The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2012-2013 season

There wasn’t any French in the Chamonx Valley last time I checked. Full of le putain anglais.

Had my first day of the season on the planks on Monday! Skinned up the local closed pistes at Sappey en Chartreuse twice. Great snow in the Chartreuse. Not that that will mean much to most (any?) of you.

Have fun all. It has begun!

Edited because of Glitchy bump

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mods-can-you-fix-the-new-page-glitch-please

Does anybody service their own Snowboards? (Or Skis)
Is it easy and what kit do I need?

Normally I have had it done by a shop but because this year I’ll be going every week I will need to service more often and I’d rather do it myself.

ned – totally jammed over New Year. Could do a good deal for the week of 6th Jan though. Only a few spaces left.

Does anybody have any experience with Rolling Road Airport Transfers? They seem the cheapest transfer company I have found so far.

Does anybody service their own Snowboards?

Of course.

Is it easy and what kit do I need?

Screwdriver for removing bindings.
Cheap clothes iron (that you will never use on clothes again!)
Wax
Pan scourers
Structuring brush
Big plastic scraper
Edge file
Base cleaner (or just use a citrus degreaser)
Ptex candles for ding repairs
Big glass of Port

Loads of guides on YouTube and the like but a basic wax and edge file isn’t very hard at all. Just don’t let it get too hot (no smokey wax, no burny hot board) and don’t put on too much wax at once or you’ll be there all night scraping it back off.

Courchevalski is full of Ruskies , even the bubbles have instructions in Cyrlics.
Chamonix.- English and Low countries mostly when i went .

Something defo wrong with that picture..

Since when did snowboarders wax their boards whilst drinking red wine?

Worlds gone to the dogs.

(and you should try to find an iron without steam holes)

(and that snowboards got dry rails and has been ridden by a girl.) 😉

Something defo wrong with that picture..

Yep. Just WTF is that tablecloth!

Friend of Dorothy, Graham? 😉

Since when did snowboarders wax their boards whilst drinking red wine?

Port, dear fellow. LBV natch.

you should try to find an iron without steam holes

If you can find one yeah. I’ve never found it to make any odds at all though.

You can splash out on pro wax irons of course. That one cost me £4 from Woolies.

that snowboards got dry rails

Yep that’s why I was waxing it! Sadly Bataleons need constant waxing. The edges go white like that after one or two days!

(Newer Bataleons are better for this apparently)

Just WTF is that tablecloth!

Wait till little Flashy is 2. You’ll have a disposable plasticy pink tablecloth too. Or possibly Thomas the Tank Engine.

😀

Wow GrahamS … I’ve not seen a uPVC gingham pink table cloth for years! Respect! 8)

Nothing wrong with having a drop of red whilst buffing up your base, but ‘igrf’ is right I think (unless is the light/glare/refelction from the table cloth) – those rails look a tad peely-wally & dry.

+1 for an iron without holes. The Dakine wax iron is recommended (as is there wax tune kit.

Also find it useful to have a ski/board tuning stand/vice as it means you can scrape the base and tune the edges without the skis or board wondering about.

I use an old clothes iron cause I’m tight but it works ok.

RIGHT. Deadline time. I have until tomorrow morning to tell ski Bartlett whether I want k2 coombacks or prophet 98’s as they are keeping them by for me.. Got whistler and Japan this season, then Europe next year so I’m going to leave it up to youze to pick em for me.

I love the powder/touring capabilities of the k2 but for longevity I think the 98’s have better compromise for on piste for the next few years. Help.

those rails look a tad peely-wally & dry.

I know! That. Is. Why. I. Was. Waxing. It! 😀

This is the BEFORE shot. The AFTER shot has two shiny sleek boards, a table covered in wax shavings and an empty bottle of Port.

Dakine wax iron is recommended

Yeah but it is £60. Mine was £4.

Also find it useful to have a ski/board tuning stand/vice

Yeah but that’s another £80 minimum.

Nice to have but I don’t think either are essential for someone like dafoxster who is just thinking about servicing for the first time.

Yep. Just WTF is that tablecloth!

Friend of Dorothy, Graham?

Either that or a dyslexic follower of Korean pop music

Gah!! Mate’s sister in a real bad way in Chamonix. Send out some posi thoughts for her!!

Here.

ratswithwings – Member
Gah!! Mate’s sister in a real bad way in Chamonix. Send out some posi thoughts for her!!

Here.

Nasty news.

*Sends positive waves….*

Nasty. Read about that earlier today in the papers and wondered if anyone might know her.

Sounds like a really simple slackcountry accident too. Scary.
Good luck to her and her family.

Sorry to read that. Sending positive vibes….

Sounds like a really simple slackcountry accident too

Yep, we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

terrible situation ratswithwings.

Fingers crossed for a positive outcome!

Ah I think its looking really bleak as my mate said. Think they’ll be turning the life support machine off at the weekend if no change. The brain has been starved of oxygen for too long.

Really sad for them all.

Brings home the reality of solo riding in a way aswell. Bikes, boards or skis – soloing has its risks. I’ve solo boarded around Burbage and stanage when all the roads have been blocked with snow. Had to walk from Norfolk Arms – no one else around. Always in your mind that if you come a cropper out there then you are seriously screwed.

That’s really grim news. Thoughts to family & friends.

Captainflash, you will know John, the chef at the Plein Sud then… Did a season with him in the kitchen at another Hotel in Serre Che about 16 yrs ago! Bumped into him last season on my first return there since. It’s one of my faveorite places to ski.

ratswithwings – that is horrible news.

I agree totally about solo snowboarding or skiing. Try and stay with friends.

The only time I went off on my own was in Scotland, Cairngorm mt. A thick mist came in and I could just make out a lady a head in a pink jacket, so I just followed her. Somehow we made it safely down. At the time I was quite scared.

The PDS all opens on Saturday – woop! Went out last weekend and had a really nice day. Roll on.

PS Rolling Road are fine.

Transfer Companies I recommend are

http://www.getawayvans.com
http://www.powdercab.com
http://www.skiidygonzales.com

http://www.natives.co.uk/news/mimi-watts-dies-five-days-after-chamonix-snowboarding-accident/5955

Really sorry to hear about that ratswithwings – awful.

I stayed in a chalet in St Anton a few years ago and there was a family there – young girl fell off a steep edge somewhere off the side of a piste, and her father went to try and rescue her, I think both of them were killed.

Does bring it home to you sometimes that these fun activities can have consequences.

What a horrible accident. Agree about solo skiing, but that piste is the run to the car park from bottom of the main area. You could spend the day doing risky stuff carefully with mates, and if you had to be down earlier than your mates, you’d not think twice about going down Pierre a Ric on your own. Even if you are with mates, it’s a one-shot, see-you-at-the-bottom run. Nowhere to get lost, nothing really to find if you go off the side, other than a hike back up. And generally always busy, can’t remember ever having it to myself.

You can do everything right and still come a cropper. Fingers crossed hard.

More here:

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/lavenham_chamonix_bleak_outlook_for_snowboarder_1_1740476

Could happen to anyone. She wasn’t alone, unbelievably unlucky to be flicked unconscious out of sight.

I ski alone quite alot – it is not significantly more dangerous if you are skiing in a controlled manner – accidents are pretty rare so I wouldn’t let it put you off something which can be great fun.

However, the report I read was this unfortunate girl was not on her own, she was at the back of her group as she was the most capable and unfortunately no one realized she had gone missing until too late. Dreadfully sad.

EDIT: I see no one said she was skiing alone – apologies.

Sad news. Thoughts to friends and family. She was obviously a popular, much loved girl 😥

You can do everything right and still come a cropper

Sad news. Thoughts to friends and family. She was obviously a popular, much loved girl

Agreed in full. Terrible news.

To all those going to the slopes this season, do this – One piste for Mimi. Take one piste, ski/board it hard. For Mimi.

That’s really sad news.

Nearly went ahead and booked to go at Easter. Found an excellent deal, but the OH suggested we hold fire and will probably miss out on the deal. Probably for the best, shouldn’t really be booking this early for Easter just in case conditions are dodgy. That’s what I’ll keep telling myself.

I’m so sorry to hear about your friends sister, I read about it on the plane on the way back from Innsbruch yesterday, nasty accident, she looked a really cool lass, I hope she comes through OK.

Bit late igrf. Sad news.

To lift the mood.

http://288.livecam360.net/

FAT DUMPS!

It’s raining. 🙁

Shall we run a book on when this glitch gets fixed?

I’m going for Q3 2015.

Never.

How high up are you Edukator?

Not high enough, a warm front is heading through France and is currently washing away snow here in the Pyrenees. In the Alps it’ll be +2°C in Val tomorrow so go high if you want good snow this weekend. Temperatures fall again as of Sunday.

That glitch gives this forum “character” 😉

Snowed here yesterday, will be 8C and rain all weekend. Better snow (or at least be proper cold) before Glühwein session on Tuesday.