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

Looks like the photo’s he has on on his site are from the same valley we were in. It’s a cracker!

Those were right up on the lh tip of the cloud in the distance:

Wow nedrapier! 😉

That’s very impressive!

Ladies and gentlemen of the S&S thread, I salute you! We’ve only just begun and already this is making me want snow! SNOW NOW, DAMMIT!

😀

kids! At what will be the grand old age of 40 this season, I am planning on learning to ski. Im usually one of those rad, gnarly kids, with baggy jeans and Blink 66572 blasting out of my ipod on a snowboard so this is new territory….

ahem.

now seriously, having watched the kids learn this easter I reckon I can have a crack at this two-footed nonsense. Much as I did when learning to board back when snow was just invented, I plan to be a bit spendy on some good fitting boots, then hire skis for a while. But what am I looking for in the hire shop in terms of either?

I am planning on learning to ski.

I knew you weren’t ALL bad. 🙂

Boots – Go to a good fitter. Solutions4Feet are massively well rated, and rightly so. They’re not far from the Midlands, either. There are many other good fitters available, obviously. Usual thinking is to buy outside resorts, as they’re often cheaper. Then, once fitted, a few easy learner sessions are in order to see if any tweaks are needed. I would recommend that anyway, unless you’re over there full time now. Get some time on skis doing a few tiny basics before heading out. Oh, and you don’t choose your boots. Your feet do.

Hire? See previous (?) page, re hiring the “premium” option.

YES Jedi , literally. Pick your Line! Fantastic board

doesn’t have a forearm pocket for the lift pass

Just put it in the hip/waist pocket of your jacket/trousers or in your pack if you wear one. This is what most people do – pass pocket in the sleeve wasn’t all that common until fairly recently. In fact, my current jacket is the first one I’ve owned with this feature (after over 15 years of snowboarding!).

If anyone can get me 60% – 80% off a Kessler The Ride, could they let me know, please? 164 or 168.

Good luck with that! 😉

I was looking at The Cross at various points last season. They had one in Vieux Campeur in Albertville.

I went in shortly before the end of the season and they had a sign above the board racks saying “35% off all 2015 boards” or similar. Conversation with the shop dude went something like:

“So, 35% off all snowboards from this season?”

“Oui!”

“All of them?”

“Oui!”

“Really, absolutely all of them?”

“Oui!”

“Including that Kessler at the back?”

“Ah….. Non.” 😥

I did get a shot of someone else’s at one of the races. **** me. Game-changing doesn’t begin to describe it. I raced on my (very stiff, carvy) freeride/freestyle twin-ish board and I reckon the Kessler would easily have been worth 3 or 4 seconds on most of the courses I raced on, without any changes to my (lack of) technique!

Lots of places in ‘Merica are still very old school re lift passes.

It’s a sticker that sticks over both sides of an overgrown safety pin sort of affair that you then tag over somewhere on your person. Dreadful!

kids! At what will be the grand old age of 40 this season, I am planning on learning to ski. Im usually one of those rad, gnarly kids, with baggy jeans and Blink 66572 blasting out of my ipod on a snowboard so this is new territory….

Wait wot, is it 1998

Oh, and you don’t choose your boots. Your feet do.

It almost worth using rental boots to give an indication of how important good fit really is.

Bad fitting boots are ******* awful

Silly skiers with your silly boots 🙂

Now, now! Let’s not bicker about oo’s boots are better than oo’s!

😀

right, you’ve all been to a man, f****** useless!

Now put your willies down and tell me what Im looking for in a boot (apart from fit) and skis (apart from fluoro colourway)

Nah I love skiing, it’s brilliant . But the boots…! I look at stairs like I imagine a Dalek would. Good feeling when you take them off!
I have no advice on ski boots sorry!

Now put your willies down and tell me what Im looking for in a boot (apart from fit) and skis (apart from fluoro colourway)

A good tightish/firmly snug fit, but not so tight you cut the blood off to your feet and they fall off. That would be bad. Flashy is right tho, you don’t choose your boots, they choose you.

I personally wouldn’t bother buying a beginner boot, I’d go straight for a WELL FITTING intermediate piste basher. (This might not be good advice, it’s just what I’d do myself in hindsight)

At this stage I’d just rent skis. I didn’t admittedly, coz I saw some skis in a shop and they was all like shiny and stuff.

I learnt last year, best decision I’d made in a good long while 😀

I think you’ll probably find some brands fit, some don’t.

Like ordinary shoes.

But with added crippling agony.

what Im looking for in a boot (apart from fit)

Erm. Fit. Oh yes, and fit.

That aside, there are a few types of boot;
Race – As the name suggests, no compromise lunacy like this;

Stiffer than a stiff thing, Tight fit. Fast.

Nu-Skool RADnezz! – Thusly.

For the park rats, innit.

All-mountain (Think Enduro in bike speak!) – Such as the Salomon Quest;

Light, stiff, some touring ability, usually have a “walking” setting, but above all, light, stiff and comfy. All rounders.

Touring – Gnarmac meets bikepacking;

Better for touring, hiking sections, skinning and the like.

Noobs – Thusly;

Heavy, massively uncomfortable, cold, shit, shit, shit.

Steezy goodness! – Thusly;

This is how I see you, Stoner. So very, very you.

wow. I need more pink to go with those Star Wars trooper flipflops.

So if I were a piste basher, then something like those salomons. Three ratchets and a velcro band. ANd Im guessing a fairly neutral posture?

I ended up with these http://www.lange-boots.com/SP/SP/xt-100_LBE7080_product_skiboots-men.html they really would have been fine to learn in. Might be different without cyclist/hill runner legs.

Based primarily on fit, they certainly where not the ones I had I mind when I was web shopping.

But they fit superbly.

Has anyone mentioned fit yet?

Somebody mentioned Enduro, which reminds me of ski boots due to voluminous quantities of marketing bullshit involved.

So if I were a piste basher, then something like those salomons. Three ratchets and a velcro band. ANd Im guessing a fairly neutral posture?

Get custom insoles

So if I were a piste basher, then something that fits. like those salomons. Three ratchets and a velcro band. ANd Im guessing a fairly neutral posture?

As before, those are indications of type, not fit. Pick the type of boot you’re after, and/or speak to your fitter about what you want to do, then let your feet/fitter do the rest.

FWIW, I use 120 flex, heat moulded Salomon Impacts, with custom insoles and they’re lush! Stiff boots for my athletic physique, moulding to get a comfy fit over the axe wound on my left foot. Yes. Really.

They’re excellent. I usually forget they’re on until the third or fourth post ski beer, and then loosen them a bit.

stevomcd .. lol @

“Ah….. Non.”

😉

mrs S has custom insoles, so I get the idea. Will make sure theyre on the list.

Will make sure theyre on the list.

Along with a sikk colorway, braw!

😉

Joking aside, fit is paramount. Ridiculously so. As before, get an idea of what you think you want to be doing in them, both now and in a couple of years time, and then talk to a good fitter. Colin at Solutions4Feet is very good indeed. I pulled some favours for mine, but if I hadn’t, he’d have been one of the people on my list.

Ned, What is your itinerary for the Greenland trip? How long are you going for? Looks amazing.

I’m not going this year, I went a few years ago with a few friends, using Tangent Logistics. Stopover in Iceland. Landed at Constable Point in East Greenland, hour and a half skidoo with kit, camped, rode, got picked up, went home again.

Digby’s going on April with Neil McNab, with broadly the same plan, I think.

Exup

Enough piste to keep an experienced boarder happy

Best description for Steamboat is rolling. There are steep sections but there are flat sections. It’s more blues than anything else though.

enough mellow piste to accommodate inexperienced skiers?

The beginners greens are relatively good down at the base, however the greens up the hill are mainly cat track with a shit load of people banging down them. The blues at the top and mid mountain are pretty rolly with some sudden short steep sections. The blues descending to the base are steep, scratched off and a bit scary. The gondola drops of at the mid mountain area, and will take back to the base to avoid the ratrun cat tracks and steeper blues.

good pubs downtown? Eating out costs etc?

I didn’t bother with the bars downtown just chilled in the hotel bar and bought six packs for the room. Resort prices on food, around $50 for two entrees and a couple of beers. There was a brewery type place on the main street (in the old town) which was cheap for burgers (better than Five Guys) and had alright micro brew beer (it’s Colorado!)Make sure where you are staying is near the town or has a shuttle. The main section of Steamboat town is about 2 miles from the resort base and resort shit. There is a pretty good small pizza place in a strip mall near the resort base.

Lift tickets come in at £60 a pop, is that about right as far as you recall, if so it’s a bit steep!

I think tickets when we were there were $115 per person per day. The exchange rate may work in your favor then or may not. You may be able to buy 5 pack or 3 pack tickets (3 or 5 days) which work out a bit cheaper. Nowhere in Colorado is all that cheap anymore. It may work out better to pony up for a season pass now while they’re still a bit cheaper if you are going to be there for a week or two.

I’ll put up a couple of photos in a bit.

Digby’s going on April with Neil McNab, with broadly the same plan, I think

Pretty much yeah! 😀

Stoner, I’ve learned recently 3 years, 3 sets of hire boots that I’ve wanted to burn at the end of each day.

2 weekends ago I went to Solutions4Feet and got a fitting done, it really, really is the best thing you can do when on Ski’s.

@I_Ache – I went with an Oakley jacket (from the now defunct outlet shop in Letchworth) with no padding, it’s bloody great, has a magnetic storm flap, lift pass pocket, good venting and comes up good and high when you are on a cold lift!

Thanks Toby. I have seen a HH jacket I quite like but I’m being a tart as its green and so are my trousers.

toby – Ive just seen that theyre not too far away from me in Bicester.

Can you tell me how much you paid? Are the boot prices inclusive of fitting and in molds?

stevo – That’s what I figured – never seen any Kesslers for even a gesture less than full price!

Just really fancy a fast charging board again – had a Duotone MTX 168 which was magic – loved that board, then killed it. 🙁

Currently got a venture split, a shorty Dupraz and a 176 swallowtail which is definitely quick, but so stiff that it’s a bit of a handful on anything bumpy. Barely 5cm rise in the nose too – not something you want to straight-line into chop with! But in pow or on smooth piste, it’s incredible.

The Ride looks perfect, but unjustifiable, given other things that need money spending on them.

I_Ache – I had a Quiksilver Mission jacket for last season (from TKMaxx) and it was great. Had to take it back though as a seam split (in the UK, not on holiday) and they didn’t have another. Fit great as a boarding jacket, and not too much insulation, so no sweaty days.

Anyone know of any operators who do reasonable deals for boarders travelling on their own? The family can’t go this year, but I want to get away and try my Jones Aviator. Budget is a bit tight due to building an extension or two at home.
Help me STW, help me…..

Stoner – I’m not Toby, but I did get my boots from Solutions 4 Feet. Iirc I paid £370 for my boots, this was made up of £270 for the boots, £100 for custom made foot beds. I ended up with Lange RX100 LV because I have narrow feet. Think this was about 4 years ago.

Colin spent about 90 mins doing the fitting, generally he just does one person at a time so it is a personal service.

If Bicester is close to you, how close is Cambridge? If you don’t fancy custom fitted foot beds the OH got her boots from Ski Exchange, again a really good service – they spend a lot of time with you making sure the boots are right. Foot beds are superfeet, but they have all the kit to shave bits off if needed. A bit cheaper than S4F.

Im the other direction, hammerite.

TBH Im not shy of spending a bit on boots. When I took up boarding nearly 15 years ago a spent a good wodge on some Northwave boots that I still use every year. Theyve held up well, and I dont getg hot spots in them.

I will see if I can book a midweek fitting with him and nip over on the motorbike.

Lots of Arcteryx on Sport Pursuit at the mo. 50% off so it’s approaching “normal expensive” pricing.

Tempted by a pair of their gloves, but at £85, I might plump for another wrap of duct tape.

@Stoner – £425 for me all in, boots, beds and fitting cost. So the prices on site are not inclusive. Like hammerite said 90 minutes and a 1 to 1 session. Not cheap, but I’m really really hoping worthwhile in the long run.

You should be ok with a mid-week appointment, I think they said weekends were booked to the end of October when I was there the other day.

cheers toby

Stoner – Not sure what Colin’s stock levels are like, but I think most shops are about to get their new season boots in any time soon. We were in EB in MK at the weekend and they had no boots suitable for Jnr (a not very Jnr size 30) as they’re waiting to receive their new stock.