Sounds like a format for a new type of 'Enduro' ... oh hang on a minute..Click me!!
Or, see my post above. 🙂
Or, see my post above
Note to self ... "must pay more attention to CFH's posts ... " 😉
Would you risk Ischgl or St Anton this early in season?
Never been, but I recall a friend taking his family to Ischgl for Christmas a couple of years ago when there was very little snow anywhere. He said it wasn't great but they did ski every day....which I was really surprised to hear.
I should think so too, Digby!
🙂
Ecky-Thump - We've been to Austria the last 3 Christmases. All three of those have had pretty poor natural snow across most of the Alps. 1st year we went to the Skiwelt - it was pretty poor and when it did snow during that week they didn't open up any more of the area for "avalanche safety" or as we suspected preparing and sandbagging the rest of the area for the much busier New Year week.
Then we went to Wagrain (Ski Amade). It was excellent. The lift system is modern and so is the snow making, everything was open. It's linked to St Johann and Flachau and a short bus ride to Kleinarl which is linked to Flachauwinkl and Zauchensee.
Last Christmas we went to Hinterglemm. The area is even more advanced than Ski Amade. The pistes were covered well and everywhere was open.
My point is that snow making is probably just as important (or more important) than being high - there were lots of places much higher than where we've been over the last two years who struggled to open up anything. Obviously it has to have been cold for them to be able to snow...
BTW - I'm in Saalbach at the moment. If there really is no snow the mountain biking is excellent!
We did Bad Gastein at Xmas a few years ago. Had a bloody great time. Skied to 2pm on New year's Eve in a couple of feet of fresh snow then flew home. Fantastic
Point to remember is that the temperature needs to be below zero for snowmaking to work. Skiwelt is awesome but I'd still be thinking snow sure (not necessarily high) plus extensive snow making.
If you're a gambler and not fussy hold on and book near the time but expect to go to 3 valleys, val d etc
Grahamt1980
We (4 adults 2 toddlers) stayed in La Tania last week of January.
I was dubious as it was the lowest part but the wife's liked the child care (more info if requested).
I shouldn't have worried.
Easy access to the 3 valleys. Val thorens and back by mid afternoon. Really nice tree lined home runs which, because la tania is end of the line, are quiet at the end of the day. The up lift first thing is maybe a 10min que but nothing after that.
The resort itself is prettier than most but still suffers from what I call gorbals architecture. There are some nice places to eat but only really one apre bar. The bus is free to merebil and courcheval but I think it runs quite late and is only 10 min.
Christmas skiing appears to be pot luck, really!
Had it one year at Sauze, so not at massive altitude. We arrrived on 23rd(ish) to not a lot of snow. End of the first day (or second, I forget!) it started snowing. Hard. Rest of the week was deep and fresh.
I'm just catching up, but ....
CFH:
They do go to Les Arcs, though
Hands off, it's MINE!
😉
hammerite, thanks for the recommendations.
We know Skiwelt well but really wouldn't risk it there early season if booking ahead.
Yes, we've done Ski Armade area early in the season before and been lucky like you. It's a thought.
Not done Saalback/Hinterglemm - will check it out. Thanks for that.
*not so stealth ad*
Have you bought new skis this season? Do you like to play in the powder? Are you worried about losing them? Would you like to buy my [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tandem-brakes-tandem-wheel-magazines-road-wheels-road-stis-raleigh-burner ]ResQSki pack[/url]?
🙂
Just spotted this over on the other side;
[url= http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=132590 ]What was the first ski lift you went on? [/url]
Seemed a good topic for here as well!
For me, it was the dry slope at Gloucester.
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Ran up and down to the first "turning" for an afternoon of falling over. Loved it, though!
Christchurch Ski Centre!
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Hated it!
Ta for the info on la tania.
Turns out because of the group size and the fact we have a 2 year old it has been fun finding an appropriate chalet, looks like we have settled on la plagne now.
Going to book over the weekend and Def going to have a go on the bobsleigh run out there
The ski tow at Sirdal skisenter in Norway near Stavanger.
What was the first ski lift you went on?Seemed a good topic for here as well!
SSV ... gone ... burned (quite a few times) ... but not forgotten.
Once caught the 'little fella' whilst riding the button lift ... 😳
Grahamt1980 - check SkiFamille first. Not cheap, but bang on for what it sounds like your after.
They do a few resorts.
What was the first ski lift you went on?
T-bar at Cairngorm. Day Lodge maybe? It went downhill at one point. I was on a board. 😯
First lift - Aviemore, but I think I spent most of the time falling over followed the next year by ..... Serre Chevalier (just for you CFH)
Halifax dry ski slope with Bradford Uni Ski Club in 1990
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First lift on snow would have been Borovets in 1997: the gondola up the mountain and the drag along the ridge. I've got a pic but can't find a version online at the moment
Kids lift in Livignio, (1980) wore through my C&A salopettes sliding on my arse. It's tax free there so was cheaper to buy skis and boots than hire.
Bassingbourn rope tow for me. Somehow ended up in the middle of the thing and then didn't ever go back.
Hillend.
The lift I have used most, is probably the one in in CFH's photo.
Borovets, Bulgaria.
Went with a group of friends and friends of friends so there was a bit of getting to know half the people. Checked into the hotel from the Shining and went to our rooms then back to the bar. Having the how's your room chat and the answers are dowdy, it's somewhere to sleep etc. Someone asks does your telly work? Leads to did you find the porn? Where's Richard? Still up there - it's proper hardcore and he loves it.
Any recommendations for a week in Italy in late January. Mainly skiing on piste intermediate level. No need for family friendly or rowdy speed...?
Bloody autocorrect, apres not speed
First lift was at Rossendale dry slope. Getting off was an interesting experience.
The third time I went, a chap came down the slope with his stick sticking straight out in front. He was gathering speed and managed to knock me out near the base. My friend's brought me round and luckily I was only 'out' for seconds. Not a pleasant experience. The chap was banned if I remember correctly.
During another visit a young chap came careering down the slope, through the flimsy netting, landing in the carpark just below. 😯
They're looking into snowmaking equipment that can work in +3c in Ski Amadé apparently, at the moment it has to be -3c. Not sure if/when it will happen.
Italy: I wasn't particularly impressed with Cormayeur, liked Bormio though, although a bugger to get to. Having a car in both places is good though as there are some great options on the same ski pass nearby.
First lift - the magic carpet at Xscape MK, then Poma at the same venue.
On real snow - one of the Poma lifts near Les Bergers in AdH.
Any recommendations for a week in Italy in late January.
The Selle Ronda area is a nice place - Colfosco / Corvara.
Odd, I thought I'd replied suggesting Courmayeur. I've had a weekend and two weeks there, really like it. Mrs NBT wants to go back. Rockape63 doesn't seem to like it which I can understand, but each to their own
Any recommendations for a week in Italy in late January. Mainly skiing on piste intermediate level. No need for family friendly or rowdy speed...?
What about somewhere 15k or so over the border?
8)
The Monte Rosa areas north of Turin is extensive and good for intermediates
CaptainFlashheart - Member
Any recommendations for a week in Italy in late January. Mainly skiing on piste intermediate level. No need for family friendly or rowdy speed...?
What about somewhere 15k or so over the border?
What were you thinking Flashy - although the wife has been heavily researching Val Claret so the choice may no longer be mine 🙄
Belle plagne booked for a week in Feb. Nice and high so should be ok for snow
So does it translate as knight's greenhouse Flashy?
Could be.....
😆
First ski lift would have been on the dry slope at Aviemore Centre.
My first lesson would have been the year before when there was no tow, which at the age of 10 in 1981 really sucked!
Move on a few years and our secondary school had it's own ski slope, again no tow.
The school's slope was actually an old bit from Hillend and it's still lying out the back of the school and hopefully it'll get fitted in our local public park, no doubt without a tow!
I'll second the Sella Ronda as a recommendation. We stayed in Arabba which is nice.
As mentioned earlier in the thread Cervinia. It's an intermediates dream, long wide slopes, not too steep - very flattering! Bonus is the ability to ski Zermatt too.
It's snowing in Austria!
[url= https://www.kaunertaler-gletscher.at/en/winter/my-mountains/kaunertaler-glacier/weather-kaunertal-glacier/ ]WEATHER[/url]
Also, just enrolled on the transceiver & search training course with Henrys Avalanche Training (HAT)
Dates just released for his various courses.
Well for anyone Les Gets / PdS bound, they are rebuilding the Ranfolly (Tulipe) chair.
Igm-indeed they are, ran round the top of it last month, new footings for the towers were going in
Giant - you didn't go to inverkeithing did you ? We had one there which was tiny
New footings looked finished and a new bottom station built when I was there 10 days ago.
No NZ I went to the equally glitzy Bathgate Academy!
Trying to book our crossings to Ijmuiden so we can head to Mayrhofen, but DFDS haven't released the winter timetable yet. 🙁
First lift would have been the rope tow, on the nursery slope in Wengen, right in front of the Mannlichen lift, in 1981. Since they had to move the lift following the avalanche, they appear to have built all over that field.
Biked home in Edinburgh last night to a white garden !
Booked for Les Gets 4th Feb, woo hoo ! Ski Famille again, Marjorie which was being significantly rebuilt when i biked past in July.
First ski lift would have been on the dry slope at Aviemore Centre.
My first lesson would have been the year before when there was no tow, which at the age of 10 in 1981 really sucked!
Also had my first lesson here in 79 or 80 could have sworn it had a lift. this is the place in Aviemore town not up the mountain?
First snow lift was a couple of months later in Bardonecchia.
I bet no-one has the same first lift as I had - The Familiale at Le Lioran
[url= http://www.lelioran.com/webcam.html ]Here in it's current state[/url]
First lift was Telford dry slope, first snow was Schladming.
Currently trying to decide if I can justify 2 trips this season. A week in Obergurgl is a given, another few days in France (I fancy La Grave and Deux Alpe) appeals as well.
So I'm off to Sainte Foy Tarantaise to work the season as a ski tech. Really looking forward to it and especially looking forward to improving my off piste skills with that being what the resort is primarily known for!
Anyone from here skied there and have any tips? I know stevo (I think that's his name) operates white room from there and I've heard it's great but any particular things I should do?
Only slight concern is that I'm going to be off the bike for 5 months, anyone know if there are places in Ste Fly that have fat bikes that can be rented? Either that or some in Les Arcs, Val D'Isere or the surrounding area?
Oh and my first lift was the maenlichenbahn in the grindelwald area
any particular things I should do?
All of it, your there for the season, make friends find ski buddy's, ski Loads. There will be loads of nice road riding and bikes of all types available to hire I am sure. Have a great time. *no jealousy here, reminiscing of seasons past. Oh heady days.
Oliver, also get a bit of Avy training in if you haven't already.
Who are you working for Oliver?
Skiing-wise, there's an incredible amount of terrain, far, far more than the piste map suggests. You really need to get out and ride with locals to get your head round a lot of it though. The more obvious stuff gets skied-out pretty fast these days (or maybe that's just my rose-tinted glasses).
Nobody rents fat-bikes in resort, but there's a few places around the valley which do. We've thought about it, but never gone for it. Doesn't seem worth the investment in cash for the likely number of clients. There would be some cool stuff to do in Sainte foy though. Riding from resort level or just above and going down into the valley. Honestly though, just forget bikes for the winter season! Come March, some of the stuff down at valley level will start to open up again, can be fun to get out on a bike if the snow isn't great. There's always a few days at the end of the season where they start letting bikes on the funi at Les Arcs!
I am going to try to run some seasonnaire stuff just before the season starts, probably including some avalanche training.
As for me, I will mostly be on my snowboard this winter: www.whiteroomsnowboarding.com ! 
I'm working for the Auberge & Chalets sur la Montagne.
I'll definitely attempt to get out with as many locals as possible, plus a few of the guys I'll be working with have done some seasons in the area already so I should have plenty of people to show me what's what!
Thought that might be the case, guess I'll be fine bike free for 5 months just not something I've done in the last 8 years!
I know I'll be doing some avalanche training in the first few weeks of my job, plus I'll supposedly have access to all the safety gear so I'll have stuff to use before I get my own!
Haha, I'll be on skis, no chance you'll catch me on a board....
You'll be down in La Thuile rather than up in resort, which is a bit of a pain but doable with the right attitude. It would help to have your own car.
Been to the Lorian lots of time but dont think it was my first lift .
Planning a week on 17th feb , french holidays . not sure where yet but french Alps .
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Serre Che this morning! Mid mountain, below L'Yret.
Yeah I had worked that out, and supposedly after dropping the guests off at the slopes (9-10am depending on the day) the staff normally just ski from there. Taking my car is not really possible as it's up there with the least winter-proof vehicles possible (fibreglass kit car), plus the insurance would be silly.You'll be down in La Thuile rather than up in resort, which is a bit of a pain but doable with the right attitude. It would help to have your own car.
Is it often possible to ski right down to the base of the valley (ie where I'll be in La Thuile) or does the snow cover/terrain make that difficult?
Seeking advice on Swiss ski resorts. Help me STW, you're my first port of call (will be going on snowheads later)
I've never skiied in Switzerland. Mrs NBT's aunt lives there, so we'd like to combine a ski trip to a new resort with the opportunity for some quality familial time. We're thinking of spending a week in march in a resort that's accessible and has something for non-skiiers for a day or two
At the moment we're looking at Davos (Platz) as I've seen a good deal for a week's half board in a hotel. As Mrs NBT's aunt lives in the Zurich area, Davos is a fairly short journey too.
However I've seen that Powdair are offering very reasonably priced flights to Sion, which is close to the Val d'Anniviers (Zinal, Grimentz et al) where I've fancied skiing for some time, and Crans Montana, as well as Verbier and so on. It's a lot further from Zurich though, and a fair whack more expensive, and I'm not sure about non-skiiers. I'm working on the idea that Dearest Aunt will only be in resort for a couple of nights, and will entertain herself in the daytime while we ski, meeting us in the evening for a repast of epic proportions.
Constructive feedback and suggestions welcomed - is it worth us looking at Western Austria for instance? We're both experienced skiiers but happy with a medium sized ski area. Last season was Passo Tonale and a late season last minute week in Meribel - previous to that we've enjoyed Courmayeur, and both love the Espace Killy and Les Arcs
Not stayed in Davos but have stayed in Klosters. As you say easy to get to from Zurich and final train forms part of the lift system. Doing the run down to Kublis, sitting in the station bar waiting for the bell to indicate the train is coming, is one of the great skiing experiences. Good mountain restaurants etc, really good trip for us as a couple.
Verbier has a lot going for it, as does Crans Montana, but if I was you I would go to Davos.
EasyJet flights released today.
Cervinia / Zermatt trip flights and accommodation booked for Easter 😀
Is it often possible to ski right down to the base of the valley (ie where I'll be in La Thuile) or does the snow cover/terrain make that difficult?
I've never bothered myself (never lived in La Thuile), but I had some mates who used to do it pretty regularly. Getting out of resort is slightly awkward, but it's then mostly fields down to La Thuile so it's supposedly pretty doable in a good snow year. I wouldn't be relying on it though.
There's a shuttle bus between the resort and La Thuile as well, although it's not super-frequent (4 or 5 times per day).
[quote> http://rideeasy.co/how-it-works/
Er...no. Thanks.
Seen that pop-up on Facebook a few times. Hysterically shite.
nbt - have a look at Arosa. I went there with mrs r and some mates a few years ago and had an awesome time. Quiet, great pistes, pretty village, good lift and train connections - we did a ski tour over to Davos and back one day.
Ay-may-zing lift served off piste. Steeps, cliffs, bowls, looong tree runs. Most people stick to the pistes or the winter walking trails.
Would go again. Don't quite know why I haven't. It was really good.
Oh, mountain meal and pissed up tobogganing down the hill again. It doesn't [i]have[/i] to be dangerous, but...
Snow falling at high levels in Austria. Too early to get excited but it's good for the glaciers at lest.
Fall has arrived in Whistler, but not full winter yet. We've had a few dustings up top but nothing in the valley yet, which makes a change from last year where it snowed in the village at this time of year then rained pretty much right through until the week before opening. Currently dry and about 8 degrees.
Hopefully going to get into touring this year. Finally have a job here that affords a little more spending money and the time to get out when the snow conditions are good. Just need to decide if I want to go whole 9 yards and buy tech boots and bindings or get an alpine touring boot and go from there. Decisions decisions....
*whispers*
After spending my first 4 years and 9 snow holidays on a snowboard, I'm learning to ski over Xmas!!
Did a full day lesson at Chill Factors the other week....much less painful than learning to board innit!!!
I think it depends on what type of touring and what your partners are using. If you're the only one on AT gear it's going to be a long day when they scamper off ahead of you on tech bindings. But if it's mostly slack country then less of an issue. Personally I'd go tech bindings and then choose the boot to match expectations. The walk mode on tech is still way better than any frame binding I've tried. I notice flexy ski boots way more both uphill (good) and down (bad)
I've got dynafit with Maestrale boots and marker's with Freedom SL. I didn't mix and match last year but this year will try the freedom with the dynafits.
If you're the only one on AT gear it's going to be a long day when they scamper off ahead of you on tech bindings.
The fittest guy will still be the fastest. My times weren't much improved when I went from Silvretta steel to lo-tec twenty five years back. I reckon my current gear saves perhaps 3 minutes per 1000m vertical.
In the Silvretta days I used to use Asolo plastic climbing boots to gain speed/comfort uphill when the snow was in good condition. 1.95m straight skis with a camber like cross country skis so the skins made next to no contact when you lifted your weight off. Looking back they were dreadful to ski, slow, steep turns were a series of jumps.
Glenshee planning permission approved to replace Cairnwell T with a chairlift. Perhaps this year the snow will stick around ?
The fittest will be fastest; my comment was as much around comfort. I much prefer the walk mode of tech bindings (pivot at the toe) to the walk mode of frame bindings (even modern ones) and find it more efficient over a long day.
As with Nordic good technique helps and people adapt.