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

Wallop: I have gone for the higher level package in the past. As well as the equipment being slightly better spec the equipment generally seems to be in better condition. May not be the same everywhere though.

Well you’ve all talked me into spending a couple of extra euros on the skis then! 😆

I’m going to scrap the idea of buying boots though – I’ve only just discovered how expensive they are 😯

Sounds fine then CF.

I know what you mean about boot-fitting. I went through several pairs before I settled on my Salomon snowboard boots, I just figured that if I have “Salomon feet” I could save some time.. 🙂

I know that shop CF, it’s in a dingy basement in town – I’m amazed they have a website.. Can’t argue with their prices though!
There are a couple of shops I go to regularly and have bought kit from, I’m sure I’ll get it sorted soon.

Salomon snowboard feet may not be the same as Salomon ski feet! 🙂

You might be right, I tried some Salomon hiking boots recently and didn’t like ’em – bought La Sportiva…

OK, bit of ski advice required please.

Going to hire skis and boots from Outland in Serre Che when we go there in January. Their options are:

1. Blue package – for beginners – Rossignol ZS
2. Red package – for intermediates – Rossignol Xenith 76/Blizzard Bushwacker.

I’m not an experienced skier (confident on blues and get down reds without fuss) – will the beginner skis still be OK for me?

I’ve got two trips next year – is it worth buying my own boots or will the fact I still need to hire skis make it not worth it?

Yes the beginner skis will be “OK”. The main difference i saw when paying more for hire skis versus less (before I had my own), was that the edges were generally in better condition, and they were usually waxed better too with less holes in the base. If you can carve you’ll notice a difference in better edges and higher quality skis, if your just doing parallel then you probably won’t.

And boots should be your first purchase before thinking about buying skis, a well fitted pair of boots makes a world of difference in comfort and performance. Even if you are still hiring skis.

For Wallop – some Serre Che tips as mentioned above!

1 – Hotel
You have chosen well. It’s a lovely little place, very laid back. Hardly five star luxury, but does everything you want in a ski hotel! If you haven’t already, make sure you book a South facing room. Lovely views of the dameuses doing their thang at night, deer on the Alphand at first light and, depending on when you get back, watching people fall over on the same while sipping a beer on your balcony (See below!)
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Au balcon[/url] by CT663[/url], on Flickr

2 – The skiing
Well, there’s sooooo much! Some tips;
An end to end. First lift out of Chantemerle, on the Grande Alp cable. Up Prorel and then down all the way to Briancon. Back up. Down and up to the Serre Che peak itself. Down the other side, in to Villeneuve. Early lunch at le Break. Uo to the Tete de la Balme, and down to Monetier. Back up to the top of L’Yret. Back across and down to Chantemerle for cold ones at La Terrasse! It’s a real workout, and great fun!

Best pistes?
Cucumelle is lovely. Long, cruisy red. Alphand and the Casse are both classic French blacks. Latter can get icy late in the day, though.

Pistes to be wary of;
The whole Briancon side. If it’s late in the day and sunny, they turn to soup!
Briance and Aravet. OK, so they’re nice cruisy greens if you’re knackered, but can be a bit of a slog and best avoided at the end of the day. If needed, just download from Serre Ratier!

Best playgrounds if there’s some freshness;
The Cucumelle valley. Massive. Awesome. Top of Clot Gauthier or l’Eychauda, lots there too. Or, just get in the trees!

Other stuff – The Melezone is great. Like a cross between a snowpark and an adventure playground.

Food and drink;
Eat at the hotel! Lovely, lovely food. Really very good indeed.
On the hill?
Le Bercail, top of the Aravet bubble. Lovely food, and do try the sugar cubes. A real sun trap at lunchtime, too.
Cafe Soleil at Serre Ratier. Great pizza, but can be v crowded.
Coffee stop at Frejus, turn right off the Cucumelle to get there. Forget the name! Pic here!
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Coffee stop[/url] by CT663[/url], on Flickr
Le Break. At Villeneuve, at the foot of Mickey. Very good, a little cheaper too.
AVOID the place at the top of the Frejus bubble. Awful.

In Chantemerle?
Well, it’s hardly a rocking party town, but I like that!
Le Station – Loud and boozy. Seasonnaires abound, but good fun. Watch out if the Harper Brothers are playing. They’re good!
La Terrasse – Other side of the Alphand to the Station. Lovely to watch the last runs coming down in the sunshine. Pic here!
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Well earned[/url] by CT663[/url], on Flickr

Oh wowser! Thank you Flashy! I shall make a note of all of those and check them out.

Got a south facing room booked. Wouldn’t have bothered if we were in a big group, but it’s just going to be the two of us so I think a nice balcony will be a welcome addition in the mornings and late afternoons.

Right. Marmalade?

These people need marmalade![/url]

Rick and Fergus run the blog… A little, erm, eclectic at times, but really worth bookmarking as they cover what it’s really like there, as a place to live, as well as to ski.

Let me know when you’re off, and we’ll arrange a marmalade deal…! 🙂

You can be my vicarious Serre Che trip as well! 😉

Well, seems it’s d’Huez for me in January – can’t wait 🙂

PSA: Jet2 are doing free ski carriage at the moment – discount code is on their site. 20kg as well, so with judicious packing you might cope with a board bag and the generous 10kg hand luggage allowance. Wonder if any skiers will borrow a board and board bag to use this offer?!

UK News: There has been yet another fire at Sheffield Ski Village!
Looks like we’ve lost one of the biggest dryslopes in the UK because the place has now gone into liquidation.
http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/news-11974.html

Thanks arsonists. 🙁

I just read Flashies post above and I can wait to get out to Morzine now. End of Feb doesn’t sound that long but its almost 5 months until we go!

I just read Flashies post above and I can wait to get out to Morzine now.

Oh. Sorry to have been such a disappointment. 😉

Oh balls so much for proof reading. Obviously I can’t wait to Ski again.

Graham, haven’t they had umpteen fires there over the years? Sounds more like insurance scam than arson to me. 🙁

With the arrival of indoor fridges, I reckon the days of dry slopes are sadly past.

Graham, haven’t they had umpteen fires there over the years? Sounds more like insurance scam than arson to me.

Yeah I think it’s the third fire they’ve had in a year.
Don’t think it is insurance as they were reportedly very upset by the previous fires and had been trying to rebuild the place.

It’s a shame – the Sheffield slope has bred a lot of UK Freestyle talent.
Indoor slopes are great – but not many have quarterpipes and cars to jump over.

So anyone know anything about Val di Fassa in Italy, particularly the resort of Canazei?

We’re currently looking at a week in a catered chalet there in Feb for £600 a head. Seems a very reasonable price, but we’ve never done Italy before. Looks quite “Austrian” (which is a good thing) and the actual slopes seem quite spread out. Any idea what the slackcountry options are like there (for boarders)?

Canazei (well the entire Sella Ronda / Dolomiti Superski) is ace for racking up the piste miles. Going back there for my 4th (or is it 5th?) time in Feb.

Can’t help with the off-piste (there are other Snowhead STWers that might be able to comment).

Val di Fassa is kind of the Italian side, but the entire Sella Ronda regions spans Italian and Austrian “style” (and both German and Italian spoken).

Not sure what you mean by “spread out”? Val di Fassa itself has a number of villages along the valley, but Canazei and Campitello are directly on the main Sella Ronda where there is more than plenty. Alba is a 5min bus ride and is recommended for a day out. edit: nice black from there back down to the bottom station.

It’s a shame – the Sheffield slope has bred a lot of UK Freestyle talent.

Indeed. Like this chap

James Woods. One hell of a skier. Nice guy, too!

Thanks andy.

By spread out I just mean that it looks (from the piste map) like one of those resorts where you travel around a lot (up a lift, down a slope, up the next lift, down the next slope) rather than having one lift with 4 or 5 different marked runs off the top that mostly take you to the bottom of the lift.

That’s not a bad thing mind you, and may be inaccurate as I’ve only got a crappy little piste map to look at (the proper one on their website doesn’t load for some reason).

Indeed. Like this chap

Sheffield is more picturesque than I remember it.. 😉

Yes. In general, I’d say that’s the case.

As for piste map, to really appreciate it and get a proper idea, you’d really need to see a few local ones (Canazei/Campitello, Alba, Arabba/Marmolada, for example). The entire Sella Ronda (and “attached” bits) map is fine for “getting around” the whole area (actually you don’t even need a map tbh, because it’s so well signed), but starts to lose “definition” when looking at one of the resorts on its own (very true of San Cassiano/Alta Badia).

Just booked a week in Saalback for next trip – went there earlier this year and its a great venue with good links to Hinterglem circuit for plenty of route options. Decent snow record too – would recommend this place if you haven’t been before and fancy a change.

On a side note, I have a Bonfire jacket for sale in classifieds.

Just booked to go to Mayerhofen in late December. Had to miss last season due to the arrival of hoppy jr looking forward to taking him sledging.

Thanks andy.

Just booked to go to Mayerhofen

Quality – love the Hoff!

Nothing better than realising it is 1am and you’re still in your ski boots, “Doing The Conga” with a bar full of shitfaced Germans.

Been Mayrhofen twice, great apres ski as they say, Dutch and Germans galore. Decent boarding too and glacier if the snow fall is poor on main slopes.

Yep, I proposed to my wife on the Hintertux Glacier 😀

I blame the altitude.

My experience is the Germans tend to go to Zell am Ziller and Kaltenbach (probably because of the extensive parking – that’s why I go there).
Mayrhofen was Dutch and Brits, but mainly Dutch. To the extent that when I worked in Holland, if anyone mentioned “I’ll be away skiing/boarding”, when you reply “Oh, you going to Mayrhofen?”, the usual answer was “how did you know that?”.

Should be good then by the sounds of it. Last few times I’ve been in Tignes and before that Deux Alpes where everything’s fairly compact, Ziller valley has 600Km of piste according to the guide but seems a bit spread out, how easy is it to get about?

Just booked my flights, 4 months in Vancouver here I come!!

@mrhoppy – just hop on the train to go between Mayrhofen, Kaltenbach and Zell am Ziller. Kaltenbach station is right by the lift. The others are a shuttle bus between station and lift. Pretty straightforward, and free.
Hintertux is a bus ride from Mayrhofen.

Pyrenees report for y’all…

Close to the sum total of bugger all snow on the tops as I flew over earlier today! 😉

Hoping we start to see the first few flurries in the Alps soon. Only 87 days until my first trip to Switzerland this season then only another 20 days after that til my Stag doo on the slopes of Wengen. Cant wait!

Has anyone been to Kirchberg in Austria? Have an option to go there boarding in January.

66 days till I’ll be heading out to St. Anton for the season 😀

66 days until to a bit of this,

a bit longer until I can try not to break myself in here,

and hopefully not too long until loads of this.

Benny wants some pow too.

Can’t wait.

*Sees corduroy*

*Wants*

*Sees pow*

*Wants*

T-59 days and counting…

/me *needs*

(edit: also T-122 days and counting…)

Had a look over on SH last night. Apparently some of the US resorts have already turned the cannons on.

Now come on, chaps. That’s not right! From an eco point of view, as well as a common sense point of view! To my mind, cannons should be used to maintain and assist in extending the snow cover, not to make it in the first place!

Meanwhile in Norway they just keep last years snow under some wood chip. 😯