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

From departures you head to car rental, carry straight on through out of the building in broadly the same direction for a bit and you there.

They identify which flight to which check in desk by using a sticker.

sounds like they’re shipping you out as cargo 😉

Cattle would be the better description.

I’m better than this you Swiss barstads.

This has nothing to do with the price of the flights, no sirree nothing at all.

I took a train from Zurich to the airport on Tuesday. It was late.

Lying barstewards.

Geneva airport terminal two.

The illusion of Swiss precision and efficiency ruined.

Yep, it very much resembled the old Lagos terminal, felt quite let down by it – my illusions of Swiss precision and order shattered…

Yep.

Steep and deep.

No shit, must be about a Grade II winter climb!

Some more accessible bits of La Grave:

Off to Sauze D’oulx first thing tomorrow, woop woop – group of 16 of us (some of whom I know)! Don’t think we will get much if any fresh snow but it looks ok. I’ll probably mostly burn some groomers on my skis ( 😉 ), maybe build some jumps (and have a practice with skins/touring stuff).

Working out OK then?

Have you ridden the NE face of the Courtes since then?

Aye, working out not so bad (he says getting back from another day driving to Geneva and back!).

Still haven’t ridden Les Courtes – in fact, I haven’t ridden Chamonix since I moved here. Need to rectify that!

Hmm… yeah La Grave looks a bit scary. 😯

A French guide showed up at the Neilson welcome meeting bit in Les Deux Alpes to take bookings for guided trips into La Grave – but Neilson were very cagey about defining what kind of skill level it was suitable for or giving any real details about it. Plus I seem to recall it was something like 150 euro, which seemed pricey for basically one long (guided) run top to bottom. But I’ve no idea how much these things usually cost?

Maybe next time.

Looks like someone has found a good use for drones on snow. Just needs a bit more power to haul me around:

Off to Sauze D’oulx first thing tomorrow

Sure I’ve said it before, but just in case;
Pizza at Orso Bianco, up at Sportinia
Steak at The Village, by the Clotes lift, IIRC.

Lyon airport was quite the let-down this morning. Landed 0930. Didn’t exit rental car park till 1215. 😡

Clear road up though so we were in Reberty by 3.30ish with a couple of stops. Sat looking out at quite a few inches of fresh powder for first day tomorrow with a few more inches to come by morning. 😀

quite a few inches of fresh powder for first day tomorrow with a few more inches to come by morning

Waist deep! Awesome!

😉

happy tracks tomorrow.
pics up by tea time or you’re for the high jump.

forecast for tonight/Sunday in Morzine is for a foot, with a further dusting on Wednesday after I land. Can’t wait!

got to be said, the BRS>GVA>MORZ journey is so very easy,
Arrive BRS, 8:30 for breakie
flight departs 10:15
lands GVA 1pm (12pm UK)
Transfer leaves by 2pm
at the flat by 3:30.

So not a huge amount in it compared to a Lyon route.

Waist deep! Awesome!

snork.

Weather is going to be INTERESTING over the next few days. INTERESTING is not (necessarily) the same as AWESOME. But it could be. See you on the flipside!

snork.

Much more snow and he’ll need a snorkle.

🙂

waist

Would have thought that would be a touchy subject for you two.

I’m enjoying this. Keep going boys.

Lying in bed in Les Coches. It’s pissing down outside.

Hopefully that means it’s snowing a bit further up the hill 😆

You are a long way down the hill though, what are the winds like?

Ok, it can stop snowing now. Waist deep I could take, but we’re approaching shoulders now. Any more, and that snorkel joke won’t seem so funny. 😀

Nice DD, have fun

Yes deadlydarcy!

Superb DD 😀

No wind down here PM. I’m a bit hot!

You lucky f….., DD!

First lift to last call!

but Neilson were very cagey about defining what kind of skill level it was suitable for or giving any real details about it

As I think we discussed in a previous years thread (when stevomcd made some astute observations I seem to remember) it is sometimes very difficult to determine someone’s level of ability based on their own self assessment …

I’m sure we’ve all heard the ‘bar bores’ banging on about how ‘by the second day I was basically skiing/boarding all the black runs yah!’ …

@deadlydarcy Looks like the snow base is starting to shape up nicely! 😉

Plus I seem to recall it was something like 150 euro, which seemed pricey for basically one long (guided) run top to bottom

Price for ‘guiding’ can be dependent on what you are doing and where you are going, i.e. is it just ‘off-piste instruction’ or travel over glaciated terrain? If it’s the former then relevant instructor qualifications (especially in France) will suffice – If it’s the latter then the guide should be IFMGA (or equivalent) which means a higher daily rate.

Anyone have experience with treating PTSD?

Anyone have experience with treating PTSD?

apparently you should drink one ‘snowball’ now, and another one in a half hour … if that doesn’t work, consider doing a season …

Back from a sunny week in Serre Chevalier.
Its good and worth a trip out side of French school holidays.
We stayed in Chantemerle, but to be honest any of the upper 3 villages all access good skiing quickly. Briancon abit run down and industrial, but would serve a purpose if self catering or self drive holidaying.

we went with Rocketski who specialie in school trips and had a basic hotel 150m from the main lift and Luc Aplhand piste. Very easy and simple although the british ary ski team were training and using the Luc Alphand piste and chair so a very small queue appeared around 0900 only.

Almost evry run was open wit good snow cover . The off piste and slack country access is incredible. So many areas are a traverse away , and tree lined that in snow the resort must transform. I can imagine all the tourists sat in hotel foyers praying for the snow to stop whilst all the locals are out proper having it in the powder. We didnt see one single snow flake fall out the sky. . . .

Took my Shoguns and 130/100/120 isnt neccessary for crunchy crud off piste or groomed runs so skied on my Streetrace carvers mostly. Skied every run , went end to end and back one day which didnt take too long at all.
Lift pass gets you 1 day in Moontgenevre , and its 9Eu on the bus, with no changes , so did that on one day. Liked that area as well but a few runs shut as Team GB and the Gb youth developement squad had booked the run. Some of the links were shut in MG meaning there was some travelling to get around and the snow wasnt as good as SC.

Ate in hotel all but 1 night , food OK but let down by stone cold plates. Tried the Estable restaurant on the chef night offf and was impressed by the food in there. Alot of it and very nice , espcially the salads.

Different feel to the other big french resorts , you sem to be treated as aperson rather then a comodity; there to be expolited . No seriously difficult runs , some older cranky lifts and a bottle neck on the return link from Villenerve to Chantermarle that is a pain (chair to button )

we dont stop for lunch , just carry biking food with us so cant comment on restaurants , but the beers we did have were reasonable on the mountain.

Really want to go back when there is some fresh powder as it has such huge potential, the Vallons bowl is a safe area to go , although it is above the tree line

Hi DD, heading out to Reberty on Saturday so any pics, reviews, tips etc will be lapped up. Loving the first photo! Think we are staying in same row of Chalets.

Loads of snow last night at Brevent, only one lift open with big queues and horizontal snow and blown ice, not nice. Will hopefully get a good half day in tomorrow morning before leaving. Rain down in Chamonix.

Cheers for the restaurant tips CFH. DD send some of that snow over here, you won’t be able to handle it. 🙂

Sunny and warm and barely any snow down in the resort in Sauze but most stuff open – looking forward to some nice Spring conditions!

Some good snow overnight here in Avoriaz – roughly 5″ judging by what was on our balcony.

First day skiing after 9 years so I was always going to be rubbish but I’ve had a great first day. It’s somewhat damp out there but the snow on the pistes seems good. Visibility isn’t great though in the open – very flat light too. Windy high up too and they seem to have closed the highest lifts/pistes.

An interesting day. I’ve never skied in conditions like this (ie rain) before! Wet low down, no vis up high so half the mountain was closed. We popped over the valley to Vallandry for a couple of runs and some amazing French onion soup in Le Rilax. Very enjoyable day but looking forward to getting high tomorrow!

Very enjoyable day but looking forward to getting high tomorrow!

Hey, whatever helps you relax! Not sure it’ll help your skiing tho!

IGMC

Anyone been watching The Jump? I have it on +1. Interesting enough as Jnr is skiing in Kuhtai where it’s filmed with school in 2 weeks time, snowing fairly well there at the mo.