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

I have absolutely no experience of catered chalets.

Young kids and beginners means you don’t want steep into the resort with easy runs perched high up. That eliminates Chamonix, Val and Les 2 Alpes.

Easter is late which means you don’t want to be too far south with south-facing slopes. That eliminates Serre Chevaliers etc.

I’m left with Tignes and Les Trois Vallées. Tignes being the best fit in one of the small residences just before Tignes le Lac. An easy walk into the main resort, a short easy run that the ski schools use with little kids, lots of great intermediate skiing out of Val Claret which is one lift away.

@igm, have a look at Arosa in Switzerland. 2 hours by car or 3 hours by train inc great last 50 mins from Chur on mountain railway. Resort at 1900m with great beginners skiing at top of town and intermediate runs which funnel back to it so hard to get lost/go down the wrong side. It’s in the German speaking part and accessed via Zurich.

If you want France have a look at Arc 1900, a bit Disney but should be good for kids.

Booking an Easter holiday is tough this year as start of season has been so poor and Easter is late. it could be fabulous of course but hard to tell at the moment.

Arcs 1800 also good for kids, in terms of non-skiing activities I believe. All the catered chalets in Les Arcs seem to be in Arcs 2000 though, which isn’t up to much IMO.

Thanks all.

Easter this year is sorted. I’m thinking about next year or even the year after. The currently 8 year old was happy doing reds slowly last year – although much of Les Gets is fairly forgiving in its piste grading.

michaelmcc – Member

> What jacket were you after Michael?

Was after the Powderhorn Corbet jacket in a size medium, to go with the pants I got in sale off Sportpursuit

Not sure if you ever got a jacket sorted Michael but SportPursuit have just got a bunch more Powderhorn stuff in, including the Corbet jacket at £189.

I’m off to Alpbach on Saturday. looks like we should get a good dump of snow the day we arrive 😀
I haven’t done a week’s skiing for about 8 years, can’t wait. I doubt that I’ve got any better at it in that time though – not that I could be much worse either!

Arosa is a great spot. Loads of great lift serviced off-piste, lots more within a short hike. And barely anyone skiing it! You’ll see more people on the winter walking trails than skiing off piste.

I’m remembering more and more lines, loooong steep trees, like Fernie but longer, there’s a big bowl under the top lift with easy entry options and sketchy rocky entry options, long runs past the lakes, loads of fun between the pistes. A tour over to Davos and back with too long a stop for beers and a desperate, ragged, burning legged race for the last train.

And we got lucky with the snow, too! Pow all week, pretty much. Good trip! 😀

I know Morzine is popular with Brits being cheap and easier to get too, but I keep plugging the high resorts on this forum even if it means a few more hours drive and an extra couple of hundred euros.

I went to Val Thorens once which I think is the highest resort in Europe. Can’t remember when but I don’t think it was particularly early/late in the season – the snow was terrible and the resort looked grim with mud everywhere.

Looks like the snow gods smiled on you and your choice of destination nedrapier! 🙂

Interesting vid, Digby. With the proviso “it’s easy to be wise after the event”: it’s clear they knew they were on a highly avalanche prone slope and then traversed it rather than skiing straight down it. Traversing is more likely to trigger an avalanche and repeatedly traversing creates a lot of break lines.

You can’t ski straight down there. It’s full of big, jaggy rocks.

not my choice, Digby, but yes, someone was smiling on us!

@Digby – he’s talking in prior years. I would second the off-piste and touring there and as Arosa is at the end of the valley/train line it’s much less busy than say Lenzerheide. They have built a new linking lift too to Lenzerheide. As I said its great for families and intermediates provided you don’t want Tois Valley amounts of slopes.

@igm, good luck in your search, in my experience its good to find a resort the kids like (you too) and go back there. IME the kids like a sense of familiarity, knowing which slopes they feel confident on and also some understanding of the resort so they can venture off a bit as they get older.

You can’t ski straight down there. It’s full of big, jaggy rocks.

A good illustration of why armchair comments need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Still good to have the discussion though.

@ned – on the Hornli side, we skied powder for two days under the lifts before it was skied out. I shouldn’t have chuckled as my mate hurt his knee in this fall and couldn’t ski the rest of the trip 🙁

EDIT: also on the walking comment, yes there are lots of paths there are many older Swiss/Germans who come for that / winter air / horse draw sleighs etc and don’t ski. There are a few noce cross-county loops too and all at 1900m. I was/am interested in the resort as I thought it would be great when older with grand-kids etc.

I know the vid is now private, but did anyone notice the area of remote triggering, waaay, waaay down the hill as the avalanche starts to move – right down around where the rest of the group was gathered?! THere’s an interesting post on Henry’s Avalanche blog with some more thoughts and comments.

Vid with commentary still here, but you can’t see the vid that well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QVr_FghYmgY#t=894 – around 15mins in

I just watched the avalanche vid, given the weather / snowfall this year my instincts tell me its a particularly dangerous one for avalanches combined with skiers desperately hungry for some freshies

Not sure if you ever got a jacket sorted Michael but SportPursuit have just got a bunch more Powderhorn stuff in, including the Corbet jacket at £189.

Hey, got sorted in the end thanks. After speaking to a woman on the phone to Amazon who told me the jacket I had ordered couldn’t be sent out because it was no longer in stock (Corbet in size M), it arrived out a few days later 🙂 . Not even sure I was charged for it, as the woman said she would process the refund. But I now have a Corbet jacket in size M and am very happy with it!

Nice, glad you got it sorted in the end.

im off to Ste Foy on the 23rd and was going to hike for that. With my first born due at the end of march i think i will be staying safe for now !!

In the vid it was clear you could straight down from where the skiers started to traverse, Unfortunately the vid is no longer there for all to see. Nor are the aftermath pics in which it’s equally clear they could have skied straight down. The aftermath pic showed they could have also taken a line to the left under where the cameraman was (to the right looking back up). This would have kept them on the edge of the snow field which is better than being in the middle. They had lots of options but traversed straight across which is something you avoid doing.

Skiers like to traverse because if you ski straight down risky slopes to a flat area you then have to skate, punt along or even reskin. Skiers do a series of traverses to lose height because they don’t feel confident about heading straight down

@makkag – the local lady guide Stevo at White Room booked for me is very good.

Edukator – I have skied that line over 50 times and I can see it from my house. YOU CAN NOT SKI STRAIGHT DOWN FROM THE ENTRANCE. Clear enough for you?

No, I have eyes too. Shout as loud as you like.

And I’ll repeat zig-zagging across an avalanche prone slope is the best way to start an avalanche.

I take it you know the people involved, Steve, You’re not normally touchy or shouty.

I really couldn’t give a sh*t what you think you can see in a small video and a very grainy photo. You are talking pish. Everyone who enters that line is forced to traverse.

I agree that traversing an avalanche path is a bad idea. It was actually my first comment on seeing the video that each subsequent person seemed to be traversing higher and further than those preceding them, rather than staying within the exisiting track (which would have isolated them to some degree from the slopes above).

I agree that traversing an avalanche path is a bad idea. It was actually my first comment on seeing the video that each subsequent person seemed to be traversing higher and further than those preceding them, rather than staying within the exisiting track (which would have isolated them to some degree from the slopes above).

I was taught this 30 years ago, its not rocket science. Also the lady guide I mentioned above reminded me of the same thing as we traversed across one slope (we needed to as we where going to a different face).

im off to Ste Foy on the 23rd and was going to hike for that. With my first born due at the end of march i think i will be staying safe for now !!

This big avalanche has actually made the face much safer. It should have removed the weak layer of faceted grains and hopefully new snow can now build up on a more stable base. Hard to be sure at the moment – the snowpack remains thin and cold weather could easily result in the formation of a new weak layer.

If we get some new snow this weekend as forecast, I’d be happy enough to go and ride that line next week. On the other hand, you wouldn’t catch me going anywhere near the other half of the face, which hasn’t slid yet.

Readers of this thread might find this exchange amusing:

For the uninitiated, NotAlwaysRight is a collection of tales from the sharp end of retail.
In this particular tale a customer at UK-based “high-end ski and mountain sports store” is complaining about a “broken” ski helmet.

😆

*** ANYONE WITH AN ORTOVOX 3+ ***

Might have been done, but worth repeating.

Factory recall of some units. Check if they want yours back:

http://www.ortovox.com/3737–recall_campaign_3plus.html

“The 10-digit number will appear on the display 2 digits at a time when the 3+ is switched on.”

Have a pen and paper ready, because they come past pretty quickly.

And on a lighter note, Oh my Lord! 😯

If ever a film didn’t need a soundtrack…

Holy crapola!

Brilliant!

That is amazing!

The lift man at 4:13 ! Nice touches of humour.

Wow!

The ending was not what I expected 😀

Good god!

That is awesome.

That is cool even for Skiers .

I can’t work it out though, only had one look and at work now. Whats parts are ‘fake’ or staged or edited etc? Great vid thanks for posting

Lots of clever editing in that edit. Thanks poster.

Yep, lots of clever editing going on there. Several places where you could see the practice runs tracked out.

Utterly awesome, either way! Loved the jump over the ‘off ramp’ in front of the climbing chairlift.

Utterly awesome, either way! Loved the jump over the ‘off ramp’ in front of the climbing chairlift

That was my first thought!
Very good vid, great editing, great riding, awesome speed and stupidly big gaps off the booters.
My knees ached just watching him hit the bumps course.