The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2017-2018 season

Made the most of the 80cm + of new snow and hit some laps down the Khyber area of Whistler mountain. Bottomless, and light. The ski back to the lift was a horror show, but well worth it.

Nice. I love skiing old growth BC forest. No desire to put some skins on for the slog?

Currently in Bella Plagne. Monday mountain road was closed and it snowed lots so instructors/lifties struggled to get to work, consequently not much open.
Tuesday winds kept the higher lifts closed but most of lower stuff open and a glorious day.
Today another blue sky day, glacier is shut but most the rest is open, avalanche risk down to 3. Fabulous conditions.

Should be good next week @graham1980

Instagram pic from a mate in Chamonix. Took me a sec to figure it out. That’s a lot of snow!

“chamonixbikeblog” Good one to follow, winter and summer.

Just seen a mates video of her arriving by Air Zermatt helicopter taxi into Zermatt. Not jealous at all 😖

I heard that Chamonix has had 4m in 5 days!
A friend and her kids have been stuck in Zermatt since the weekend last FB post I saw they were 1000 and something in the queue for the chopper to get out!

My transfer driver had not been another show at GVA from a couple who were supposed to be there by train from St Anton and couldn’t get out.

“<span style=”background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444;”>Took me a sec to figure it out. That’s a lot of snow”</span>

For the uneducated what am I looking at?

Yep belle plagne looks like it will be spot on next week.

I saw some pics of them digging glacier out today.  Am sure a hut reappeared from under the snow

Sweaman – the blue circle is the top of a piste marker I think.

Chamonix has been pretty serious ! There was an advisory to evacuate properties due to avalanche risk (20? years ago people where killed in their apartments following an avalanche) and road through Tirent is shut for some time following a landslide.

@ned agreed re the bikeblog too, great stuff

@whatnobeer top photo 🙂

Jamba, I drove through the debris field in Argentier after that avalanche, very sobering. The road went through go a 5m deep Chanel cut through the snow, you could see the bits of buildings and furnishings in the snow wall.

🙁  Sad times indeed. A good friend used to rent a place there each winter after he did a season there in his 30’s, the building was hit and 2 close friends of his where killed.

Chamonix, digging down to find the top of the piste markers 🙂

Cheers Jamba.

Sweaman  – It’s not terrible on skis tbh, but trying to skate a long a flat FSR in a channel that’s about 18″ wide is never going to be fun, especially when the snow is thicker than school custard. The snowboarders had it a lot worse. Without poles they’re having to skate but the snow is so soft and the channel so narrow that it’s a bit of a nightmare.

I fancy a trip to Schladming, to watch the night slalom, so I thought we’d start thinking about it now so we have plenty of time to get fixed.

Ideally, we’d be based close enough to be able to ski all week (without paying a fortune for the privilege of going in race week), and have an evening trip over to watch the racing. Mrs NBT is not a fan of using ski buses though so I’m wondering about the advisability of staying a little further out – i know for instance of a nice-looking place in Radstadt (http://www.austrian-adventures.com/) down the valley owned by a member of snowheads, so that might be an option? Or would be better based in Schladming itself and limit ourselves to the lift-linked skiing in the local area? There would be be a mix of skiiers and boarders and perhaps a mix of ability levels. I know too that some who might be interested prefer the “uk tour op french chalet” style of holiday where we have tea and cake waiting when we get back from a day on the slopes, but I’m not aware of any uk tour operators who offer trips to Schladming.

Any constructive advice on places to stay so as to minimise travelling and anything else we need to consider would be appreciated.

I’m hoping the predicted drop on Friday is minimal so we can get into resort on Saturday, roll on next week, sat in Les Arcs after a day on the slopes and all thoughts of work far far away.

Just back from Tignes, managed to ski 3 1/2 days out of the 6 because of the weather and avalanche risk.

Managed to cut my salopettes on the inside of the ankle due to a few falls in the deeper stuff. Can anyone recommend anything for repairing – looked at sail tape as the duct tape isn’t working.

Also the boy bought some boots from glide and slide in Otley before New Year and had them fitted, as he didn’t know how they were supposed to do feel he took the technicians advice that they were right for him. After 3 runs it was apparent they weren’t right so we went to a how do in resort to see if they could hear and shape. The guy there said that the shells were 15mm too narrow and that they couldn’t be stretched that much. What do you think are the chances of getting a refund?

Smokey, depends. When I worked at Ellis brigham they did a fit guarantee. I can’t remember the T’s & c’s but that’s what it will come down to with Slide and Glide
It’s tricky with kids. Good fitter will get the inner boot out and get you to put the foot into the empty shell. This way you can see what space there is between foot and shell. Also foot in inner boot without shell gives a good indication is overall size.

Conditions in the Pyrenees are close to perfect, junior reports the Vosges are too. The forecast suggests things will remain excellent for a while with cold conditions and occasional top-ups of fresh without excess. If you’re out over the next few weeks you booked lucky.

The only downside is the number of people on piste. We skied X-C today rather than mix it with Sunday skiers making the most of the grippiest slidiest snow of the season – fast, fast snow.

nbt – I’ve replied to your Schladming thread on Snowheads. Definitely recommend a trip there (although I’ve never been to the night race). We’re going for half term.

Regarding repairing salopettes. A couple of years ago some noob neatly sliced through my new breeks (and not-so-new knee) with the edge of her board.

I repaired using duck tape on the back then sewed through with a tight stitch from the front.

(Some on here recommended goretex repair patches which you can get online. But I found the temporary duck tape had stuck so well I couldn’t remove it to put on the patch)

Cheers Graham, got a few cuts in the same area so I think I’d like to add a later of protection over the top I think rather than stich them up and it happen again

Cool. Been to Schladming by the way. Good place with decent modern facilities.

We stayed at Hotel Ferienalm with Crystal which is a little out of town, but has nice ground-floor apartment rooms. Ski bus is free and regular or you can walk if you like a warm up.

Seem to remember that they had a huge locker/changing area at Planai so we hired a locker for the duration and dumped all our gear there to saving humping it about. Also made apres a lot easier.

Two british fellas killed skiing the Grand Monets in Chamonix at the weekend 🙁

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/28/two-british-off-piste-skiers-fall-several-hundred-metres-death/</span&gt;

not familiar with the terrain, but found this video of the couloir in more powdery times. Sounds conditions were tricky.

https://www.tetongravity.com/video/ski/cham-lines-s2ep2-couloir-du-chapeau

Glide & Slide agreed to a full refund as part of their commitment to lifetime guarantee on boot fit. Shame they didn’t get the fit right in the first place but can’t fault the after sales service.

Kevin and the other one from SnowboardProCamp, who are usually based in Whistler, are doing a nice little European trip at the moment.

If you like rambling boarding-related vlogs it’s quite interesting to see what they make of the Hemel Hempstead snowdome and the slopes at St Anton:

I quite like watching them because they are obviously decent but not incredible riders, so it all feels much more relatable to me.

(No comment on the complete lack of avi gear whilst riding off piste though!)

Arrgh is embedding videos AND editing posts now broken? 🙁

Here are some links:

Channel:
<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>https://</span><span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>www.youtube.com/user/SnowboardProCamp/videos
</span>

Hemel:

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO9eswJVvmI</span&gt;

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>Austria:

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBwvXVK9qbY</span&gt;

🤦🏻‍♂️

🤬 forum

>Two british fellas killed skiing the Grand Monets in Chamonix at the weekend

One from my Hockey club. Played in men’s 1st XI.

I have the possibility of cheap flights to Toulouse in mid February – which resorts would be looking at?

The main jaunt is at easter, so ideally, this will be a lower cost adventure.

Any advice on accommodation  / equipment / lift pass combos would also be welcome. 🙂

Well the English half term break is mid February (10th till 18th) so avoid anywhere family-friendly if that clashes with your dates!!

Mmm – the bargain flights appear to have evaporated 🙁

@footflaps sad times 🙁

I have skied in that area with a guide but that couloir is WAY WAY beyond my ability and courage. It ends in a cliff and you have to exit out before obviously. It seems conditions where poor and the couloir was icy and after they “dropped in” one after the other they both fell almost immediately and just slid down the whole way (35-40 degrees at the top) and over the cliff. The rescue people were on site in 10 mins but both confirmed dead  🙁

In other equally bad news I believe the Brit who went missing in Tignes on “one last run” two weeks ago has still not been found 🙁

Be careful people

Has anyone on here tried Burtons Step on binding system yet? I quite like the idea of not having to faff about strapping in at the top of every chair, coupled with not having straps clamping my feet down etc etc

It looks like a pretty good system , I cant find a bad review anywhere, but you know it could just be that the review are not that objective.

Will probably get a set for my up coming trip to austria.

Likewise not seen a bad review, though some reviews do report an irritating clicking as you are riding about.

I think those of us old enough to remember step in systems from the first time around (Burton SI, K2 Clicker, Switch etc) are naturally quite cautious. But if they can solve the issues of those early systems (heavy, stiff boots; limited flex; snow/ice clogging; lack of choice etc) then they could have a winner.

Personally I’d give it a season before investing myself but may look at them next year as my boots are shot and my K2 Autos (almost step-ins) are starting to creak.

Personally I’d give it a season before investing myself but may look at them next year as my boots are shot and my K2 Autos (almost step-ins) are starting to creak.

Yeah, in an ideal world I would wait, but my boots are knackered, and I dont want to spend £250 on new ones (none step in) only to replace them next season.

I think I’ll order a set and see how they go, they seem to be sold out all over europe, but I have found a couple of places with stock in my size.