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

Tom – Administrator
Bump

You’re doing it wrong. You have to give it a witty, somehow associated name rather than just “Bump”. So, here, we have the glitchymogul. Skiing related, you see?

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

Will do . A few words ‘upstairs’ first obv, then proper hard , full on carving at warp 9, winding up the windows and everything.
There might be dust that gets in the eyes down near the bottom.

Great idea but I’m not sure I will be capable of skiing hard and I certainly won’t be able to carve. I will however give it as much as I can.

Just got a Siteadvisor warning bar pop up as I opened this thread.

Odd.

Well this thread has a lot to answer for! I’ve re discovered my love of skiing.

Me, Mrs Camster and the boys are off to Meribel at the end of Jan, sod the expense!

Kit wise, I’m thinking of retiring my very old retro Salomon Force 9 boots. Any recommendations for replacement boots for a good intermediate?

Also any recommendations for a helmet and goggles please? I’ve never worn a helmet (had about 15 years off before anyone wore helmets) but it was apparent when we went 2 years ago most wear one. Is it best to have goggles with interchangeable lenses?

Any suggestions for seeking out a guide for the free mornings whilst the family are having lessons?

Cheers, fab thread btw

Ta! It’s a joy of a thread, each year!

Boots – go to a good fitter, then decide! Where are you located? Am sure we’ll know somewhere

Helmet/goggles – buy as a pair. They need to both fit your head and work as a unit.
Guiding? Two days of lessons. Develop your skillzzzz and learn good places for your level.

Have fun!

I have three helmets. I only wear the third I bought cos I hate the first two. They are like boots – make sure they fit and you get on with them, same as a cycle helmet really. Then buy the goggles as some will fit that particular helmet better.

The basic amber lenses are fine for most conditions. The fancy mirrored etc lenses are more expensive and typically most suitable at the extremes such as very bright or very flat light. If I recall correctly, pink lenses are also ok for most conditions but with a slight lean to flatter light than amber(?). I tend to go with pink.

I only know about snowboard brands, which might matter to you, but Electric and Anon do have models that come with two lenses for similar money as those that have only one.

edit: I have two trips this year: Tinges, France and Jasna, Slovakia. Yay

Sitting in the airport ready to fly, bring on the pow pow!

Cheers CFH & Jamiep

I live in Worcester. I gather there’s a Snow & Rock in Gloucester. I was going to get the boots and then head over to the dry slope to break them in!

I tried goggle once and really didn’t like the feeling of wearing a goldfish bowl. I may stick with shades until I make the jump to powder from piste. I guess I’ll try a few with the helmet and see how I get on.

Thanks for the advice gents!

Peeps might be interested in this, a link to a thread on a pal’s snowboarding forum. Loads of powder in Japan

Sunglasses and helmets give me headaches .
The side bars push into the side of my head and put pressure around my ears.
You might be OK , but its a deffo no-no for me .
Keep a pair of sunny’s in your pocket for terrace use though .

Cheers Singletrackmind both very good points!

I much prefer goggles with a helmet. They’re warmer and keep the wind out, also as stm mentions, the arms of glasses rub inside.

edit: I have two trips this year: Tinges, France and Jasna, Slovakia. Yay

Did we talk about this already? When you going to Jasna and who you staying with?
Have you been before?

Me and a mate are going last week in Feb. looking forward to it.

Did we talk about this already? When you going to Jasna and who you staying with?
Have you been before?

Me and a mate are going last week in Feb. looking forward to it.
Yes mate. I emailed you last year when you were planning your first trip. I’ll be there March.

There’s another big new lift this year, opening the whole other side of the mountain! The area will almost double. Only ever managed to get over the other side twice before because the one access lift would never be on

Ahhhh right. Cool. Sorry this thread and external emails are getting so long I forget who said what to who. 😀

Yeah looking forward to the new lifts. I follow Propaganda on Facebook and they’ve been posting frequent updates and photos (some of which I’ve reposted here). We made it over once last year but it was blowing a gale.

We’re staying with Dan and Clare again at Chalet Slovakia. Really looking forward to it.
Travel is a bit more hassle this year as RyanAir aren’t doing Edinburgh flights so we’re travelling back via Krakow.

Being a first time skier will i need a waterproof backpack? as i have never been before im not sure wht to expect, i guess i will need some water and maybe somewhere to strip off/on layers?
i have an alpkit gourdon i use for mtb, so that should be ok for 2 people?

forgot to say getting bloody exited now 🙂 5 days to go!!!!

My ageing heli pro isn’t waterproof.

Just put anything you want to keep dry inside a small dry bag.

Never used a backpack here – except when hauling camera gear.

Just layer sensibly.

If cruising the groomers/staying in bounds/on piste then no backpack required I reckon – they are awkward & cumbersome when riding the lifts and if heavy they can alter your COG and therefore impact technique – especially when learning.

If off-piste/backcountry, then yes, carry a backpack with shovel, probe, water, food & layers etc

As above, i never use a backpack on piste. Never really needed to strip off or add layers. Water will freeze in a camelbak pipe. I just stop for coffee break and lunch, and make sure fluids are topped up then (especially if up on a high glacier!).

I took my bike bag with me last year, it isn’t waterproof which didn’t matter. I found it quite useful for sticking layers and stuff in. I got a neoprene cover for the hose and this stopped the water from freezing. It was a bit of a pain on lifts if I had clothing in it but I soon learnt what I needed to wear so that wasn’t really a problem.

If cruising the groomers/staying in bounds/on piste then no backpack required I reckon – they are awkward & cumbersome when riding the lifts and if heavy they can alter your COG and therefore impact technique – especially when learning.

If off-piste/backcountry, then yes, carry a backpack with shovel, probe, water, food & layers etc

Agreed. Cards/phone in a drybag in a zipped pocket. Camera is waterproof anyway, but is in an outer pocket and secured with a mini-karabiner. Other kit in pockets? Well, always a lip balm and small tube of sun cream (Serre Che gets very sunny!). Sunnies for lunchtime oglingposing. Spare goggle lens in goggle pocket, but only if weather looks changeable, otherwise I stick the right one in for the day and go play.

Oh, and one of these – http://www.wipeoutstore.eu/Serre_Chevalier_Wipeout/p494374_2524907.aspx
Brilliant thing to have! Piste map and goggle cloth combined. Of course, being an Oakley fetishist, I only ever use the real cloth, but these have a major advantage over any other piste map – They don’t fall apart when wet, they don’t blow away on a lift (Clipped on to goggle cloth clip in jacket) and are just all round brilliant. Money well spent, IMHO.

Being a first time skier will i need a waterproof backpack?

I’d try and avoid skiing with a backpack if I was you tbh!!! It can throw your balance and weight distribution way off, which is key to learn well. Maybe bring one up with what ever extras you need and leave it in a locker which are usually around the gondolas somewhere?

*adds to cart*

Rucksacs are for getting stuck on chairs with; you now have to wear them on the front on some chairs in my local resort after a monitor with 35-years experience got hooked up and dragged under the chair breaking several ribs.

It’s been a little icy. I heard shouts and looked up to see a fallen boarder gaining velocity. I wasn’t directly below so joined in with the shouting and watched as board and rider shot past, and parted company (no leash obviously). The board continued base down heading for the people hanging around the park. Those in direct line weren’t wearing helmets or headphones and scuttled out of the way. The deaf ones just stood there oblivious as the board then rider flew past.

watched as board and rider shot past, and parted company (no leash obviously).

How the heck did they manage that????
Double catastrophic binding failure? Or just not strapped in properly to start with?

(haven’t worn a leash in years btw)

Maybe he was using those crappy qr bindings?

Or, in France, it could have been one of these;

Awesome carving, but so much fail! Helmet and glasses? Gaper…

Helmet and glasses works for me on occasion.

I bought my helmet this summer while in Morzine, luckily I had my Crowbars on me which I swap out the lenses for the white stuff. Fits like a glove 😀

What Crowbars do you have as I didn’t think snow lenses fitted dirt goggles?

It wasn’t QR bindings as the heel cups were clearly visible as the board went down. I suspect he wasn’t strapped in properly and got caught out by an easy blue going to very steep red scraped down to ice. He was falling for long enough to have the released the board if he’d wanted to. I can only speculate on the reasons but the fact is that after about 200m of high speed fall, board and rider parted company.

CFH that photo almost looks photo shopped! How the bloody hell is he gonna be able to transfer into the next turn 😐 .

I_Ache, your right they don’t make snow lenses for MX Crowbars. I just remove the tear off pins for my Ski lenses.

I prefer the fit of the MX versions with my lid as they don’t have the slight peak in the middle of the goggle. Plus the lenses are at least 50% cheaper.

he was falling for long enough to have the released the board if he’d wanted to.

That would be a very stupid thing to do! (But quite possible if he was a noob idiot)

Konastona so you use the std single unvented lenses for skiing? Don’t they fog up?

I_Ache

No fogging issues as they’re double layer and the frame is vented. It seems that you can only get clear now but I have 2 Persimmons and some kind of Iridium ones that I bought with the goggles (2008)

Bucketing it down in Les Gets

Mmmm… That’s where we’ll be I_Ache, but not until March.

Still they claim to have 65/160cm already and expect another 50 over the next two days – so shall we call that a decent base.