If you like snow sliding check these videos from the last 10 days

I used to have a prior khyber when I lived in vancouver, great in the trees but useless on the groomers – brought it back to europe and sold as not so many tree runs etc.

well its not champex. maybe vich***s

cupid stunt – you live in norfolk and ride thetford right?

Check the mountains Nick…Some iconic ones in there. You’ll receive a prize.

I have a Burton Custom X 161 but I normally have to knock the bindings back (cos I am shit). Used to ride a K2 Electra when I did my season in Whistler (13 years ago and is why I ‘have no style’) which I loved and loved but it delammed ;(

ahh,

Weisshorn at the back, so Zinal/ Val Anniviers

I’m with SBZ on that one as well because he has a huge penis and skied down the dam in the James Bond movie with no back protector.

‘No Back Protector’. Wow!

Nick. What prize do you want? I am impressed 😉

Nice – thought so 😛

champex trees will be all time by the weekend I would think? if you can beat the scando’s to it.

I love that place on a stormy day.

A bugger, my guess to where it is was wrong. 🙁

Leave some of the freshies for me. Hate watching powder getting tracked out before I get there. Always feel like its going to run out…

A quick question. How hard is it to find the off piste in Verbier and is it a good place for boarding? Just got flights booked at the mo and wondering whether Cham (for the nightlife mostly- cant stand the bussing around) or Verbier.

“How hard is it to find the off piste in Verbier”

Questions like that always scare me. If you are used to being in the mountains, knowing mountain conditions you can always find the off piste stuff.

I could point you in the direction of where I have once skied off piste, but that wouldnt mean that tomorrow it would be safe or sensible to go there!

As to the vids, I didnt think they were that bad showed me what I have missed the last couple of seasons 🙁

Note to the skier in the yellow.. your technique needs improving!! Sit more centrally on the skis, stop leaning back, skis further apart, dont use the upper body to lead you through the turn. You will feel less tired and have more control 🙂

How hard is it to find the off piste in Verbier

like some other places Verbier has marked Itineries, which are unpisted runs. They are marked yellow/black lines on the piste map.

http://www.verbier.ch/multimedia/docs/2011/06/planhiverA_1012_.pdf

google for Back of Mont Fort, Stairway to heaven, mont gele, etc.

An easy itinery to find is tortin, a nice big snow bowl or a steep mogul field.

Appologies Bear Grills FD. Your definition of off piste may be a bit different to mine. Im not talking the bit under the lifts or between the pistes.

Hiking a ridge, dropping through a tree line, starting or ending nowhere near a lift.

Always helps if locals are friendly, can see people on top of crests, foot marks in the snow, ski tracks through the powder etc.. In Whistler its even signed.

edit- so there are maps. Well doesnt get easier than that.

Note to the skier in the yellow.. your technique needs improving!! Sit more centrally on the skis, stop leaning back, skis further apart, dont use the upper body to lead you through the turn. You will feel less tired and have more control

Now that is hilarious. Armchair critics of professional skiers. Sorry. Jonas who is wearing yellow has his Swiss Patent, Swedish Patent and the highest Canadian qualification possible. There isn’t a better qualified or smoother, natural skier in Verbier. HE is above your opinion (I am not though ;))

Its very easy to find the off piste in Verbier. To find the untracked off piste is a) a timing thing or b) knowledge/hiking. Be careful in Chamonix/Verbier as things can go wrong quickly if you follow people (who then skin 1000m back out of an off piste run for example)

“Im not talking the bit under the lifts or between the pistes.”

Thats good because neither am I. I certainly wouldnt begin to look for off piste possibilites based on speaking to random folk on a biking forum, and I certainly wouldnt recommend to some one not knowing their abillity or mountain knowledge.

ads-b: There are some very well known runs which can be easily spotted. There are very regularly deaths in avalanches etc from people going at the wrong time. You can mail me at robert(dot)hamiltonsmith(at)gmail and I can give you some info to help you with decision making.

Rob

There are very regularly deaths in avalanches etc from people going at the wrong time

lots of people wearing ABS and other airbag avalanche survival rucksacks at Verbier this year – and lots of the shops seem to have them so probably readily available for hire.

I certainly wouldnt begin to look for off piste possibilites based on speaking to random folk on a biking forum

yes, better to talk to random people at the ski resort.

Cheers guys. May email nearer the time. Chances are I will get a guide for the more serious stuff. Most of the time just get some tips from the chalet staff if its easy enough to find (or they take me out)Always carry a receiver and shovel- am not a fool.

FD- Didnt ask for where they were. Just how easy there were to find.

Following tracks in Switzerland/Chamonoix if you don’t know where you are going is STUPID!

I’ve know of people thought it was a good idea to follow tracks which turned out to be speed flyers. One poor bugger got a good ol’ brown trouser experience when he ended up stuck pretty much in a cliff face as the snow slid around him on both sides.

In some places in Chamonix you can go a couple of metres to the side of the tracks and end up in a crevice. The only time I went to Cham I went with a guide.

“Armchair critics of professional skiers”

I have to confess, yes I am currently an armchair critic as I havent been able to ski for the last 2 seasons. I have also never been a ‘professional skier’, I only instructed for a number of years, raced to international standard, and skied some pretty nice off piste stuff for a few seasons with some pretty good borders and skiers, so no I guess I cant be as competent.

“yes, better to talk to random people at the ski resort.”

If you like, or ask around to you find the people who know the area and where the best conditions are at the time or book a guide.

Not condoning following tracks alone. But you need a clue as to where they are. Look at where the tracks go- see if you can see the exit back to piste-see if you can see people going in/out-ta da you have a powder run! At worst it would be a long walk. Be a moron to board over a blind crest off a cliff (ok- I have done that once, but it was a small one 🙂

You dont have many skills. Live with it.

Classic!

and while SBZ spends his life trolling on here RHS will be doing stuff in the alps as he has done for years. 😀

nice vid man, never done anything snow related maybe i should before i die.

Following tracks in Switzerland/Chamonoix if you don’t know where you are going is STUPID!

Yes + 1 but come on…we are all ‘adventurers’ no? All I am saying is to try and make informed decisions. I have been in the mountains for a while now and have a fair amount of competency which has come from making errors. I definitely learnt a lot from following tracks in Engelberg and skiing the best 2000m run ever but being very aware that it was a risk. Oh and the time I nearly got holed up in Fitzsimmons creek in Whistler.

Guides cost a SHIT load of money and you tend to not really learn anything by following. If you are serious invest in training and know when to say no and walk back out. ABS/Pulse bags won’t stop you being dragged over a cliff or rag dolling down a 1000m slope. I wear one but mostly to give my parents/wife piece of mind. I’d hate to think that it would make me step into a potential avalanche instead of saying ‘No, this isn’t right’

Luckily I have some good friends who are guides and I will ring to ask their advice on a particular route. No one wants people to die.

Very enjoyable videos Rob, thanks for sharing.

Best place to follow tracks = La Grave 😯

As RHS says – you learn from your errors, the unlucky few don’t but most do.
Take an Avi course, glacier rescue course and go out and explore.

I agree with what you say Rob, but a lot of people come over and just decide that they can do something that they don’t know about and end up getting into trouble. Sometimes I can be over cautious, but I’d rather be that than get dead. It’s all about the adventure, but you should also be prepared for the adventure.

Last winter within a couple of days of each other there were two deaths in Engelberg by people who basically tried to ski lines that they didn’t know the outcome of. One person fell nearly 800m to his death, that’s a lot of time to think about how much you’ve f*cked up.

In the areas of Switzerland that I know my way around I don’t take guides, but when I went to Cham I’d not been there before, didn’t know the area was with a few people so a guide actually worked out quite cheap. I’m the kind of guy that tends to annoy the guides when I get one to try to learn from them. 😉

BTW. The closest I’ve come (so far) to getting dead in an Avalanche was when I trusted what a guide said rather than my stomach.

Guides cost a SHIT load of money and you tend to not really learn anything by following. If you are serious invest in training and know when to say no and walk back out.

So, (sort of related to my other post) how do you get into doing more off-piste and learning some of these skills?

Is it best to start (as I’m doing) with just riding unbashed stuff alongside and between pistes, staying more or less in-bounds? Or is it worth splashing out for a guide/coach to learn the basics? (my fitness level not withstanding).

Take an Avi course, glacier rescue course and go out and explore.

What about those of us that only get one or two weeks a year to board? Still worth it? Stick with guides? Or just stick to the piste and stop being a wannabee?

So, (sort of related to my other post) how do you get into doing more off-piste and learning some of these skills?

Is it best to start (as I’m doing) with just riding unbashed stuff alongside and between pistes, staying more or less in-bounds? Or is it worth splashing out for a guide/coach to learn the basics? (my fitness level not withstanding).
In my opinion an Avalanche course is money well spent if you get a good guide teaching it. I’ve done a few and some were definitely better than others.

Last year I unfortunately witnessed an avalanche a few metres to the side of a red graded piste.
The party in question were the young (ages around 14-16) French race team, complete with guides and coaches.
2 of the youngsters were hospitalised, one ended up in a coma for a few days. So be careful out there folks.

I would say guides are good value if say a group of 4. most guides are about 3-400 euros a day. you can learn alot from them if you ask. many clients like to guided and don’t care about mountain craft so sometimes the guide just “guides”

I have used loads of guides over the years all over the alps

Neil Mcnab
Rick Marchant
Phillipe Andre
Seb Montaz
Cerdic Mercet
Simon Christy

have hung down crevases, dug snow holes, learn rope knots – but also ridden terrain I would not feel comfortable on without their knowledge, especially glaciated and opening a slope when there has been heavy fresh snowfall.

Equally in places I know well,like Grand massif where I have a family place, valdisere, whistler and morzine where I used to skibum – I never use guides and have just learnt the routes over the years following tracks and locals – of course with a few close calls etc.

Rob, which airbag do you have? thinking of the snowpulse guide 30l or the Mammut 30l. hopefully big enough to get snowshoes in? and easier to fly with compared to the ABS

All good stuff said up there. Agreed.

Graham S: Well its tough to be honest. A lot of it comes down to timing, beautiful, fresh, cold powder snow is a time based thing. Ski accessible powder lasts as long as the vultures allow it. Once its gone the walking begins and if you are prepared to walk 1-2 hrs there is normally fresh snow and silence to be found. 3 hrs and the world is yours!

Like in biking there is compromise though…Dragging heavy skiis and boots for that distance is unpleasant and don’t even get me started on splitboards! 😉

So…if you really wanna get into it you have to watch the charts and jump on plane and get to a resort over a weekend. Your approach buy getting some 3 day stuff sounds good. Or goto Revelstoke in Canada 😉

p.s. I recommend this book. Very, very good. Avalanche Fressking Book

splitboarding has come of age (well nearly)
Karakoram binders and jones solution and your at 95% 8)
well that, some good kick turn technique and lots of swearing…

Problem is I still prefer my solid board, especially as most approaches in europe are not deep pow, unlike British columbia where a split os more vital.

Graham – the guides sound expensive, but even alone I would say it’s well worth it if you find a well recommended one. I’ve had some 1-to-1 with Alex Rippe in ST Foy and Nico Glize in Val, and I thought it was well worth it. If you can find a way to split the costs with mates or joining a group of people staying in the same chalet then the price obviously falls quickly. In some cases you also get shown routes that you can later do alone if you’re sure of the conditions.

To start learning I recommend:

Home

There was a series of videos which were pretty good for a small cost. I also got a couple of books about avalanche safety from outdoorsy shops.

By going out with guides I’ve got to practice with the transceivers and Stevo did a lesson/practice as part of the backcountry week with the White Room last year.

I figure that I’ll have to pay for guides etc up to a point that I really feel that I know enough, but frankly I suspect that unless you live in the mountains to get a feel for the conditions properly it’ll never really happen.

and as an aside – don’t forget to check your insurance! I love France because for a few extra euros on your ski pass you have basic off-piste cover (afaik) no questions asked.

other policies have nice small print saying off piste at all isn’t covered, and some only with guide, max avalanche rating 3 etc….

I think Snow Card was one of the good ones if you’re in the UK.

Nick. We went with Snowpulse last year as a) its made in Martigny b)its a great 30l back pack. I like it. They are quite heavy but sits really well on the shoulders/hips. Don’t snowshoes have sharp things that can burst airbags? Put them on the outside?

Graham S – Getting more experience off piste is difficult if you only get out once/twice a year.

Back in the day when I was skiing a lot, I just built up a network of contacts ie you would agree to meet up with a few people in one place one week, through them you would get contacts of other boarders/skiers in other areas and arrange to meet up with them etc etc.

Unfortunately now I have lost that network of contacts etc, but still know one or two people I could arrange to meet up with. I would never go off piste by myself though.

To be honest these days I’d be more than happy to pay the price for a guide, as I am likely to only get the odd week here and there and to me that makes them value for money.

Guides are there literally for that though, just to take you to the off piste areas. They are not there really to improve skills and ability.

Most ski schools will do off piste training though… at a cost.

Bearing the fact that avalances can happen any where, I would stay close to the piste and get your technique right before heading off in to serious off piste territory. Poor technique gets magnified off piste and soon eats up your energy, plus if its steep you dont want to be making mistakes.

I was suprised yesterday when I picked the new guide 30l – its really pretty light and also uses the snowpulse 2.0 system which looks better than the older system of refilling.

my only concern was the shoulder straps being quite stiff with all the gear in them – do you find it a comfortable if wearing all day?

snowshoes pack in small bag so OK inside i would think.

Its super comfortable. Really well designed.

Its surprisingly heavy when full of stuff and a standard bag is surprisingly light when I just go skinning 😉

There are other options. Any ski instructor with a Patente (Swiss) can take you off piste. The guy in my video can take you to all the spots and teach and be safe. He would be cheaper too.

A Real guide is important for high mountain glacier stuff of course.

ABS/SnowPulse!! Friend of mine got caught in a big avalanche this afternoon. He went under then the bag pulled him back out. Crickey