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

Great Spring skiing a few days before Spring starts today.

As for first aid and treating kids, teachers can’t do much apart from call a doctor or take the kid to a doctor. You see it works the other way around, teachers aren’t allowed to give out drugs or treat kids for injuries because they are not trained or qualified to do so. Anything requiring more than antiseptic cream or pills for period pains, and it’s off to the doctor.

Edit: the slightest thing wrong with junior and I got a call to come and collect him whether at the nounou or later at school. I had to sign a document to say they could pack him off to hospital without my agreement in the case of an emergency.

Only cost me 65 Euros for 5hrs of 1-1 skiing,

Bargain!

65 Euros for 5hrs of 1-1 skiing, great bloke,

*sends an e-mail with a link to this thread to the “inspection de travail”*

To be fair groups would normally be up to I think it’s 6 or 8 people, but I wasnt complaining!

@Ed, thanks for that. I understand there are plenty of regs etc. that you must find frustrating at times. I suppose my only concern was that there was nothing available, just for immediate attention in the case of something going wrong. It’s entirely possible I’m overreacting of course, but that’d be par for the course with me. 🙂

DD, nice summary, the Val Thorens / Les Meneuires resorts are the budget ones and the buildings reflect that. they tend to try and attract a younger crowd who are not fussed about Alpine charm and are more interested in good snow high up and budget prices. Club Med are investing a lot in the rebuild of their VT place, looks like it will be nice and great for early / late holidays. I always call VT “Ice Station Zebra” after one of the coldest days skiing I’ve ever had back in the 1980’s

For 3 valleys I think Meribel is best overall,move had some great holidays there, I like Courcheval too but stopped going when it got more expensive than Verbier and dominated by Russian money. Being in Meribel means you can explore the whole area reasonably easily if you wish, it is indeed huge

plenty of regs etc. that you must find frustrating at time

Not really, DD, they just seem normal, and we live without some really silly ones I read about on this forum. 8)

Val Tho’ doesn’t so much appeal to a particular age group as a type of skier/boarder. The “doers”.

Pictures from the Scottish Slopestyle Competition on Saturday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31904269

Hard to believe thats in Scotland!

I always call VT “Ice Station Zebra” after one of the coldest days skiing I’ve ever had back in the 1980’s

😀 Everyone’s got one!

Sauze D’Oulx, about six years ago or so. Was something like -25c before the windchill factor. Got stuck on a lift for about ten minutes. With the crotch vents on my trousers undone. Freezynadgers! The day before, when we landed at Turin, it was clear and sunny, but the air was so cold that any moisture in it would freeze in front of you. Strangely beautiful watching the rainbow crystals forming in the air.

Was pretty cold on one day at Bridger the other week, around -20c, IIRC. Just didn’t have the same biting chill of that day in Sauze!

I appear to have invested in some Salomon Shoguns in 182 flava.
Any experiences anyone? Ad stated 2 weeks of use and they do look immaculate in the pics. My monsters , which I love , are beyond economical repair so will be keeping them for Scotland and Butser hill.

Pics!

Everyone’s got one!

Yep. 😀

Sat on a stopped T-Bar with a mate on the Hintertuxer glacier in Mayrhofen. Must have been around 16 years ago I reckon. Howling wind, nowhere we could go to escape, as we could see two fifths of **** all anyway. We sat there for around the longest 5 minutes of our lives – I’m pretty sure we both cried with the cold. Just texted my mate to ask “Can you remember the coldest you’ve ever been?” The response was “Yes, and you weren’t much **** help!” which reminds me, that he was shielding me from the worst of it so must have been even colder. 😆

Me too.

Up Cairngorm. -20, but with thick fog that froze on contact. Plus the wind chill. Coat was frozen solid, made a weird cracking sound, and shed ice every time I moved.
Normal for Scottish Land apparently.

We had a great time. Happy days 😀

Bloody snowboarders!

http://www.epictv.com/media/podcast/the-black-mambas-set-fire-to-the-stash-and-wreak-havoc-on-avoriaz-%7C-best-of-cavern-247-2015/601540

Sauze D’Oulx Flashy….if you were going for a Boys trip for four nights would you drive past the aforementioned to get to Serre Chev?

Candide Thovex’s film “Few Words” is now available free on Youtube

Oooh will watch that later on a bigger screen.

OMG….just watch a minute from 8mins. Astounding!

Yikes.

Wow…lucky guy. Where’d he rent those skis????

He got them in a deal on sports pursuit.

Rockape63 – Member
Sauze D’Oulx Flashy….if you were going for a Boys trip for four nights would you drive past the aforementioned to get to Serre Chev?

Apologies, hadn’t spotted this earlier!

Right…here goes!
Sauze is better for;
Boozing it up at the Village and other bars in the village. Still got a lot of the faded apres-glamour (?) of the late 80s heyday of the place as a real ski-party town. It’s good for a laugh!
The pizza at the Orso Bianco.

Serre Che is better for;
The skiing. Hands down better. Waaaay better, in fact.
The food overall. Apart from the place at the top of the Frejus bubble which is truly awful.
Lots of nice places for a few quiet beers with friends.

So, if you want to do more drinking, go to Sauze. More skiing, go to Serre Che.

Haven’t skied in Monty, but it’s between the two and always looks good when we drive through. Odd to see the main road going over/under the pistes, though!

That’s good to know. Thinking about the location of the boys’ (and me) trip next year and thinking of heading somewhere via Turin.

Even Candide’s parents are cool.

I’m off to Sälen in Sweden for part 3 of this winter. 15 cm of snow predicted before I arrive which should freshen it all up nicely . Otherwise it’s springtime so should be nice and slushy for practicing tricks. Hoping to get my sun on and get a face tan

In one week’s time I shall be driving to the airport for my first and only trip this year.

Damn you school holidays.

Did any of you boys out in Whistler see the fantastic Northern lights, Tuesday I think?

Pretty good stuff still to do in Scotland:

[/url]P1000148 by happycrenker[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url]P1000145 by happycrenker[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url]P1000143 by happycrenker[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url]P1000137 by happycrenker[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url]P1000131 by happycrenker[/url], on Flickr[/img]

All off the south Sheil ridge today which incidentally is also pretty good on a bike

Did any of you boys out in Whistler see the fantastic Northern lights, Tuesday I think?

Missed them unfortunately, but some stunning photos were doing the rounds.

We’ve had a few new snow falls over the last couple of days. 17cm a couple of days ago and 6cm last night. I ended up taking the day off work and riding with the boss. The off piste areas which had been in horrible condition recently are all riding pretty well now. Spankys, Couloir extreme, the cirque, flute bowl were all filled in with nice bit of powder. Cracking day.

Top of Spanky’s Ladder looking back towards the lift.

Top of Spanky’s looking towards the bowls.

The Grey Zone

For anyone in the Castleford area who might want new goggles, Protekzone at Xscape have 40% off Oakley – possibly other stuff too, I didn’t check.
I got a pair of Airbrakes with the jade Prizm lens for £132, which seemed reasonable as they fit both my face and my helmet (unlike the Anons they are replacing). Boxed with spare dark grey lens, bag and soft case thing (it’s a kind of stiff fabric bag – I don’t have a better description).
Not that much left, but worth a look if you want something.

Nedrapier: can’t wait now!!! 18 days to Lyngen Alps. Wooooo HOOOOOO!

So… back in the office today.. time for my Whistler report.

In short: disappointing.

In long: well we knew the conditions were going to be pretty crappy before we went, but it was really pretty dire. I heard several people refer to it as the worst season in 20 years and I believe them. There was only cannon-generated snow to well past mid-mountain and even that didn’t hold up to the incessant rain. This was Blackcomb base near the end of the trip:

Up top it was much better, but still just a very thin covering over a fairly thin and scratchy icy base.

We did get a couple of reasonable dumps on the higher ground, but they were accompanied by heavy low-cloud zero-viz days (there should be a mountain in the top of that photo!). Plus the sheer compression of people on one section of the mountain, all desperate for snow, meant that anything accessible got tracked out very quickly.

Cat Boarding didn’t happen – the operator shut up shop for the season due to conditions. They did offer us seats on the heli – but over a thousand bucks for five runs in pretty mediocre conditions was just too much for us tight-fisted Scots.

And to add to our fun, we got ill. Coughing our guts up, with one of my two companions opting to go the extra mile and develop it into pneumonia which took him out the game for most of the holiday. 🙁

Oh and my brand new red breeks got ripped (as did my leg) when some lass span out in front of me and put the edge of her snowboard through my shin.

Still, there were a few high points:

– the first day we got some proper snow, riding up the chairlift and watching people wooping and hollering as they tore up every inch really made me smile.
– the few good runs of off piste freshies that we did manage to grab
– doing the Blackcomb glacier loop, which was scenic if not very snowy.
– the fearless birds feeding out our hands while we were in the lift line
– the scenery and views which were still just as stunning
– waitresses and Spring Breakers which were just as stunning
– much drunken nonsense and banter with good friends
– doing the bobsleigh run at Whistler Sliding Centre (another activity ticked on the bucket list)

Not a dead loss, but not quite what we had been hoping for. I’ve started trying to convince MrsGrahamS that I should be allowed to go to Japan next year to make up for it 😀

Graham, I had a similar experiance. Dream holiday cat and heli with my Dad in BC. 5 days at red mountain good conditions, day 1 cat skiing, heavy cloud, deep heavy snow. First night, torrential rain, all night. Next morning, green everywhere. We still skied but not the hip deep powder I had been dreaming of. It just meant I had to go back (twice).

Graham, guy I was speaking to yesterday reckoned the worst he’d had in 40 years. Previous years have had similarly low amounts of snow fall but not as much rain.

Really sorry to hear that GrahamS but as you say Japan could well make up for it. Get an insane one piece powder suit to replace your trousers and get ready for next year!

I should be allowed to go to Japan next year to make up for it

Seems like Japan is one of the few places that has had an awesome season this year!

Pleased you managed to take some positives out of your trip in what many are describing as the worse season in B.C. in living memory!

I’ve just got back from 3 weeks in the Alps which, despite some poor and challenging conditions [for this time of year], more than made up for the earlier ‘wash-out’ trip to Fernie.

So, not quite the epic 6 weeks on the snow that I had in mind, but I got to ride some of my best lines ever and had a real laugh!

… I’m also seriously considering Japan for my 50th!

Thanks for the sympathies. Sorry to drag the thread down.
Feels a bit churlish to moan when I still had a good time and many folk aren’t getting away at all this year.

So going back to the previous conversation about Scottish conditions (and drones) did anyone see this rather lovely footage of the Ledge Route on Nevis:

Did you see that Ben Briggs skied Ledge Route?

Did you see that Ben Briggs skied Ledge Route?

*Gulp*

Another cheeky photo from Monday. Fresh lines descending the grey zone down to Crystal Chair. (Sorry Graham)