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

hammerite – nice Christmas picture.

I shall hunt you down and kill you. To death. With a spoon. Slowly.

Nah, just wee in our ski boots (which will freeze and become unusable). Then own us with the old bindings from 20 year old straight skis.
Mr bunnyhop got a skiing ‘fleece stylee type buff’ under the tree from our young nephew for Chrismas. I may well be pinching that if the weather gets colder.

CFH – Ski Famille don’t include the flights and BA fly to Geneva too I think. Just saying…

And no they’re not cheap

‘fleece stylee type buff

Ooh I have one of these – they are lovely!

Some more gopro for you, first day up in Whistler this season.

Nice one.
Which run was that?

Mate of mine works in whistler and has been posting pics/vids on facebook since the season opened. Seriously tempted to defriend him.

Nice one.
Which run was that?

Can’t remember the run, it was in the Symphony area on Whistler. Was way better than the video shows, that area just opened up that weekend and the actual runs had a 1 to 2 feet of powder in places, one trip into the trees didn’t end to great as that was just several feet of powder, you get stuck there and its not easy to get up!

Mate of mine works in whistler and has been posting pics/vids on facebook since the season opened. Seriously tempted to defriend him.

Or book a flight and kip on his sofa!

Right its sorted
Chamonix, Avoriaz, and Les Rousses

‘Crystal hut’ in Whistler is one of my favourite places to eat.

Skiing in the Pyrenees is currently OK high up and stony low down. Wind and rain mean the TV and reading are as appealing as the pistes some days. Saturday was manic, some kind of collective madness. Someone fell off a chair and died, oh dear.

After a boarder nearly landed on me (I saw him coming and skipped out of his path) he had the cheek to say I shouldn’t have been there – after being pursued by a hairy, old man with pointy, X-C sticks he changed his mind.

I reckon a go-pro on a stick has taken over from a pair of patinettes as the sign of a piste user to give a wide berth. Probably incompetent on whatever form of slidy thing(s) they’re on, and far too concentrated on the stick thing to have any idea of where they are going or what anyone else on the piste is doing.

In 48 hours I’ll be well on my way to Champagy En Vanoise! 😀

Not quite sure what expect yet as never skiid there, in the back of my mind I’ll probably be comparing it to Whistler the whole time. I have no doubt the food will be better than Whistler though, which can’t be hard.

Someone fell off a chair and died, oh dear.

*Wonders how the hell that’s possible* 😕 .

michaelmcc – Member

In 48 hours I’ll be well on my way to Champagy En Vanoise!

Excellent choice I skied there last year, Le Barrillon restaurant is good.
Where you staying ?

Where you staying ?

Staying in my parents chalet in the village. What ares are good for off piste there? As in from the top of what chair lift(s)? Plan on meeting someone who could show me around for a day but I’d like to have an idea myself for the first day or so.

Edit:- that didnt work 🙁
Tried pasting a link to my garmin

Got an 08:40 flight from Manchester to Zurich tomorrow morning!! Cant wait to get out for a few days, hopefully we get a bit of cold weather out there!

Best do some packing…..not even started yet!

One essential item you can’t go away skiing without/always make sure to pack? Just curious. The one thing I usually pack first are my goggles. I’d be gutted if I forgot them!

RS – that was the first day of the season???? I hate you right now 😉 .

If my wallet is in my pocket I’m not too fussy about packing. That’s the reason I’m posting tonight, I’ve had to drop down the hill to pick up an old set of slalom skis as new 890e skis and stony pistes are best kept separated.

11 days on skis this season and I still haven’t used goggles. Two days with no eye wear at all and on the other days glasses were more appropriate.

Well goggles, helmet, boots, skis and poles are all already out there so thats not too much of a worry!

Will be Jacket and Salopettes that are top of the list to pack!

ID card/passport and boarding pass, there’s always someone at the airport that’s forgotten one, the other or both.

Wouldn’t like to buy any gear in resort, bad enough being fleeced at the bar!

Yeah passport is probably the key one! haha

One essential item you can’t go away skiing without/always make sure to pack? Just curious. The one thing I usually pack first are my goggles. I’d be gutted if I forgot them!

After being stuffed by BA before who lost my luggage, my wife’s and brother in laws and arriving in chamonix with just the clothes I was standing in, I now carry every thing ill need at a minimum as hand luggage.

Apart from Googles, gloves and underwear from Lidl, most of my ski gear was bought in the resort. I bought some new skins in Intersport last week: 119e for a 110mm Coltex mixed kit. I doubt you’ll find cheaper on line.

Wouldn’t like to buy any gear in resort, bad enough being fleeced at the bar!

Dunno about buying gear but IME in Austria you definitely don’t get fleeced at the bar, even at the top of the mountain.

michaelmcc – Member
RS – that was the first day of the season???? I hate you right now .

It was my first day at whistler this year, we always give it a month or so after opening to get good 🙂

Whistler booked for jan 12th. On my tellies CFH. 😛

Well hard to describe without a lift map 😳

But up to the top Bellecote and over to the right as you are going up 🙂

Your daughter I assume, Dales. Skiing was much better in the days of bobble hats, sunnies and tight-fitting fuseaux. 😉

It was my first day at whistler this year, we always give it a month or so after opening to get good

Yeah that’s wise, takes a while for the base to build up so all the trees/rocks are covered. I didn’t fancy heading up in the first month myself, couldn’t be bothered getting a set of “pre-season” skis and didn’t want to wreck my good ones.

Edukator – Member

Your daughter I assume, Dales. Skiing was much better in the days of bobble hats, sunnies and tight-fitting fuseaux.

Yes correct Mr G and sadly a better skier than me 🙁 , 2 years living in Chamonix to blame.

Buying boots from the ‘bay? Not sure I would! Will need a trip to a decent bootfitter still….! Get ’em in the oven for a start!

The Education of Style and Sunny just arrived in the post for me 😀 .

I reckon a go-pro on a stick has taken over from a pair of patinettes as the sign of a piste user to give a wide berth. Probably incompetent on whatever form of slidy thing(s) they’re on, and far too concentrated on the stick thing to have any idea of where they are going or what anyone else on the piste is doing.

Agreed. In fact, any sign of any form of camera being used while sliding along makes me give people a wide berth. Far more interested in how awsumz their “edit” is going to look than knowing what’s going on.

Regarding the packing – we always split gear. 2 suitcases with half of my stuff and half of hubbys, I do confess to having more clothes, so maybe more than half in my case. Also we put some underwear, goggles, and other skiing bits and bobs in handluggage. Have suffered a couple of skiing holidays before now without bags turning up at the airport.

To everyone that’s already out there or about to go, have fun.

Im home from La Plagne ( LP )

Bit of a nightmare trip out . Monarch planes stuck on the tarmac at Innsbruck in freezing fog on the Sat ( 22nd) . We could intermittantly see them on the airport webcams and were then armed with more information than the Swissport ground crew . There are flight tracking websites now and we could see a virtual no fly zone around Innsbruck. I had to tell the Swissport girls that the rubbish about a technical fault was a pack of lies , and simply tell the truth … 20hr delay.

To be fair they did give us £10 food voucher , but you cant spend them on beer. A nice unwanted night in the Hilton at GW with food , and a 0900 slot in the morning . The downer was it took 90 mins to get us reversed through customs and re-united with our baggage . There were a few shouty types demanding to be put on the 0630 Monarch plane , the one that was chartered by someone else , never going to happen.

TBC

So after a peaceful night in GW Hilton we were back in at 0730 for another try . Yes , the plane was there and extra check in staff available as we all decended at the same time . Had an inkling there was going to be a problem as we were not told to keep our luggage tags , so some people had removed them to open cases , and others hadn’t .
90 mins on the plane as they try to tally the bags to passengers to manifest . An impossible task without full unload and manually returning everyones luggage , marking it then reloading it.

Landed at Grenoble around 1pm local then the usual wait for luggage and skis , finding the correct bus etc. Apologies all round from SkiFrance and Monarch and a 10% discount letter off another booking.

All aboard the plague bus to LP . Every other person seemed ill , OK so not Norovirus thank god,but whooping style coughs , sneezing
, sore throats people complaining about the temperature. Bus had a gearbox fault and wouldnt engage the next gear without 2 or 3 goes , meaning a complete loss of speed and then having to painfully work your way back up through the gears to accelerate . Annoying at toll booths , scary and slow up the mountain. we thought we would be pushing at one point when we had a standing start, but 3 hrs later we made it to LP.

What happened next singletrackmind?

I am not feeling very well at all so posting in between chills and dozing . . . . . . .
Nice little house for the 10 of us , 5 bedrooms and we got en suite which is always a bonus. Josh 22 yr old chalet host seems ok and has catering background , Had welcome drink and canapes. Quicky unpack then dinner . Cant remember what we ate but 3 courses , enough to fill you up and restaurant quality. Wine from box mediocre but free ( package was £365 so not expecting Chataueneuf). Got to know others staying having mutually bonded over delaygate.
Monday skiing . The best bit , sunshine and temps around +2 , no fresh powder so spent all day carving on piste. Busy in the center but once up the mountain no queues. Lovely snow cover and perfect for fast flowing runs, went to Montchavin which was thin down low.

Tuesday . Man down. One of our party failed to rise and being a doctor self diagnosed man flu. Shame but he thought a couple of days in bed would sort him out so he would get some skiing in.

Went down to Montalbert and cruised around was fine but hard at lower altitude so headed up and over to Champagny. Nice run down to the town , rather Italian in feel in between the trees . knocked it on the head about 1500 as it was christmas day.

Got Sparkling wine , Salmon mousse , Turkey, sprouts , pigs in blankets , roasties, parsnips and carrots . Cheese board and xmas pud. Chocos , cards and pictionary. Then it started snowing.

Wednesday .- Overnight snow approx 20cm so Monster 88’s out for playtime.I was now coming down with man flu , but being a legend battled on armed with Ibuprofen. It was a great day, played on the blacks up above Plagne center most of the day . Dropping off the ridge on different lines , wind blown cover up to knee deep at times. Some amazing powder alongside the slalom runs under the Becoin lift. took all day to get tracked out. Nice tea and early bed with high temp and raging sore throat. Thank you plague bus.