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

Interesting video about the saftey aspects of the Freeride World Tour

from http://www.mountainwatch.com/snow-news/24086520/A-Timely-Reminder-of-the-Usefulness-of-Avalanche-Airbags—Video

My split roller just turned up, nice piece of kit. flipkin massive too!

@nbt, makes you think – i’ve been off-pisting and slab has started to move, you think if your try and outrun it it will be fine, but then you can’t outrun what you’re already on! Tis a bit scary, but also weirdly cool (assuming you walk away)

Chamonix 10 days to go 🙂

Another World in Ogden has decent snow and is plannin to open every night this week under the floodlights. It’s short but there’s a few different runs and jumps and a great friendly setup. Get down there! Check em out on Facebook.

Ah yes, we’ve been there a couple of times (even went off piste in the woods). However you need to take your own skis/board as the hire ones are (cough) a little on the old side.

Lots of snow up the hill but I’m staying on the plain for a few more days. Play the vid full screen.

The avalanche from the Z couloir went further than it’s ever gone in living memory doing a section of flat then uphill before flattening the trees you see littering the slope. We were pleased to see our “safe” line hadn’t been touched. The buried wheel at the very top is the result of avalanches from the face above rather than just snow fall. In fact when you know the resort well you can see several areas that have avalanched and then been covered and will no doubt avalanche again when temperatures rise.

Edukator,where was that?
Also, I would like to see a wider angle on the Freeride Tour avalanche.
Did the slough, from above, load the slope after he landed or was it a long pause whilst the layers broke down, before it slid?

have nothing to do with these boards but there are some absolute killer snowboards on ebay at the moment. Two of the best from ‘modern’ times in my humble opinion

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Snowboard-BURTON-UNINC-156-promodel-Romain-DEMARCHI-/321656345654?pt=FR_JG_Sports_Hiver_Snowboards&hash=item4ae4365436

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Burton-UnInc-160-Snowboard-/151572504666?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Skiing_Snowboarding_Snowboards_CV&hash=item234a6ce05a

I’ve got a 158 in my wc – unused of course…
http://www.burtonvault.com/search.php?year=2005&model=uninc&size=158&modifier=&color_tag=&graphics_tag=

Gourette as in the headline.

@Earl sounds tasty. Massive Uninc fanboy here, really love them. I’m very tempted with them both but have recently bought two old boards so my wife is getting worried about the growing collection

Another World in Ogden has decent snow and is plannin to open every night this week under the floodlights. It’s short but there’s a few different runs and jumps and a great friendly setup. Get down there! Check em out on Facebook.
Ah yes, we’ve been there a couple of times (even went off piste in the woods). However you need to take your own skis/board as the hire ones are (cough) a little on the old side.

I pretty much taught myself to snowboard back in 98 at another world using one of their very old boards and wearing walking boots. Great place, haven’t been for a couple of years but they seem to be expanding and have apparently got snow making there now!

I don’t think has been posted. Series of films about Banf – Sculpted in Time

website with full films (shorts)[/url]

Sikk edit, dood!

Clip from last weekend (alas not mine)

Nobody on here been out and about this week? Thinking about weekend or midweek touring options with a relatively OK forecast? Any info on conditions or inspiration from anyone lucky enough to have been out and about on these shores lately?

Areyou on the British Backcountry FB page bajsyckel? Lots of reports on there. I’ve been in climbing mode so I haven’t been touring of late, might head out on Sunday though.

^ Spin, aye I am, and couple of others that are handy. Not too many reports in the last few days though, and I won’t be able to get up north until at least mid week so thinking of other options to tide me over till then.

thanks btw – would have thought this past spell of weather has been good for climbing conditions, and looking ahead is promising too.

Best sustained spell for climbing in a few years.

Flashy – love those models, made me giggle and cheered me up no end.

Definitely a day for being stuck indoors… 😐

not sure if these will auto update, but for the avoidance of doubt, wall to wall sun on the tops… trying hard not to feel jealous…

You’re right – it was crap on Cairngorm today too 8)

Beautiful in Whistler too… 🙁

Aww man that looks dire! I thought things were improving. How is it higher up?

Anyway just packing my bag for our family trip to Les Deux Alpes.

Wow is that whistler? I saw on Leanne Pelosi’s Facebook that there was loads
of snow on the way though? Hope it gets better for you!

Yup, Magic Chair, so the bottom of Blackcomb, so it’s not a totally fair representation.

We’ve got a pineapple express storm at the moment. So a lot of snow fall higher up the mountain, but it’s also really warm. There was 15cm of fresh snow at 1800m yesterday which was great, but it rained from about midday onwards. And as far as I can tell it’s raining there today too.

It’s below freezing at the top of the mountain but it’s too windy/poor visibility so it’s not open. Hopefully the next few days will be a bit better and they can get the high apline lifts open as the conditions up there should be excellent.

There’s still a lot of terrain to ride, but the lower part of the mountain is suffering.

Shit that’s bad… I’m of to Cham next week and it’s stopped snowing and some crazy high temperature are forecast after all the recent dumps.. That said Sestrier in Italy has fooooking shit loads…

Same here in Sweden / Norway . Had shed loads of snow the last two to three weeks, now plus degrees and sun . It’s twisting my melon man

I’m of to Cham next week and it’s stopped snowing and some crazy high temperature are forecast after all the recent dumps

No, just nice sunny Winter days with an overnight frost then a max of around 5 in the Chamonix valley. Perfect.

I reckon it’s safe to venture out again in the Pyrenees now but won’t be heading out of the safe zone for a while yet.

At the airport on way to la plagne happy times

Apologies if this has already been done, but what’s a good free ski tracking app?

I’ve currently downloaded Trace Snow. Is there any better etc?

Just had an amazing week in morzine. Fresh powder down into les gets on the Sunday then fresh tracks down the Swiss wall on Monday. So good we did it 3 times as the vis improved every time. Went back yesterday to challenge ourselves on the moguls!

Vis was up and down all week but on the whole, fantastic conditions.

Same here in Sweden / Norway . Had shed loads of snow the last two to three weeks, now plus degrees and sun . It’s twisting my melon man

It’s been snowing heavily most of this afternoon in Trysil.

I’ve had a **** cracking week. Not so good for the off piste crowd, but I’m still learning so stacks going on for me.

Piemonster that’s good to hear about the snow. Was it sunny most of the week? Any pictures ?

It’s been raining solidly here in Fernie B.C. for the past two days – freezing level is about 1600m -> 1900m which is above most of the ridable terrain. The resort didn’t even bother opening up any of the lifts on the ‘new’ side yesterday.

In more postive news I’ve managed to catch up with my reading and watching box sets. 🙂

A question for French residents…perhaps Edukator can advise?

Snow chains…as I understand from reading, we have to have them in the Alps. We’re renting a car in Lyon on 7th March and driving to Reberty in the Trois Vallees…rental company want €50ish for snow chains…they wouldn’t cost much less to buy here but I’m not keen on having to carry a set with me. 😐

Any suggestions or experience?

(and yes, I can put snow chains on wheels)

So after a bit of soul searching following comments last week, I happened to be in Kendal yesterday and now have a set of Fritschi Vipec Mark 2 mounted on my Waybacks instead of the Scouts which were originally destined for mounting.

Anybody want to buy a brand new, unused, boxed set of Fritschi Scout touring bindings…?

@howsyourdad

Would have preferred the snow to have arrived on Wednesday, but hey ho. I’m transferring today, but will get a couple of photos posted later.

First 4 days where cold enough, -6 to -12, plenty of sun especially Wednesday. Warmed up for Friday then colder yesterday when the snow arrived along with some wind which closed the upper mountain. Which was fine as we saw it coming a few days out do booked a xc ski two hour taster session. Although it would have been cheaper to just head out onto a trail and just face plant the snow, seeing as that’s mainly what happened. -6 and clear sunny skies this morning on the fresh snow. I’m feeling a little aggrieved. 🙂

@davetrave

May well do as it happens

@deadly, you don’t have to have chains. If the roads are clear, you will be fine. If it’s snowing, you won’t.

Your shout. Is 50€ much in the grand scheme of things?

One for those that ski in Scotland

http://www.planetski.eu/news/6714

Nasty avalanche in La Plagne.
Forecast risk was 3/5. Instructor with ten years experience in the area, properly equipped, skiing with two others. Deployed his airbag and was found relatively quickly but died later. 🙁
http://tarentaisesourcemagazine.com/la-plagne-instructor-dies-avalanche/

Be careful out there folks.

Your shout. Is 50€ much in the grand scheme of things?

He splurged all his cash on designer luggage and heated wing mirrors. Barely scraping by now.