The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2015-2016 season

I’d only consider AK burton gloves these days

last forever, toasty, usually 2 or 3 gloves per set so you can layer to the conditions

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Burton-Snowboard-Gloves-Beaver-10351102241/dp/B00ZD0YKRG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448266889&sr=8-1&keywords=burton+ski+gloves

any recomendations for a transfer from geneva airport to Avoriaz ?
7 of us , Christmas week .

Try Ski Transfers – link on Ski Blue Ridge website. I’ve stayed with them for MTB and used transfers in the summer. Based in Les Gets.

Alpine Roots in Verbeir posted this video 🙂

Linky[/url]

What’s good in the glove world these days?

Hestra but ones with leather front – something like these

Cost a bit but I have had mine for yonks – well over ten years.

Every pair of goretex gloves I have had were a disappointment.

Hestra are very good, and the three finger mitts are warmer than normal gloves but with a bit more dexterity than a full mitt.

Whisper it quietly, but I use North Face gloves! (They were a freebie though. Will be replaced by Hestra when they eventually wear out. )

I was readyish to go for Hestras rather than another layer of tape on my old Levels. But I’ve been saying that for a few years. Then I saw some Arcteryx GreekLetter RX/whatever at half price on Sport Pursuit. So just standard pricey, rather than bafflingly, never-in-a-million-years, why-would-you-when-Hestras-are-60%-of-the-price expensive.

Got them a few weeks ago, they fit like correctly sized gloves. Smart, too.

The Hestra three finger ones are the ones I was looking at. Seem like good quality, good fit (in an 11) and quite light too.

The alternative option would be to go with a cheaper pair of Thinsulate gloves and an outer GoreTex shell, but the Hestras seem a better option.

Woohoo resort Webcam’s looking fantastic today!!

Hestra three finger ones here.
They are great, as above no loss of dexterity, very warm.
The inner is just normal 5 finger inner glove so feels just like a regular glove when they are on. The inner comes out when you want them to, not when you don’t.
had mine for three seasons and no real sign of wear.

Just been given a stupid amount of stick by my colleagues at work for even hinting that spending 100 quid on gloves is possible. I’m now wondering if I can get by with a pair of “Mittens, Extreme Cold Weather (Inner & Outer)”.

They seem pretty warm, but then again, the house only has the heating off so is not liekly to be the same temperature as Alberta.

Just been given a stupid amount of stick by my colleagues at work for even hinting that spending 100 quid on gloves is possible. I’m now wondering if I can get by with a pair of “Mittens, Extreme Cold Weather (Inner & Outer)”

I started skiing again in 1993, I reckon I got through 4 pairs of gloves before buying my Hestras in I reckon 2000 or 2001.

Gloves, go for the kincos!
http://www.kinco.com/product/901/

Cheap and last forever with some TLC. Make you look like a patroller!

+1 for resort webcam woohooing

Hestras are great as well

The other plus with the hestra gloves or similar style is they are very easy to get on and off.
Skiing for the first time with the kids this year and always having to take gloves off for various things, wiping noses, zips, their gloves (again) tucking in , clipping helmets etc. Etc. It’s dead easy I’d you can just slip them on and off without the fad of the Velcro on your sleeves having to be in done and back up..

TM maxx often have Level gloves heavily reduced.
Got my lad some Goretex ones for £20.

Just been given a stupid amount of stick by my colleagues at work for even hinting that spending 100 quid on gloves is possible.

Saturday morning in Banff is forecast to be -20C at the townsite which means the top of Sunshine could conceivably be -30C. For what it’s worth (and I’m in Calgary right now) I’d recommend mittens for Banff at Christmas. My personal mitt of choice is the Black Diamond Mercury Mitt combined with a liner glove and some chemical hand warmers as back-up.

I also have some boot gaiters to attempt to stop the toes freezing.

Also neck gaiter or full neoprene face mask. Fashion takes a second place to warmth.

I’m the one on the left and sweamrs is on the right. Ryan (middle of shot) is a local and so clearly a bit tougher than the soft brits. 🙂

Icefields parkway skiing March 2013 by
Mark and Liz in Canada[/url], on Flickr

Edit: The eagle eyed among you will also note Sweamrs is using a pair of Canada goose Womens Arctic mitts which are also nice and warm.

The other plus with the hestra gloves or similar style is they are very easy to get on and off.

And have built in idiot strings, so no dropped gloves on the lifts! (That said, my TNF ones have those, too. Vital, IMO)

Those Hestra mittens are going on my Christmas list!

I’ll be checking it. More than once.

I’m a Level mitt man myself.

I bought a pair of Hestras on my last trip. Seemed very good but I only skied a day with them. I’ve been to Xscape a couple of times, but considering I don’t wear a coat in there I thought the Hestras were probably overkill! Less than 4 weeks until they get used in anger.

These are supposed to be good… http://shop.snowshepherd.co.uk/Ski-Gloves

Yep the Kinko 901’s are the dogs danglies
I’ve got a 2 year old pair that have been battered
They only just look broke in

Best £30 I’ve spent on gloves
The leather on most gloves is just too thin / soft to survive snowboard edges
But the kinkos are tough & really well reinforced

Plus I like the utilitarian look of them

Ymmv

so no dropped gloves on the lifts!

when your gloves cost as much as Hestras there is no chance you will drop them.

hammerite, good link. Liking the look of the Ortovox gloves and mitts, but I’ll have to look at the reviews before I have to decide between them and Hestras.

Sweaman2, the wife and I were there about five, six years ago when it was -40 for about a week. So cold that my nose hairs froze and I had to put my bear in the hot tub now and again to stop it freezing. It was a dry cold though, so I was still walking around in a t-shirt in town.

I’m older now, so will be looking for stuff to keep me warm.

another level mitt fan here.

Wrist guard and kevlar patches were a god send when I was learning. That was over 10years ago and they are still as good as the day I bought them. Cozy inner, nice broad secure wrist strap.

Are mitts OK to use when learning to ski?

Are mitts OK to use when learning to ski?

yes

£100 for a pair of gloves, pah! I raise you £175!

£275

Wahoo i can join in the thread this season.

St Anton 16th Jan – avit..

My blessed 10 year run of getting to go away by myself (to stay with friends who live in la Plagne) comes to an end this winter.

Up til now, Mrs Tyred has figured that – all things considered – this was the best option for maintaining family harmony, which has suited me down to the ground TBH!

Now the Tyreds Jr are beyond the whiny-small-child age and have had enough days on snow at Glencoe over the past few years to have half an idea what they’re doing, they’ve cottoned onto what they’ve been missing out on each winter, much to the amusement of their mother.

So now I’ve got to take all them too!

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD that makes it a bit expensive, doesn’t it! 😯

Took the eldest away a few times when he was a baby/toddler and that was easy enough but really I had no idea why parents with small children on ski holidays always look shellshocked, beyond the loss of the don’t-have-to-do-anything hours between 6 and 8pm. Think I know now, yikes!

Yep. School holidays and 4 bodies to pay for. Welcome to serious expense – you’ll have no cash left for drugs now.

Did the same maths. Worked out it was cheaper just to buy a f****** flat in the Alps!

Three good glove brands, Dakine, Level & Hestra.

The trigger mitt idea on the face of it is good for adjusting bindings and the like, but not as warm as true mitts.

Goretex Acid test for Gloves. Put your hand in a bucket of water, put it in the Glove, put hand in glove back in the bucket of water, move it around for the amount of time one would normally expected a hand to dry naturally, remove and hand should be dry.

You can tell I once worked for Gore. They insist on testing every glove company’s product that uses their liner.

bh – you mean a wet hand goes in a dry glove, then you put the gloved (wet) hand in the water, move it around for the same amount of time it would take the hand to airdry if you were moving it round in air (humidity?), rather than in a glove in a bucket of water? and it should be dry in the same time?

All about the wicking of the liner, nothing about the membrane. Can’t see what else it could be testing. Or even what the second go in the bucket does? 😕

+1 ned, i was thinking the same thing!

2tyred, AirBnB makes family holiday actually doable (just cant persuade the missus to go skiing with the kids). We had a nice apartment in Cham during half term last year for about £300 quid. We drove over and between the 3 blokes it worked out at about £400 holiday with food. I’ve just blown £700 on a trip to St Anton (missus doesn’t know the amount yet, so you know keep schtum).

Anyway, back to the Gloves, i’ve got some Levels with the Biomex thing in, it is and they are very good. They’ve seen better days after a dozen or so weeks, the finger tips end up getting shredded due to dragging like an ape.

Have we done this Ski Scotland vid? Done by Cut media. I think it could breach the trade descriptions act 😉

Here’s the link, couldn’t get the video URL to work 🙄

My new gloves

A friend imports these which are very good quality and not cheap….even to me! But then they are goatskin palms and fingers. (whatever that involves)

16-30th Jan in chamonix cannot come quick enough

Lucky with the kids this year, our area have half term at a different time to most areas, so it’s vaguely affordable.
Once thought about renting an apartment for a season, take a few cheeky ones, sub let to mates and family, take half term and Easter with kids. Overall it would be good value, if you could sub let enough weeks…

What’s the Norwegian ski scene like? We’re looking to tick off the northern lights, do some husky dog sledding, introduce the toddler to skiing, stay somewhere low key. So doesn’t have to be challenging in terms of skiing, but interested in going somewhere different from France/Switzerland/Austria/Italy.