The down side of the aarlborg is that the coffee is, quite frankly, not up to the standards of your average stw’er.
But it is right next to the free drag lifts, so excellent for holidaying with really small kids. If you don’t drink coffee 😉

Not sure I ever touched the coffee there. The wine was pleasant though 🙂

But yeah being piste-side at the bottom of the easy runs, next to the free drags, with the ski hire place in the basement, and ski school meeting point a very short walk away PLUS those kids clubs, makes the Aalborg a great place for young families (just not in half term!)

We did Esprit last season, Paisey Vallandry.
Only reason we could square away the cost was that our Feb half term was the week before most of the country.
It was okay. The kids club was great, picked them up at 845 from the Chalet, did lessons, lunch and a bit of singing, playing and coloring in. (Kids 4 and 6)
We could then slide in at 2 and take them for a ski, sledging or hot choc.
Downsides were it was French Holidays so the resort was very busy. MrsDTs and I would be out as soon as we had finished brekkie, ski and have an early lunch to avoid the crowds.
The Esprit chalet staff were not great, they tried their hardest but you are still being catered for by an 18 year old who is there for the skiing not a catering career (Been there done that). They spent most of their week telling us that they needed to get the chalet ready for the very important people coming next week, who pay a fortune to be there at half term..! Which made me feel very special.
ESF kids lessons are very patchy from my experience. My poor nephew (5yrs) filled his pants as here was nobody to take him to the loo! (Courcheval 1650)
Last week in Tignes 1800 they were great (Wendy, swoon)

Just want to chuck in my 10p’s worth on Ski Famille. Went twice with them in Les Gets and yes it’s pricey but it was totally worth it. 2nd year we were there, 2013 I think, it puked all day and night for a week. Kids were out of our hands by 8.45 and it was straight on first lifts. Is Mont Chery that little separate section off the back of the resort? We were up there lapping that black run and the surrounds at high speed all morning before nipping back to check on them at lunch. Totally brilliant week.

[video]https://youtu.be/LgPKryy8R24[/video]

haha ski man wtf. looks rad. except the blades .

one footed backflip madness

[video]http://youtu.be/ThwZouodz7I[/video]

Winter isnt over yet 😀

My 10 year old is way better than me in terms of speed and technical ability.

But I still have more stamina and I know where the bars are.

+1 8)

Want some new touring/freeride skis that are a bit lighter and have some rocker. Been recommended these, anyone used them?

https://www.glisshop.co.uk/alpine_ski/armada/kufo_103-111911.html?utm_source=Criteo&utm_medium=bannering&utm_campaign=flux

They’re sexy as hell, which is the main thing really.

Oh yeah, some snaps here from my trip to Arolla in Switzerland.

http://www.grahamwynnephoto.com/blog/2017/4/21/ski-touring-in-arolla

Some lovely shots there Grum, the conditions look great.

Cheers TheDTs. Taken on an RX100 MK I if anyone’s interested.

Was generally pretty good conditions though weirdly warm so could get quite soft/slushy in places especially later on. Our guide was a genius at seeking out nice snow to ski though.

Grum, this makes me want to go skiing NOW!

Love it.

Cheers! Yeah not many better feelings for me in life (if any) than being about to drop into some lovely fresh powder on a lovely day in beautiful mountains.

Speaking of nice photos, I stumbled onto the Red bull Illume site the other day. Some great skiing shots on there as usual.
One of my favourites.

just to wind up CFH..

First trip of 2018 BOOKED!

Annual lads trip (for which I am an honorary lad) has grown to 12 of us for next year – it’s going to be carnage.

Off to Samoëns in early March – not been before and very much looking forward to it.

some snaps

By your standards maybe

Nice work wallop, always good for have something in the bag 🙂

my final shred of the year was last week, was great but I am very keen on summer now. Can’t wait to get out on the roller skis . Flashy I’m looking forward to the 2017-18 thread, when are you starting it? June?

[video]http://youtu.be/iMVto0bqOMk[/video]

^^ a mate of mine trained for that nutty Scandi XC marathon with those on the seafront at Eastbourne

June?

🙂 no complaints from me

St Anton are building a bike park …

How did I miss that photo of ripping the cloth of the king! Epic.

Next year’s thread? Soon, my children, soon….. 🙂

I’m Looking at taking Junior away next year, she’s 12, a competent skier. As she’s already going skiing with her mum at Feb 1/2 term (natch!) I’m looking at going either the 1st week of Jan, or 1st week of April / Easter hols.
What’s people recommendations for reliable snow? I’d prefer to go away January but the last few years have been awful early season (generally).

Cheers,

You’ll get reliable snow in Canada first week of January 😀 You’ll also have a strong possibility of -25C which might take some of the fun out of it. 😯

You can’t start a new thread yet, junior is skiing through June in Val/Les deux Alpes and there’s the Summer stuff for the really keen. Next season is when the grass gets covered again.

new ski boot arrived in post today, bring it on! 😉

That wakeboard is the wrong way round! 😉

Good to see Boa making its way in to water bindings, though. I remember the first time I tried a Boa wakeboard boot – A revelation!

TheKingisdead, Easter is a bit earlier than this year, next season, would be a good bet for good conditions at any of the big European resorts, stay as high as you can make sure there is snow making on the slopes to resort. Much cheaper than Feb half term.
Looking at early booking discount for Easter at Kalinda, Tignes.

This is great, in Swedish but you’ll get it as she uses loads of English. Basically all about how snowboards and skis for women all have flowers on them and words like passion etc , when the men’s have skulls and stomper and missile

[video]http://vimeo.com/216237547[/video]

Still skiing here in Whistler, thought just for today and tomorrow before they move over to sightseeing. Bike park is open now though, so a couple of split DH/SKI days on the cards 😀

Well, skiing finally ended for me last monday. Glorious sunshine and warm weather for the first time since last summer.

Time to put the snow gear away for winter

Put that ironing board away as well.

Mrs NBT needs new skis. She used some cheap Blizzard rental skis in Italy and liked them. The Élan rentals she got in Méribel weren’t as well received, so we swapped them for some Fischer Koa 77 XTR. She liked those much more.

I can get Fischer? Koa80 for about £230, or Koa84 for about £270.

Worth going for? I see Mme Edukator liked hers. Is there anything else worth looking at? We’re looking to spend two weeks in Whistler next season, but Mrs NBT will be skiing pistes and dabbling in the trees rather than dropping cliffs and straight-lining gullies

Howsyourdad – Jones MtnTwin & TwinSister in this house. No flowers. No skulls. Mainly mountains and a large Jones logo. Boards for grown ups?

Personally I`d find 80 or 84 a bit narrow for Whistler but it depends how much you want to buy skis for one trip vs multiple years. Dabbling in trees is a ton of fun but better when you aren’t sinking….

It depends on how heavy Mrs nbt is. Madame is 55kg and the KOA 84s give her as much float as 150s would some contributors to this thread. I’m 67kg and she sinks less than when I’m on 179/90 K2 Iron Maiden double spat’ park ‘n’pipe skis.

Thanks chaps. Mrs NBT is around 57kg and these skis will need to last for a few seasons, most of which wil probably be in europe as we haven;t got the funds to go trans-continental every year.

If anything, she’s a little off-put by the perceived increase in the underfoot width, as she’s worried about 84 underfoot being harder to turn on piste than the 77s

TwinSister in this house. No flowers. No skulls.

the pink and purple one which according to Jones website is for “dancing down the mountain” ?

Oh dear. Point accepted.

Couple of years old so mine is green and the “ladies” one is a very dark purple colour with very little pink on top. Ok it is a little lighter purple underneath – but I like to think goth purple, not girly.

But still mountains not flowers.

yeah that’s pretty rad actually!

Cheers for the vid, hyd. I mainly enjoyed just listening to her voice!

Mine are fairly gender neutral. You might put “zephyr” at the “girly” end of the spectrum, but snowflakes are snowflakes. “D1” is masculine if anything, but in an autistic spectrum numbers and letters like a motorbike kind of way, rather than Crusher or Stomper. Quite a Romantic mountains, rivers and waves image on the D1, though.

^^^ Very Nice Dupraz indeed nedrapier! McNab was riding one of them when we were doing laps off the GM top tickets (one of the few powder stashes available at the time).

I was quite surprised by how thick the board was!

It is, Digby! I recommend taking one for a razz at some opint. Zero G usually have a couple to demo.

Neil’s big chap, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on the 6’++ double stiff version – probably gets the stiffness from thickness. I’ve already got a big stiff powder board, so I went for the smaller 5’5″+ Love it. Does everything: slashy, poppy, floaty, cruisy, carves really well. Probably not great in the park and pipe, but neither am I!