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

Go to the Dolomites and do the Sella Ronda.

Stayed in Colfosco and skied there at the end of last summer. Beautiful mountains.

Beautiful mountains.

Yep – definitely one of the prettiest mountain ranges I’ve visited.

Fairly middling in terms of actual slopes though I found 😕

Fairly middling in terms of actual slopes though I found

Yes, I’d agree with that, but if cruising is your thing then it’s a great back drop to stare at.

What is that bluebird? Loving the 2014 Burton boards….really fancy the new Hate….Mrs B will kill me though!

I imagine that’s a Custom X

I still find that the wood overlay on an Arbor board can almost make me want to turn the dark side…

Yes, it’s a Custom X, fantastic board. My wife’s ridden them for years. I switched to one last season and love it.

Just bought some Head Titan skis. Demoes them in Val Thorens at the end of last season and didn’t want to give them back. Now I’m itching for the season to start and it’s only August.

Just bought some Head Titan skis.

Be careful, my new Titans got stolen in Verbier just this last season, they were the most recent model. Big demand for them on the 2nd hand market so I’ve been told.

I just want to warn other skiers that the ski thieves seem to be out there. I had a pair of new skis stolen at Verbier this last season, I never used to use a ski lock but I will from now on. Insurance didn’t cover them as I wasn’t looking at them at the time and didn’t have them locked.
So I advise that everyone locks their skis up or pairs them up with someone else to we can try and avoid this happening to lots of other people.

Be careful, my new Titans got stolen in Verbier just this last season, they were the most recent model. Big demand for them on the 2nd hand market so I’ve been told.

As in, being stolen to order? Crikey!

Still reckon there needs to be a better way of keeping your skis secure when having lunch/etc. My normal lunch spot has the benefit of being in the sunshine, and I can always see my skis from where I sit.

Ski racks now tend to be on the right of the pic, just at the bottom of the stairs.

Anyone using a cable lock or similar? Some kind of skinny cable a la cafe bike stop lock might work, but it’s just one more thing to carry…

Hmm. Must be a solution out there.

As in, being stolen to order? Crikey!

That’s the impression I got from talking to some of the staff from Altitude ski school who were on the same course as me. Seems quite sickening…

Have a skinny cable lock, but that’s just to keep insurance guys happy. And I’m assuming that cutting a cable counts as “forcibly removed”.
Chunkier coiled up cable locks go rather stiff in the cold.

If not to order, I guess they just look for popular ones. If you don’t have a lock, at the very least separate your skis.

I think I will get a lock this year.

we always split skis and lock them up to something secure. wherever possible keeping them in view.
nobody would steal my skis though, they’re old and probably on their last legs 🙁

Madness, though, isn’t it? When stopping for a bacon sarnie somewhere like CYB or Glyncorrwg, we’ll either sit with our bikes, or put them away first. But, when skiing, we just leave our skis lying around and head in for a beer or two.

Given that skis can, and do, cost the same as some bikes these days, is it any wonder people are stealing them?

I_Ache – Member
Has anybody tried both skiing and boarding with a dodgy ankle?

My ankle is still knackered from 18 months ago and am torn between the two, I can probably ski better than I can board but turning right really hurts.
Have you tried a “wobble board” – I have been using one for my knee rehab and they are recommended for ankle injuries too. I will buy one as it’s easy to use at home every day

By the way was “torn” supposed to be a joke 😉

Always use a board lock. They’re pretty skinny but might be enough to deter the sneak thief.

I’ve just checked, and I didn’t post pics of this in the 2012 thread.

New board. Never ridden, but I demo’d one. Flippin amazing fun. 😀

clicky bigger, nice understated graphics, the backround grey design on black is just sanded/etched finished rather than polished.

ZOMG!!!! Just booked up my first ever mountain holiday….going to La Plagne Feb half term….one is rather excitable this evening!

woo!

Back to the skis being stolen thing though, I’d urge everyone to either get a lock or split them with someone else. Mine were stolen in Verbier of all places, thought it would be safer there.

Do boards get stolen much?

Maybe a lot less bikes get stolen compared to skis, relatively speaking?

Tom B – Member
ZOMG!!!! Just booked up my first ever mountain holiday….going to La Plagne Feb half term….one is rather excitable this evening!

🙂 Cheers chaps….I’d like to say that I have calmed down, but if anything I’m more excited now that I’ve realised that goggles are now a ‘must buy’.

I’m more excited now that I’ve realised that goggles are now a ‘must buy’.

Fire up the shopomatic!

Be sure to try them with your helmet, to make sure they work together. Far more important with a ski helmet/goggle interface than bike/sunnies.

Do boards get stolen much?

Never happened to anyone I’ve snowboarded with and we used to frequently leave them sitting unlocked outside an après bar till the small hours. Only incident I can remember was someone’s rental board going missing and another rental board that looked almost identical being left on an adjacent rack. 😆 (easily sorted out at the hire shop)

That said I’ve also watched in horror as some numpty crashed into a pile of gear outside a restaurant and sent a board flying off down the slope. Away it went, picking up a fair bit of speed, till it got to the bottom and launched itself off the edge and deep into the woods below!

I sometimes wonder if said numpty hung around to explain to the owner where their precious board had gone.

^^smooth!

Friends have had skis nicked. One guy was loaned a pair by the restaurant to get back home. Other had skis nicked from outside the restaurant, right next to the bus stop in Tignes.

I very rarely leave skis or stop at restaurants by top stations of gondolas, cable cars, or bus stops.

In 4 seasons we’ve only ever had one guest have a board nicked from the slopes and no skis. The board got left out of sight in a whiteout while the guy went for lunch.

We carry a cheap cable bike lock to secure boards but at the end of the day it is only a deterrent. If some one wants the board the can just undo the bindings and scarlet but it stops your casual twokker. Always tell guests to split and mix skis.

Well I’ve worked 3 seasons and had quite a few holidays so have heard of a fair few robberies. More skis than boards but both have gone. The worst was Les Deux Alpes, my mum had her boots nicked from the ski locker below her hotel! Also a guy I worked with had 1 pair of skis nicked from the ski locker, and a 2nd hand board he had bought nicked from there too. The wierd thing is that they walked all the way to the back of the locker to get his board (which was quite beaten up), past mine, and past another really top end board. The same guy had 2 sets of skis nicked whilst up the mountain. We all had Professor Messer names, his was Professor Messer It’s been nicked.

2nd place for thievery was Tignes. Quite a few mates had stuff nicked from outside bars, on and off the mountain. Mostly snowboards that season.

3rd place was Meribel. I don’t think any freinds actually had anything stolen but 3 or 4 of the guests did up the mountain. I was chatting to a guy there who ran a bar up the mountain and he said quite often at the end of the day there would be a few sets of rental skis left. He would call up the company and they would have been stolen in the morning, and then left at his restaurant when the fu€kers had found some really good skis to nick. Easy pickings.

I am not saying these resorts are any better or worse than other, these were just my experiences on a few different seasons. I’m sure It’s different every year.

its not just outside/inside buildings either.
my friend had hers taken from the outside of a ski bus. she ended up with a horrible old pair when she alighted to lift hers off at her stop.

Had one board stolen a few years back, only one in fifteen+ years of riding. Insurance paid up as it was locked with one of those retractable wire combination locks. Apparently there’d been a spate of high end kit being stolen to order. Always use a lock now just to be on the safe side.

Tignes seams to be popping up quite a bit. I had some friends who had their 5 boards stolen from their balcony whilst in Tignes 3 years ago. Yes it was silly to have them on the balcony but even when I saw the place, I thought the thieves must have had huge brass knecks. The balcony could be seen from miles around so they obviously weren’t scared of being noticed.

I’m usually skiing with the other half who boards so I have one of those cable locks for us both. You could easily snip through it, but it I can see why it would put off the opportunistic.

Love the look of the new Bent Chetler!!! If only I was lucky enough to have these as my one quiver ski 🙁 .

Image doesn’t seem to be copying properly. http://www.atomic.com/en/Products/Alpine/Ski/Powder/BENT_CHETLER/AA0024894.aspx?filter=

Those waterskis look ace!

One quiver ski? Not too sure, myself. Fine on the bigger stuff, but for a day cruising in the sunshine?

Oh a better way of putting it, if only I was lucky enough to have the right snow conditions every day to justify that as a one ski quiver!!! 😀 ..I’m sure they suck for carving in the sunshine.

Ah, right you are! In that case, crack on! 🙂

I’m glad I bought my Line Prophets the year I did, the new ones looks god awful imo, cheesy graphics… which seems to be a bit of a trend in skis these days!

Well movies seem to be dying out a bit in the mtb world but they seem to be going strong in the ski world! New Teton film…

I’m glad I bought my Line Prophets the year I did, the new ones looks god awful imo, cheesy graphics… which seems to be a bit of a trend in skis these days!

Not too keen on the Sir Franks this year, either….

As an aside, Snow&Rock website is currently down, which means only one thing – The shopping season is upon us already! 🙂

Just sorting out 2013/2014 fun at the moment. So far it’s looking like:

Lake Louise/Banff for start of Canadian season
Chamonix in early January and April
Alaska in March

Plus i’ve got a splitboard on order, so plenty of big mountain days in Scotland all season.

I bloody love winter!