The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2014-2015 season

Seems worth a try!

Going back to the Ski Welt 27-31 Dec. Getting a 6.20am flight from LGW to Munich, picking up a car and driving 1.5 hrs to the slopes. Hope to be on the slopes for midday latest. Coming back we leave the slopes at 3.30pm, so its 4.5 days of skiing in a five day trip. 8)

Did you eat in Lo Copa Pan?

I don’t think it was open. I was staying just up the road at the Hotel Mignon and we ate at a restaurant on that same street, Jour et Nuit. Steaks cooked in a woodfired oven, drinking the wine from the owners own vineyard.

Still hoping for another Scottish winter like last year

Fan of constant high winds are we? 😉

Just bought a pair of these

My Montana skins came with them, they work really well especially in the wind.

Peterfile, we worked there in 99, well Jan – March. It was a very different bar to what it is now. We had a few days there this season for old times sake. It was good fun but our riding has moved on a lot since this days.

A heads up for Henry’s Avalanche Talk. In Bristol
HAT

A really good couple of hours, which made it very clear how lucky I have been so far!
I did the basic last Thursday and the advanced on Monday. Quite informal and tought some great skills and mantra for safer and more fun skiing off the beaten track.

I don’t think there are any more UK dates this year but worth checking his website and blog out for conditions in the Northern Alpes.

just bought a pair of these

Thanks for the heads up nedrapier! 8)

Reckon I’ll be buying some of them as well as they look like better alternative to disintegrating cheat-sheets!

Anyone used Ski Independence?

So any thoughts on a “cheap” (relatively) way to holiday in Whistler for two weeks?

Currently looking at staying self-catering in the Delta Whistler Village Suites with Crystal, which is about £1358 each for 3 of us sharing a suite (includes flights and transfers). Does that sound fairly reasonable?

And yes, I know the correct answer is “book it nine months ago” but I hadn’t accrued sufficient brownie points back then 😀

Funny you should post that.

It was why I was asking about Ski Independence

Yeah I’d never heard of them piemonster but “Tailor-Made Quotation Request” says to me “If you have to ask the price…” 😕

Pretty much what I thought tbh.

I’m likely to find out tomorrow. I’ll report back.

Anyone been to Are for snowboarding?
Looking for opinions as will be our first proper snowboard trip, but looking to do some other outdoor stuff while we are there

All booked, St.Anton it is for the week 10th January.
Anyone else on here going that time?

So any thoughts on a “cheap” (relatively) way to holiday in Whistler for two weeks?

GrahamS … Have a look at the likes of ‘Skiworld’ as well – they sometimes have early season offers for Whistler.

As I’m sure you know, the problem with a lot of North American accommodation is that prices [for self catering] are often based on 4 or more people sharing and the ‘Catered Chalet’ concept is pretty rare, so I guess you’re going to pay slightly over the odds with just a party of 3

There used to be a Backpackers lodge next to the infamous ‘Boot Pub’/Strip joint but that got torn down to make way for more condos prior to the 2010 Olympics

GrahamS – Member
Yeah I’d never heard of them piemonster but “Tailor-Made Quotation Request” says to me “If you have to ask the price…”

For reference. £550 cheaper than Crystal for two people. Even the passes come out around £50 cheaper.

We had flexibility on travel dates.

Cheers all. I’ve just gone ahead and booked with Crystal because the rooms were getting a bit short and today is the last day of their early season prices.

Worked out at £1362 each flying from Heathrow and staying here:
http://www.crystalski.co.uk/ski-resorts/canada-ski-holidays/whistler/delta-whistler-village-suites/

Now to get the cat skiingboarding booked 😀

Have a look at the likes of ‘Skiworld’ as well – they sometimes have early season offers for Whistler.

Tried them but nothing left for the dates we wanted (two weeks, start of March).

As I’m sure you know, the problem with a lot of North American accommodation is that prices [for self catering] are often based on 4 or more people sharing..

Yep, and the other issue seems to be that most of the “Sleeps 4” accommodation actually means two queen size beds, with no option to specify just how friendly you are with your fellow travellers 😀

For reference. £550 cheaper than Crystal for two people

Ooof! I might try them next time then!

Two days cat boarding booked with Powder Mountain.

Proper excited now! 😀

All booked, St.Anton it is for the week 10th January.

A week later for me, leave some for us please 🙂

Two days cat boarding booked with Powder Mountain.

Proper excited now!

*jealous from Dundee

Looks like we are waiting for the following season to cross the pond. I’ll have to settle for two weeks in Europe this winter.

Pffftt first world problems.

As an aside, I do t suppose anyone knows if you can use your air miles for someone else’s flights? The gf has enough for a return trip to New Zealand.

Goes googling.

As an aside, I do t suppose anyone knows if you can use your air miles for someone else’s flights? The gf has enough for a return trip to New Zealand.

You can on BA

😀

Excellent.

The Pro skins are black and well long, so no worries about the tail clips on my skins.

68cms long, so good for anyone touring on anything up to 200cm or so!

Gah! I very nearly managed to snag a Tracker DTS transceiver for £41.

Bloke didn’t spell “transceiver” properly, so it was getting hardly any hits/bids on eBay. I sniped it for £41 with five seconds to go, then some equally sneaky git sniped me for £42 with 1 second to go!

*impotently shakes fist at internet*

The skin on the tail is a significant brake when sliding the ski forward but doesn’t provide much of the grip when the ski is loaded. So I chop my skins 10-25cms from the end of the ski and shave the mohair from the last cm.

Gah! I very nearly managed to snag a Tracker DTS transceiver for £41.

Bloke didn’t spell “transceiver” properly, so it was getting hardly any hits/bids on eBay. I sniped it for £41 with five seconds to go, then some equally sneaky git sniped me for £42 with 1 second to go!

*impotently shakes fist at internet*

Hmmm, one bit of kit I don’t think I would buy second hand…….

If you need a basic one without bells and whistles you should be able to find one for around £150 new……

And yet people buy second-hand cars in which there are a lot of things that are dangerous if they fail. They rent cars too and some rent transceivers. They’re easy to test, most people do at the start of every day out. Second-hand is a good option IMO.

And yet people buy second-hand cars in which there are a lot of things that are dangerous if they fail. They rent cars too and some rent transceivers. They’re easy to test, most people do at the start of every day out. Second-hand is a good option IMO.

Each to their own.

I am aware of the pre ski test procedures thanks, but all the same I would rather know that mine hadn’t been bounced down a flight of stairs and had its antenna knocked out of alignment.

I am not sure your second hand car analogy is a valid one either….

but all the same I would rather know that mine hadn’t been bounced down a flight of stairs and had its antenna knocked out of alignment.

You haven’t looked inside one then. An impact likely to displace internals would break the case. Especially the battery hatch which on many models breaks all too easily just opening it with great care.

I am aware of the pre ski test procedures thanks, but all the same I would rather know that mine hadn’t been bounced down a flight of stairs and had its antenna knocked out of alignment.

Presumably you would immediately bin your own transceiver if you dropped it? Or would you just test it to make sure it was still ok?

*impotently shakes fist at internet*

You should see a doctor about that.

Presumably you would immediately bin your own transceiver if you dropped it? Or would you just test it to make sure it was still ok?

Yeah bin it….exactly. 🙄

You haven’t looked inside one then. An impact likely to displace internals would break the case. Especially the battery hatch which on many models breaks all too easily just opening it with great care.

No I haven’t looked inside one, like is said, each to their own, you pay your money, you take your chance…..

Over and out, best of luck in the hills…….

I would rather know that mine hadn’t been bounced down a flight of stairs and had its antenna knocked out of alignment.

Surely if they are designed to survive an avalanche intact then a hypothetical bounce down some stairs shouldn’t upset it too much?
Bumping it certainly shouldn’t compromise the antenna – that would be a pretty big design flaw!

As I understand it the real risk with buying second-hand transceivers is that the Tx frequency can drift slightly over time, but I gather this is much less of a problem with modern digital transceivers.

In this particular case it was one of the guys on the SCUK forum that was selling it, so I was a bit less concerned than I would be if it was a completely anonymous eBayer.

Frankly you take a greater risk if you have unsuitable wax for the day than with a second-hand transceiver. (Add smiley to taste)

Frankly you take a greater risk if you have unsuitable wax for the day than with a second-hand transceiver

Or by going off piste in the first place. Or by going skiing.

I remember there was a bit of a hullabaloo a year or two ago about the vid of the (spanish?) freerider being saved from a decent sized avalanche by his airbag.

Lot of people saying that he was an unacceptable example of risk compensating – he was skiing a slope he might not have skiied if he didn’t have the airbag and rescue crew in the heli.

From a lot of the same people who’d say “I’d never ski out of bounds withour shovel, beacon and probe” as if it’s not exactly the same sort of risk compensation – slopes/risks unacceptable without equipment, acceptable with.

Worse risk compensation if anything – it’s not as if tranceivers are fantastic at mitigating risk either – they’re only helpful if the slope avalanches (i.e. you’ve effed up already); someone gets completely buried (if you can see a leg or an arm you won’t be using the tranceiver), but not too deeply, and hasn’t succumbed to other injuries. Then there’s the skill of those not caught in searching and shovelling.

But

But what?

Don’t know. Rewrote and didn’t check well enough before posting.

apols for the thread hijak

les gets accomo – any good websites? looking for jan 12th – owners direct seem expensive as do crystal
ta for any info

edit: anyone used homeaway.co.uk for apartments?