I have wondered that too- myself as tight as I can get them so that possibly means they dont fit!

If your existing boots have ‘packed down’ a bit but there’s still some life left in them, then try adding another custom footbed.

Burton ‘Mission’ bindings are a pretty solid ‘all round’ binding that fit a wide range of boots. The cap-straps are good, but the build quality esp. the high-backs isn’t as good as it used to be I think. Spares straps are available worldwide though.

The Burton ‘Cartels’ have greater forward lean and are a bit stiffer than the Missions – however this can force your foot further forward leaving a gap at the heel with some boots – definitely worth checking that your boot fits!

Flow bindings are definitely ‘marmite’ bindings, but the general consensus seems to be that the ‘rear entry’ system is potentially unsafe in off-piste/powder conditions. Personally I like my bindings cranked up real tight to get good responsiveness – I wasn’t able to get this with Flow bindings.

I’ve also had good experiences with Ride and especially Salomon – in particular their Relay & Code models.

Without knowing more about your riding style/aims etc it’s hard to be more specific. Like as678 says, I would probably go for a mid-price, mid-flex binding [i.e. good enough for mixing up a bit of park, piste & powder] that fits your preferred boot.

Yeah bring Ryan Leech into the mix – what’s he doing these days?

Yoga by all accounts! He’s now a Yoga instructor as well as a great trials rider!

I guess all those [trials riding] injuries take their toll as you get older: Chris Akrigg’s recovery from his leg injury has been incredible and Danny has had spinal surgery recently …

Puts my tight hamstrings into perspective somewhat! :roll:

zesty7 – next season will be the first winter since 2007 that I won’t be heading to Fernie :-( … I haven’t even bought my early bird ski-pass this year!

Hoping to head out there in the summer next year though as I hear the summers are fantastic

Hope Fernie helps you make your mind up about leaving the rat-race!

Have a look at the following book by Lisa McGonigle :

Snowdrift

zesty7 – Fernie is one of my favourite places in the world! I did a season there a few years ago and have spent a month there each winter for the past 3 years – you will have an amazing time and 7 weeks is long enough to ensure some epic powder days! :-)

Great photos CFH ! … especially the composition of the ‘beer on the balustrade’ picture ! :-)

I know. I’ve been watching you…

lol … you saucy minx CFH! :-)

Spooky that this thread should crop up as I’ve just started to make [tentative] plans for next season! :-)

Kit wise I’ve just picked up a pair of last seasons trousers with 40% off, as my old ones were getting a bit worn and suffered from lack of venting whilst touring.

If this thread is half as good as last years Ski/Snowboard thread then that will be a very good thing indeed! :-)

Sunglasses for skiing = Risers + bar-ends…

Agreed – but definitely sunglasses for ski/splitboard touring and goggles for the descents! 8)

Wildcat here as well – both the frame bag and the handlebar system.

Really happy with both of them and Wildcat were really great to deal with as I wanted a frame bag that would ‘fit’ two bikes, so sent them two cardboard ‘stencils’.

@stevomcd – loving the late-season-splitboard-trip photos! 8)

+1 for Just Riding Along – they are based near Oughtibridge on the outskirts of Sheffield
Also 18 Bikes in Hope

Great picture nedrapier! Just read your end of season round up. Sounds fantastic. Hope the injured knee didn’t hold you back too much!

Apologies for being late with my report! :lol:

Norway was absolutely incredible. It surpassed all of my expectations and the whole experience was somewhat surreal.

We were very lucky with the weather and had 7 days of sunshine; a great bunch to ride with; a fairly stable snowpack (things has settled down since the big slide there in March which had sadly killed 5 people); used the boat a couple of days to reach an island and then a hidden glacier on the peninsula.

We skinned up about 1000m – 1200m a day and then rode back to beach/shoreline; which is just a bizzare was to go snowboarding! 8)

An incredible trip and a fantastic way to finish a great season!

Highlights:

This Thread!

Spending a month snowboarding in Fernie BC:
Fresh Tracks down Currie Bowl (on the third chair up the hill on a powder day)
Fresh Tracks in Cedar Bowl
View from the top of the newly opened Polar Peak chair with a temperature inversion in the valley
Exploring the MTB trails at Ridgemont, Fernie on a Splitboard
chairlift conversations

Lowlights:

a month is still not enough!! :?

Learning:

That I’m not getting any younger and I’ve got to stretch more and more after a big powder day
That even top end snowboard boots don’t last very long and when foot pain starts only a new pair of boots will resolve it.
Having a skiing lesson to try and improve my splitboard touring technique!

Season not over for me yet though as I’m off to Norway this weekend so the best may well be still to come!!

Ahem … Jimmy Page is one thing but since when did David Coverdale become a barometer for good taste?

Of course there are exceptions but as a general rule I think pony tails on blokes in their 40’s is a bit wrong-diddly-wrong-wrong!

Unless your name is Lemmy, old(er) chaps should be careful with their choice of ‘coiffure’ less they start to look like Tim Robbins’ character in ‘High-Fidelity’ :roll:

@stevomcd

Thanks for the info and details on the Spark R&D boots – might have to pay a visit to Sole Bootlab next time I’m in Chamonix – they always seem to get very good recommendations, especially from people with ‘awkward’ feet :roll:

I think half the seasonnaires in the resort witnessed it. And they told the other half. People who weren’t even there were talking about it in the pub last night!

lol – Pleased to hear that your pain, discomfort and embarrassment wasn’t in vain and you’ve provided immense pleasure to others at your expense! :lol:

Thanks for the Spark R&D boots comments. Interesting – how are they size wise? One of the reason I prefer Salomon over say the likes of Thirty Two is I’ve got quite narrow feet. Did you have to drop a size or half size from normal ‘street’ footwear?

I think it’s touring/hiking/sweating/crampons etc that accellerates the decline in my malamutes. Plus I don’t tend to loosen my laces too much when touring as too much foot movement in the boot tends to lead to rubbing and cause blisters on my soft peely-wally feet! 8O

@ stevemcd – hope the stiffness in your neck & shoulder eases.

Did anybody witness you hitting the deck? There’s nothing quite like a tremendous bail in front of friends to provide your mates with hours of amusement at your expense is there?

nedrapier – just under 3 weeks to go until Norway. :o

Feeling ok(ish) fitness-wise. Been doing plenty of running & cycling etc. This recent fine weather has made it fairly easy getting out of the house for early morning runs, so can’t complain.

Your trip sounds fantatastic – a little bit of everything! Fingers crossed you get some good conditions for your various plans!

Be interested to know how you get on with the Venture Zephyr.

Out of interest, what boots do you use for splitboarding? I’ve been using Salomon Malamutes for quite a few years as they fit great and I like the stiffness, but find they aren’t lasting very long – i.e. they are packing down after about 6 weeks riding (at least one week of which would be pretty intensive touring). I then end up cranking the bindings pretty tight which results in foot pain.

Ended up having to buy another pair of Malamutes whilst in Fernie this year and paying literally top-dollar (about £280 when they are only £230 RRP in UK). I’ve tried to get hold of the Spark R&D Deeluxe boots but left it too late in the season (and postage/import duty makes them too expensive to buy direct from Spark R&D)

@ stevomcd

Ouch … hope you’ve not bruised anything serious. Did you catch your heel or toe edge whilst riding switch?

btw – thanks for the Livigno clarrification. I’ve ridden in (and around) Courmayeur in the past couple of years and noticed that they provided avalanche transceiver test & practice areas but wasn’t sure of the situation in Italy outside of the vallee d’aosta

Did my first ever winter holiday in Livigno ten years ago and never really saw much of the place apart from the bunny slopes …

Saw the Mission play in Leeds last year for their 25th anniversary ‘bash’ with The Wonderstuff & Salvation supporting:

Salvation were great, The Wonderstuff were very enjoyable, but I’d forgotten how much Wayne wanted to be Bono. Hinkler looked bored but Craig Adams seemed to be enjoying himself.

Tempted to go and watch Killing Joke though – I was listening to ‘Pssyche (Malicious Single)’ on my iPod whilst running this morning – nothing like a bit of ’80’s paranoia, bile, vitriol and angst! :-)

Whilst not 100% clear and the link to the info on the APT Livigno website appears to be broken:

Livigno

“Officially ALL off-piste has been banned since December 2010 and you risk a fine from between 50-500 euros if you get caught, and possible jail if you accidentally set off an avalanche. You can only now go off-piste if you are accompanied by an official guide, but the resort is still a bit hazy as to what exactly constitutes off-piste”

Edit – has anyone from STW been recently and can verify the situation?

I don’t want European resorts to do any more for safety because I like the hors piste that would get me arrested in Whistler

Really?

You might get a caution/pass revoked for excessive speed in a beginner/family area in Whistler (although most Canadians observe the signs) and no doubt a repeat offender or someone endangering others might be arrested, but you won’t get arrested for heading out into the Garibaldi Provincial Park for example.

Contravening some of the resort area ‘avalanche gates’ that are opened [conditions permitting] when you are wearing a beacon or ignoring a closed sign may also result in pass revoked.

Italy however (I think it was Livigno since Dec 2010] did make it a criminal offence to go off-piste unless accompanied by a qualified mountain guide.

Of course you can, or could. The only real difference is the bindings so you can walk uphill in them, you can use any fat alpine skis and just whack a pair of skins on

I don’t think that’s quite the point that was being made. From my perspective a splitboard gives you the benefit of ski-touring going up and snowboarding going down. Not saying snowboarding is better than skiing or owt – just different!

@freeridenick – agreed – those Edison bindings look really promising and I might be tempted to replace my Blaze bindings with them next year.

It’s definitely been a interesting couple of years in Splitboard development, what with Spark, Voile & Karakorum all coming out with new/innovative products but the Edison systems looks like a winner if it does away with the Voile ‘pucks’ and you only need one pair of bindings for both your split & regular board.

Guess it just depends how stiff the Edison binding setup is. I know Spark has addressed some of the early concerns with soft highbacks and heel straps, but an interface setup that restores some torsional stiffness looks like a fantastic idea! :-)

edit – nice shots btw! 8)

Last year I replaced my old analogue Ortovox F1 with the Ortovox 3+

There’s been a number of rumblings recently about obsolescence and analogue transceivers.

(incidently the lodge I’m staying in Norway insist on you having/renting a Digital transceiver)

OBSOLESCENCE AND ANALOG AVALANCHE TRANSCEIVERS

… probably a bit of manufacturer based sales pitch going on but it seems fairly balanced on the whole.
Also read some stuff about some of the newer digital models picking up multiple signals from the F1 – which might lead to some confusion during a search and rescue. Clearly not ideal when time is the essence.

Shame as I really got on with the Ortovox F1 – kindof the ‘workhorse’ beacon and once you learned how to use it I found it less confusing than some of the older digital tranceivers and ‘Fine Searches’ were pretty accurate. It wasn’t easy to distinguish between muliple burials/signals though and this is where the Ortovox 3+ (and similar models) come into there own as you can ‘mark’ the nearest signal and then proced to fine search the others.

nedrapier – Really sorry to hear that – what a shame :-(

Will there be other opportunities like this?

Hope the knee heals quickly. Nothing too serious I hope.

Norway plans are going ok ta. After a month riding in Fernie the legs are feeling stronger.
Took my kahtoola microspikes with me so went running on Saturdays instead of riding the ski hill thereby avoiding any Calgary crowds.

Did some splitboarding and a fair bit of hiking (mainly the lizard face and the top of Cedar Bowl when they opened).

Back in the UK now so out on the bike etc – not quite pre-breakfast ironman … more like mid-morning tin-man or bacofoil-boy! :-)

nedrapier – any update on your planned AK trip?

not sure if this helps much but I demo’d a K2 Panoramic 162 splitboard whilst I was out in Fernie and was pretty impressed:

Not as stiff (or heavy) as my Jones Solution [168W]. bit softer in the nose; but was pretty solid in both powder and mixed conditions.

Big plus point is the skin system – the board comes with the K2 skins that clip in seconds to a hole in the nose and tail of the board meaning that the transition from touring to riding is minimal fuss.

Jones Hovercraft is also available as a split if that helps any?

@nedrapier

It’s got an A in it. And a K.

Wow – that sounds fantastic! 8)
Well I hope you find a way to make it happen. Where there’s a will there’s a way I’m sure! Is it expedition style?

How’s Fernie? Still dumping?

First week’s been pretty good thanks, but raining really hard in town last night – 39cm of fresh above the mid station seemingly. Classic ‘Variable Conditions’ on the lower mountain aka ‘slush’! 8O

I just missed out on the ‘blower’ powder featured in the video ^^, but I’m sure there’s loads more good stuff left to come whilst I’m here!

@nedrapier

I’ve been sent a Very Interesting Proposition

Care to share this proposition with the group? :-)

You know those days when you wake up, pull back the curtains and see that it’s been dumping all night, and is still snowing hard?

Yep! :lol: Been like that for 5 of the last 6 mornings here in Fernie BC! :D

What skis is everyone on then?

for Powder & Piste:

Salomon Special Magnum 167 with Salomon Chief Bindings

For Splitboard Touring:

Jones Solution 168W with Spark R&D Blaze ‘Franken-binding’ (Blaze Binding with Salomon Caliber highbacks & Burton Mission straps)

+21°/-6° here with a 25″+ stance and I love carving!

When the slackcountry is not up to much but the ‘corduroy’ is cold and grippy it’s good fun to get your ‘carve on’ and try and lay down some deep pencil lines in the snow with a decent gap between the edge change! If there’s a few of you carving together it’s a jolly wheeze fo’ shizzle! :lol:

Just booked for Pila in Italy for second week in Feb

I think one of the nice things about the Italian Alps/Valle D’aosta, especially when compared to nearby French resorts is that the quality of the coffee and the food on the Italian side of Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco if you are looking at it from that perspective) is so much better and less criminally priced.

Plus the Italians seem to have a more relaxed approach to winter hobbies which often means less fractious queuing and quieter slopes especially at lunch time.

Enjoy – I’m sure you will have a terrific time! :D

@GrahamS

Hello again indeed! :-)

Lovin’ the Fernie shots.

Morning Glory one of my favourites too! Never fails to put a smile on my face!

Second shot looks like it was taken looking left off the White Pass Chair?

was in Fernie Feb 2010.

I was there for the whole of Feb 2010 so it’s possible we did catch a chair lift together at some point!

Congratulations on the baby btw!

Proper gauntlets should have a drawstring at the end of the cuff

indeed – but we all have to walk to the beat of our own drummer don’t we? 8) – so for the time being at least I’ll stick with velcro cuff adjusters!

Okay – I’ll try and answer as best I can:

Q.Do you have to book the top lift at Grand Montets in advance and is it worth the extra cost?

A. As far as I know it can’t be booked in advance (you turn up and get allocated on one of the next cable cars – first come first served), but yes if the conditions are right it’s worth it but skiers right off the top tickets is glacier so you should know your stuff

Q.Is there anywhere worth a look that’s not tracked out within nanoseconds of the first flake falling?

A. Depends really – I’ve been up Grand Montets when its boiler-plate ice and super busy, but then I’ve been up there on a powder day with barely a soul and the bochard gondola queue free!

Q.Is it possible to rack up, assess the next day’s weather forecast and book a guide or join guided groups?

A. Only if you are really lucky – but check with the likes of ‘Evolution 2’ they will have an idea on the weather over the next few days and should be able to advise on places.

Q.Is Vallee Blanche worth it (on a snowboard for a proficient snowboarder)?

A. Yes – but for the views and the experience rather than the terrain – although there are a number of variants and options to make it interesting, the bottom bit is pretty flat so can be challenging on a board if the snow is sticky – collapsing poles are an advantage.

Q.Best place to look to grab spare places on helis?

A.No heli skiing in Chamonix, but through the tunnel in Italy

Check with the likes of http://www.chamonix-aventure.com/%5B/url%5D for details.

Q.Whats the stuff like next to the town (Flegere-Brevant)?

A. Pretty good with some amazing terrain, but gets the sun more so softens up if it’s icy. If it’s really warm, can be slushy by afternoon. Link between the two areas. Can be busy with long queues to get the gondola up the hill. Little chance of doing the ‘home run’ unless conditions are exceptional so catch the gondola back down

As always I’ll ignore the fashion and do what I find convenient and comfortable

Agreed – not for me either, I’m far too old to try and compete with the youth on matters of taste and fashion!

Craig Kelly used to ride in what looked like jester pants, a football commentators overcoat and Oakley Razor Blades … thankfully fashion and taste has moved on … and ski fashion has seemingly benefited from Snowboarding style inasmuch as the dayglow ‘one-piece’ of yesteryear is rarely seen these days unless one is attempting a post-modern ironic comment on consumerism! :-)

@GrahamS

That would be scary, but nope

In which case – I’ve met your double! :lol:

regarding the gloves being over or under the sleeves, I always found that the ‘cuffs; of gloves worn over the sleeves got full of snow when I bailed – and the snow would then end up in the glove when I removed it …

… guess it depends on your chosen glove/jacket interface and what combination works for you. I’m currenty usng a pair of Dakine Cobras and these fit neatly under a sleeve like a harvest festival! (everything safely gathered in!) :lol:

Googles with no beanie – another faux pas…

+1, plus it must be pretty chilly at speed even on warm spring day!

First saw the ‘helmet over the google strap’ thang in Whistler a number of years ago when there as a big international half-pipe competition – seemed very popular with the Japanese participants and the free-style/slope-style riders in general.

At the time helmets weren’t quite as commonplace on the slopes but they were mandatory in the halfpipe so it was quite common to see riders with beanie/toque & goggles and a pisspot bike/skate helmet (i.e. one without fury winter liner) hooked onto their belts.

Seems pretty common now with freestyle riders – certainly means your goggles aren’t held in place with a little plasic clip or worse – some duct tape!