Snowboard Advice

Dunno about that Ranger, I'm 6'3" but only about 80kgs and I'd be more like 162-165 or so. Plus, bigger lad, wider stance and you want a bit of tip and tail for stability.

Grumm you will only get that level of arrogance with the ESF. I used to process anywhere up to 3000 sets of lessons a week and they had by far the worst record for customer service and refunds.

Ask many French providers why they will no longer work with British tour operators and you'll get similar comments Shandy. It works both ways and there are too sides to every story. If you have an abusive level of late cancellations and aggression the provider will stop refunding in the hope you take your business elsewhare leavings slots for good business rather than bad business. This applies to room reservations, instruction, transport – the whole chain.

I'm 6'4" and when I bought my board I was expecting to get a 164ish board but was advised by the Swedish dudes to get something a bit shorter and snappier so I picked up a 160cm and I'm still alive and can ride it just fine.

Peachos – WTF…. never seen so many trashed boards. Are you a frequenter to the park or is it down to rider technique/incorrect weight board?? Sorry dude – dont mean to critisize a fellow boarder but it is alot of trashed boards.

nah i'm about 5'10" and weigh about 75kg so 158cm is about spot on for me. i don't actually know what happened to the Clash – i was just riding along and something felt very strange, looked down to see that huge crack just in front of my leading foot. put that one down to a crap board. did the Powers by landing tail heavy whilst trying to get my FS switch 540's down on a massive 20ft kicker in NZ – gutted, but luckily there were only a couple of weeks left in the season and it rode them out.

Edukator I worked for TUI (Crystal/Thomson) and they are a terrible, terrible company, kept profitable by having enormous bulk buying power. The way they treat their staff and suppliers has to be seen to be believed. How about taking €48 off somebody for 6 days boot hire and giving the shop €8 euro, or taking £800 off a chalet guest for Christmas week and spending €40 per head on food and wine for a week?! I have no love for British tour ops!!!

Edukator I worked for TUI (Crystal/Thomson) and they are a terrible, terrible company

Blimey! We've used Crystal quite a lot over the years and always found them to be good value and have good sociable chalet staff.

shandy, where/when did you work for TUI? i worked for them during the first half of the 2005/06 season in Claviere, Italy. they certainly get their money's worth out of you – think i was getting paid about £250 a month + lift pass, shared accommodation & food for between 40-60 hours a week. hated it so left for Val d'Isere to hook up with some other mates.

TUI are German of course and their business is no longer welcome in some resorts though they would no doubt advance some other reason for having pulled out.

My son is up on a glacier with an ESF coach as I speak Shandy. The guy is young, talented (top ten in the world), polite, friendly, and an excellent role model for my son. You'll forgive me for objecting to unfair generalities about the ESF

If anyone recognises me after my last comment I'd appreciate you keeping my surname under your hat. Ta.

Shandy – Have a look at few catalogues, most of the the boards have weight catorgaries, wonder why?

Height it misguiding, personal preference and riding style is much more important. As said above flex patterns and board design or as important.

If you want something that will do everything you wont go too wrong with directional twin shaped board.

You'll forgive me for objecting to unfair generalities about the ESF

I dealt with the ESF for 1500-3000 lessons per week, for several winters. In my experience they had a much higher level of complaints than any other schools. That is not a generalisation, its a statistical fact.

Ranger I didn't mean to wind you up, I was just pointing out that some taller gents think that a longer board keeps things in proportion. Going by weight alone is pretty vague, most boards have at least 20kg ranges on them. Height and weight are both considerations.

I've got boots (and socks) sorted. Spent a while trying varying types but plumped for a Salomon Synapse. It's a narrow fit for my narrow feet and feels comfortable with little to no heel lift, after using them I'm glad I got a stiffer boot as I feel much more confident and don't have to force the board to make movements like I had before in the Casvegas slippers. I've signed up for the SCUK membership thanks alot for the heads up and i'm off snowsurfing tonight after work. My feet are a size 10 so I'll make sure I look out for width, and now I've got 10% off at TSA it might be worth plumping for new gear as apposed to second hand. Cheers again for the advice it's been much appreciated

In my experience does not equal a statistical fact.

So you bear a grudge against the ESF, you're entitled to that, but unless you can link some statistics, talking statistics gives no weight to what you say. It sounds like the ESF was your major service provider in France by a long way. I would therefore suggest that less complaints from other schools was quite normal as they did less work.

You have an issue with French skiers as you said on the other thread Shandy. You can hate us as much as you like, that's your privilege, I'll only bite when your hatred leads to you misleading other STWers about the realities of skiing/borading in France.

From posts on this forum I suspect some Brits (a minority I hope) including yourself have a low opinion of the French and that their xenophobic attitude to their instructors is part of the problem.

I think you are becoming slightly paranoid here chief. For starters I seriously doubt if anybody gives a fiddlers what your name is…

What I have said here is that in my experience (of turning over millions of euros of business) with ESF their standard of customer service is worse than the independent schools in the Alps. I haven't listed a string of horror stories because the ESF are not all bad, plenty of good people make their living with them and I have made plenty of positive comments about them too. The independents have introduced competition and dramatically improved the standard of teaching across the board so they deserve credit where it is due.

All I said on the other thread was that sometimes collisions are unavoidable. Everybody tries their best to avoid them but sometimes they happen. You then started ranting about dangerous behaviour, prosecution, "suicide is legal" and all that shite.

You are the one who is stereotyping here. You have assumed that I spend my time ducking ropes and jumping small children. In fact I have learnt my skills like anyone else, done a couple of Avalanche courses, and toured on skis and snowshoes/board pretty extensively around the Chamonix valley. I stick to my limits and I've never endangered my life or anyone elses.

I am not even British, I'm Irish. I lived and worked in the Alps for a number of years and I have nothing but respect for the French. Like the Irish, they have certain unique "national characteristics", some positive and some negative, which make up their national identity, and are something to be celebrated. Most of my French friends are happy to have a laugh at the differences between the two cultures. Its when you start taking things too seriously and judging people on sight that "xenophobia" kicks in.

Life out there is pretty much like anywhere else. You can choose to get wound up and judge people, or you can give the benefit of the doubt and treat people as they treat you. The British tourist thinking that their money entitles them to a week of subservience is just as much of an asshole as the Frenchman who relies on tourism for his income but hates f*cking tourists!

I've had ESF lessons and while they weren't the best I've ever had they weren't that bad. To be honest he really just pointed out all my bad habits that I already knew I had – but just someone else pointing them out helped.

As for the French and my experiences in French alpine resorts, I think they are like everyone else – treat them with respect and they are a great bunch. The owner of one of the restaurants was busily giving my 3 year old son biscuits her mother had cooked earlier this year, while her staff tried to teach him French. Turn up, get drunk and throw up all over their town and you'll get a different response. In between you'll get something in between.

But then I'm Scots, not English 😉

Board: for 6'1" around 160. If a noob then a stiff, poppy board could be a bit scary and pointless for low speeds.

Toe drag: Mey feet size 11. If I had low profle bindings mine would drag, but I have Flows with a tall base so toes don't drag. You can vary the lateral position of the binding base to position your foot evenly which helps too.

Binding position: experiement – some prefer slightly duck (me), some euro style angles, and some the standard. The gap will vary with leg length. I set mine on the middling holes for more aggressive turns on hardpack. On snowy days they go on the back holes to give a long, cushioned, floaty nose to help prevent nose-diving in pow.

ESF: From personal experience, and comments for readers of a popular ski-resort guide: At all resorts, the most inconsistent quality of any school. Some instructors excellent, many others awful. Lots of complaints about massive classes, zero attention, little or zero English used, poor teaching skills. Even worse for boarding which tends not to be taken seriously. You might get lucky but I would not risk my money and holiday on ESF. Sorry.

That's much better Shandy apart from misquoting me and putting words in my mouth. A little balance at last.

Just to remind you this is the point we fell out over, your admission that you do not respect piste priority rules:

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Shandy – Member

Edukator,

I'll remind myself of that the next time I sail over a tabletop to find some beaming mong traversing across the landing.
Posted 4 days ago # Report-Post

Then you accused me of lying about supervised snow parks, despite me giving you the exact words to type into Google to find out about them.

Shandy – Member

I have ridden parks all over the world and even in the States I have never come across somebody standing around with a clipboard and a whistle, commanding the troops.

Edukator I would suggest that there aren't many of them about and that you are, in fact, talking shite.
Posted 4 days ago # Report-Pos

Are you big enough to admit you were wrong on the points that started the conflict. As it stands you have called me a liar and not retracted or apologised.

You are melting my brain you patronising cvnt.

In hitting an 8 metre table with a partially unsighted landing I hit a guy who had traversed under a rope and onto the downslope. I don't give a fiddlers how it compares to the piste rules. I just said that there was nothing I could have done about it.

I have never, ever, been in a supervised snowpark. Since you won't give a single example I will surmise that you are still talking shite.

Three results from the first page of Google results for "supervised snow park". I suggest doing a little research before calling someone a liar. I ski mountaineer with one of the pisteurs that runs a park. You also ski mountainer and state that you have never put your life in danger. I dispute that, le risque zero n'existe pas en haute montagne.

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Station de SKI : Peyragudes Aure-Louron Pyrénées hautes …
A secured and supervised snowpark with many activities ; a permanent boardercross. Nordic Area for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing (15 km). …
http://www.chalet-montagne.com/stations/aure…/peyragudes.php?… – En cache
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technical info – Val d'Isère SnowPark
– [ Traduire cette page ]
The Park is a restricted area with three ski patrollers, please read safety rules at entry of park. Children must be supervised at all times. …
http://www.valdiserevalpark.com/technique-gb.php – En cache
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bthere: Inflight Magazine Brussels Airlines » Magazine Archive …
– [ Traduire cette page ]
1 Dec 2008 … Snowpark A well supervised snowpark that caters for all levels of aerial addiction. Snowy secret From the Klein Matterhorn glacier station …
btheremag.com/2008/12/…/high-altitude-chic/ – En cache – Pages similaires

Three ski patrollers for one parc in Val. 🙂

The words supervised and snow park on one page. The first one is in the Pyrenese FFS.

And I have been through Val park plenty of times and the only thing that those guys are supervising is who is skinning up next.

Put the willys away please chaps.

BTW this is the snowboard *I* want:

Windlip J-class

So now you have the names of the resorts you can Google them. I'll do one for you Shandy, the Pyrenean one as your FFS (Federation Française de Ski) indicates how much esteem you have for resort:

Supervised snow park

Rarely have I met a forum contributor so insistent on demonstrating his ignorance. Just how long is it since you were in a snow parc Shandy?

The only supervised park you can find is a kids one in the arse end of the Pyrenese.

I've had enough of arguing with you, you tedious cvnt.

You just carry on talking yourself round in circles.

What about Val d'Isere then, have you heard of it?

Val d'Isere park rules

The "sécurité" link on the Enlish language version is dead so you'll have to read the French one. I assume you understand the word "staff". Read the rest of the rules, they confirm what I've been saying all along. [/url]

Loosely translated.

4, check that the landing is free before you set off.

5, no snaking, i.e. don't slip the ropes and enter the park halfway down.

7, stay the fvck out of the landing, especially if you haven't even used the take-off and are out of sight of the run-in.

Thats that cleared up then, good lad.

Its like everthing else if you are good enough you can ride any board.Ive been going to Whistler for the last 10 years and had 5 new boards(1 every 2 seasons)and had no problems with any one I bought.Better to get good fitting boots then worry about the board

Its like everthing else if you are good enough you can ride any board.Ive been going to Whistler for the last 10 years and had 5 new boards(1 every 2 seasons)and had no problems with any one I bought.Better to get good fitting boots then worry about the board

You'll be the guy I saw riding the fire road in Afan on a Raleigh Shopper then gordi. Awesome. 😉 As you say, if you are good enough you can ride a tea tray, most people find a board suited to their weight, build, style, use and ability more enojoyable though.

Wot he said.

You have more fun on a board that is suited to you and what you want to do.

You can ride a tea tray, but you won't get far trying to butter it through powder or nailing misty flips in the pipe.