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

We fly to Whistler tomorrow 🙂

I think I’ll order a set and see how they go

please report back then. I’d be very interested to hear how you go.

Last day in la plagne today,  utterly stunning weather all week with the exception of yesterday which brought us 20+cm of fresh powder to play in.

I really don’t want to go home as boarding has come on a lot this week

PSA. Ladies:
This morning I took delivery of a ‘SNOOKS’ Skiing/snowboarding jacket.
I think I am the first person to have one delivered and am so excited to try it out.

snookswear.co.uk is a British company making jackets for women and designed by women. They’re made in the U.k, which made me instantly want to support this new company.

As soon as I’m out on the slopes will post some photos.
It has plenty of zips, pit zips, long at the back, draw waist tie, hood big enough to get a helmet under. Colour is a sort of mixture of dull greens with bright orange trim and zips. Instantly warm when I popped it on.
Whoop, can’t wait.

[Quote]please report back then. I’d be very interested to hear how you go.[/quote]

Will do, off to st anton for half term,will report back after.

We fly to Whistler tomorrow

Nice! The last few weeks have filled in all the holes and stuff nicely, so pretty much anything that looks skiable is good to go. Not a lot of snow in the forecast, but things are skiing nicely.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BetfURplEzr/ – Short clip of one moment from this morning. Lots of fun all round, even thought the visibility wasn’t great!

The step ons have arrived, and they look pretty nicely made/thought out.

Not tested them on snow, but in the ‘lounge’ test, they’re easy to get in an out of, and feel very secure once in, cant feel any noticable play.

Suspect it will be pretty easy to get to grips with clicking into them straight off the chair lift.

Time will tell whether they work well on the snow, but it looks promising.

Let us know how your 1 footed 720s go please

A day @ Cairngorm planned for tomorrow if the sunny forecast holds. Might even take the kids out of school for it.

Aaaargh. I’m raging!

For some reason the Crystal website doesn’t let you pre-book lessons for kids under 5. So when we booked the holiday we spoke to someone in the call centre who advised us to get in touch with the resort rep directly to sort it out.

Which I did. Wrote him a nice email as soon as we booked, explaining that we were there last year and Crystal had sorted out lessons for my youngest, who was 3 at the time, so this year she is 4 and we’d like to do the same thing. Can he please reserve it for us in advance as we don’t want to miss the space?

He replies a couple of days later saying he has mailed the ski school and is awaiting a response.

Two days after that I get another email saying: “The ski school have confirmed that they accept children from age 3. Their shouldn’t be any reason why we can’t add the booking here in resort. We offer these services on the transfer from the airport, so one of my colleagues can book tuition and equipment hire for her.”

Sensing he was somewhat missing the point I mailed back and saying I know they take them but I am worried about availability as it is the half term week, is there no way he can take a reservation in advance instead of doing it on the bus?

Apparently not. But he suggests that if I am worried I could book with the school directly.

I point out that the school doesn’t have a booking option for that week. Presumably because it is busy with all the package clients.

He says okay, he’ll get in touch with them for us.

Just had a reply now saying that he spoke to them and they are fully booked!

Which is annoying enough, but then he said, without the slightest hint of irony, “..alternative would be to book with the ESF. Crystal do not use them, but it could solve your problem? … I would try them sooner rather than later as it looks like it will be a busy week filled with non Crystal customers in resort.”

NNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggg….!

We’ve just decided to go away this year.   Can anyone recommend some good companies for last minute deals?  Looking to go away in early March.
ta

Morning bump

A question for the skiers on here…
I’ve been snowboarding for years but have been trying skis on and off for the last 3 seasons. I borrowed some skis from a friend and whilst they’re fine they’re also pretty heavy and I’m thinking of getting some skis of my own.
Is there any reason I shouldn’t get separate bindings like this, as they seem to be lighter (and cheaper) than system bindings?

http://www.sportmania.ch/media/catalog/product/cache/3/thumbnail/800×800/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/t/y/tyrolia_attack_11_demo_brake_115_g_s-bk_left.jpg</img&gt;

From what I’ve read, the biggest problem seems to that they make the skis harder to sell on…?

Link doesn’t work so not sure what you mean. “system” bindings with adjustable toe as well as heel are mainly used for hire kit, most folk with their own skis would go with a standard non-rail binding (although there are exceptions and some skis come with integrated rails.

https://www.head.com/shop/en-IC/ski/bindings/aattack-14-at-6.html?attribute_id=92&option_id=24083

Having problems with images. Link in second post. Yep, I’m talking about a non-rail binding. My wife’s skis (and her parents’ skis) all came with system bindings so these separates are new to me…

Nothing wrong with that type of binding – that’s the norm and hire kit is the exception for personal stuff. The adjustable toe only means you can accommodate a greater size range of boots which isn’t necessary for your own kit (heel is still adjustable to a degree so you can still change to boots of different sole length).

OK great, thanks..

Out in Courmayeur at the moment. Conditions are *FABULOUS*. LOADS of snow – this is my fourth trip to Courmayeur over the years and I’ve *never* seen this much snow. The snow is in fantastic condition, we had about 10cm fresh yesterday and a little bit has been falling since about 3pm. Visibility has been an issue – with the clouds and snow, the light has been flat, and at times the low cloud has meant very limited visiblity but the fantastic snow conditions means that we have really enjoyed it

Mrs NBT is LOVING her new jacket. We backed a Kickstarter project in October or so, a couple of young ladies producing ski wear designed BY women FOR women, made in the UK. We’re both firm believers in supporting local business where possible rather than buying cheap stuff made in a sweatshop and shipped halfway across the world. As usual, things ran a little late so the planned shipping date of mid-January slipped a little and it was looking like early to mid-Feb – not great given that we flew out here on Feb 4th. However the girls at Snooks were *brilliant* and pulled out all the stops to get one of the first jackets off the line shipped out to us in time to take it away with us

It’s great. The jacket is well designed and feels lovely and light. I’ll let Mrs NBT feedback more in due time, but I can HIGHLY recommend Snooks. They rock.

(hope the pics work)

Courmayeur. Fantastic conditions. Jane loves her new Snooks Union Jacket by Notoriously Bad Typist[/url], on Flickr

Courmayeur. Fantastic conditions. Jane loves her new Snooks Union Jacket by Notoriously Bad Typist[/url], on Flickr

And I thought nbt was next big thing.

One lives and learns.

@ElShalimo

You may still be a little early for deals – and the snow has been good this season so resorts are just busier than normal (based on last week anyway).

I had a great week in Les Arcs, now planning a late March trip somewhere snowsure to get week 2 in, I’m already excited!

Came back from a week in Zell am See on Saturday night.
First time skiing abroad since 1984, a lot has changed!
Had a great time, snow was amazing. Especially Friday as there was a load of the white stuff falling from the sky from Thursday afternoon until we left on Saturday.
My partner is keen to go back so will start planning for next year soon!

This year ain’t over yet.

Boom. Work trip to Vancouver end of march, booking flights a couple of days early.

Sat/sun in whistler worth it?

As if you have to ask?

Nicely done!

Also, am enjoying the Snooks guerrilla marketing here! Good luck to them!

By the way, have we all seen the Kayak advert with Jeremy Jones?

He has a British accent for the voiceover.

Calgary week after next for work.

No skiing time. All work. 🤬

Ironically igm last weekend was the only one we haven’t skied this year.
Hopefully heading to Glenshee this weekend for some quality queuing!
Finances won’t allow for another foreign trip unfortunately.

35 hours until I’ll be sliding around Schladders. Can’t wait. It’s been too long.

CFH – The Snooks guerilla marketing might be working. The OH has been after a coat that is slightly longer. Mrs NBT’s photo above looks like it comes down lower at the rear, my OH might be interested. I’ll show her.

IGM… When do you land / leave Calgary?

There’s always the Olympic park on the edge of the city for getting turns in during the evening.

We’ve had 25cm today so tried sweajnr and I went for a tour….

Jambo – Whistler is worth it but don’t expect it to be cheap….

Grr forum. Photos from previous post now I’m on desktop….

Sweaman – it’s an arrive 1530 Tuesday, work Wednesday and Thursday and out on the 1845 Thursday evening.

Two days traveling for two days work again. Brutal.

hammerite – I am so pleased with this new snooks jacket.
It does indeed come a lot lower than normal jackets.
It’s flattering, with the waist pull. Light, warm. Room for layering up but light enough to wear on warmer days.
Plenty of pockets which don’t look lumpy when full of the normal tissues, purse, lippy, sun cream etc.

As for sizing, the cut is very generous. I have monkey arms and they are possibly a little too long. However I much prefer a longer arm than a cuff stuck halfway up your glove.

The hood is big enough to get any helmet or fashionable bobble hat underneath.

Amazingly I’ve never been one for colour coordinating gear on the slopes but there are enough colours in the jacket and zips to match my skis, buff and trousers, that was luck.

Let me know if you have any questions?

Must admit to liking the fact I’ve got the best goddamn jacket on the mountain (bonus points if you can name the reference?).

@IGM. Tough schedule indeed.. Hard to get some time on skis with that short a turnaround but if longer or spare time on a Friday….

wheeeeeeee !

Off to the airport, fully caffeinated

Have a good week everyone

1 week to go.

Can’t wait !

Aldi Winter Olympics advert. 😎

Met a family on the Eurotunnel today in a 4wd Tesla complete with winter tyres, had stopped for a charge at Folkestone (not an issue due to 2.5hr delays 😐 ) then had two further stops/charges planned before getting to Chamonix overnight then through to Courymayeur. Quite a road trip that and a first for me, never seen a 4wd version of the Tesla.

And you a non-believer in full electric Jamba.

(No I wouldn’t have had that car for that trip either. But then while I can believe in electric, Tesla look like a red herring to me.)

Plenty of snow in the 3 Valleys. Snowed all day today and still is. Viz not brilliant but that’s okay.

Managed to bust a binding though, so now I’m some awful emergency rental Special Bus bindings that genuinely have left and right printed on them 😂