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

Just tried my new persimmon lenses in my googles. Then I checked the weather forecast – I shall be leaving the persimmons in. So much snow predicted on our first day!

Booked holiday #2
A week in 3 Vallees staying at Les Menuires , 26th Jan
Got a discount voucher with SkiFrance after our Monarch plane was delayed by 22 hours at chrimbo . So got a discount off the discount.
Sorry CFH !
Mont Vallon at Mach 1 , ossum

Alas no upgrade. What she doesn’t know won’t won’t hurt.

Tell her you tried, though 😉

Menuires is ok. Nice ride back from the Follie Douce in the dark if you’re not careful 🙂

May still get one inflight. I’ll hold off for the now. 🙂

I know a few of you crossover to snowheads so is anybody from here going
On there 9th birthday bash to arabba?
Has anybody been on one of the previous bashes?

not going to s9bb but have bene on bashes before, always had a great time. Sure you’ll enjoy it

STM – enjoy the trip. Combe de Vallon non-stop is a good leg burner and annual family challenge for us. Thighs are normally screaming by the bottom!!!! Annoying closed when we were there pre-Christmas – phew!!!!!

Take care everyone. If playing off piste make sure you are properly trained and equipped. Listen to the warnings. Coming from the heart of someone who has just lost a ski de rando friend in an avalanche.

You OK Mugsy?
Sorry to hear about your friend. Untimely deaths are always harsh and a reality / non imortality check for those left behind.

Have a bleeper and try to remember the rules . Its abit like driving though , you have to keep an eye on everyone else. Going to spend an hour in the practise zone i think.

Mugsys, very sorry to hear that too.

Sorry to hear that mugsy.

Was having holiday blues so we went to hemel hempstead last night, Wow was it busy, my first time there so not sure if always like that.
it was a lesson in how to avoid people! saw a few people crash into others and some with no helmets.
I never wore a helmet skiing in france but i defo wore one at hemel! i will be investing in a helmet.
was also suprised to find the terrain at hemel was really variable, was real fun but spent most of my time avoiding people putting me on some random path over lumpy snow with my limited skills.

great fun but stay safe people

Hmmm *goes to order a probe/shovel and transceiver*.

Stay safe people!

Just got back from Mayrhofen – great trip! Had a dump of around a foot of pow on the day we arrived, then another 10-15cm on Thursday night/Friday morning so a great last day. Got some pics and video I’ll sort when I get a chance.

It was weird earlier in the week – very warm in the valley and completely bare of snow, but great conditions up the mountain.

Mayrhofen is a nice town though somewhat taken over by Russians this last week! Loved the amount of easily accessible off piste in Zell am Ziller, so much to go at.

Best snow of the year so far. I went out on my narrowest skis for that deep powder feeling in only 40cms of fresh. We stayed in the area made safe by Gazex and heard some mighty rumbles from nearby mountains.

Following on from Mugsy’s advice the thing that would have saved some local victims (apart from not skiing the wrong slope at the wrong time) would have been separating for avalanche-prone slopes. Stop at a safe place, one skis to the next safe place then the others follow one by one. And if you set off an avalanche, ski down the debris rather than skiing into more fresh and setting off another avalanche.

Innsbruck next Saturday. Can’t wait. Drawing up rota of resorts to visit.

Where would the STW cognisanti recommend for a first ski holiday? Obviously suitable for novices, and as importantly cheap

May have to be march (feb half term is looking silly money everywhere)

Just done New Years week in Val d’Isère and now got a cheeky week to sort out in late Feb,

Done St Anton for the last couple of years and feel like a change, iv not skied the three valleys since i was all new to this skiing lark (greens/blues only)so did not see much of the mountain

Is Three Valleys worth the trip for mostly on piste skiing with a little dabble off piste if conditions are good ??

Cheers

Andy, re 3V, defitnitely, great varied skiing but expensive. From what you have said, I reckon Courchevel would be best. Nice variety of pistes, runs with trees low down (La Tania), broad motorways (1650), great intermediate stuff (creux, combe de Saluire), more challenging pistes (M, Suisse, the couloirs) and lots of off-piste (easy access and the stuff where guides as advisable.) The higher resorts (V Thorens and L Menuires) are starker places, more open, colder but often the best snow. Meribel combines both and gives the best choice of where to ski across the whole area.

Is Three Valleys worth the trip?

Is Chäteau Latour worth drinking? Is Christmas cake worth eating? The woman/man of your dreams has just made a suggestion that would get this post deleted, is it worth accepting?

May have to be march

Go high.

Les Arcs is well worth a look if you can get a bargain. Not a pretty “village”, but snowsure and good pistes/schools.

It’s not as good as Serre Chevalier, though! 😉

Go high.

Not Val Thorens though. Completely charmless place and despite the altitude didn’t even have much snow when we went there.

I’m going to have to vote for Austria again. Somewhere with a glacier if you want snow sure later in the season.

I wouldn’t worry too much about resort height in Feb. Late March/April ok, but it would be a crap season if snow was short in Feb, IMO

cheers chaps , i better go rob a bank now to fund it !

Temp inversion affecting the visibility low down, Cham valley is clagged in sun high up with a few metres of snow and -22.
*Gets warm coat out*

Come back Dales – the snow’s here 😀

Mmmmm doesnt seem to be working 🙁

@slownorm

Yep – Been on a few sH bashes (4 of them in Arabba). And Yep going on the s9BB too 🙂 There are other sH/STWers going.
Can’t wait only 2 and bit weeks I think.

Just had a(nother) quick 2 day pre-bash warmup in Austria (need to sort pics tonight).

Captain-Bstard – Alpe d’Huez for a first holiday. Loads of gentle green slopes in a bowl close to town. Perfect for most of the first week. There’s a pretty big jump up to their blues though!

Cervinia is very high, lots of long gentle wide pistes, so again good for beginners.

Neither of these are particularly cheap, but shouldn’t be too pricey.

Apologies for minor spammage, but we’ve just had 3 people cancel on us at the last minute for our Backcountry snowboard trip next week. 👿

If you can drop everything to come ride some freshies next week (loads of powder at the moment and more snow forecast in the next few days), give us a shout:

http://www.whiteroomchalet.com/win_backcountry_weeks.htm

@andytherocketeer

Sounds good really looking forward to it.
I wasted a good ski week over new year in Nendaz so the BB can’t come quick enough.

Chamonix excellent snow conditions, mind it can stop snowing now thank you 🙂

I just have to post this. The best short movie ski clip Ive seen in a long time! Such creative urban stuff 🙂 .

Here

That was effing superb, Michael! Thanks!

That bit with the tips in the bin (At least, I think it was a bin or something) Awsumz!

And the gap to trolley to grind was cool too!

Ok i’m about to purchase some piste skis!!! 😀

The main candidates are the Rossi Pursuit Elite 18, the Head i-titan, or the Nordica Doberman Spitfire XBI CT TI.

Never tried the Rossis, only the narrower little brother version of those. I tried the i-magnum and loved them, and really liked the Nordicas. Anyone got any input? Thanks!

stevo, sent you a quick one on fb. Thought instant messaging might be the way to go!

Just bought some new skis, Rossignol Experience 88s.
First days skiing on them today, excellent all mountain ski. Took to steep trees off piste and they handled everything well,bumps they were at home on. Back on piste they are very stable at speed. None of the chattering from the tips or wanting to go off in different directions on flat Schuss’ so common in modern wide skis.

Michael, of those three, I’d have the Nordicas. Never liked a single Head ski I’ve tried always felt dull and lifeless to me, and Rossis are just too ugly, IMHO! 😉

Loved the Nordicas, though. Almost like a full on race GS ski, but a little more easy going. That said, not a ski to take lightly. They needed driving hard, not just lazy hangover turns. Get them going, though and WAHOOOOYAY! 🙂