at S4Feet. I went for custom footbeds , @ £120 not cheap , but a great investment. He measured my feet and flexability and recomended Atomic Hawx for me. Did an Ebay notification thing and got a brand new , never used pair of Hawx for £80.
I have my appointment booked with Colin for next week. I asked whether it was possible just to get footbeds to take with me (we're fly without hold luggage, and I want the chance to get the boots from my LSS in Morzine) and was told that footbeds are specific to boots. Which suggests that one needs to be moulded into a pair of boots at Colins.
Did he mould your footbeds in a pair of bots and put them back on the shelf? I wouldn't want to offend by asking to do something like that. Does the retail margin on the boot keep the fitting cost down? It's further complicated that at 6'4" and 95Kg and size 12-13 plates of meat, finding an appropriate boot for a novice is going to be a challenge away from the largest equipment shops in the ski town.
I have my appointment booked with Colin for next week. I asked whether it was possible just to get footbeds to take with me (we're fly without hold luggage, and I want the chance to get the boots from my LSS in Morzine) and was told that footbeds are specific to boots. Which suggests that one needs to be moulded into a pair of boots at Colins.
I actually read that as the footbed shape would be cut specifically to the last of a specific boot. Therefore wouldn't fit into a different manufacturers boot as the last would be different. Possibly would fit, just not a perfect fit.
You'll find variations in shell and liner lengths which mean that getting footbeds into other boots is not always simple as they are either too long or too short. Its much better to make a set of footbeds, post them properly then put them into a boot which you shape (like the Fishers for example).
seems inevitable Im going to have to try and find a boot at colins around which he can do the moulds. If he hasnt the boots to work for me, we'll just have to call it quits unless there's a half way solution.
I guess I was lucky in that the footbeds appear to be a perfect fit into the boot liner.
How about a slightly different appraoch ? Try some 'Off the shelf' insoles from Go Outdoors / Sports Direct .
SofSole or Supafeet do various different ones. Will be better than the std one the boots come with , but not as good as a custom.
I think I am right in saying you are an advanced boarder , who has skied for a few weeks? Maybe full commitment to decent boots and liners is a jump too far. Decent boots with a thermo fit liner will still be comfortable from the second day you use them, just maybe not as comfortable after 6hrs skiing and an extended walk up a steep pitch to reach pastures new .
Snowheads might give the answer you are looking for ,Colin posts on there as well. Lots of informed people who know more about skiing than I do.
TBH its news to me that my custom insoles aren't transportable between boots, but I can see the mechanics of each boot being slightly different , but there is alot of paddding in a liner which simply has to negate some of those differences
cheers STM.
I shall keep my appointment with Colin and see what we can work out together. Ideally we pick a boot that's current and not to rare, make some footbeds and fly the
m out with me and buy the boots at my LSS.
This will be available for free next month. Looks alright.
Anyone know when new season ski stock starts appearing on the shelves of Decathlon again?
I've started checking webcams already 😕
Booked up! A week in Zell am See in Jan, another week in Obertaurn in Feb then, 2 weeks in Whistler in March....better bloody snow this time! 😀
Nice! At least if there's no snow in January you'll be able to get up to the Kitzsteinhorn (or whatever it's called).
Just been checking out prices with SkiFamille and FamilySki in Reberty, 3V. Both a bit sharp-intake-of-breath. 😐
Apart from the Neilson/Inghams offerings, and Esprit, anyone else have a recommendation for family offerings - just looking for a nice small "friendly" operation. 2 adults, one 3 year old who won't be skiiing so crêch type affair in a chalet, skin-in-ski-out-ability would be good??
ESF do a Piou-piou creche out of Ardent (Montriond) for €200 for a week of mornings.
Morznet tweeted some childcare options the other day
http://www.morznet.com/childcare/
BTW - Had a very useful session with Colin @ solutions 4 feet.
Not cheap as I paid RRP for a set of Salomon X Max 120. But it was worth it IMO to spend some time (an hour) learning about boots/fitting/progression from someone who clearly knows his onions. As well as obviously sizing and fitting the boot shell properly.
I didnt go for custom molded footbeds as I have pretty straightforward plates of meat and off the shelf pair were perfectly supportive. However, its easy at a later date to do custom molds and according to Colin all I'd need to bring back would be the inner boot, no the whole shell.
Purposeful looking.
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@DeadlyD: We used SnowTrex last year for accommodation in Chamrousse. It's relatively close to Grenoble airport as resorts go.
Family oriented friendly french resort.
Piou Piou club kids looked to be having a great time. The kids in my 7yo daughter's lessons (all english btw) really liked the instructors.
Not much to do on an evening, and your accommodation choice is limited mostly to self catering. OK for us as we bought all our food at the supermarket near the airport and enjoyed a relaxed drive up to the resort.
Although it's not a particularly high resort we had better snow than at a lot of the higher resorts down the road.
Accommodation was relatively close to the slopes (~150 yards).
Good luck.
@Stoner, it's an informative session, I came out feeling like I'd had a full fitting class. Hopefully the boots work well for you, I'm looking forward to taking mine for a test run on an indoor slope in the next month or so, just need to find some cash for it from somewhere, I seem to be broke at the moment, can't think why!
I came out feeling like I'd had a full fitting class
Exactly.
So now, either Im at the stage of a little knowledge is very dangerous, or, more hopefully/likely, I have a better idea of what a correctly fitting and specified boot should be like as and when I need to move on to a new boot.
Good boots for a chap of your athletic physique, Stoner.
*checks dictionary definition for "athletic."*
So someone a couple of pages back peeked my interest with mention of Kessler snowboards. Any real world experince out there? They sound amazing in the limited reviews I can find online but never sure how much hype to believe. Currently riding 04 Burton Johan which I love and an 04 Burton T6 (alps board) but actually prefer the trashed Johan which is my Scottish board. Got a 10% Absolute Snow birthday voucher so would need to decide soon - are they worth it? Price is high but not when compared to a new bike!!
On top of the race successes, and the reviews that are out there, I'd take Stevomdc's word for the difference they can make. He seems to know what he's talking about. If I could stomach the premium, and didn't have a relatively new board, I probably would.
But I think if I was buying, I'd struggle to justify spending that much on a board. I'd rather get the Amplid B 10/30 and a set of new splitty bindings for the wife. And some beers.
If you go for it, let us know how you get on!
I'll set 'em up, DD. You knock 'em over.
I had a feeling you were doing that. I was merely doing the right thing.
You laff only coz your boots are VAT-free, DD.
😆
Very good...fair dues.
*goes off to have a think...*
*checks dictionary definition for "think."*
You laff only coz your boots are VAT-free, DD.
😆
Thinking of some new bindings this year for my S3s. Being used in Whistler on the inbound but off piste stuff, blackcomb glacier etc. Any recommendations?
PSA: Whitedot skis are on offer on SportPursuit.
No idea how good they are, but the SnowHeads seem to rate them.
I Just booked onto a half-time off-piste week with the UCPA in Serre Che, can't believe how excited I am!
I'm going with my girlfriend and another couple so I'll spend half the time snowboarding with guides off piste and the other half cruising the pistes with the girls. I'm going to be glued to the snow forecasts from now on...
BARGAIN. My sister picked up a pair of Stockli Stormrider XXL with bindings for £40 in a charity shop.
