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

Sunshine in Scotland’s own Les Trois Vallées

Shit day in st Anton today. Gave up at around half one. Desperately hoping the forecast for the rest 9f the week isn’t true.

GrahamS – you should never have threatened them with the Burtons. They know. 🤫

@oldtennis that looks great !

Candide Thovex .. worth following on FB

https://www.facebook.com/CandideThovex/videos/10155094014158204/

Of to st anton on saturday.

Hopefully it should be good,could do with some sunny days.

ski passes booked .

hire skis booked .

Alpe d’ huez here we come .

weather forecast looks ok for next week .

Was listening to Chemmy explaining how to fall properly when skiing. She was explaining after a slalom skier crashed during the combined comp yesterday (he took out a pisteur on the way down and looked out for the crash bag).

He stayed loose and just flopped down, not tensing up which she explained many tourist skiers do, thus breaking bones and ending up with acl damage.

Like oldtennisshoes I was up Glenshee on Sunday. Snow conditions were fantastic, but the wind on the ridges was incredible. Free dermal abrasion anyone?
Yesterday we set out planning on another Glenshee trip only to discover the access road was closed so we headed for The Nevis Range instead. Similar conditions to Glenshee on Sunday but with more fresh snow!
Results so far
Days skied in mainland Europe 6
Days skied in Scotland 6

Long may the current weather continue!

Both Cairngorm & Glenshee closed today. Should be open tomorrow though 🙂

Shredalert, shredalert!

Snowboarder wins Women’s Super G at the Olympics. haha brilliant

Paris zone on holiday as of today. Hopefully the weather system that’s going over today will drop a little snow low down when the cold front arrives as the warm front is currently dropping rain at over 2000m.

Yesterday morning was rock hard. They closed some of the steep pistes till it warmed up and the surface softened to limit the number of ambulances needed. We gave up after surviving one run.

Still no obvious way of posting pics or vids on this new forum

Scotland best snow in Europe then?

Arrived in Alpe d Huez yesterday. It snowed all day, but woke up this morning to blue sky and sunshine and fresh snow.

Great day, some queues but 10 minutes max.

Could not ask for more.

And they even had 5 or 6 Tesla going round the ice track !

Back yesterday from a week in Hinterglemm – some of the best snow piste-wise that I’ve seen in many years

Off piste was fine but no more than maybe a foot of fresh.  Nice light stuff though

Rained up to about half the mountain on Friday and the snow up top felt a lot heavier too afterwards

There’s plenty of base but they could do with some more fresh snow from colder skies to cheer it all up again

Threw down with snow in Obergurgl yesterday and I’ve just woken up to blue skies and fresh snow. Today will be a good day!

A friend has an apartment in Chamonix I’m considering a March visit to. Not been there before and was hoping someone could explain how it works to me, there looks to be a bunch of ski areas, do you need all of them, are some better than others? I’m used to skiing in Les Arcs so how does the local piste grading compare? Any advice welcome 🙂

heading back out to Morzine for the weekend on Friday.

Lots of base, and nice low freezing level this week, but little new snow forecast. Should be clear and bright though and the PDS groomers do a grand job.

looking pretty bloody fine out there at the moment

http://www.portesdusoleil.com/webcams.html

my snowboard plans (Are, Sweden) fell through on the weekend. Anybody got a spare place and want a housetrained, 29 yr old snowboarder to join? 🙂

Back to work after an eventful week in 3 Valleys (staying Les Menuires):

– despite emailing the resort rep over a month before we left, and repeatedly since then, we were told (by text) on arrival that he hadn’t been able to secure a ski school place for my four year old! 🙁 Fortunately a much more sensible rep was able to do the required begging and saved the holiday!

– weather was very mixed: two snowy low viz days, two bluebird days to enjoy all the lovely fresh snow, then two more snowy/rainy low viz days.

– snow was absolutely brilliant all week, even when it was difficult to see. 🙂 Amazing soft and fluffy off piste – but it was a family trip so I was mostly stuck stealing intra-piste slackcountry where possible. Pistes were in great nick and were mostly soft, exactly the way I like them. No icy corduroy for me!

– kids did well in ski school. 4yo now happily doing laps on the magic carpet and did her first chairlift. 7yo now coping well with red runs, joining us for the afternoon and leaving MrsGrahamS standing.

– MrsGrahamS showed some great improvement, coping brilliantly with some challenging conditions and trying a bit of switch as well as the baby boardercross and jumps.

– I broke a binding and had to rent some remedial school bindings. Which sucked.

– MrsGrahamS also broke a binding! (Bolt undid on her heel strap as she was scooting and was lost in the snow). Resulting in an exhausting uphill high-altitude hike back to the nearest gondola and much faffing in ski shops to get a replacement.

– 4yo’s rental skis were stolen on the last day. 🙁 Three other kids too. All from the same rack. 150 euro charge and unlikely we’ll get it back as the police station was closed, so no crime number for insurance purposes. 🙁

– hotel was good (Neige et Ciel). Amazing four course buffet every night, wine on tap, and some evening cabaret for the kids.

All in all a brilliant week with just a couple of niggles. I’ll post some more piccies later but here’s one to be going on with:

Back at desk after a memorable week in Flaine, fantastic snow conditions, kids now all better skiers than their Dad so my job is done.

Interested to hear what traffic Qs in and out of the Tarentaise Valley resorts was like last week. I have driven to Flaine the last 2 years and found it easy but want a new and more extensive area next year. Only previous experience was a 5 hr transfer to Geneva from La Plagne which has really put me off the area at Half Term.

Traffic was surprisingly fine from Les Menuires, Vino.

We were expecting the worst and so were the tour company judging by the warnings. We did have a long transfer last year (in the week before half term) but this year it seemed much better.

Guess the early start helped. We set off around 6:30am (by coach), arrived at Geneva around 9:20am, so about normal and we were asleep for most of it anyway.

Interesting blog post about an avalanche and rescue at Glencoe the other day:

http://crankitupgear.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/a-trip-to-white-room.html

Another stunning day in Alpe d Huez.

Forecast good for the rest of the week.

Traffic was ok coming here and French TV were surprised that there were so few jams.

A friend has an apartment in Chamonix I’m considering a March visit to. Not been there before and was hoping someone could explain how it works to me, there looks to be a bunch of ski areas, do you need all of them, are some better than others? I’m used to skiing in Les Arcs so how does the local piste grading compare? Any advice welcome

Worked there back in 2005 so my advice may be dated, but essentially it’s a bunch of separate ski areas under a single area pass which are connected by a bus with about 10-15 mins between each one. The town itself has no ski area you can walk to easily but it’s a proper town rather than a ski resort so there is more going on. I lived in argentiere at the base of gran montet so pretty much rode up there all the time with the occasional trip to le tour, flegere never really seemed worth it. Piste grading was pretty similar to other French resorts, though there are probably fewer blues and more reds/blacks.

Hate me.

I think I’m going to buy another set of Flow bindings.  My NXTs from a few years back are starting to fall apart, and I think I’ve found some NX2s at a good price.

Come on, tell me why I’m worse that a blader.

a little oirish chap got me into Flow bindings a year or so ago and I picked up some well refurbished s/h Flow Five bindings in Morz.

I think you showed me some as well a year or two ago. Thet’ve been quite the revelation although I think Id find the fit more comfortable with the toe cup strap rather than over strap which seems to be an inappropriate design for a rear foot access binding.

But HOW MUCH for NXT???!?!? I think I paid €50 for my FIVEs!

I’ve been looking at NXTs too so would be interested how you get on. I’ve got some APO Expresso bindings at the moment which are fine, but old.

I already replaced them once with some SP Slab bindings but they got stolen with my last board. I found them a pain to clip in and out of so wouldn’t buy them again..

Love my NXTs – sacrifice a little performance for a lot of comfort, speed if you want it, same fit off every lift – and as DD points out a standard clicker opening if you want it.  Also ridden Burton, Drake and Now – but I like the Flows best. I’m old and slow.

Not paying full price (or anything like) for the NX2s – I shall be in Calgary this evening (work unfortunately) and I’ve found a place on the web near my hotel.

Never really got on with Flow myself, though admittedly it has been many years since I tried them.

I am strangely drawn to the Burton StepOns though – even though I know I shouldn’t!

I particularly like the armchair internet criticism that they are for “past it old men whose beer bellies mean they can’t reach their toes”. Sounds perfect 🙂

Was in Les Gets week before last, loveyl conditions and another good week with Ski Famille. Bugger me it’s expensive though, and this was week before half term. We’ve given up and decided to buy something as we’re there winter and summer now for the forseeable and will use it circa 6 weeks a year.

GrahamS – suddenly I’m drawn to those step-ins…

NZCol – buying in Les Gets? The thought hadn’t crossed my mind. Speak to Stoner – he bought in Montriond.

@hansrey

“<!– .bbp-reply-author –>my snowboard plans (Are, Sweden) fell through on the weekend. Anybody got a spare place and want a housetrained, 29 yr old snowboarder to join? ”

I live just outside Åre and go snowboarding almost every weekend.  Are you visiting these parts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmhzRt2E0dQ

respect the send

Well done that lass. Played the system well.

Just back from annual family day long weekend in Kimberley.  Friday morning Sweajnr got his first runs off a proper ski lift managing 1300m of descending with limited help.

Then on Saturday it started snowing and it kept on snowing… 41cm in 24 hours with 36cm overnight.

Unfortunately all of the Columbia valley descended on Kimberley leaving lift lines for the ages…. 8:55am.

But Sweamrs and I still managed to find plenty and managed 4 decent runs.

Before we headed back at lunch and picked up Sweajnr for a powdery lap in the afternoon.

NZCol – grand plan, prices to buy are steady at the moment.

Drop me a line if you want some contacts (I have a good English solicitor btw)

@howsyourdad

@hansrey

“<!– .bbp-reply-author –>my snowboard plans (Are, Sweden) fell through on the weekend. Anybody got a spare place and want a housetrained, 29 yr old snowboarder to join? ”

I live just outside Åre and go snowboarding almost every weekend.  Are you visiting these parts?

I’ve never been before! I used to live in Helsinki and most of my friends/ colleagues have been there. I’m looking at a long weekend

cool well it’s great. Lots of snow this winter. I’m going sunday if can get out of a kids party!

Sickening photos as always @sweaman2 – just awesome.

Cheers Stoner – knew you had a place out there in the Morzine valley. Will drop you a message.

igm – yeah, i really like it as a village and while it’s low it’s lovely in summer and winter, is small and people actually speak French 😉 We’re having a bit of a nose around now and are out there for 3 weeks in the summer anyway so will try and get something locked in. Just looking at cost versus size. I was quite keen on the 7M Euro+ chalet with the infinity pool but Mrs NZCol pointed out that it was out of budget, I could see myself reclining in it as well ….