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

what are those ski’s Ned? Look a bit strange to me! 😮

Split board touring snowboard I believe.

Split board touring snowboard I believe.

Groovy….didn’t know they existed!

The crowds have gone, on-piste is excellent, off-piste is a choice between rocks and a hard place as the snow is close to concrete.

Sunday was the last busy day of the season so I counted sheep from Madame’s favourite chair. The same people started coming past a second time after 300 so the results for this year’s means of sliding;

300 skiers
27 boarders
1 telemark (possibly more that didn’t turn)
1 one-legged skier
1 scooter thing
2 randonnneur going up
0 monoski
0 barquettes (though there was one just before the count and one just after.

There are less boards these days but the ability level is high, very few obvious beginners.
More and more water skiers floating, drifting and skidding around.
Less high speed carvers, just the competitors cruising down to the chair from the slalom course.
The vast majority of people sliding sensibly and considerately.

Are those the 1st Generation of Spark R&D bindings nedrapier?
What’s the splitboard – I don’t recognise it?

They’re a pre-season version of the Blazes – from 2011? mrs rapier has the Ignition 2s – the first production Sparks. those are a bit lardier, but she’s got a lighter board and the colo(u)rway(scheme)s work better this way round, so I’m not too distressed for her!

Mate says the Magnetos are a big step forward in ease of use and lack of faff – he reckons they’re as big a step from pins as ignitions were from voile plates and regular bindings.

Board is a Venture Zephyr 164. S&R had them in for a season a couple of years ago, I picked it up for a great slice off at the end March. Nice board, and it rides very nicely, in almost all conditions, but I’ve got some tail-riding habits that come out in certain circumstances that the rocker-flat-rocker profile doesn’t reward well. It’s very well put together and very sturdy though, so I’ll have plenty of time to adapt!

Bunnyhop – I got me some of these pretty things:

Wallop – those are indeed very pretty.
Would they suite my skiing?
I’m mostly an all terrain piste skier,with a bit of off piste thrown in (cautious though), when conditions are good.

Yep – one of my riding companions last week was rocking the Magnetos and reckoned they were a big improvement. I got to try out the Karakorams and contrast them to my upgraded Blaze’s and I was pleasantly suprised!

Hope you’re enjoying the Lyngen Alps nedrapier! 🙂

Bunnyhop – they are described as a “versatile” ski for piste and off-piste, so would be probably be spot on for what you need. The best thing about them is that they are really light.

More importantly will they go with my outfit? 😉

Thanks Wallop, those look just the ticket.

Tom B – you’ve got your frontsides and backsides mixed up

Oh ****!!

Head Total joy. I think that’s the first ski anyone has posted on this thread I’d take out for a day and expect to finish the day with rather than having gone back to swap for my old slalom skis.

I absolutely love them. And – Bunnyhop – they very conveniently go with my boots!

Don’t think I’ve ever tried Head skis in any shape or form.

The Nordicas I posted a pic of the other day are my new fave skis. That said, I did try a pair of loony tunes fast Nordica Spitfires (IIRC) once, and would love to try them on again on some rippingly fast groomers.

I have ‘Head’ boots, so should go well together.

I shall be trying these out in Verbier in 3 weeks time, mounted with Fritschi Vipec to hopefully get a few good days away from the mad crowds, get in……

Cham HM 97

Just been treated to long weekend at Alpbach, Small resorts have been off my radar for years, but great fun for 4 days. Helped by the fact that we had best guide in the resort who found fresh powder 4 days after last dump.

Scott Black Majics – very nice ski. Don’t notice them in the steep and deep (in a very good way ie very easy to ski) but still fun carving on piste. Brilliant all-rounder IMO. Don’t look much but great performers

Powder, blues skies, sun, empty lifts and the € at 1.40 – what a difference from rip off resorts

Didn’t even bother going up the hill today in Whistler. We decided to take one of our rest days while conditions were crap in the hope they’ll improve. Snow is forecast for tomorrow, but the forecast is changing hourly. Cat Boarding folk just emailed us to say they are suspending operations for the rest of the season 🙁

I might head up on Thursday morning before work if the predicted snow actually comes. Went biking today. Flank trail up to Pura Vida. Awesome bit of steep loamy goodness.

Cat Boarding folk just emailed us to say they are suspending operations for the rest of the season

I’m really sorry to hear that GrahamS – that’s a real shame! 🙁

Nedrapier / Digby. The Magnetos are definitely awesome. I haven’t managed to obtain a set myself yet, but one of the guides we work with for our Splitboard weeks has all his boards equipped with them, so I’ve had a good play around.

Definitely another step-change. Can’t justify the expense at the moment as you need new crampons as well. Hoping to buy some used ones off the guide at the end of the season!

I’m currently on 1st-generation Sparks (the ones with the floppy highbacks….)

What’s the deal with Magnetos? My better half and I have R&D Blazes with the pin system. Are the Magnetos a lot faster during transition? Are there other benefits?

bluebird – have a look on the spark site or youtube for videos. Difficult to explain how much easier it makes the transitions without seeing it.

I’ve not used them myself, either – just going by what mate Rob says (and stevo). I was always concentrating on my transitions when he was doing his, so I never really saw them in action!

stevo – if you go used, check which version of the crampons you’re looking at. Rob had an earlier version than his wife, and the later version has more material in the brass pivot pin.

There’s quite a bit of force going through it if you happen to find a rock with a crampon tooth. Rob cracked his thinner/earlier version and had to get it brazed by the guy at the skidoo shop (nice to find that sort of place when you need it!)

I’ll see if I can get pics from Rob to show you the difference.

Mount Baker has also temporarily suspended operations due to lack of snow… Link[/url] Not a good season for West Coast North America 😥

I’m already mountain biking in Calgary…

FFS GrahamS gies an update, I can’t handle the suspense! Did the snow arrive in Whistler or should I leave the board at home? 😐

8am here exupmonkey. I’ve been listening to the rain rattling off the roof for about four hours trying to decide if it is worth going up just in case some fell as snow higher up. I’ll let you know.

‘Holds breath’ 🙂

I feel for you Graham, nothing more dismal than rain in a ski resort.

Edit: obviously there are plenty of things more dismal, but it’s hard to think of them when you’re in a rainy ski resort!

Thanks for the sympathy ned and Digby – it is pretty gutting but it is what it is.

exupmonkey: top of the hill is in heavy cloud. Can’t tell what is happening up there yet, but can tell it is near zero viz so won’t be going up till later if at all today.

Thanks for the update Graham. As you say, it is what it is! Cheers. Andy

I was in a rainy Fernie a few years ago – we got there for the season a bit early, snow got there a bit late, so restaurants weren’t hiring – no jobs, no snow.

Did a bit of biking, but the answer to “What shall we do today?” was usually “Get drunk, play pool?”

What’s the temperature at your altitude, Graham? Subtract 3°C per 500 higher and assume it’ll be snowing at 1°C.

Whistler is a pretty low resort compared to a lot of the European ones. The village sits at about 650m with Peak chair hitting 2200m. It should snow from about mid mountain up, but it’ll be very wet snow. The Alpine should be good tomorrow though if it stays below freezing.

If it’s still crap and you don’t want to sit about the hiking in the valley is good as are the bike trails. Get over to one of the bike shops in town (I like Cross Country Connection at Lost Lake) and go for a pootle there (for easy stuff) or up over to Stonebridge/West Side for more of the steep stuff.

So we went out today in the rain. It was falling as very thin snow in the alpine. 😀 Snow was actually pretty good up top. We were aiming to drop into Symphony Bowl but the viz was terrible so rode Harmony Ridge instead.

Currently hammering down with rain in the village but the live temp for alpine is -1 so if that is right then should be snow up there down to about 1800m I reckon. Lower runs will be a right mess.

Aye, I had a rather damp ride back from work this evening. Going to venture up tomorrow morning if the snow forecast from today is anywhere near accurate. Just hope the apline opens before I need to go back to work haha

Junior has just passed his ski test. The first step on the way to becoming one of the “rouges” some on here love to hate. 🙂

Good for him, Edukator.
Does that mean that he gets stagiaire status, or is that the next step?

He has to do a lot of theory/pedagogical training first and wait till he’s 18. The ski test is just the initial selection made on if you can get down a slalom fast enough to get within a percentage of the openers, which today was set by the French vice champion