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

As a bespectacled chap those integrated visor hats look spot on. Do they have interchangeable visors?

Currently sat on a crystal transfer coach from Lyon to tignes , stationary in traffic.

Flight was supposed to go to chambery,but crystal decided to divert to Lyon because of possible fog in chambery. Then the baggage handlers in lyon took 3 hours to get the bags off the plane.

Totally journey time from bham ( so far) 9 hours.at least 3 hours still to go. Could have driven from bham in less time.

I love package holidays.

Hope the snow is good when you make it. We’re off to austria where it looks promising, possibly too much snow if the forecasts are right.

Anyone Skied in Kaltenbach & if so what’s it like? I’m thinking of taking a trip down there from Munich.
Thanks

Skied there loads. Plenty of skiing for a few days there. The whole ziller valley is ace and you can get the train up and down to visit different towns. If its a blue sky the hintertux glacier is a pretty special day. Stacks of snow coming next week apparently.

Easy schlep down from Herefordshire to a cracking Airbnb place SE of Troyes. Roads both sides and the tunnel v quiet. Looking forward to trying to hunt out whatever decent snow there is left in PDS.

Any views on Kitzbuhel? I’ve been saving w/c 5th January for a last minute booking to Austria. Saalbach is getting booked up but Kitz or Schladming might be options. Would appreciate views on both. I’d say we are adventurous intermediates!

Csb
Looks like you can get a yellow tint

https://www.wedze.co.uk/search/content/Visor?type=model

The helmet has Google retainers so if you shag the visor you can then use it as basis standard helmet

Pedlad,
Once the xmas crowds have gone, aim for avoriaz sector until new snow. Some of haut châtel is still skiing well but the return can be a bit crap.

Ta stoner. I look forward to being uncool next time I go, this time I’m stuck with goggles.

P.S.A. Ski Sunday back on 6/1/19 5.15pm BBC 2

Looking forward to this.

Thanks.

Forecast for next couple of days Zillertal and East looks pretty good! 30cm-180cm the further east you go. I’m looking forward to starting the New Year right with a day riding pow on the 1st.
Will also get little JWjr on his first sledge ride 🙂

Any views on Kitzbuhel

Went there 2 years ago. Beautiful area. It was only my second week skiing, and I’d say it was graded a bit soft (certainly Val d’Isere last year was a chunk meatier). Other than the Hannenkamm*, all the pisted stuff got done with no big issues. A good confidence booster I’d say.

It is quite low and a lot of the pistes back into town were dissolving into slush by the end of our week (mid Feb!). The last day, pretty much every trip up on a lift, more rock was poking through.

The valley buses aren’t quite as frequent as you’d like, but using them to get first lifts on some of the linked areas up the valley or off the Kitzhorn will get you fresh Cordruoy.

We were staying in a hotel a bit outside town, so I can’t give much info about the nightlife, but it’s definitely a proper town, not a resort

Would happily go back, but would want it to be a cold winter.

*my so called mates (who’ve been skiing all their lives) took me down the Hannenkamm on my 10th day EVER on sticks. Predictably, auditions for Jerry Of The Day took place…!

Thank you, Jon. I managed to get some good quality accommodation in Saalbach at the last minute when I booked last night but on the strength of your reply then Kitz will stay on the list for next year! I like the sound of the town and I don’t mind easy runs throughout – it’s a bit easier on the legs these days! (I did St Anton last year which was amazing but exhausting).

CSB above states ‘plenty of skiing for a few days there’.

Elsewhere in this thread skiers go on about measuring resort quality in a time : boredom ratio.

As a snowboarder I find this very odd. Do skiers not just find their favourite run and do it over and over again like wot boarders do? Is it the case that there is simply so much more one can do on a snowboard to have fun that we can repeat the same run ad nauseam without getting bored, and therefore never express resort quality on a time basis?

I don’t know, but amongst our big annual boys trip it’s definitely true to say that the skiers prefer to travel longer distances in a day than the boarders, who generally tend to stay in bed later, session in the morning and then meet us for lunch.

I think it varies by location as well. Very few North American resorts are as large as the European linked mega resorts so lapping of the favorite runs etc is much more common over here in Canada. I do occasionally miss the ability to have lunch in a completely different valley and make a day of skiing to / from it though.

We’re off to Les Menuires on Saturday for 12 days with a couple of friends. Me boarding, rest of them on skis.

Looking at the snow and the forecast think we might be spending most of the time up in Val Thorens.

I’ll be doing my snow dance all week though.

I didn’t plan on it but I have just bought new skis – Nordica Santa Ana’s 93 with Marker Squire bindings. Hope I don’t come to regret buying skis I have not tried but it is difficult to find lots of choice when you are 2 standard deviations from the norm in terms of height!

I also looked at the Volkl Kenja but my word the graphics of those skis are beyond dull.

Car is all prepped for the drive out on Saturday-winter wheels and tyres on, screenwash done, hoovered, washed and waxed. Off to the Grand Massif – back on 15th Feb, hope to see at least one lot of singletrackers whilst we are out there !

I’d be renting a pair for the moment if the conditions in Morzine and LG are representative. Skieed the chamossiere today and it should be shut as it’s a rock fest. Some nice chalk off the back though but whole are is scraped clean and relying on gun snow.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/46694497

Anyone else off to Austria this weekend? 8)

I’m landing in Salzburg on Saturday evening. Just around the corner from you in Maria Alm (Hochkoenig region)
The snow forecast is bonkers!

150 skiers rescued from a broken down chairlift in Austria yesterday.
They were taken off by helicopter as it was thought to take too long to mend the chairlift.

I’m landing in Salzburg on Saturday evening

Me too. I’ve been reassured by people on Snowheads talking about how good the airport is at continuing operations in these weather conditions – apparently they can clear the runway in 10 minutes. Innsbruck can do it in 8! 😄

I don’t know, but amongst our big annual boys trip it’s definitely true to say that the skiers prefer to travel longer distances in a day than the boarders

This may well be true in many [large] European Resorts which have seemingly developed along the lines of ‘getting the miles/km in’ and ‘ticking off the runs’.

in my experience (and as As sweaman2 mentioned) that is not often the case in Canada.

However, in general though, I think that [piste] skiing is much easier for getting the miles in (especially at a beginner/intermediate level) and doesn’t suffer as much from long flat sections and heel-side traverses on off-camber pistes etc … which is perhaps why many snowboarders tend towards doing laps off a run that’s in good condition with features etc.

As for snowboarders hitting the piste later in the day this again may well be true in lower latitude European resorts where (unless it’s a powder day) the snow may well need to transform a bit first (especially late in the season with freeze/thaw conditions) – since rock-hard groomers can be a bit wearing on a board after a while. Those are the days when I wish I could ski a bit better so I can use double the number of edges! 🙂

That all makes sense!

@wallop

You’re not on the Manchester Jet2.com flight landing around 6pm are you?

Just a reminder to lock up your snowboards when you leave them outside bars etc .

A friend of mine just had his board (Burton custom X) stolen from outside a restaurant in tignes Val claret yesterday lunchtime.

Regretting buying new skis now! They were delayed being mounted and given to the courier, I leave tomorrow and the chances of them arriving in time are slim to none I think!
Anyone wanting to bring my new skis out to the grand massif with them 🙁

@colp

No – we are flying out of Bristol.

If you have skis consider splitting them with friends then locking them up.

@sprootlet – sent you a PM. Might be too late

Just finishing up a week in Les Gets, mainly here to finalise buying a house but sideline of a bit of skiing. Lovely weather , snow not great but v cold since Wed and guns hammering it. Decent drop due in the next 10 days. Will be pimping out a chalet on here for next year 😉 planning to spend 8 weeks over summer getting it all sorted out and drinking vin rouge to get over depthcharging my pension 😂 Life’s to short to not have your own hot tub.

@colp
Keep us updated and post some pics if you can! We’re so excited now, we’ll give you a wave at the Airport next week 😁

I spoke too soon. We’ve been diverted to Linz already!

We’re on a coach to Menuires. Chambery airport baggage was running pretty smoothly, which was a nice surprise.

No fresh snow but height will be our friend.

It’s going to be freezing though 😫

Just a reminder to lock up your snowboards when you leave them outside bars etc .

A friend of mine just had his board (Burton custom X) stolen from outside a restaurant in tignes Val claret yesterday lunchtime.

🙁

I always used to be good at licking stuff up after a mate got his board taken from the top of the red eggs in LDA.

I’ve slacked more recently but have got my lock with me, will make sure I use it.

IGluski offering B&B in Soll for £269 for 12/1/18. Soll forcast for approx 2m of fresh this coming week so there will be plenty of snow about
Typically I am off to a snowless Risoul , which has had next to nothing since xmas and zero forcast.
Not going to book in advance ever again . Done enough skiiing on stoney , icy pistes with mud patches showing through and clumps of artificial snow to trick into thinking its better than it is
I would actually rather pay £150 – £200 more and take the risk of gettting somewhere shonky by booking 5 days before going if there is significant snowfall in the area.