The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2013-2014 season

Anyone know what prices are like for food/drink in Switzerland at the mo?

Seen some quite good deals and Saas Fee looks tempting for a last-minute trip fairly soon if they get all the snow that’s promised.

Been to Austria for the last few years where generally everything seems very reasonable.

Probably about as steep as the French Alps.
Forget the exact prices now, but I think a beer was 6CHF, vs 5EUR in France (or 10EUR in Courchevel, but that’s an exception).

though to be honest, I’ve never seen anyone use one there, including the people who were doing proper backcountry and hiking well out-of-bounds

GrahamS – do you mean ‘use’ or ‘wear’?

I’d really like to think that anybody heading back/slack-country would be wearing one + carrying shovel & probe.

Proposed to my wife the next day on Hintertux glacier

Better than proposing to someone else’s wife I guess! 😉

I mean wear!

We got friendly with a few of the local seasonaires, who hiked out for longer backcountry stuff. Talked to them about beacons etc and they were basically “Yeah, we probably should have some…” 😯

This was after reports of a slide in the nearby High Tatras.

I suspect it is two-fold:

– part of the reason folk go to Slovakia is it is really cheap. So they maybe don’t want to “waste” money on a beacon and gear.

– most of the in-bounds freeride zone stuff is pretty low exposure stuff so I guess they get complacent.

That’s partly what I meant by the different attitude to health and safety! You can step off a lift there and walk less than a hundred meters to the drop-ins for those chutes I posted earlier.

(I should emphasise we don’t ride that stuff. And if I ever get to the stage that I do then I’ll have the gear!)

I don’t carry either probe, shovel or transceiver, ALTHOUGH.., I suspect that most of the time when I’m in the slack/side country, the highest dangers are wiping out and hitting your head off a rock or tree etc, or other cases of getting hurt where an avalanche isn’t in existence at all. In a large percentage of the terrain I ride, those other things seem to be more of a risk.

Just back from a week in Chamonix with Alison Culshaw of Off Piste Performance doing the Ski Performance for Mountaineers Course. Although conditions are lean we had a good week.

A word of warning though, many incuding, the renowned Alain Duclos are warning of veey unstable snowpack. We did a tour up in the Aravais on Wednesday and it was mainly loose hoar with hard patches. The hard patches were windslab sitting on top of the hoar. I’ll let you make your assumptions about what fresh snow will do on top of this, but there has been a summary on Pistehors titled ” Most Unstable Snowpack in the Alps for A Decade”. On skitour.fr a pisteur at Serr Che says they have fired off 40 mines in 2 days and 90% were positive ( I guess that means resulted in an explosion induced slide).

As an aside and as a PSA Off Piste Performance are offering courses in Scotland this season, and I think they still have places.

Have fun but take care

Very easy to stray from perceived ‘safe’ slack/sidecountry into a ‘terrain trap’ etc. 😯

And you never know if someone is going to traverse above you puting you in the firing line.

Without wishing to sound over dramatic I reckon beacon, pole & shovel (plus knowing how to use them) are required anytime you duck under the wire in Europe or head outside the resort boundary in North America.

mugsys_m8’s comments about the current snowpack instability in the Haute Savoie & Savoie areas shows just how thin the line can be …

Be safe out there folks!

So. Ellis Brigham or Snow & Rock for boots?

I’m in Bristol, if anyone is from round these parts.

I’ve just acquired some backcountry goodies!
All kitted for a season of touring!

a pisteur at Serr Che says they have fired off 40 mines in 2 days and 90% were positive ( I guess that means resulted in an explosion induced slide).

Hope they managed to knock some onto the pistes and are currently spreading it around ready for me 🙂

Piccy no worky Oli.

Aye so it seems. Doesn’t like a Facebook link (from an iPad anyway!)

Odd looking shovel.

I’m massively biased wallop, but I’d head to EB in Bristol, the two girls who boot fit there (one is the current gf) are excellent and really know their stuff. I boot fitted there last winter and (with no disrespect to other shops in Bristol) heard some horror stories.
Because it’s a relatively small store occasionally they’ll have to order boots in for you to try, but you’ll not be buying the week before your holiday, will you… 😉

Thanks for that – I’d better get a move on then!

I don’t carry either probe, shovel or transceiver, ALTHOUGH.., I suspect that most of the time when I’m in the slack/side country, the highest dangers are wiping out and hitting your head off a rock or tree etc, or other cases of getting hurt where an avalanche isn’t in existence at all. In a large percentage of the terrain I ride, those other things seem to be more of a risk.

You’re wrong. Avalanche is far and away the biggest cause of death in the backcountry. Much more likely than trauma from a fall.

Anyone been out anywhere in Scotland yet? I believe that things are improving up there? Is Glencoe open today?

I’m hoping to head up to Nevis next Thursday and Friday.

Careful out there. 5 dead and 2 seriously injured in 4 avalanches in France and Switzerland in 48 hours. 🙁

http://www.ledauphine.com/haute-savoie/2013/12/27/avalanche-a-la-clusaz-deux-victimes-retrouvees-les-recherches-se-poursuivent#jimage=7BEFE462-4750-4740-A09B-18F2F8426B10

Hi Guys, I’m lucky enough to have landed a job in Austria and have got my season card and been out as often as I can. I’m enjoying it but I think my old Ride Viking snowboard boots are shot. I’m getting heel lift of about (what feels like) 1-2inches. They are 10+years old although not been used for around the last 5 of those! Do boots ‘go off’ while just sat on the shelf?
Anyhow So whats good in snowboard boots for an intermediate all mountain type rider, with flow 5 bindings, size 8 (M270)?
All opinions welcome. Oh and does anyone know a decent shop in or around the soll area to try things on. I’ve only found skier-centric shops so far…
Cheers,
Mark

You need to go and try a load on in a decent shop really. Salomon wide boots fit my feet well but YMMV.

Over a metre in some of the Italian resorts on xmas day – and about 40-50 cm in most of the French resorts. Austria is still struggling a bit in general. Sounds like a very high avalanche risk in many places though.

Just booked a cheapo catered chalet deal in La Plagne Villages as I’ve got a mate doing a season round there – woop woop!

Yep, it all seems to have dumped west and south of Tirol for me (so far!)… I agree with the idea of going to try lots on, but like I said, I’m finding snowboard specialist shops a bit thin on the ground..
Enjoy La Plagne!

Cheers! Never been to Soll so I can’t recommend any shops but there must be a decent one somewhere near you.

Mayrhofen seemed to have a few good snowboard shops when I was there last year, and isn’t a million miles away if you have a car (Zell am Ziller on the way there had lots of fun, easily accessible and not quickly tracked out slack-country powder last winter too).

I wonder if there’s any decent snowboard shops in Kitzbuhel maybe?

Hope the snow picks up in Tirol soon, I’m sure it will.

Cheers! The good news is I’ve got all season for it to snow really so no rush! And thanks for the tip of a proper snowboard shop a few valleys down from me! :o)

Are any of the Blue Tomato shops nearby? They are Austrian based and usually have reasonable prices.

One death in Serre Che already. 🙁

Mrs CFH mentioned it was slack country under a lift. Before I even looked at the news, I just new it was under the Vallons lift. And it was.

There’s so much inviting slack under that lift, it’s no wonder people go and explore. I’ve often skied those gullies, boot hiked either side of the top of the lift. Never thought of that area as dangerous. How wrong I was. 🙁

Was that a slip under the lift? That’d be pretty unusual I’d have thought. 🙁

Graham, Vallons is a relatively new lift, linking two village ski areas. There’s only one real piste below it, the Cucumelle. An excellent red, as it happens. However, the lift opens up loads of great slack. Look at the Cucumelle webcam and look either side of the piste and you’ll get an idea. I don’t know which exact area it was as yet, though. Will ask some friends over there.

Not good,either way.

@Dr_UpGrade – you’ve done well making a pair of snowboard boots last 10years!

Mine generally only last a couple of seasons before they ‘pack-down’ 🙁

You could try the old ‘add-a-custom-insole’ trick on top of your existing insole in order to fill the foot space caused by the liner packing down!

It might buy you some time whilst you search for a suitable replacement boot!

Very sad news about the deaths in the Alps. 🙁

A number of them very close to the pistes which only goes to highlight the inherent risk in ‘easy-access’ slack-country … especially this early in the season. 🙁

btw – Dr_UpGrade … just realised you’re riding Flow bindings … these might be contributing to the sensation of heel-lift as Flows are notorious for being ‘comfortable’ [aka snowboard ‘slippers’] but lacking in ‘performance’ since they don’t lockdown the boot into the binding – which is required for any kind of responsive riding.

Might be worth trying another set of bindings with straps and highbacks so you can adjust your forward lean …

2nd hand Burton Missions (or similar) would be ideal …

Re the comments above about slack country.

If you leave the piste you need to be clued up. Properly clued up. Those who think its safe or that other risks are more important are falling into common heuristic traps.

Just last week I saw a boarder triggered slab avalanche under a lift in Alpe d’Huez.

Get educated. Learn about the snow but as important is to learn about your own decision making processes and the faults therein.

@mugsys sadly those warnings have proven well founded. Very dangerous combination of poor base with lots of fresh snow on top and busy part of the season.

I hope Schumacher’s ok, good thing he was wearing a helmet

@CFH in my experience you generally don’t get avalanches under the ski lists as they tend to be built in places not susceptible (eg risk of ski pylons being wiped out) and with tree stumps etc you have natural holding.

Digby, you can adjust flow binding backs to lock-out with more forward lean. Well mine do anyway, and I have no heel lift problems with the way they are set up.

. these slack country accidents do make me think I may be a bit more cautious this year in France. We normally go to Canada/USA where there’s plenty of in-bounds ungroomed so used a fairly free approach to riding. May just stick to carving those big on piste Ss and making a fool of myself in the park

You’re wrong. Avalanche is far and away the biggest cause of death in the backcountry. Much more likely than trauma from a fall.

FYI, before you say I’m wrong, have a look at this. So I might have veered off topic a small bit, but that’s what I was trying to get at in my last post.

Avalanche Airbag Effectiveness

@michaelmcc if what you are getting at is that trauma is a more likely cause of avalanche death than burial then there are some stats to support that. That wasn’t what you said in the post stevomcd replied to though.

It’s still faulty reasoning to use that to justify not carrying rescue kit. Just because one risk is higher than another does not negate the lower one,every year people die from asphyxiation in avalanches. Also, the extent of injury in an avalanche is entirely outwith the victim and partners control. The ability to rescue a buried victim alive IS (to a degree)within group control IF everyone is trained and prepared.

I used to tell people that I often didn’t bother wearing a tranceiver etc in backcountry Scotland because the risk of burial was small. Some personal experiences and the tragedies of last winter have made me re assess that.

@CFH in my experience you generally don’t get avalanches under the ski lists as they tend to be built in places not susceptible (eg risk of ski pylons being wiped out) and with tree stumps etc you have natural holding.

True. Does happen though. Remember this from last season?

Ouch. Imagine being sat on one of those chairs as the avalanche hit, not knowing if the wire’s going the give and you’re going in.

The ability to rescue a buried victim alive IS (to a degree)within group control IF everyone is trained and prepared.

Spot on Spin!! – interesting to note that partner rescue was significant in a number of the recent Alps avalanches – the woman rescued at Celliers only suffered mild hypothermia.

you can adjust flow binding backs to lock-out with more forward lean

@olddog – loads of people swear by Flow bindings and vive la différence for sure, but they also (rightly or wrongly) have had a reputation for impeding progression and performance.

I only suggested they *might* be contributing to the sensation of heel lift as this was a common observation a few years ago – riders changing to ankle & toe strap style bindings reported an immediate improvement in ‘control’ and the ability to ‘foot-pedal’.

@CFH in my experience you generally don’t get avalanches under the ski lists as they tend to be built in places not susceptible (eg risk of ski pylons being wiped out) and with tree stumps etc you have natural holding.

Have a look at the location of the Vallons lift. (Between Villeneuve and Monetier stations, towards the right of the map http://plandespistes.serre-chevalier.com/v2/

Also, see here – http://serrechevalier.livecam360.net/cucumelle

It’s the area either side of the lift that’s most likely to have been the problem. Almost directly below it is a set of really fun gullies to play in, and then further to either side all sorts of great slack. Off piste, yes, but very much in the domaine skiable, so people may well take more risks there. Sadly.