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

Edukator – for the odd week here and there people their kit is fine, not great but fine*, for more regular skiers like you then granted you probably need better kit. Plus they do sell lots of other brands too.

*the only decathlon ski kit I’ve had are liner gloves, gloves and a fleece which all served a purpose. But Jnr skied for years in the jackets/pants/fart bags and never complained.

Woohoo 6 hour beginner session booked for me and wifey on Sunday….saved 200 quid with a promo code 8)

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php/262416-March-April-glacier-skipping-photo-porn-dump

Oh….my….

Jealousy is a bitter mistress!

1/2 day off work and nipped up to Glenshee …

Well that was rather teh awsumz!!! Chuffin loved every minutes of it! I did better than I expected-fell over quite a lot though!! My wrists are killing. By the end I could do linked turns and control my speed pretty well-got dragged halfway up the main slope an my arse on my first attempt at using the drag lift!!….I’ll post the video of it at some point 8) Mrs B was not so keen….she was absolutely woeful at it though! She bailed two thirds of the way through (fitness thing I think) and doesn’t really fancy going again, so my plans for winter holidays in France may be on hold 🙁

Did I mention that I loved it 🙂

got dragged halfway up the main slope an my arse on my first attempt at using the drag lift!!….I’ll post the video of it at some point

Give Mrs B time. I had to work with Mrs CFH to get her in to it. I actually found that a lovely Christmas ski trip to a beautiful resort with great food and tuition did the trick. She fell in love with the mountains on Christmas Day, over pizza and champagne for lunch!

I think that she fancies a crack at skiing rather than snowboarding-and six hours was definitely too long for her. I’ll be back asap though!

I’m starting to ache now!

I think that she fancies a crack at skiing rather than snowboarding

You’re a lucky man. I hope you realise that! 😉

Keep at it. She’ll love it! (BTW, try taking her to Serre Che. Sunshine, blue skies, great skiing, superb food and, if you book lessons at the Si Connections, Christian and Petit Paul for her to ogle at as eye candy! Oh, and they’re superb instructors, too. Mrs CFH has nothing but the highest praise for Christian, and Petit Paul has helped me become almost awsumz!)

Hooray!

I declare my recent holiday a success. Drove to Verbier on Good Friday with Mrs R, stayed in Le Chable, was taken round on Saturday by a friend who lives in Verbier. 20m of vis, spent the day following the purple trousers. Woke up the next day to snow falling, was supposed to clear later in the day, so we thought we’d go up for the sake of it (2 day passes already bought) and if it was horrible, sit with a hot chocolate and wait for it to clear. But…

Inversion! Sunny at the top, a foot of fresh and most people still in bed in the valley. Joined by our friend at 12:00, once we’d convinced her it really was sunny. No lift lines, no lunch, she spent the afternoon dragging us round all the pow stashes. Couldn’t quite understand why she was so rabid until we saw the next day what normal blue sky fresh snow day lift lines look like…

Wallets weepeing, off to stay with friends in Cham. mixed weather, GM, Glacier de Mort just with the wife, first time I’d been that far off without at least a peer to bounce things off. All went well. Day trip to sunny Courmayeur, pizza terrace, couloirs, tried out a 5’5″ Dupraz which was ace so I bought it.

Another overnight trip to the Langhe in Italy, more friends have bought a farmhouse there for conversion/split into a home for them and holiday home for rental, our friends in Cham are doing the design work.

Then off to La Grave, hit a sunny day with up to a foot of fresh in the hollows, long, lazy turns over virgin snow on the glacier to La Voute. Wife’s first abseil into a line.

Then over the Col du Lauteret to Val Claree, up to the Chardonnet hut, only 4 other people there. Blue skies and 15cm of fresh the next day for our Tour de Queyrellins (2nd tour just with Mrs N also went well!). Down to the valley, up to the Buffere hut, mini morning tour and back down to the car in Nevache for 11am and a drive back up to Calais for an evening ferry.

😀

Pics to follow!

Plus they do sell lots of other brands too

Decathlon used to but their policy has changed. No more Millet, Hally Hansen, Lafuma or anything else of interest in my local Decathlon which is one of the biggest in France. Just lots of gimicky, gadgety, fussy clothing cut to fit people who never do sport. Stand outside Decathlon and watch the people coming out with bags full of cheap Asian tat, if you look like them then go in by all means.

Nedrapier – that sounds wonderful.

We’re hoping to get some turns in at the end of April in Scotland, snow dependent of course.

the end of April in Scotland

Mental, isn’t it? Best season in 50 years. And the first in ages that I haven’t donned skis at all! BAH! But, then again… 😉

Flashy there’s still time.

Regarding skiing in Scotland, we have managed not only April but early May too over the last 2 seasons, so have a tradition to uphold.

Edit: Just think in 5-6 years mini flash will be skiing along with you and the missus, it’ll be fantastic. oh and mtbing too.

Edit: Just think in 5-6 years mini flash will be skiing ahead of you and the missus, shouting back “ffs Dad pull your finger out and get a move on.”

Edukator – perhaps this is the sign of things to come in the UK as Decathlon stores that we’ve been to recently have had quite a bit of non Decathlon branded kit in.

Edit: Just think in 5-6 years mini flash will be skiing ahead of you and the missus, shouting back “ffs Dad pull your finger out and get a move on.”

In that odd kiddie skiing style that’s all speed and no control!

“YAY! A black piste! In flat light! And it’s all tracked out with moguls and ice! Come on, Dad, let’s go!”

🙂

After this years holiday my two year old can already ski better than I can 😀

Yep it’ll be like that Flashy. Although very occasionally they’ll overcook things, get (mildly) hurt and ski for a couple of hours with their tails between their legs.

Usually a drink/lunch stop makes them forget about that though.

Nedrapier,

Been meaning to go up the val Clarre for quite a while. How was it?Heard good things about the hut.

Mrs Mugsy just been upto the Refuge des Aiguilles des Arves to do the Aiguille d’ Epaisseur and col de Aiguilles des Arves. Snow was a bit wet concrete in places apparently.

Lots of Avalanches around at present though with the warming up over the last 3 or so days…..

bunnyhop – it was!

mugsys_m8 – We loved it. Highlight of the trip for us I think, even though we may have got better snow elsewhere. Higher north faces were blower pow (dude) everthing else was a bit/very wet. Saw a few big ful depth wet slides.

Really lovely valley, huts were very nice. And plenty to choose from, I think five in the Vallee de la Claree itself and a few more in the neighbouring vallees. More. Mountains aren’t the highest, but non-glaciated, reducing kit and complexity. Plenty of route choice from mellow to gnar. Looks like there are some decent rcok routes too.

We’ll be back, for sure. (especially after shelling out €45+ for the map and the toponeige!)

A few thousand words worth of pictures to follow when I’ve picked through them.

nedrapier, just a headsup. Are you aware of http://www.skitour.fr? Very Grenoble centric and pleasingly for me does not consider the Chamonix Valley to be the centre of the Universe.

Lol @ flashy.

I love it when the wee ones speed down a hill in massive snow plough stylee, stop dead and flop forward. Such low centre of gravity, so hardly ever hurt themselves.

Coach crashed into a cliff going down from AdH and caught fire, full of Brits. Apparently one dead 🙁

Just heard that too, very sad.

The brakes failed going into the last bend before the bottom. The descent from my local resort is steeper but drivers rarely touch the brakes; the exhaust brake being adequate to maintain a safe descent speed. A gear lower and even a full coach with a trailer could be driven down on the exhaust brake.

People were jumping out before it crashed according to TF1.

Still planning to go to Scotland next week.

Here’s our end of season last day in the Peaks just over a week ago. Tshirt weather indeed.

Apparently one dead

According to the papers today the fatality was the driver, who died saving the passengers by steering into the cliffside to avoid going over the edge. *salute*

More sobering footage. massive spring avalanche:

http://www.zapiks.fr/spectaculaire-avalanche-de-p.html

According to the papers today the fatality was the driver, who died saving the passengers by steering into the cliffside to avoid going over the edge.

*Raises glass*

Brave man.

Is someone who dies descending a coll too fast in a full coach with a trailer a hero? Never speak ill of the dead but in all honesty if he’d been going slower there wouldn’t have been a problem even if the brakes failed. A lot of people on here ride up and down colls, anyone who does knows that some drivers descend using engine braking and others come down with stinking, overheating brakes.

I know that a jury hasn’t heard the case yet but commercial vehicle brakes fail on and the only reason they won’t stop is because the brakes have overheated.

Too soon to call “hero” anyhow.

Someone who makes an error, then rectifies it by risking his neck, is a hero, yes.

So dangerous driving and risking all your passengers’ necks is OK so long as you risk your own neck when your lack of caution cooks the brakes. I wonder how much experience/training the driver had in descending colls with a fully loaded coach and trailer. Even then, ignorance is no excuse.

Because it could not have been a mechanical failure then could it?

The driver died . You werent there so please stop with the blame game.

The coach might have had worn pads, less mass = more heat build up and possible fluid boiling .

I have never been on a coach down the mountain where the drier has been able to only ever use the gearbox and exhaust brake.

You weren’t there

Amen.

Lots of unknowns but what we do know points to driver error. Best wait for the verdict then before declaring the man a hero.

Having used the local bus up and down the mountain all winter I can confidently say that the driver has never got the brakes anywhere near too hot.

In my own vehicle I have a choice: second gear – never need to brake except for the stop sign in the village; third gear – a few dabs before the tightest bends; fourth gear – sometimes used when there’s nothing else on the road for long straight sections, changing down to third puts the engine close to it’s rev limit but still avoids too much use of the foot brake; fifth gear – never tried. If I had 48 people in the back and a trailer on I’d use second gear all the way every time.

Is someone who dies descending a coll too fast in a full coach with a trailer a hero?

No.

But someone who sacrifices his own life to save the lives of others is a hero, regardless what bad decisions may or may not have lead up to that point.

Now let’s please not let one of the best threads on STW end with a typical game of armchair-expert eh?

Best wait for the verdict then

exactly 😐

There’s an interesting difference between English “driver hero” reporting of this and French media reporting that centres on “the brakes failed, we now need to find out why” with the obvious answer being overheating.

The suggestion of fluid boiling shows how much you don’t know about commercial vehicle brakes, Singletrackmind. Commercial vshicles use fail-safe air brakes in which the brakes are held off with air pressure. Any leak or problem with the system and the brakes lock on. All the control systems are also designed to fail safe.

On a different note……

Sat in the lobby of the apartment in Flaine as it has been dumping snow for the past 3 hours and visibility is abysmal.

Can’t complain as first 4 days have been fantastic spring skiing and it just ‘might’ be a big powder day tomorrow 🙂

Ps cheers to GrahamS for bindings – nearly got the hang of them now 😉

Enjoy tomorrow Woody.

How much longer are you out there for to enjoy the conditions?

Nice one Woody – looking forward to seeing some pics and hearing how you got on with proper bindings 😉