Off to avoriaz for the weekend on Friday then back to Ardent with the family at the end if the month.
Looking for recommendations for off piste insurance. Bank card has on piste and off piste with a guide but I'll be with a local who is not an official guide.
We were lucky I think....
With Crystal in AdH over Christmas, flying out of Chambery to Manchester. Flight left 4 hours late and only half full. Fortunately we were on it!
Cobrakai on another thread I was recommended Assur Sport. Summer is winter insurance, including off piste. Excellent vfm at €105 for the family for the year. And if you factor the savings on piste insurance with the pds/avoriaz ski passes of €3pppd almost pays for itself.
off to la clusaz on sunday for 4 days then planning maybe tignes or les meniures on the 20th jan
La Clusaz from a few weeks ago I believe.
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Clusaz [/url]
Just back int he UK after a couple of days at Idre in Sweden. It was, without doubt, the best two days of skiing that I have ever had. The slopes were good, the snow amazing (30cm of powder dumped the night before the first day and 20cm dropped during the second) and the people friendly.
I'll hopefully be going back before the end of the season for another couple of days.
Did anyone watch Dave Ryding in last nights dual slalom?
Just amazing to think a Brit is doing so well (if he can stop crashing :wink:).
Bring on the winter Olympics.
Thanks Stoner, good shout on the family insurance.
I've agreed to a winter holiday at the end of the year with the good lady, I haven't been on a board for 7 years, where to start! Looks like a lot has changed and I need to revise kit and equipment tech! Booked some refresher lessons in a couple of weeks, will try to ride every month to get back up to speed. No idea why I'm so nervous about it though!
where to start! Looks like a lot has changed and I need to revise kit and equipment tech
Nah ... it's not changed that much - ok, so some of the designs have got quite groovy, but essentially the concept of side cut, edges and four 'initial contact points' still exist.
Unless your 7 year old board has warped or de-laminated then I'm sure it will be fine.
Never any harm in getting some refresher lessons though!
Off to avoriaz for the weekend on Friday
We're back there in Feb. Last time we were there was New Year 2 years ago with very little snow, "The Wall" was completely bare!
cant believe all the snow!! we generally go mid Jan but have put it off till march this year as last year we were lucky it dumped the day before we got there otherwise i was taking my bike!! gonna kill me waiting till March!!
Footfall we lucked out 2 years ago. When we arrived the wall had been shut for 3 days due avalanche risk. We chanced it and went up there first day first thing. It had been opened about 15 min before and I think I was about the 5th or 6th skier down it. Best powder run of my life!
Any recommendations for accommodation in Cervinia, hoping to make a second trip this year (as I'm 40). It needs to be comfortable and ideally a bit nice, plus make getting to and from the slopes as easy as possible? Not fussed if it's chalet or hotel really though.
[url= https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156209514488109&id=55063883108&_rdr ]yikes [/url]
Video from the ski club of gb Facebook. Bloody glad we are not out there at the moment. This lift must have been an interesting ride
Yes, that looks a bit lively...
😯
I don't know what's more shocking, the wind or those awful ski trouser colours!
Lots of snow here In Sweden this past 10 days
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I bought a second hand rail for the garden
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But just now there won't be any shaping too going on
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Have been doing a fair bit of xc skiing too,
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And my lad has been enjoying his sled before starting ski school next week
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All in all a very nice start to the season.
Can't imagine being on that chairlift with a young'un. Would have been terrifying.
Any recommendations for accommodation in Cervinia
We did a couple of season there. You want to stay in the town centre really. It's much more convenient for lifts, food, bars than Cielo Alto. If you're looking for an apartment you could try Il Cervino – http://www.ilcervino.com/properties-appartamenti-cervinia/
Thanks Bluebird 🙂
this been on yet. love the yearning for turning series.
Just sorting gear for a trip to Glenshee tomorrow for me and Junior 2. Decided on the Wedze rock hoppers rather than risk my Sunday best, although conditions look to be improving all the time. Fingers crossed for a better season than last year.
Looks stunning for tomorrow
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Anyone been to Montgenevre? Any good? In particular for snowboarders?
(It wouldn’t be my first choice but I’ve been offered a cheap spot in a friends trip)
We went to claviere which is just over the Italian border and part of the area pass.
It seemed fine for boarding, not the most attractive place though, but if you are getting it cheap then no reason not to
Getting excited now, month to go. Just discovered that XC60s need special snow chains as the regular ones that wrap round the inside of the wheel risk cutting the brake lines. Didn't see that coming 🙁
Other than that any recommendations for insurance? Used to use my breakdown insurance but don't have that at the moment. Carre Neige seems ok price wise but doesn't really do third party cover
Not sure about insurance but there is a big thread about snow chains on snow heads. Concencus is the Thule ones are much much easier to fit at the side of the road in a snow storm..
There’s a brief discussion on insurance on the previous page.
I just tend to do a search on travelsupermarket and pick a cheapish policy with a decent defacto rating which covers me for offpiste. Paid about £38 for both us at Christmas.
nice vid jam bo, that's a 'trench digger' snowboard I think, there is one for sale second hand near me...
Monday morning at work, can see snow on the tops. Not jealous of these folk at all...
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[that may update, but rest assured, bluebird skies looking across Rannoch Moor as of 1100. Looks great]
Was rubbish* yesterday
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Actually, whilst the sun shone, the pistes were very thin in places and the lifts were rammed.
Some lift queues were 30+ minutes until they eventually opened Butcharts and Carn Aosda T-Bars.
It's hard to understand how these couldn't have been opened first thing, as there was no new snow during the morning.
I was at the Coe on Saturday, very nice snow and amazing visibility but bloody hell it was busy! Great that it's baltic now though with more snow forecast.
LOADS of snow in the tarentaise at the moment. Espace Killy is more or less on lockdown - no skiing at all, no cars between the villages overnight, people advised to stay at home and don't even walk around. When you see the pics in this facebook post you will understand why
At the crown, that slab that broke away was over 3m thick. The avalanche over Piste L that goes down to Laisinant reached the new chairlift and some of the trees are balanced on the lift cables. Quite worrying times
Zermatt is cut off at the moment, 13,00 tourists are stuck there. An avalanche blocked the service road a few days ago and now they've stopped the train from Täsch for safety reasons as they have a category 5 avalanche alert...
[url= http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/suisse/story/Black-out-a-Zermatt--evacuations-a-Eyholz-15651806 ]Link (in French)[/url]
It is looking a bit bonkers out there at the moment.
The accumulation on some of the buildings looks crazy.
As are some of people out there
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I just tend to do a search on travelsupermarket and pick a cheapish policy with a decent defacto rating which covers me for offpiste
But do check the small print as you might find that you are actually covered for very little ... for example one of the biggest costs can be 'repatriation'.
I've used 'Snow Card' and BMC for a number of years. BMC is very comprehensive (especially if you need SAR) but penalises with higher premiums if you are a snowboarder.
Snow Card is very flexible depending on your needs/destinations with sliding scales with their online quote for the amount of cover you want for various items etc.
Thankfully I haven't had to claim with either so I can't comment, but I do remember reading the small print on a long haul flight a few years ago to discover that the online discount insurance I'd bought was probably as much use as the sick bag in the seat pocket in front of me!
Duane - I've ski Montgenervre a few times. It's the French end of the Milky way. Snowboarding will be great if both sides of the resort are open.
Plenty of miles to get in if you cross the border.
Anyone been to Montgenevre? Any good? In particular for snowboarders?
Skied there and really liked it, with the Italian side it's a good area. Can't comment on snow boarding though.
Only thing that's annoying about the snowcard is if you're doing mostly resort skiing, but do a day or two of touring where there might be some tricky bits and it's a good idea to bring ropes and crampons, you can't bump up 2 levels for one day. It costs a fortune to get a high level of cover for a two week trip, and when you're punting around on the pistes and in between most of the time, it's a high proce to pay for the right cover for 1 or 2 days where you might be exposed to the extra risk (well balanced by being away from wannabe racers/vin chaud pissheads, IMO!)
Tangent ahoy: Snowcard and BMC used to be underwritten by the same company, Fortis a few years ago. Just been online and found that BMC's insurance has flitted round a few different Lloyd's syndicates in the past few years, now Antares. Not a great sign. Fortis are still behind snowcard, but changed name to Ageas.
Further to the above that no-one else is interested in, it looks like a couple of the guys from ProSight moved to Antares, so BMC probably moved with them.
BMC's insurance has flitted round a few different Lloyd's syndicates in the past few years
I'm interested Ned! 😉
I can't find the link at the moment and you may already know the backstory, but a few of years ago a couple of climbers got off route in a bad storm in Italy and called for rescue. One was with AAC who paid out straight away. The other was with BMC whose underwriter tried to wriggle out on a technicality (they hadn't been declared missing)
In a nutshell there was a big fuss over on ukclimbing.com with the BMC understandable concerned so from memory they paid up and changed underwriter.
I know what you mean about the Snowcard levels.
Thankfully my trips tend to be either cruising the groomers with the missus and staying inbounds, or clenching my buttocks following McNab ...
This year though I had to go for 'Extreme Adventure' which makes me sound more 'Radical' than I am ... 🙂
Edit ... found it:
[url= https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=585185 ]https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=585185[/url]
Didn't the BMC also have an issue with a celebrity and Antarctic? I'm afraid that's as far as my recollection goes and it could be complete heresy but I seem to remember a jump in premiums with a rumour around that....
The cut-off villages and impressive quantities of snow have been on the news tonight. Phones aren't working in some areas but most roads have been opened this evening. One Brit missing in Tignes. It'll be a while before off-piste is anything less than suicidal, the snow is very heavy.
Didn't the BMC also have an issue with a celebrity and Antarctic?
Aye ... it was rumoured to be TV's own Bear Grylls ... his rescue was said to have pretty much have wiped out BMC's coffers ...
Whether or not it was his actual claim that bumped up the premiums I have no idea for sure butt he BMC did say this about the increase in their cover:
[i]"> Secondly, we’ve had several particularly large claims: a £210,000 bill for a rescue from Antarctica, a number of high-cost snowboarding claims from the USA and some big hits from accidents on cruise ships. These claims weren’t from our core members going climbing, hill walking or mountaineering, so we’ve addressed the issue by introducing a detailed questionnaire for polar region cover and increasing the policy loading on snowboarding from 35% to 50%."[/i]
