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

Set of ski’s? A snowboard? A BMX? Those seem like the obvious suggestions 🙂

Actually a set of shortish can rid’em one a straight line carvers might be nice. I fancy seeing if my knees can take skiing 20 years since I last tried and it would have to be parallel from the first minute.
Or maybe boots with the same thought in mind.

Suspect I’d be doing very well to get something that big.

First dibs on the jones if they a come to selling !!!

There was definitely 18 boards .. No jones twin here

You’d have a choice of sizes of Jones Twins that weren’t there. And Mountain Twins or Twin Sisters.

They still haven’t got back to me. Answephone full, no reply to my email…

How long do they get?

The sisters the ladys version not for my big feet and the colorway oooh – id be interested in the Mountain twin 161 ideally a wide, but my other gun’s a 159 zeppelin standard so not a deal breaker .. ok id say till morning … you need new bike parts don’t you :]

May take a while but someones gonna miss 4k’s of stock.. next trips not till Jan so i can wait a while – you have done your bit id sit on them .. but whatever happens there were only 18 boards

Edit the 161 is an xl as standard .. oh my

my other gun

FFS. That’s worse than “steed”.

This is a gun.

This is a snowboard.

Gun = fast all mountain board , well it does for me and my homedudes brahhhh 🙂
Jibbing board = park and rails
Powder board = well self explanatory
Sad I know , I’m 36 and have a small knob so begone with your negativity and leave me with my delusion that I’m remotely rad !! 🙂

I’m 36 and have a small knob so begone with your negativity and leave me with my delusion that I’m remotely rad !!

😀

Sikk, braw!

begone with your negativity and leave me with my delusion that I’m remotely rad !!

And of course the delusion that I won’t be getting a call in the morning along the lines of “those boards, we can pick them up or if you want to keep them here’s the price… “

Of course if I can negotiate trade price in that scenario, who’s in?

And yes Captain, that is most very definitely a very nice snowboard – have you seen the light and bought yourself one yet? You know you want to…
Enjoy Montana. My trip to Lake Tahoe today got canned on Friday.

Is there a ‘best’ package firm for families/beginners?

That’s not a gun, this is a gun

That is a gun !!!

Unfortunately i cant surf for toffee-

Yes that other delusion that they wont come back is still present for now .

Would be likely that i would be interested at cost

Boxelder, I’ve been very happy using Neilson for packages in the past. Used Crystal once, and they were good, too.

Boxelder – unless you are looking for a “family” company that specialises in making sure young children are happy / looked after, then resort and transfer length are probably more important than company. There are of course better and worse companies.
If you have children too young to ski, I’ve previously been very happy with Ski Famille. Their offering has changed this year so I can’t tell you until Easter if I’d still recommend them. I’m hopeful.
With youngish children, later season is slightly (sometimes a lot) warmer and the snow can be pretty good still. You do run a risk, but equally I’ve watched the rain at 1800m in February in Courchevel.
General tip. Research your ski school – ESF is great in some resorts, poor in others.

Woohoo, job offer confirmed, minimum of 3 months work, plus somewhere to live in Whistler, leaving next month 😀

You won’t enjoy it. You’d much rather be in the grey rain of the UK.

And I’m not jealous. Oh no. Not one bit.

Bad news Makkag.

They would like their boards back.

All of them.

Not unreasonable really.

Story of my life — I was waiting for my dreams to shatter – I didn’t need a new board anyway honest ..

What was the trade price on that board BTW – might go and have a haggle with my local shop ?

About 55% of list depending on model

Simple question for the room:

I have been skiing twice, planning trip 3 this year, I have so far not really liked hire boots, they have been ok fitting and not very comfortable.

I’m not looking for advice on what pair to buy (planning a trip to Ellis B for some advice on that), more asking SHOULD I buy at this stage, obviously I’m still in the early days, still learning etc but I feel like I am able to ski now so would like to do it more comfortably.

Anyone agree, disagree with me making a purchase at this stage?

toby1

if you’re confident you will carry on skiing/progressing then buying boots isn’t a bad idea. Just be honest with yourself and the boot fitter about how good you are, how quickly you pick things up/expect to progress and the type of skiing you want to do.

Thanks BB,

I’m under no illusion about speeding round, racing or my lack of grace. Competent and keeping on the ground, so I need intermediate level boots for a heavy bloke, progress is slow but steady so far, I’d love to go more and learn quicker, one day!

Have you tried different brands of boots or have they been the same brand?

I can not stand Salomon boots to the point that I was very nearly in tears after just 5 mins of wearing them. Atomic boots bit me much better and I didn’t have any pain at all. It is the other way round for my brother in law.

I don’t ski anymore because I have a bad ankle and it hurts too much to turn right. Snowboarding hurts my ankle much less but causes quite a lot of pain elsewhere.

I am going on a ski/snowboard holiday in Feb but due to me having an operation on said ankle in two weeks I very much doubt that I will be able to do any snowboarding. If I am lucky and recover quickly I will get a day or two in but if not I will be spending the entire week drinking beer and eating as much as I can. Its a shame the chalet doesn’t have a hot tub.

I_ache. They have always just been the default hire boot. Buy as I have learned a bit more control I’ve noticed it hurt less, but I also want to make sure the boots fit to avoid too much movement. I know ski boots will rarely fit like a pair of slippers. I just want as much comfort as is possible if that makes sense.

As for hanging round in the mountain air for a week I reckon you’ll still have a great time and the air will clear your head each morning meaning you can get back to the beer 🙂

It makes perfect sense. The hire shop we use in Morzine has a few different brands of boot for exactly this reason.

I was thinking about saving the holiday time for later in the year for something else but I thought the same as you that it will still be relaxing and a break from work, just wish I could board. However I’m not sure that getting my kids (7+5) ready for ski school in the morning will help my head very much. I am looking forward to doing next to nothing for a week tho.

An excuse to try parapente? Lift up to Avoiriaz for the water park place (at 7 and 5 they’ll love it even if you don’t)?

I did think of that but am concerned that if my ankle is too bad to snowboard it wouldn’t be too clever landing on it. When I did a sky dive it hurt quite a bit and that was before I hurt my ankle.

Aquariaz looks good fun but they are at Ski school until about 2pm so by the time we get in the water it will be a little on the late side. All they will want to do is ski more, which they will have to do with their Mom, or sledge which we can do outside the chalet as it is on the hill just at the bottom of piste b.

I was thinking about a day on a snowmobile but it is 90eur for an hour!

Any sledge runs around Morzine?

I did a long (5km?) one in Val Thoren a few years ago.

Thats a good call, I’ll have a look.

And if it gets really bad, there’s always the museum of mechanical music at the Morzine end of Les Gets.

Night sledging on the Pleney! How good does that sound!

Could be painful but is guaranteed to be loads of fun.

Anyone know of a decent hotel or B+B in the Troyes area, or south of Reims?

We stayed here in the summer on our way down to Bourg. A few km off the main road but nice accommodation and a quick drive into town for some decent scran in the evening.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/le-marsonnet.en-gb.html?aid=356983;label=gog235jc-city-en-fr-marson-unspec-es-tab-L%3Aen-O%3Aunk-B%3Aunk-N%3AXX-S%3Abo;sid=eedb4f30d2a8000db227b853265fd022;dcid=4;ucfs=1;srfid=bae36dce4e021af9baea882a279cf78a5f8e5a1aX1

If the link doesn’t work, it’s Le Marsonnet in Marson.

If you fancy an earlier stop off we just had a weekend here La Loge – Moussy. Might be too early for a stop off but the Champagne is a decent price and it might buy you some brownie points with the wife?

If it’s just in transit, Ibis Styles at Zeebrugge was very nice for the money and they have one opposite the Carrefour in Riems I think.

Hi all,

Any thoughts on the best way to get a cheap ski holiday, probably some time in January? Will I be able to beat my uni ski trip for price? Happy to try out less popular resorts (Buglaria etc?)

Tignes, 8 days (6 days on the slopes), flights from London, 4 star accommodation (claimed), lift pass (not the full one), for £569.

(That is the alumni trip, so pay extra for accom and flights). No hire or lessons. I know that’s (very) cheap, but would rather go on a trip that focuses a little more on skiing than drinking if possible!

Ta,
Duane.

whatnobeer
Woohoo, job offer confirmed, minimum of 3 months work, plus somewhere to live in Whistler, leaving next month

Congrats!

If it’s ok, could I tap you up (email?) in a few months about skiing Whistler & Blackcombe? The GF and I are visiting Vancouver in late January so we’ll be grabbing 3-4 days in Whister and maybe another in Squamish mid-week. Ella’s really keen to find out where the best bits of accessible off-piste are (we don’t mind a bit of a hike or skinning).

Duane check out actionoutdoors….it’s the UK booking agent fot UCPA (French version of youth hostel association)

very good vfm and full of cool people if my 1 trip with them is anything to go by.

Hey Jon,

By all means! Not sure how much help I’ll be, I’m a very very average skier at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll have a few bits of inside knowledge by then.