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@Hot_Fiat,I went on a lads trip to Courmayeur a few years back and we found a few options for a three night stay and not OTT either.
Flights to Geneva are plentiful, not sure you can get early flights to Turin and its 3hrs away, but obviously getting there very early and leaving late with give you two half days, which make it worthwhile. Look for alternatives to Booking.com as what can look fully booked isn't always. worth phoning a few direct.
In my experience the shortest the transfer, the better for long weekend, so I'd checkout Soll, Westerndorf, Alpbach....even staying in Worgl and driving to all the various villages in the Ski Welt within 10mins, for different skiing all on the same pass.
Rockape -yes, I'm going for a week. Will be two adults and two kids (5&7). So any advice for kids ski is appreciated too. Plan is to leave around the 17/18th Feb for a week.
@ Buzz...the best thing to do is to sit down and spend an hour or two looking at companies who do apartments. You might need to dig. Ideally looking at the map [url= http://www.serre-chevalier.com/en/winter/ski-area/piste-map/ ]here[/url] you can see that the central villages have lifts straight to the greens and blues, so depending on ability, this might be best for you. We are staying in Briancon, which involves using reds to get across to the easier parts. Turin is around 1hr 30mins. If you book BA click flight and car for what can be very good deals as opposed to doing it separately.
Flashy, will be along with much more knowledge, but hopefully that helps a bit.
EDIT a quick thought....you might be clashing with French school holidays with those dates. Not recommended if so and perhaps consider somewhere else.
It's been a slow start to the season on the West side of the Canadian rockies but I got out for my first tour at the weekend on the Icefields parkway. Pretty nice conditions with boot top powder once we were above treeline.
I was neither the model nor the (pro) photographer for this shot and merely stood around while they did their stuff but the result is so good I wanted to share...
[url= https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5688/31282092206_13c4bcb68d.jp g" target="_blank">https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5688/31282092206_13c4bcb68d.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
Icefields skiing by [url= http://www.mckerrellphotography.com/ ]Graham McKerrell[/url]
Nice, Sweaman2...very nice!
Buzzard - agree with the above. Take care over where you go, it's likely to be very busy anywhere in France.
Hot Fiat - you'll find places that will allow you to book for a few days. Not everywhere sticks to the usual 7 day weekend to weekend holiday. Especially if you'll have a car, you can choose to stay a little further out and have more choice. Agree that flying into Salzburg is a good idea, some great places a short journey from there. Flachau should be looked at 30-45 mins from Salzburg airport directly off the motorway. We've done home to Flachau in 6 hours door to door - that includes the 2hr wait at the airport. We had a leisurely lunch and drink, then were skiing at 3pm on the passes we'd bought to start the next day (a lot of places allow you to ski from 3pm the day before the pass is due to start). Had we have only been there for a long weekend we'd have been straight out as soon as we got there.
Hot Fiat,
We did a short trip to Cormayeur a few years ago, as said above Geneva is probably a better choice than Turin, depending on where your fly from of course.
We used an operator as it worked out cheaper. Flight, Transfer +Tunnel and accommodation.
[url= https://www.skisolutions.com/countries/italy/resorts/courmayeur/hotels ]Ski Solutions[/url]
IRRC, used them a few times for short trips and they are very helpful. Except the time they forgot to tell the hotel in Nendaz that we were arriving late...but thats a different story.
EDIT: Dont go in Feb if you don't want to be fleeced
I need some advice from the hive-mind, if you'd all be so kind. My husband and I have a week off beginning the 10th December and it's just crossed my mind that it's the beginning of the ski season in France that week. I'm really keen to get one last ski trip in before our lives change forever (I'm 19 weeks pregnant with our first) but I'm not sure where to book (if anywhere) - we usually go to the French Alps fairly late in the season so are used to variable conditions, and usually go to a high resort.
I have found some decent deals for Tignes, Val Thorens and La Plagne - any ideas on which of those will have the best snow cover in a couple of weeks time? I'm a first-to-last lift kind of gal so snow cover and ability to ski miles and miles is top of my essentials list!
(PS please no judgements on the sanity of going downhill skiing whilst pregnant - I've been commuting by bike to work most days since I found out, and have been on my MTB most weekends! I'd go mad if I couldn't!)
Thanks for the info. Geneva would be better for us as there's direct flights from
NCL.
Legolam: have skied twice with my sister when she was very pregnant. My bro in law and I swept behind her to provide a safe space which [b]nobody[/b] was allowed into. It's not your own abilities that you need to worry about but those behind you.
Legolam, anywhere high. VT or Tignes I would say.
Have fun, my wife had no energy for skiing at only a few weeks pregnant. We found out in Zermatt..
Cheers, have got good deals for both VT and Tignes - my only concern with VT is that it may not be possible to ski the rest of the 3V (although the accommodation looks nicer in VT, which might be useful if I find I can't ski as much as I'd hoped!).
I've been very lucky so far and not had any pregnancy symptoms at all - I'm keen to make the most of it! I've performed the "sweeping" duties when my husband was learning to ski, so will employ him to do the same on this trip. However, I've been skiing since I was 4 and haven't fallen over since I was 13 (I'm 33 now),and don't do any crazy stuff even when not pregnant, so I'm relatively happy that it's as safe as driving to work 😉
Agree with Tignes or VT that early in the season given the current situation. Check out Mountainsun I think they do early season packages to Tignes.
That said the Milky Way and Aosta resorts have had an absolute dumping in the last week. It just depends on how much of those places would be open.
Captain or anyone else. Can I get the run down on Serre Che please. Is Turin the best flight, who for transfers and where can I get a decent aparment to sleep 4 towards the middle of February. Any help appreciated.
I ended up booking via the resort website http://www.serrechevalier-reservation.com/en/index.htm
Looked nice, price was ok, easy to get to and close yo the lifts, took a punt.
Probably safer..
Only reason we did a pregnancy test was she was right off her G&T and didn't want to ski as much..
We new something was up..!
@legolam Tignes and Val Tho are good choices, if I may say so it's very picky to complain you might not be able to ski the whole 3V ! Even the Tignes / Val link can be shut early in the season. IMO you can't expect miles of different pistes in mid Dec you have to take what you can. I have had some great mid Dec weeks (Verbier 2008 and Ste Foy 2012) and one very so so 2014. Note if you go to Tignes you could catch the first World Cup event which is always in Val d'Isere and is that week http://www.worldcup-valdisere.com/en/
You can't know now where will be best, its a case of just going high and taking a bit of a punt. They won't be able to confirm what lifts will be open yet just their plan.
Stevo of White Room Chalet posts here, if you like their facebook page plus Tignes, Val, Val Tho you'll get a good idea.
if I may say so it's very picky to complain you might not be able to ski the whole 3V !
Fair point! I like to ask for the moon on a stick though! Thanks for the tip on the World Cup - I had no idea that was on.
Those bouys in the Korua video
Forward stance with the back knee tucked in - the only way to carve.
Won't find that in the McNab book.
Hot_Fiat, I meant to say fly to Munich for the Ski Welt. Its a great area for a long weekend, lots of flights, short transfer and a different area every day. Having the car means you can drive in close to all the lifts. (if you get up early) Excellent VFM too.
The snow in VT is in very good nick, lots of it and cold temps at the moment to keep it in good nick. The snow on the lower slopes in the rest of the 3Vs is a little sparse in places, particularly ones with a southerly aspect but it is chuffing freezing here at the moment and the cannons are doing their thing. It's due to be cold for the next couple of weeks so I'd be very surprised if you couldn't make it from VT to Courch 1850 by the 10th.
Stevo of White Room Chalet posts here, if you like their facebook page plus Tignes, Val, Val Tho you'll get a good idea.
There's loads of snow in Tignes & Val at the moment and no problems with the links between the two. Val Thorens probably has almost as much snow, but will be less well-linked to the other areas as you have to pass through Meribel, which is much lower. Is Meribel even open that week?
Awesome, thanks both. That's great insider info! 3V opens officially on the 10th, and I think Tignes/Val are open already. I suspect I'll have fun no mattter where I go!
MUC's a pain in the Boden to get to from the north east: NCL>AMS>MUC in about 6 hours or NCL>CDG (Shudders)>MUC in between 6 and 16 depending on how many Départments you have to cross.
MUC's a pain in the Boden to get to from the north east:
Its at times like this I appreciate the fact that I am less than 30 mins from Gatwick and Heathrow. 8)
Buzzard, will reply properly soon. Am in the US on business, hence the delay!
Forward stance with the back knee tucked in - the only way to carve
'One' of the [numerous] ways to carve I think ... i.e. the euro-carve : the positive binding angles just open up your field of view!
To be honest if you look at 1:59 it looks like the rider has got fairly low +tive angles on his rear binding. He's still riding with a 'stacked' & centered stance - just a variation on it as most of the Korua boards in the video look to be directional.
Perfectly possible to carve a 'pencil line' in the 'corduroy' with a semi-duck stance ... as it's more to do with inclination & angulation I reckon.
From their website:
BY COMBINING THE FORGOTTEN, THE EXISTING AND THE INFINITY OF WAYS TO CREATE AND RIDE UNCONVENTIONAL BOARDS OF INTEREST AND CHARACTER, WE GIVE OPPORTUNITY TO NEW AND UNIQUE EXPERIENCES, SIMPLY FOR THE SAKE OF BEAUTY AND JOY.THIS IS [s]KORUA[/s] BOLLOCKS.
FTFY
Hot Fiat, have you considered a specialist family company like Esprit. We have been with them twice and, with their in-house crèche, childcare was sorted. We thoroughly enjoyed and, though we are having a year off this year from them we will be booking Esprit again next year.
To be fair Bluebird their shapes are not particularly mainstream. Granted they are still instantly recognisable as a snowboard, but they are clearly trying to create a bit of a niche/quirky design image/brand that's different to the mainstream market(s). Similar to what Jeremy Jones has done. Just another example of a company trying to adopt a 'long tail' economic/business model (with a fish-tail snowboard ... see what I did there? 😉 )
Rad little slideshow/article about snowboarding culture and style
[img]www.snowsurf.com/media/Tom%20Sims%20%26%20Jake%20Burton.jpg[/img]
Thanks HYD1 ... I enjoyed that! 8)
I've heard a lot about pedalling your feet as a technique for snowboarding, can anyone recommend a good online resource or fill me in a little as to what you're talking about and what it's for? About to pick up a board after a good few years off so want to see if anything has changed since the ESF taught me!
The first time I heard of it was in Neil McNab's Go Snowboard DVD and book. This is a pretty good description
Source:
[url= http://www.goneboarding.co.uk/forum/pedaling-torsion-turning/threadid/34315/showthread.aspx ]GoneBoarding[/url]
fatbob
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#5 Re: Pedaling & Torsion Turning Posted 23/04/2010 @ 21:23
Never really heard it called torsion turning, but you pretty much had it right. Foot pedalling is using the torsional flex of the board to turn. 'Foot pedalling' is introduced is when you learn falling leaf to steer the board.
You've already learnt to flex and extend to start the board moving and also to move your weight along the boards length (fore and aft movements). The next stage is to introduce steering to start moving the board towards the fall line (and eventually crossing it through turns). Steering in the BASI route is through foot steering/foot pedalling, using the boards torsional flex to achieve this, pretty much like taking your foot on and off the accelerator pedal of your car.
So on toe edge (facing upslope) once you'd started the board moving and your weight is on your front foot you would pull up on your front foot toe strap to flex the board and put it on it's heel edge. The rear foot would then have to mirror the front foot.
where's a good place to sell 2nd hand ski gear? Is there much of a market?
where's a good place to sell 2nd hand ski gear? Is there much of a market?
Ebay is probably the 'go to' place, but unless its a 'name' I can't imagine you're going to get much interest. Have a look at whats there currently for the best idea.
Cheers Beanum, that all makes reasonable sense!
once you'd started the board moving and your weight is on your front foot
Semantics perhaps, but for normal riding/turning/carving, your 'weight' should ideally remain neutral & centered over the board. It's the 'pressure bias' between your feet that is modulated rather than your weight.
In my experience shifting weight back and forth leads to moving your upper body towards the outside of your 'cone of balance' ... but is great for buttering! 😆
Try snowheads forum and skibay group on FB for selling stuff...
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Today's frozen wave surfing here in Sweden
Very nice HYD1 ... going for that Lionel Richtea 'dancing on the ceiling' vibe? 😉
Yeah I have no idea how it happens . Looks fine when I upload it on my phone!
Love the first shot in particular HYD1
Can anyone briefly summarise where there is snow at the moment? A beginner friend wants to go on a singles holiday - I've had a recommendation for a company in Morzine but I'm suspecting somewhere higher might be a better option.
[url= https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5505/31359309186_e900fca826_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5505/31359309186_e900fca826_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/PM7E5A ]skis[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/75523014@N08/ ]Jamie Carson[/url], on Flickr
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Jealous? No, no, no, not me. Oh no. Definitely not. Honest.
What he said VVVV
Looks a bit dull, really.