The STW Ski and Snowboard thread – 2011/2 Edition

goggles – i’m using von zipper bushwicks at the moment. no issues with them fitting with my helmet, fairly BIG lens though (which is cool!).

pricewise: £40 including 2 (mirror & yellow) lenses. oakley are the best, but far too expensive!!

http://www.theboardbasement.com/snow-Snowboard-Ski-Goggles/VonZipper-Bushwick-Goggles-in-Gold-Metallic-with-Bronze-Chrome-Lens/80?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=product

oakley are the best, but far too expensive!!

Mine weren’t. 8)

Any Chamonix Experts in da house?

I’m booked for a 4 day trip and want to get the most out of it.**

Do you have to book the top lift at Grand Montets in advance and is it worth the extra cost?

Is there anywhere worth a look that’s not tracked out within nanoseconds of the first flake falling?

Is it possible to rack up, assess the next day’s weather forecast and book a guide or join guided groups?

Is Vallee Blanche worth it (on a snowboard for a proficient snowboarder)?

Best place to look to grab spare places on helis?

Whats the stuff like next to the town (Flegere-Brevant)?

** (possible risk of whiteout the whole time as there for only 4 days).

Okay – I’ll try and answer as best I can:

Q.Do you have to book the top lift at Grand Montets in advance and is it worth the extra cost?

A. As far as I know it can’t be booked in advance (you turn up and get allocated on one of the next cable cars – first come first served), but yes if the conditions are right it’s worth it but skiers right off the top tickets is glacier so you should know your stuff

Q.Is there anywhere worth a look that’s not tracked out within nanoseconds of the first flake falling?

A. Depends really – I’ve been up Grand Montets when its boiler-plate ice and super busy, but then I’ve been up there on a powder day with barely a soul and the bochard gondola queue free!

Q.Is it possible to rack up, assess the next day’s weather forecast and book a guide or join guided groups?

A. Only if you are really lucky – but check with the likes of ‘Evolution 2’ they will have an idea on the weather over the next few days and should be able to advise on places.

Q.Is Vallee Blanche worth it (on a snowboard for a proficient snowboarder)?

A. Yes – but for the views and the experience rather than the terrain – although there are a number of variants and options to make it interesting, the bottom bit is pretty flat so can be challenging on a board if the snow is sticky – collapsing poles are an advantage.

Q.Best place to look to grab spare places on helis?

A.No heli skiing in Chamonix, but through the tunnel in Italy

Check with the likes of http://www.chamonix-aventure.com/%5B/url%5D for details.

Q.Whats the stuff like next to the town (Flegere-Brevant)?

A. Pretty good with some amazing terrain, but gets the sun more so softens up if it’s icy. If it’s really warm, can be slushy by afternoon. Link between the two areas. Can be busy with long queues to get the gondola up the hill. Little chance of doing the ‘home run’ unless conditions are exceptional so catch the gondola back down

peachos: We’re staying in a independent chalet that’s owned by one of my GF’s colleagues, its in one of Les Menuires’ feeder villages, Preyerand I think. The Powder Pigs chalet looks ace! Jacuzzi and steam rooms are one of the best ways to relax after skiing all day.

I did look at hiring a car but it would have to be the GF who drove as I’ve lost my license at the moment and there’s no way I could get her to drive up the mountain, she gets car sick at the best of times. Plus by the time you’ve added the winter tyre and snow chain options its cheaper to fly to Geneva and get a shared transfer.

The chalet owner is apparently going to show me some decent off piste, I shall mention the route from Point de Le Masse! Cheers for the tip about that bar aswell.

I have tried the Splice and it did seem like a good fit. The company got back to me and they’re expecting the stock in the next few days so I’m gonna hang fire and see if it turns up as I really like the APX’s – they have a ridiculously large lens! The Airbrake looks sweet though. Wish I could afford those.

Might see if I can squeeze a pair of boots into the budget aswell, think my existing ones have packed down too much as I was getting a really weird juddering on my outside foot when carving at high speed last year.

Digby – Cheers for response, much appreciated.

afrothunder 88 – that off piste at La Masse is v good, bit steep at the top mind.

Just booked for Pila in Italy for second week in Feb. This will be my second snowboard holiday = utter beginner. Anyone been? Looking forward to a break from you lot for a week 😉

Pila is a nice little resort. Spent a few days there in 2009. Plenty of easy terrain for learners, plus plenty to progress onto.

Would certainly go back

(On another note, when was the last time there was a thread this big on STW without any arguments? (Well, apart from the obvious board/ski banter, but that doesn’t count!)

I said this very thing to hubby last night after logging off.
It’s one of the reasons I’m staying with this thread.

The amount of information everyone is giving out is so helpful. Long may it continue (well at least until 1st May)

The amount of information everyone is giving out is so helpful. Long may it continue (well at least until 1st May)

*Makes diary note to start bikering and arguing on the 1st of May*

😉

Just booked for Pila in Italy for second week in Feb

I think one of the nice things about the Italian Alps/Valle D’aosta, especially when compared to nearby French resorts is that the quality of the coffee and the food on the Italian side of Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco if you are looking at it from that perspective) is so much better and less criminally priced.

Plus the Italians seem to have a more relaxed approach to winter hobbies which often means less fractious queuing and quieter slopes especially at lunch time.

Enjoy – I’m sure you will have a terrific time! 😀

I’ll join in 🙂

Booked a week in tignes on the 28th Jan over Christmas. My 3rd ever trip, deffo skiing. My ambition is proper euro carve turns by the end of the week and (maybe) a first black run.
staying in the val claret appartments (du pont?) with crystal so should be easy enough.

So far this thread has made me watch chalet girl (funny in a b movie chick flick kind of way) and buy these
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/mission-id_8188819.html

Have I done ok for an intermediate skier boot? They feel comfy 🙂

Anyone got any tignes tips then?

titusrider – eurocarves on skis? ❓

Tignes tips – halfway sensibly-priced places to eat lunch are the Aspen Café and Bazoom burger stand in Val Claret or Tignes Cuisine and the Loop bar in Le Lac.

For a first black, Trolles above Le Lac is pretty straightforward. Steep, but mostly pretty wide and in a straight line. If you think it’s steep on skis, try it on a bike! (One of the DH courses goes pretty-much straight down).

Don’t be fooled into trying Sache by the easy appearance of the start. Steep with moguls-of-doom lower down.

If you’ve got transport, come down to Sainte Foy for a day. You’ll never go back to an over-crowded concrete monstrosity like Tignes again! 😉

+1 for Tignes cuisine, it’s the main reason I go to Val D’Isere, not the snow!

In Val in the run up to Christmas, snow was awesome and fell plenty.

Going to Saas Fee in a week for some more powder then hopefully get away back to Switzerland or Porte du Soleil if it has enough snow in February.

I love Winter 😀

Hummm must have got my terminology wrong somewhere then. I always saw it as very French the image i have in my head.
80s brightly colored jacket
Skiing with your legs really close together
Very stood up style
Really relaxed and non-plusses by everything
Stopping for a ciggie after each run
And carving everywhere at 1billion miles an hour

I aspire to that 🙂 😉

titusrider: you must first perfect the shrug and the sullen disdain. Everything else builds from that base.

’tis a snowboard thing really – carving while fully laid-out on the snow. Involves a big twist at the waist so not really in keeping with modern technique, but does look cool:

I like this pic too:

“Les Bronzés font du ski” is the French cult ski film (with a dreadful English dub I’m sorry to say). Essential viewing for anyone going to Val. No prizes for naming the sectors.

’tis a snowboard thing really – carving while fully laid-out on the snow. Involves a big twist at the waist so not really in keeping with modern technique

Hardboots + slalom board.

They stand very differently and they do twist at the waist (and really want to be skiers but can only afford one plank).

Watch these guys:

GrahamS – perfectly possible with soft boots and a freestyle board too!

GrahamS – perfectly possible with soft boots and a freestyle board too!

Not unless you’ve got a pretty mental stance though.
Most freestylers ride duck stance these days – you’d have to twist your hips a hell of a lot from there 😀

+18°/-3° on mine IIRC. So yes, duck stance.

18, -9 here. Pretty duck, but can still eurocarve!

Had a go on hardboots once too, was a giggle, need to try it again some time.

+21°/-6° here with a 25″+ stance and I love carving!

When the slackcountry is not up to much but the ‘corduroy’ is cold and grippy it’s good fun to get your ‘carve on’ and try and lay down some deep pencil lines in the snow with a decent gap between the edge change! If there’s a few of you carving together it’s a jolly wheeze fo’ shizzle! 😆

Blimey! Fair enough. I retract that.

Not sure that I’d call -3 a true duck stance right enough, but I’m well impressed you can twist enough to get your hip on the snow from a -9 stance 😯

(granted I am about as flexible as a scaffold pole)

“Les Bronzés font du ski” is the French cult ski film

^^THIS!^^

I can’t believe Bazoom is still going in Tignes, might have to pay that a visit in two weeks time.

My Tignes top tip would be to avoid the off piste above the lake to the side of Trolles – death trap.

Les Bronzes font du ski was very funny.

I’ve actually walked around the house wearing a nighty in ski boots before now, when trying to get used a pair I bought many years ago.
Not sure what the downstairs neighbour thought, with all the clunking around on the kitchen tiles.

I’ve actually walked around the house wearing a nighty in ski boots before now

Pics? 😉

+15/-15 for me and as wide as they’ll go. that’s best for riding switch and jibbing around.

as for carving, try this fun trick what i learned from a bunch of aussies: basically you want to try and emulate the classic surfing grab rail turn. find a wide & smooth (and empty!) piste and cut a massive heel carve into it but get super low and grab your toe edge near to your trailing foot (indy). you can hold onto that rail for ages in that position and it feels pretty scary being so close to the ground as you pick up speed and carve it up. good fun.

Winceyette down to the floor is not the most flattering look, with bright pink ski socks and purple boots, just a picture of sartorial elegance, which shall be forever for my eyes only 🙂

Martin Bell once brought out a video, in which he said that 80% of recreational skiers can’t or don’t carve.

Surely with skis these days carving is pretty easy?

+15/-15 for me and as wide as they’ll go.

Now THAT is what I’d call a true duck stance.

Most people I ski with (myself included) still often slide their turns. Often with lots of snow spraying up at the back. It takes quite a bit of practice to carve properly.

Surely with skis these days carving is pretty easy?

Lots of people “skarve”or something. Sort of a half skid, half carve turn. Self included sometimes. In this sort of thing, not all of the turn is carved.

you see a load of really bad snowboard technique as well – people kicking their tail around rather than letting the edge do the work. not saying that technique is completely useless, as there is a time and a place (steep & choppy or icy) but NOT down the middle of an open piste!

Wife has booked us into Les Contamines late march/early april. Whole family decent skiers, but never been there before – anybody know it?

Driving down, staying in appartment, looking for lots of reds with some blues and blacks. nightlife requirements are pizza parlour and bar at bottom of slopes. oh and whilst we all have boots will need to hire planks and buy beer and groceries…

A friend of mine loves les Contamines, and she’s utterly lovely, so it must be good!

I’ve just Googled for a vid of “virages coupés” to post but mainly found vids of Aston Martins. :-/ Anyone know what they are in English because that’s how I like skiing?

people kicking their tail around guilty 😳 I hate not being on an edge being a very average boader. 🙁 Happy on skis though 🙂 especially X-C skis 😀