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Having bought a board in the sales in April, another one arrives tomorrow. Why? You ask … well, the edited highlights are as follows …
Foolishly, I didn’t immediately set up my new board - a Capita DOA - when it arrived. Then when I did in October, it turned out that the inserts had been so poorly machined you can’t get a bolt in them. So I started a warranty claim and while they state it’ll be sorted in 2-3 days, that was … optimistic.
One month, a lot of chasing and a strop-a-gram to customer services later they gave me a full refund and told me to keep the board. Why that took a month to decide is beyond me but at least it’s resolved.
Funnily enough I’ve not spent my refund on a Capita, got a Bataleon Evil Twin+ this time. Kicker is that in April I paid sales prices and in November you definitely don’t! Oh well.
madhouse - can you just run a tap down the inserts on the Capita?
After ridiculous amounts of snow in California last year, still waiting for the first storms up in the Sierra. May try and get up to Tahoe in early December, but long range forecast still doesn't have any snow so will be on partially open resorts / snow cannon pistes.
on the positive side I’ve only ridden in the wet once this winter
@stevomcd that's exactly what I'm doing, started last night but the tap I got from screwfix is crap and lost it's teeth after 6 uses. I did the warranty thing because it's new and badly machined so didn't want to do anything to it in case I had to send it back, didn't expect to get a free board out of it at all!!
Not sure what to do with it now, it's gone from wall-hanger to probably being usable but unwarranted. Might leave it on the wall till the lad takes a bit more interest and then stick him on it or maybe just swap between the two and have it as a loaner if any mates have board issues.
Wow moving from a doa to a tbt bataleon is a jump.
I have tried tbt several times and hate the vague feeling I get from it
we’re hoping they’re a safe bet.
@Akers are you going through Chamberey with them? It's an experience for sure, I say that having done it 5/6 times, but the last one was THE LAST ONE.
Build an airport next to a lake, because lakes never see fog, especially in winter. Also, take that airport, probably good for 200 people at any point in time, but put 2000 through it in a couple of hours. Mostly it's fine, but when it's not it really goes to pieces. Early start out of resort, had to stop in a service station for a while as we were 'too early' to go to the airport. Then diverted because of fog, head to Nice, no information on arrival, 3/4 hours of sparse information, then a little, then nothing again for a LONG time. Eventually get checked in and rushed through to flight after 6 or so hours at the airport.
Last trip we used SunWeb, their transfers from Geneva were a disaster, in the end they gave us a cabbie from the taxi rank who had only been up into the mountains once before so wanted to film it on his phone while drifting off the edge of the road, my wife nearly punched him, but instead filmed it for him. The return run couldn't have been better though!
Chambery is dreadful. But close to the skiing!
It was rain that stopped play when were there last. Watching the time tick by thinking ffs, could have been in Dijon then Troyes, by now. <br /><br />
Hi,
Heading to Val Thorens in Jan for a week. I think I've done 2 weeks of skiing (plus. Few of snowboarding prior) in total, so very much a beginner still.
I'd like to get a 1:1 ski lesson, maybe a couple hours on my second day. Any suggestions on who to go with or how to find a good teacher/school? Or are they all much of a muchness? Thanks!
It’s looking like a fantastic start to the season in Europe. Lifts opened today in Hochkoenig region of Austria. This is at around 900m at our place.
Winter is go in Tignes….
And Weardale today. Thin but some fairly good skiing. Visibility was good and only about a dozen people on the hill. Feels like winter now. Just see if we get another go up there this year.
@duane we've used instructors in a few French resorts, they've always been great. I'm sure if you pick one of the main schools in Val you'll be fine I think we used Prosneige.
Toby, great, thanks, will go with them!
First trip of the season booked. A long weekend in Les Carroz/Flaine/Samoens.
Question for Stevo- We're thinking about a trip this winter, and I spotted some decent price Airbnb apartments near the funi in Bourg- how big do the funi queues get at peak times?
Also, are you guys still only doing full chalet rentals for Nagano over the winter?
3.5 weeks until we head off to Les 2 Alpes for the first time.
Any top tips for the resort?
As an aside, New Years is Les 2 Alpes is half the price of Val Thorens, and about the same as we paid for Xmas in VT last year( all in MMV hotels, full board).
Both fairly high resorts, so don’t really know why VT is so expensive at new year…
@slowol - your definition of 'thin' and mine are a little different, I think!
Plenty folk out and about in the Cairngorms over the last week - still plenty rocks and heather though, so will need more to really get things going.
GavinBFull Member
@slowol – your definition of ‘thin’ and mine are a little different, I think!
Mine too - I saw the first pic and thought he meant something up there where there was a decent covering but no . . he was talking about skiing on grass with a dusting of frost on it. Maybe on some hire skis - if I were desperate or very bored.
I got some pow turns at Breck this weekend. Not the greatest terrain option, but it was still nice.
I think your tolerance of 'thin' conditions changes when most of your skiing is in England.
Weardale has the advantage of very few rocks or gravelly bits and the mown bog grass skis OK with little snow. Scotland the gravel and rocks tend to come through quicker, killing your skis.
Saturday was helped by being frozen hard and there not being many people. A couple of the runs were a bit tussocky and off piste the bog grass trips you up but I got 17 runs in, didn't need to fly anywhere and even had the luxury of a mate driving so no complaints here.
Definitely wouldn't use skis you're precious about though. My skis are both my best and worst but must be 17 or 18 years old and still going.
Skiing in England is a bit esoteric but if you live close enough it's cheap and much better than no skiing. Here's hoping for more snow.
Unfortunately had to work but Facebook tells me that Yad Moss was really good today.
So, a decent start to December followed by a lean couple of weeks here. But an unexpected Alps trip possibly coming up and I have questions.
Firstly, any tips for insurance providers for a family Alps trip? Have used BMC and Dogtag in the past but both seem fairly expensive when kids won't be doing anything out of the ordinary. Any recommendations (annual/single trip)?
First day out this season last Friday at Fieberbrunn.
Even managed a few pow turns. 😍
sorry, haven’t logged in for a while!
When it’s really busy, they run the funi more often / non-stop so the queues are never too bad as long as you’re prepared to get the elbows out. I don’t really go up to Les Arcs very often in winter though so I haven’t tried to fight my way up, e.g. at half-term. Never had our guests report big dramas.
We only do full chalet bookings at Nagano in the winter, we run it super low-key, so we just rent the whole place each week, there’s no catering or anything so sharing wouldn’t really work.
Cheers Stevo- it'll probably be an off -peak week, so shouldn't be a problem I reckon, just need to get them to commit!
Hopefully see you next summer too, if we can get organised before you fill up completely, fingers crossed we don't get a 9 hour delay again...
According to bergfex there was 6cm fresh at St Anton yesterday... On top of a rock hard base
https://flic.kr/p/2pq4e7p
I'm not sure they're not fixing up their imperial and metrics
Really weird skiing with bloody huge bergschrunds/ crevasses all over the off piste. Just far too much snow. They've pisted a lot of the chairlift lines as well to stop the chairs bottoming out
Right I'm after a bit of advice/recommendations for this year's skiing/snowboarding.
We're currently planning an Easter family ski trip - we're probably going to drive for flexibility and for the adventure of it. We'd rather train over driving or flying but the Eurostar service to Bourg doesn't run that late this year for some reason and I don't really want to fly this year. Especially as we want to do 10 days or so and it'd be nice to have a bit of flexibility and make it a road trip.
With driving in mind, is there anywhere we should look at particularly? We've done both Les 2 Alpes and Les Arcs (1800) with the kids and they've served us well as high resorts that work well even late in the season and have a huge amount of slopes to go at (we're a very mixed ability group) . Of the 2, I prefer Les Arcs as it's a bit more snowboard friendly and the run back to resort is better when slushy and cut up. I guess that's because we were up in 1800 rather than in town like you are at L2A. Mileage/drive time is obviously a consideration so I'm thinking France but is it worth looking at other areas? Fly to Austria/Andorra?
Happy to look at anything with an emphasis on height for late season (end March), a broad range of slopes and hopefully, cheap accommodation and lift passes. Also like to have a 6 from 7 or 9 from 10 style pass as might be good to have a day off in the middle and not be throwing the day away so to speak. I know it's probably moon on a stick but thought worth asking if anyone has any ideas or seen any good deals.
Cheers in advance.
G
Tignes / val is great late season. Miles of ski-ing of all types. swallows holiday crowds well. Drive is about 40min on top of les arcs. plenty of small self catering apartments in tignes.
Or book (cheaper) accomodation in bourg and drive up to somewhere different each day ( witin 40 mins youve got val/ tignes/ les arcs/ la plagne/ st foy & la rosiere)
Sorry to hijack..can anyone recommend a good place to sell snowboard gear? I brought everything new in 16’ and haven’t been since! Is eBay the best bet?
It's over 15 years since we went but Les Menuires is usually good until late April (usually stays open a week later than Coucheval and Meribel and gives access to Vla Thorens (open until mid May). Or stay in Orelle on the other side and get the cable car up to Val Thorens each day.
Unfortunately they've knocked down the concrete arch you could ski through as it had a reasonably priced small hotel in the cross piece so you could ski under your room for novelty value.
PS some friends of ours went there in April with their kids a couple of years ago and confirmed it good and relatively quiet late season.
I'm off to zell am see this weekend snowboarding
Nice one mate. My place is around the corner in Maria Alm. They had a good dump of snow on NYE and temps are dropping, you should have a good week.
Yeah man it was last minute thing as we're back there in march
ceepers
Tignes / val is great late season. Miles of ski-ing of all types. swallows holiday crowds well. Drive is about 40min on top of les arcs. plenty of small self catering apartments in tignes.Or book (cheaper) accommodation in Bourg and drive up to somewhere different each day ( within 40 mins you've got Val/ Tignes/ les arcs/ la Plagne/ St Foy & La Rosiere)
Yes I did Tignes with the wife back in 2010/2011 (I think) before we had kids anyway. Had one of my best ever on piste pow days but remember little else about it. Good take out Sushi iirc.
The Bourg and travel thing I quite like the idea of as I do like the area and have done most of those resorts at one time or another. Even hitched from Bourg to St Foy every day for a week one year. Will look into it though I think the extra travel each end of the day could be a pita with the kids. Thanks for the suggestion.
@Speeder Some of the group I used to go with would drive to Arc1950, there's a car-park under the resort which is essentially one big Pierre et vaccances hotel. It's a small well contained little 'town', we ended up going back a few times. Obviously you know about the Paradiski area so you know it's massive and enough for everyone.
I'm not a pro at late season skiing, but I'd be looking at Tignes, Les Mens, Les Arcs as obvious options. As for price, well skiing is rarely cheap in my experience.
Personally going for Flaine 16th March this year, which is later and lower than I'd usually go for, fingers crossed it's not a bad choice.
Just booked a week for me and the missus in Passo Tonale. She's a beginner. Took her to Avoriaz a few years ago but she struggled with how busy it was and the lifts. Tonale is rated as 5* for beginners with loads of wide easy runs to build up her confidence, plus I can bugger off up the glacier.
Can concur. Tonale is excellent for beginners and still a great resort for experienced riders/skiers. Loved it when we went. Apres is excellent and everything for beginners is right where you want it at the base of the mountain. Altitude makes it pretty snow sure too.
@Speeder - If you're keen on the train you can get to Bourg easily enough without the Eurostar ski service. We've literally just booked normal Eurostar to Paris then SNCF down to Bourg. Think there's one extra change to make but it's worked out over £100 cheaper per person. Use Trainline rather than the SNCF site as it finds cheaper services if it can.
Flying out to La Plagne tomorrow for a long weekend. And booked another trip for end of March to Avoriaz. And then another long weekend at the end of April, probably going back to Val D’Isere. As I always am before any trip to the snow, I’m ridiculously excited.
But, would have preferred a full week in amongst that lot but work isn’t allowing it. Will just have to put a longer trip in the calendar for next year now.
I’ve made multiple attempts to tick off my number one bucket list to go skiing and have been bamboozeled by the choice of resorts and apparent complexity of options.
However, those few comments above about Passo Tonale have prompted me to look again and, through Crystal ski, it comes in at less than £5k for five of us. Which is sort of cheap to other places I’ve looked at. We are all absolute beginners so should I just book everything, kit, school and passes through Crystal?
And this would be the first week of Easter, sat 23rd March. There will be snow won’t there?
@rockhopper did similar with Crystal for the first few years, they are experienced in doing the whole package so it generally works well. Their group lessons can be quite large, so you may get varying amounts from them depending on how you get on with it.
Our first trip my wife hated our teacher who didn't really understand why anyone would struggle to stand on skis having been on them since she's was a toddler. I liked her harsh style and was skiing reasonably by the end of the first week with her.
The other thing I'd mention is places like ski exchange (near me but no connection), if you are kitting out kids they can rent you clothing rather than you forking out for loads of stuff they'll grow out of come next year.
As for the snow, welcome to the obsessive watching of snow-forecast and local webcams!
Just in case anyone's kids are coming up to skiing age, I've put 4 pairs of ski boots on the classifieds, two of which are adjustable.
Not really worth it if you're a once a year full week skier but they have been utterly excellent for us with frequent weekend and short trips in the past. So good not having to queue for hire and waste half the morning at Scottish centres.
Alas the skis and poles are already sold, apart from one set of 130s.
Cheers
thanks for the comments. The “kids”, BTW, are 23, 21 and 17! 😂
The intention is that they contribute financially….
And this would be the first week of Easter, sat 23rd March. There will be snow won’t there?
The base is at 1800m so should be snowsure at that time of year. We always do the first 2 weeks in April in Cervinia which always has a full cover of snow even down to 1500m at Valtournenche which is just down the valley.
@rockhpoper70 they grow up so fast 😉
In my experience £1000 per person is reasonable for a high resort, we once went cheap to a resort level of 900m it was our second year learning, will never make that mistake again! At 1800m you'll be far more likely to enjoy your holiday, the crusty man made 'snow'/ice we had in Austria that year was horrible.
It's all I can do not to constantly check the piste map and webcams and it's months away still!! It fairness I did suggest we might not go this year so my wife booked other stuff in January which is why I'm having to wait and I don't do wait well!
we've been in morillon all week, unable to ski, as i had an otb moment a week ago. skiing down an unpisted red run in falling snow, i hit a hidden obstacle in the new fallen snow near the bottom at speed. it turned out to be a deep rut. dislocated my shoulder and have a small fracture. the journey in the blood wagon and 2 ambulances down to bourg st maurice hospital was not fun.
i wasn't the only one to hit the rut and fall.
to say i'm gutted is an understatement. we were into week one of a 6 week dream, long awaited holiday.
excuse bad typing.
Oh dear, Bunnyhop. 🙁 There's some glorious weather forecast on the Var coast if you are able to walk comfortably.
After skiing on verglas over Christmas we've had good falls in the Pyrénées over the last week. Junior (ESF) is back in business and I've been waxing my classic and skate X-C skis to make the most of the good snow in the lower X-C resorts which is increasingly rare. It's a bit of a faff preparing the old waxing classic skis but satisfying when I get it right:
with a focus on a sensible budget for family of 4 in feb half term we have done a few v succesful self drive trips to aosta. 1.5 days down and back on the sundays in 1 day (two drivers and a bit long and boring). Thats from the midlands. 6 full days skiing.
Some amazing value classy airbnbs in Aosta valley level. Buy the valley ski pass which is not really any cheaper than a big french resorts but you have 5 fantastic resorts to visit (5 min to 1hr drive to free by the lift parking) depending what you want and weather:
courmayeur
La Thuile
Pila
Cervinia
Monte Rosa
come in at well under £1000 pp including all elements of travel accomodation, lift and ski hire
Oh no. That's a nightmare. Healing vibes....
Heading off here a week today....
https://www.stentifordsnowboarding.co.uk/destinations/st-foy
Known James for years through surfing here but never had permission from my family for an indulgent solo trip with him - turning 50 has its benefits!
Should be a week of powder turns - frothing is an understatement!
@bunnyhop damn, that sounds horrible. Was trying to work out what to say next, bit I've got nothing!
I'm massively adverse to paying birth e of 25€ for a day on the piste. As such, it's unlikely I'll but a day pass this year, but I might see which lakes or passes are adequately iced over/snowed up and take the kite out for an airing.
to say i’m gutted is an understatement. we were into week one of a 6 week dream, long awaited holiday.
Fudge....
There's always red wine and cheese.
thanks everyone for your kind thoughts.
i'd got new slightly wider skis and had a 2 hour refresher lesson, which really improved my confidence, but hey ho.
we are home now, poor hubby had to do all the driving which wasn't ideal.
i'm not looking forward to weeks of physio, no exercise and just trying to stay in a good frame of mind.
everyone else enjoy yourselves and i'd like to see lots of photos please.
Ive been snowboarding for donkeys years but now, at 52, ive decided to sack it off. The expense, the always delayed flights, the crap snow vs crap visibility, the relentless kit faff. Plus when i complete a run i just have an overwhelming sense of "meh".
It you could guarantee blue sky powder days i might go again, but mostly in europe its a lottery and not worth the misery that surrounds it.
bah humbug
bah humbug
The travel and depending on the weather isn't great. But for those times when it all comes together and you're flying down a piste looking at the blue skies above and cloud inversion below, the snow spraying as you put in occasional corners. I can get being meh about so much of life, but never about being in snowy mountains.
@bunnyhop that really sucks. I broke my leg (A skier broke my leg) after 3 days in Sun Peaks, BC of a 10 day holiday. I read a lot and ate a lot of poutine. Luckily, I experienced the best pow day I've ever had the day before so I still have some good memories.
This is essentially my screensaver at the moment. Off for 3 weeks in March. Never been snowboarding in March so hoping for some good conditions.
The season is shaping up nicely. Hopefully this week's snowfall allows a few days up at Glenshee or Glencoe this month
Start of February I'm away to Les Carroz with my mates
Start of March, me and the missus are away to Passo Tonale
Start of April we're off to Les Deux Alpes
Cannot wait!
Off to La Plagne with friends on Friday, bit of a trek from Geneva but got spooked booking stuff lower.
I'm in the "meh" category for skiing so tend to only want to go every other year.
Had planned 10 days in Avoriaz with my family over new year but Pleurisy [hmm, sounds like a French resort!] put paid to that.
@ceepers, we were in Ste Foy when the accident happened, love that place. will be back this season assuming the recovery goes well
@mark, enjoy, March in Canada will be fantastic
@blackflag, we were in Ste Foy with Rod, he's given up on the board and gone back to skis for the reasons you mentioned - though he did break the board out on one powder morning. Sacking off flights and aiming for longer trips by car or by train has made a difference too - travek by train was refreshing, driving is a bit more effort but makes it easier to get around
These are the new skis I got for Bunnyhop (in a 165 length) and myself (in a 175) - a bit his 'n' hers matchy matchyas they're both in the grey colcour scheme, but the price was insane - £349 in the UK, €349 reduced to €300 in French decathlon stores works out at about £265 per pair.
I'll have to have a read through all this over the next couple of days. Friday morning we drive down to the Eurotunnel, cross Saturday and will be somewhere in the Alps Sat night / Sun morning.
Haven't decided where yet but we have campervan and will decide on the drive down. Should have about 18 days in the mountains, plenty of time to find some decent snow 🙂
The travel and depending on the weather isn’t great. But for those times when it all comes together and you’re flying down a piste ....
Whoosh!
Ive been snowboarding for donkeys years but now, at 52, ive decided to sack it off. The expense, the always delayed flights, the crap snow vs crap visibility, the relentless kit faff. Plus when i complete a run i just have an overwhelming sense of “meh”.
It you could guarantee blue sky powder days i might go again, but mostly in europe its a lottery and not worth the misery that surrounds it.
bah humbug
I hear you. I've recently realised that it's not my memory playing tricks..... the really good powder days are indeed rarer and rarer these days. I'm not sure it's worth spending £6-7 grand on a week holiday when it's quite likely ( based on the last x years ) that you might not get any fresh snow whatsoever.
If you're into piste skiing then that's clearly a different matter, but I've got no interest in pistes except to find the lift again.
Having said which, we completely lucked out at new year and had a fabulous week of low Vis, clouds and lots of lovely fresh snow in St Anton, so my mojo is restored.
Som much so that I'm thinking of taking the kid away for another week. Problem is that nowhere else appeals as much as StA.... despite the 350 quid lift pass..
Had a banging week in zell/kaprun. Going to la plagne Sunday 😆
3 more days b4 heading to Utah for 9 days of skiing in several different resorts. Stupendous amount of snow has fallen in the last 10d - gonna be the powderest holiday ever…
Just had a great week in Les Menuires with my daughter on boards. Only two days of really good snow but the sun on the other days allowed us to go out and play with the best of what was left. Not the fluffiest of days we've ever had but still a lot better than we've managed over the last few years. Being able to take a train almost directly to the resort also helps as driving is just too much these days
@blackflag I’ve got a lot of years snowboarding behind me ( started in 94) but I still get super excited. I think you just have to enjoy what’s in front of you, be it waist deep pow or slushy piste. There’s always some fun to be found.
The last few years I’ve found the Korua “yearning for turning” & Arthur longos “SHE” vids super inspirational. You don’t need perfect snow to rail some carves or spin off some side hits.
Too many people learn to skid turns and never bother to progress past that point ( sure that’s not you) you can always refine technique and progressing each holiday by thinking about it/ watching YouTube / purposeful practice prevents that “meh” feeling IME
@ceepers.
absolutely spot on.
Buying a new board for different conditions helps 😉 also.
yearning for turning played a bit to the ‘old man’ crowd but I wholeheartedly embraced it, got myself a Korua for the piste, a capita spring break for the slush etc. etc.
Just back from a long weekend in La Plagne @jedi. Was pretty quiet but with the occasional pinch points around Bellecote and there was a lot of European university groups out for some reason. Watched one of them very nearly break the legs of my instructor (she was remarkably calm about it but still told him he was being a dick).
Conditions were very good indeed, pistes were in a very good state everywhere, off piste not so good except the odd pocket higher up and north facing.
And depending where you’re staying in La Plagne I’d recommend Le Petit Comptoir for food and Le Brix for beers in Plagne Centre.
Next trip, stopping by Lac Montriond in March for some skiing at Avoriaz.
Thanks dude
is that Mattun, Generalist....? is it true Happy Valley is shut for an extended period...? Mattun is a favourite but age/fitness/a bit more money means we're off to Lech later in the season
Any thoughts or views on Arinsal as a a beginner friendly resort? Passo Tonale seems to be quite booked up for the number of rooms we are going to need. 23March for maybe a week, ideally probably five nights.
Following on from the Generalist. Yep, I get what you are saying. I’ve had to reassess what floats my boat in recent years. Kids changed it too. Spending time getting them up to speed has been fun and challenging. Making the most of what you get is another. Mixing up who you ski with, what you are skiing and when, has also helped. I love a bit of knee deep pow but also spring corn and a good piste also get me to excited. I’ve always enjoyed a good long run, top to bottom Zermatt in one was definately great.
Is that Mattun, Generalist….? is it true Happy Valley is shut for an extended period…? Mattun is a favourite but age/fitness/a bit more money means we’re off to Lech later in the season
Well spotted!
We got the "new" Schindlergrat gondola to the 2nd station, ie the lower one and then headed sort of towards Gampen. Then kept as far right as possible. The final drop down above Steissbachtal was insane. Found some untracked steep bits which were utter joy. That piccy is the missus avoiding the steep bit. I think we did it 4 or 5 times that day.
Yep, Happy Valley is expected to be closed all season I think. There are huge 'schrunds all over the mountain where it slipped after the rain in December. Makes getting down on a board at the end of the day a PITA. That black below Galzig
Let's see if this vid works... First two seconds are quite nice.
3 more days b4 heading to Utah for 9 days of skiing in several different resorts. Stupendous amount of snow has fallen in the last 10d – gonna be the powderest holiday ever…
87 inches at Alta in the last week. Pity Utah beer sucks! 😉
Utah beer was pretty crap last time I was there but it was equally quite a long time ago.
The Cottonwood Canyon resorts are amongst my favouritist anywhere, Brighton and Snowbird in particular. And Powder Mountain was very special too. Only problem I had was fracturing my spine at Snowbasin on the first run of the day. Still, the patrollers were a good laugh asking me if I’d been smoking anything that morning and even sent me a get well card!
Skinned up to 2450m, looked around and thought "not bad snow for November". 🙁 The rain mid week washed away all the fluffy stuff and what's left isn't very nice. A turn every 3-4m keeping the speed down and skiing around nasty things - laborious.
Does anyone have recent experience of taking the train to the French Alps? We've booked Les Arcs 1800 for Christmas, and I don't want to fly so it's train or car. We live in Bristol so it looks as though we could do it in a day. Any tips welcome!