Ski Sunday worth a watch this week. Liked the little editorial from Cairngorm.
Backcountry bit was a little pointless though.

Another weekend of verglas here, they’ve got some new “neige verglacée” banners where the off-piste starts after last weekend’s events. And more this week.

I usually ski in touring boots which have lots of flex only occassionally using proper piste boots which are a lowly 70 flex. I got down yesterday and realised I hadn’t done up the top buckles, only the velcro.

As for skis, Michael:

Rando: Atomic Tour Guide, Atomic MX11, Fisher Air Tour

Piste: Atomic Race 12 GS, Dynastar 64 slalom 165 R=11, some old straight Rossignols from the 80s and Rossignol Médaille de Bronze from the 60s with screwed-on edges.

X-C skate: Rossignol X-ium F2, Rossignol Delta Course, Fisher RCS, + others

X-C classique à farter: Atomic something

X-C classique a écailles: Fisher something

If we’re talking about good boot fitters then I have to give a shout out to ProFeet in London

take Profeet off the list of good bootfitters.

My boots from there had big problems cutting into my heel pad – crippling pain after a day of skiing – their solution was to beat the heel sections of my liners to make them give more and put me on the ski trainer to break it in. Finally got them fixed in Tahoe where they dremeled the offending heel ridges from the insides of the boots.

However the unforgivable thing was that they cut my custom footbeds too short on the heel (even though I questioned it) and when they were in the boot they were then too far back, so all the ridges and support of the footbed was also too far back and they were uncomfortable.

After many emails and schematic pictures of the problem they were not going to do anything about it.

I now have bits of cut-off footbed wedged into my liners to force the footbeds forward, so they are now comfortable and have the support in the right place. Not something you would expect when paying around £80 for footbeds.

I was on the Warren Smith academy in Verbier. They used to have a relationship with Profeet and there is a Profeet section on boot fitting. However they aren’t associated now and Warren said that many of his clients had also mentioned problems with Profeet that Profeet were unwilling to sort out, so they dropped them.

I looked at some example custom footbeds in Ellis Brigham the other day and they seem as substantial as the Profeet ones.

I also saw some example custom footbeds in Snow and Rock yesterday and they seemed much poorer.

A good boot fitter can make an unsuitable boot bearable, but if a boot doesn’t feel pretty good when you first put it on the boot fitter is going to have a hard time making it feel great. I suggest trying on lots and lots and lots of boots.

I’ve given up on these fancy “thermoformable”, “mousse injectable” which generally make you’re feet feel like they’re in a sauna after a few hours and opt for felt or foam liners which become foot shaped after a few days. Madame likes “thermofomable though, each to his/her own eh.

Example footbeds, TG? As in, the ones sitting around the shop floor? They always look rubbish! Mine were really nicely built up, with great support under my arches, and nice low profile overall to help with my shovel shaped feet!

Which store were you in yesterday? I was in High St Ken early on in the day.

Chertsey for Snow and Rock and One New Change (near St Pauls) for Ellis Brigham.

When I was in Tahoe I showed my ProFeet footbeds to a ‘master’ bootfitter there (he was very good) and he said that he hadn’t seen quality that good coming out of Europe before – nothwithstanding that they were too short in the heel.

The Ellis Brigham ones were very similair – the snow and rock ones were very insubstantial compared and more like the dodgy ones I had for my previous set of boots.

Hmm, odd. My footbeds have been ace since I got ’em. Very pleased.

Anyway, what about this?
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Serre-Chevalier/6day/mid

Snowing at the end of the week, just in time for me! 🙂

PSA: Free Ski and Snowboard Magazine

Apple users may be interested to know that The Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard mag is FREE in the App Store in iPhone and iPad versions and apparently will be all season.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/daily-mail-ski-snowboard-magazine/id438183242?mt=8&ls=1

Hate to disappoint you Flash:

Reliable weather forecast for Serre-Ché

Excellent GS – now downloaded.

I need new footbeds and looking at the problems above I think I might be better to wait until I get to the resort. Haven’t booked yet so can’t ask for recommendations bit will probably be Val/Tignes or Val Thorens.

Unless anyone can recommend somewhere in Newcastle/Durham area… ??

*Chooses to ignore Edukator’s link*

*Remains optimistic*

🙂

Woody, based on the previous recommendations, there is a Snow & Rock at the Metro Retail Park.

No idea about skiing, but I have had good service in there in the past (despite their “Halfords” reputation).

Hmm, odd. My footbeds have been ace since I got ’em. Very pleased.

different shops may do different things, maybe these weren’t fully built up.

As long as the ski goes straight when you are on one leg and your foot doesn’t collapse when pressuring into the ski, then they are probably fine.

Also, regarding boot flex, do modern boots need to be as stiff as they used to be – being that skis are more parabolic and you are not pressuring the front of the ski through your shins as much.

A couple of instructors I can think of encourage ankle flex, something you can’t do in a stiff boot.

GrahamS

Yeh I remember now, you replied on This thread from a couple of months ago.

Wonder if the Aussie guy is still there as he seemed to know his stuff?

I took a chance and picked up a pair of Nordica Beasts cheap and they seem fine but won’t really know until I get out on them. I’m hoping for a bit of snow to try them locally first.

Ankle flex is needed to keep your weight forward in enough as you flex knees and hips. You can add a spoiler behind your calf, add chocks to stop rearward flex or drill and rivet the boot in a more forward position if your boots are too stiff to flex with just your weight. I only know about boots from sorting out my son’s race boots, I’m happy skiing in almost anything so long as it fits and is comfortable.

Skis go wherever you point them on one leg or two whatever footbed you have in don’t they, Turner? Pressure on the shins is still a good idea on hard, groomed snow and never has been in powder.

Lol. Well at least I’m consistent. 😀

Snow forecast.com turned out to be reasonably accurate for us in austria. Serre Chevalier though, bit common for CFH surely, it’s hardly Zermatt is it?
:p

Just back from a fabulous week skiing in Val d’Isere. There had been a blizzard and an enormous dump of snow the previous week so piste conditions were perfect, and we enjoyed 6 days of constant sun. The slopes weren’t too busy and on a few occasions we had whole runs to ourselves. Really improved my technique and speed over the week, despite a nagging knee injury which I have had for a few months.

Even managed to watch some of the European Downhill championships (second tier to World Cup) which were being held there – seeing them in the flesh skiing at +70mph was truly awe-inspiring.

Only downside were the ridiculous prices for food and drink.

Already looking forward to next year assuming work / money situation improves and knee injury is sorted.

I dunno grum, they wear his sort of attire there.

Ankle flex is needed to keep your weight forward in enough as you flex knees and hips. You can add a spoiler behind your calf, add chocks to stop rearward flex or drill and rivet the boot in a more forward position if your boots are too stiff to flex with just your weight. I only know about boots from sorting out my son’s race boots, I’m happy skiing in almost anything so long as it fits and is comfortable.

Holy smoke. I wouldn’t ever suggest someone puts the cuff forward. If your boots are too stiff you might be able to cut a small V in the base of the bottom half of the shell where they join (drill a hole at the bottom to stop it splitting. But don;t move the cuff forward, all that will do is make you move your pressure back more, seriously. Ankle flexion is not just fore/aft it is mainly sideways, i.e. you turn a ski by ‘rolling’ your ankle over, the forward flexion comes for free as part of that movement. When we teach now we teach ankle movement as one of the main things, historically it was the same except most people couldn;t do it and simply got to a point where the pressure was such they produced a tasty stem turn.
And footbeds, a nice deep heel cup is the key to success as the whole mecahnics of your foot are defined by the way the heel is ‘presented’, the theory being you want a footbed that has your foot presented in ‘neutral’ which is the point where if you push it up the whole leg moves very easily.

Funny how wee always seem to disagree NZCol whether it’s cars or skis.

But don;t move the cuff forward, all that will do is make you move your pressure back more

Tip the top of the boot forward and your prssure moves forward.

Spoilers between the calf are popular after-market accessories amonst racers. The trainer that asked me to chock my sons boots got as high as 27th in the world ranking when racing – he drills and rivets his own boots in a forward position. Even rivited the boots still flex enough for him (he’s not heavy BTW). Riviting might be a bit extreme for most STWers but a calf spoiler may be just what they need.

As for rolling your ankle, you’re pulling my leg right? Piste boots have canting to adjust the angle but almost no sideways flex. The manufacturers do their utmost to eliminate that as any sideways flex at the ankle means that under high load in tight tiurns you will not be able to hold the ski at the optimum angle.

🙂 @ grum!

Serre Che is just a great resort, not ata all pretentious like some! 🙂

re – rolling your ankle.

I don’t think in reality that rolling your ankle within your boot will actually edge the ski more because of the bulk of the boot.

However it probably works for two reasons:

1. You have an overriding thing to think about – it focuses your thoughts on one thing.

It is a bit like golf – give a golfer a new swing thought and it will generally work because now they are focused on one swing thought instead of several different ones – even if you suggest a technical change but they aren’t doing it they will still generally get better results by being focused on one thing and so their mind is ‘clearer’.

2. Feeling that you are rolling your ankle (or actually doing it) is probably accompanied by actual movements in the rest of your leg. If you focused on the moving the rest of your leg you probably couldn’t keep the amount of movement to the same small extent.

Harold Harb and Lito Tejada-Flores both teach ‘phantom edging’ where you tilt/edge the inner foot (which for them is light on the snow), which ‘seems’ to cause stronger edging on the other foot as a by product.

And Harold can ski very short radius carved turns.

I loved Serre Chevalier.
Great conditions when I went (I think it was ’98/99)

Dez, love that! Not sure I’m going to have that much snow this year, but am hoping for the usual Serre Che sunshine! Oh, and the joy of sitting in one of the bars at the end of the Alphand at the end of the day, sipping a pastis watching people fallski down at the end of hte day in the flat light and moguls! 🙂

Best mid-day pasta lunch type thing I’ve ever had was in Serre Che too.
Roquefort pasta , I think was – never found the like of it any where else!

Aye, the food up there is awesome! FWIW, my fave is the Tartiflette at the Bercail, which is at Aravet. Set back a little, nice and sheltered sunny terrace too!

You’re looking forward to it a bit eh?

Erm, does it show? 😳

😆

*Chooses to ignore Edukator’s link*

*Remains optimistic*

Fear not Captain – I’m going to the Tarantaise this weekend, and the conditions gods nearly always look favourably upon me (apart from that one time in Fernie but we’ve sorted that out since).

New snow’s coming at the end of the week, along with a dip in temperatures. Serre Chevalier’s not that far away from the Tarantaise. You’ll be grand.

Might have to give Serre Che a try. Went there for a day from Montgenevre and snow was so poor it put me off from going back but looking at that………. 😀

See that, Edukator? Eh? Do you? See? Told you…!

😉

Woody
Might have to give Serre Che a try. Went there for a day from Montgenevre and snow was so poor it put me off from going back but looking at that

Woody, are you in Montgenevre at the moment? I was wondering what the snow was like as I’m there in 10 days

I think the Snow-forecast website is typically unreliable. Overly optimistic further ahead; forecasts of snow which gradually reduce as the time gets closer

Try this for forecasts

From last page, I can recommend Solutions 4 Feet. Only ever had one pair of boots, but they were fitted by Colin. Very comfortable. Budget £100 over the cost of the boots for the footbed.

Anyone been to Kitzbuhel late in the season? We’re looking at heading out 31st March so would be skiing first week of April. Are conditions reasonable (as good as anywhere else)?

Thanks for that link, Hammerite. Especially as it shows snow for Friday to Monday! 🙂

I’m in sunny Durham at the mo’ – no snow just yet 😉

I’ve been to Montgenevre twice, once with excellent snow and the other very late in the season where it was a case of scratching around and doing the occasional slush run to Claviere. Still fun though. I’d be surprised if it’s not very very good when you get there.

I’m in sunny Durham at the mo’ – no snow just yet

Chuffin freezing though isn’t it? -6° this morning.
Still hoping for a good bit of UK snow. I’m sure we are due some.

Good forecasts continue to flow from the Alps – but I’m not in Austria till 11th Feb and I’m going a bit stir crazy!

Not being one of the landed gentry like CFH, I’m not sure I would go back to a French ski resort tbh – I prefer not to feel violated if I want to stop for a brew.

In St Johann even at the top of the mountain you could buy a large beer for 3 euros, or a gluhwein for 3.50, and it was tasty and came in a big mug. Compared to a minimum of 5 euros for a pint down in the village in most French resorts.

Grum, that’s one of the reasons I like Serre Che so much. It’s refershingly “unFrench” while at the same time being very proper French. None of that Val d’Isere/Chamonix type of stuff.

GrahamS

Your lucky, I’m not going until March. Where in Austria?

My last 2 holidays have been there, Kaprun and Kirchdorf. Kaprun was good although the bus and long cable to the glacier was a pain but luckily there was so much snow that other areas were open and very quiet. Kirchdorf was a bit limited, however I was really impressed by the friendliness of the Austrians and not being ripped off for beer and food.