The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2018-2019 season

(Oh god, sorry – that is MASSIVE!)

Oh wallop that’s not good.

I seem to remember you cut your face last year.
Take care.

Sprootlet – hope you get back for Monday. How stressful.

Oh sorry – that was the same incident! Didn’t realise I’d posted the pic before. I’m ok now – don’t even have the scar I was kind of hoping for 😄

Long weekend in St Gervais.
What a gem of a town / resort (helped by great conditions).

Think my time of visiting the big ‘super’ resorts that the U.K. operators visit is over. Quiet / smaller resorts are great!

PSA world champs ski cross is LIVE right now on BBC red button. Snowboard cross is available on iPlayer

Stoner be interested to hear how the new board rides.

Out in Whistler with a mate from Vancouver. Unbelievable amount of runs to go at – 30cm of untracked powder yesterday, amazing day.

Woke up to a snowy Montriond (Morzine) this morning. Viz low today so going to mooch about in the trees in Ranfoilly. Saving châtel and switz for the next few days when the forecast is for blue skies.

Tried a new transfer this time, easybus. Have to say its very good if the drop offs and timetable suits you. Good driving, comfortable.

Fingers crossed new board arrives before Wednesday. Currently with Dutch dpd en route to me. Taking the old board out this for morning for a sentimental crash.

Nice one, Stoner – glad you finally made it out.

👍

Leaving for Lech in 5 mins ….v v excited!

We were riding in ranfoily this morning, it was pretty good, lots of decent powder. Back home tonight on the 21.30 from Geneva to Liverpool.

Gorgeous in the PDS right now and for the next few days. Tons of fresh super squeaky snow. Blue skies, bright sun. No wind. Chilly but warming.

Perfect timing

hmmm, attempt #3 – can I post this time?

Would have been nice to have sun in the pds last week but the crazy pow more than made up for it, although not sure the skiers in our group would agree

Been reading this thread for ages, went for a snowboard taster session with my lad yesterday and loved it! it was only on a dry ski slope though. Gonna do the beginners course they do then try to convince the Mrs that a holiday in the snow is a good thing (she is a sun worshipper!)

Sad news coming out of Courmayeur this morning.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47116059

Sad news coming out of Courmayeur this morning.

Indeed, although lots of snow is lovely to play in, we still have to remember it can also be very dangerous!

Spent the day at Combloux today – what a beautiful resort – nearly every run tree lined.

Off piste now crusty and tracked out, but the pistes in great condition.
Great views of Mt Blanc too

Sad news coming out of Courmayeur this morning

Very sad indeed. Take care out there everyone and #KnowBeforeYouGo

Blue sky and knee-deep powder at Hintertux today, epic day in the mountains.

Very not shit in Les Arcs today. Finally made it up the Aiguille Rouge too – never went up in the summer as you can’t ride off the top and the last time we came the cable car was shut all week.

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Awesome, awesome day #skiing #lesarcs #paradiski #fromwhereiski #dicksonsticks @thegoatshed73 #outsideisfree #outsideisthebestside #wherewereyouwhileweweregettinghigh

A post shared by @ coticjon on Feb 4, 2019 at 9:14am PST

Are you still around, Flash, after linking that dreadful woman giving a lesson on Netflix? Her technique was just awful, the skiing equivalent of an overweight newbie on freeride planks in iced moguls. 😉

I missed that, could you put the link back up please?

So cold in Banff (-38C) that most of the lifts have closed. Happens surprisingly rarely.

Need it to warm up a little by late April sweaman – about 30-35C more than that would be good if you could arrange it.

Off to Chamonix Sunday! Anybody been out there this season that can report on the queues after the gondola burnt down in the summer? Everything moving OK?

@IGM – April is always considerably warmer and the days are longer so you’ll be fine.

Singletrack snow mag? Anyone else noticed this?

Don’t think it’s a mag, just a “channel” on the website

On another topic, I found this via Snowheads. Mrs NBT and I have been glued to the screen for the first 40 minutes but need to go to bed, I can barely keep my eyes open, so will finish watching it another time

https://www.redbull.com/int-en/tv/video/AP-1M8YN8CVN1W11/streif

Top bloke on the top step!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/47152417

anyone off to Val Despair soon is in for a bit of a treat, the 3000 Teleski opens tomorrow for the first time in years – I’ve never seen it running

Should stop people jumping off the Leissieres Chair at the highest bit;-)! Opens up a nice off piste area.

Interesting, nbt, I last did that in eerrrrr, 1987.

17°C on the plain today, going out horse riding seemed the sensible option.

Great day in the Grand Massif, powder everywhere and the temperature stayed nice and low so it didn’t turn into concrete after 11am.
Absolute knackered now after skiing 9.30-4.15 with a 15 coffee stop but it was so good we just kept saying 1 more run.
My other half has bought some Blizzard Rustlers which he seems to like (hard to know after 2 days) and the forecast is for blue skies for the rest of the week.
We leave on Thursday to avoid the worst of the school holidays but so far it’s been bloody fantastic.
Fingers crossed I’ll actually catch up with Cam in March – third time lucky and all that.

Back from a phenomenal week in La Plagne. Honestly one of the best ever!!

Large dump of Snow during the weekend we arrived, then 4 days of wall to wall sunshine before another little top up towards the end of the week and another couple of sunny days to finish off. Glacier was open around half the time too.

First time with Club-med after years of catered chalets. Not gonna dwell on the negatives – Arrival at Geneva was chaos, Kids didn’t really enjoy the mini clubs, Mrs wasn’t keen on the food, and the rooms were incredibly small etc but all that was insignificant to me as the skiing was unreal.

I’ve never had a lesson in my 20yrs, but I decided to try them out as they’re included. We had other good skiers in our group who were clubmed regulars and they advised level 4 was a bit too serious so I put my name down for 3A.

First morning there were 14 of us + 2 instructors. Wasn’t sure it was for me during those first couple of runs, found myself stood waiting a lot, but soon we were split into two groups of 7, then 2 of our group wanted to stay with their mates so were were down to 5 + 1 instructor – this was a dream!! From then on it was flat out, good pace, good terrain, we usually all fit on the same chair, and we went on some amazing backcountry adventures, all likeminded and happy to hike for the magical pow!! We had a great dynamic, had a good laugh and saw some amazing sights, all away from the madding crowd. I did take the odd afternoon off to hammer the piste with the mrs, kids and some of the others, we all loved it. I have never packed so much into my 6 days before. Was out before and after the first and last lifts every day!!

Never had such convenient doorstep skiing before either, we would walk outside n fly down to La Roche before the lifts even opened! then we literally scraped to a stop outside the ski locker door at home time!

I love La Plagne

mahalo, that sounds great. I’m back out in April with Junior 2 who is pretty well matched in ability. We are going to have a couple of lessons/guided sessions and then try the first to last lift thing every day.

Just back from La Plagne at the weekend too. We did the Esprit ski thing for the first time ever. Very impressed – loads of staff, all very helpful and great with the kids. Quite frankly, I can’t understand where they found so many polite, cheerful seasonnaires! Very well set up for kids – ours is 15 months and loved nursery so we never felt any guilt at leaving him there for the day while we went out to play!

Our first day was last Monday and clear blue skies with loads of untracked powder everywhere as the visibility had been really poor the previous week and we hardly skied a piste for the first 2 days. Very cold, light powder too 🙂 Caught one of the first gondolas up when the glacier did open and scored some great snow up there too for a couple of hours.

Pretty impressed with La Plagne, but gets tracked out very quickly – lots of gnarly lines being skied and quite competitive for fresh tracks.

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Questa mattina, a causa di un guasto tecnico, la seggiovia Cretaz è rimasta ferma. Vista l'impossibilità di farla ripartire, grazie all'intervento tempestivo dei soccorritori, 27 persone sono state calate con l'elicottero. L'intervento, durato circa un'ora, si è concluso da poco. Tutti i passeggeri stanno bene. Ringraziamo sentitamente tutti coloro che hanno partecipato alle operazioni di soccorso con grande professionalità. This morning, due to a technical failure, the Cretaz chairlift remained stuck. Given the impossibility of restarting it, thanks to the timely intervention of rescuers, 27 people were dropped with helicopter. The intervention, which lasted about an hour, has just ended. All passengers are fine. We sincerely thank all those who participated in the rescue operations with great professionalism #Cervinia #CervinoSkiParadise #Grazie foto Ennio Fosson

A post shared by Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche (@cerviniavalt) on Feb 11, 2019 at 3:50am PST

Free chopper ride with your liftpass on the Cretaz lift today – coooool

Just back from La Plagne at the weekend too. We did the Esprit ski thing for the first time ever. Very impressed – loads of staff, all very helpful and great with the kids. Quite frankly, I can’t understand where they found so many polite, cheerful seasonnaires! Very well set up for kids – ours is 15 months and loved nursery so we never felt any guilt at leaving him there for the day while we went out to play!

Our first day was last Monday and clear blue skies with loads of untracked powder everywhere as the visibility had been really poor the previous week and we hardly skied a piste for the first 2 days. Very cold, light powder too 🙂 Caught one of the first gondolas up when the glacier did open and scored some great snow up there too for a couple of hours.

Pretty impressed with La Plagne, but gets tracked out very quickly – lots of gnarly lines being skied and quite competitive for fresh tracks.

That’s good to hear. Hotel des Deux Domaines, peut-etre? I’m off there in a couple of weeks. Our three year old is doing nursery and then lessons so my enjoyment very much depends on his mood – if he’s not happy my snowboard time will be limited!