toby 1 - yes I really feel the cold and I don't weigh much so that may have something to do with it.
Wallop - thanks.
Its snowing now in Meribel, however it's very light and probably will only put down a couple of cm.
Been skiing with a local who's a good friend. He's 73 years young and just bloody fantastic on and off piste. It gives us oldies hope that we can still do this skiiing (snowboarding) lark for many years to come.
Hi Bunnyhop, I'm in Val Thorens, similar light snow. May go to Meribel tomorrow, if you see somebody on a monoski say hi!
Thanks Bunnyhop, just want to make sure my wife has all the right layering, that said she does have a regular ski coat and a cold weather ski coat so it should be fine. The -26 windchill in Tignes over the weekend is looking parky though!
As for skiing till you are older, I hope so I only started in my mid 30's and I don't plan stopping until I absolutely have to.
Octagenarians don't stop skiing, they just all go to obergurgl 😉
unfortunately my nearly 70yr old neighbour is currently holed-up in a Tyrolean Hospital on a thoracic drain following 5x broken ribs.
Not quite sure what he's done but am looking forward to the tall tales in the pub when he finally gets the all-clear to fly home. poor bugger.
I know this is going to draw a lot of fire, but following my new board investigations Im planning on getting one of these:
http://pathron.com/products/snowboards/carbon-gold/
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In the style of PX/O-O which has served me well in bikes, Pathron is a direct seller manufacturer. The board specs are good on paper but sure, there's not a whole lot of info out there about it, but I fancy having a smash at it for £300. I was bidding on a hovercraft on ebay, but s/h went for £300 + delivery. I dont really care about resale value of a low profile brand. Ive got a shed full of PX & OO bikes to prove that 😉
Stoner - I hope your friend recovers quickly.
toby1 - I wear an ice breaker T. 2 x merino long sleeved tops. Thermal vest. fleece, puffer and finally a long jacket outer shell. Also mittens with fleece inners.
It's been cold again today.
Plenty of fresh power and skiing has been fabulous. Conditions on and off piste are great.
Everybody coming out to the 3 Valleys next week is due for some heavy snow.
cheers BH. Txts seem to have hiom in good spirits and his insurance is doing right by him. He'll be fine. Im more worried about what his wife will do to him. She's had to fly out to mop his brow.
And it comes in 169W Stoner!
Result.
Indeed but I'm going 165w. I'm not quite 169w 😉
Day trip to Pila tomorrow. Looks good. Had a quality week so far in Cervenia. Place is great for boarding and all in the shadow of the Matterhorn 👌
Good stuff YoKaiser, glad you are enjoying it. Report back on Pila, I've wondered about a day trip there myself.
New skis time - Head Monsters anyone?
I've decided my existing monsters are too big for me, and as junior is now taller than me and needs some skis, I'm going to palm them off on him and order some new ones for me.
I'm looking at Monster 83s in 170 size in that lovely blue colour - anything else similar for a bit of a do it all ski?
Hey folks,
I'm a very cautious, beginner skier. I can parallel ski on blue runs and have had a week in Stubai, Austria two years ago, and Val d'Isere last year. I'm off to Italy's Val di Fiemme three weeks today and am really looking forward to it. However, I went to the doc on Wednesday to ask him about what I thought was a bout of tendonitis in my achilles, only for him to point, say "Oooh, look at that!" and tell me I've actually partially torn the tendon.
It's obviously sore to walk on, but not excruciatingly so as I've done the initial injury somewhere in the last 4-8 weeks and it's basically manifested itself as an ache that I just put down to wear and tear in my late forties. When I told the doc I was going on a ski trip in 3 weeks time, he wasn't the most helpful. "Yeah? Good luck with that!", was pretty much all he said.
I'm figuring that my very slow and careful ski style, alongside the fact my foot and ankle will be pretty much immobilised in the ski boot, should let me get away with it. Has anyone else had this problem and survived to tell the tale?
should let me get away with it.
You should see if your insurers need notifying of a pre-existing condition. If you've got an annual policy you might not have anything to declare, but if you've bought it recently it might be an issue.
I wouldn't want it to "go" fully then find out I wasn't insured at all...
As you say the foot is immobilised so should help rather than hinder. But in answer to your question....no, I've not had the problem myself!
What has the Doc said to do about helping the problem before you go? When I partially ruptured the tendon that attaches to the top of my kneecap, I eventually went to the Doc 6 weeks later and he prescribed Movelat gel to be rubbed hard into the area four times a day for 20mins a time. I didn't manage to do that much for obvious reasons, but within a fortnight it was so much better!
Cheers, I'll check the insurance ( I need to declare my type 1 diabetes anyway). As for the doc, he's basically prescribed me rest, ice,raising it when possible, ibuprofen and referred me for physiotherapy, to be started at some point in the future.
I reckon it'll be fine as well, just a wee bit nervous of injuring myself on a winter holiday after the 'Bulgarian Incident of 2016'. Think I'm going to get one of those stuffed sausage compression socks, see if that'll help it any. 🙂
You'd be nuts to ski on a duff achilles tendon IMO, the forward fall is one of the ways to rupture the tendon in the first place - if you can't run comfortably on it I suggest skiing is asking for trouble. I had very ordinary case of achilles tendonitis and simply quit skiing till it got better. Whether with Head Raptor race boots (which are about as stiff as boots get) or with my X-C ski boots (free heel) it was uncomfortable and an obviously unnecessary risk. If you must then wind down the DIN release on that heel to 2/3 of what you'd normally use.
Conditions in Peisey (for X-C) and les Arcs (for rando and descent) have been excellent over the last week. An adequate snow cover that was topped up with light fall on Wednesday. Beautiful cold clear days. My only problem was getting the car open, while junior's colleague in Tignes Val Claret had waxed up diesel and had to be taken down the hill to get going again.
Had one of the best days skiing yesterday, staying mainly in and around Meribel. The changeover day made the pistes quiet. Snow was in superb condition due to the temperature warming up a bit. It was about -17 on Friday.
Anyone going out this week is in for some heavy snowfall.
Mrs S and I nipping over on Friday lunchtime. Should be greeted by deep fresh, but viz over the weekend may be difficult. However thats where the PDS is great as there's plenty of tree stuff to enjoy when the clouds are low. Looking forward to it anyway, will put some pics up next week.
Pics, for once I had a phone in my pocket:
Stoner - give us a report back on how the Pathron goes?
Earl, will do.
Unfortunately the 165w is out of stock, but in good ol brant/on-one style an email to Poland at the end of last week and the main man there says there'll be a production run done tomorrow or Tuesday and listed on eBay straight away. It might not arrive in time for the weekend but I might get my hands on it early next week before the end of the short trip, and if not I'm back out in March so will certainly be riding it then.
Snowed a reasonable amount during the day yesterday, then tanked it down overnight as well in Tignes. Sitting around waiting for the lifts to open as they clear out the excess at the moment.
Visibility was low yesterday, but it great playing in the snow.
Today is looking lovely with blue skies and small amounts of cloud passing through. Hoping to get out there soon!
Snowed a fair bit in the Grand Massif but not the 48cm that was forecast. Plenty of fun to be had but despite cold temperatures it's fairly heavy going. Still this is a first world problem ....
Hah, I'm with you sprootlet, just been out and bought some warmer gloves, I'm used to nothing more than a couple of degrees negative and a negligible windchill, today was not that. My hands have rarely been as cold, still easily resolved. Now how the hell do I get better at powder skiing, it was knee deep on the early runs this morning!
Oh, and it has honestly been an amazing day, so much fun.
Winds closed the higher lifts in PDS yesterday. Thought we were going to get stuck over the chatel side but they opened again at 3pm.
Dumped loads last night. Lapped fresh powder over the Swiss side all day as well as the wall which was in good condition.
Still snowing now but may have a couple of windy days this week so keeping an eye on that.
Well something a little different for me. Not a huge amount of fresh snow in the rockies recently. Sweajnr has joined the local Nancy Greene ski club and had his first attempt at skiing gates on Sunday.
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Loved skiing gates as a kid, wish I had started at that age. And on snow not plastic would have been better.
out to La Plagne on Sunday. everything looking great but i am a bit dubious about the cold... its quite early season for us, normally go out in March. but im not sure ive ever heard so much complaining about the temperatures before... Wondering whether i need to get some extra warm stuff, especially for the kids?
I'd keep an eye on the forecast temperatures Mahalo, it's 8.25 am and our balcony is reading a temp of -9.6. Today is the last day before the snow starts tonight. If it says this cold them i would err on the side of extra warm as I have been freezing at times.
I've been using snow-forecast and it's been fairly reliable.
Got to go, I have a hot date with a random man I've met to go and play in the powder....
Ive never skied gates. Id love to have a go 🙁
Sproot report back on conditions. Esp viz. Hoping most of the disruptive weather has passed through the PDS/Grand Massif by the weekend, but expecting a few cloudy/snowy days.
Stoner - are you NW based? Chill Factore do good race training on Tues evenings. Price has gone up but may well be some better deals in summer. Hour of drills, hour of gates...
Also off to La Plagne on Sunday - not been to the area for about 20 years, since my mate ran a chalet in a little village under the La Plagne / Les Arcs cable car (that wasn’t even built then!).
The grim North? V unlikely 😉
I'll just sneak onto the closed race pistes next time I'm out in the PDS. A cheeky shimmy.
PDS is the grim north. 😉
Snow is due to start tonight then continue to a greater and lesser extent to Sunday.
Having said that the snow is **** brilliant - squeaky on piste and fluffy as a fluffy thing in the off.
Visibility today has been fantastic but it is starting to close in a little now ((4pm).
The links might be an issue as the wind is due to increase but we'll see how it goes.
The English schoolgirls champs are on in Flaine at the moment .....
And good news from Poland! Batch of 165w run and one with my name on it is hopefully on it's way to my mates in France. Whether it arrives by the time I leave on Tuesday we'll see. If I'm really lucky perhaps it will be there when I arrive on friday
Off to Sainte Foy on Friday night, driving there through the night while the kids kip, it’s going to be great. New coats, trousers, gloves, goggles and thermals, but otherwise nothing new 😉 kids should be parallel turning on reds by the end of the week, can’t wait to ski with them again!
All mountain ski tryout time as well, was trying to play off piste on a pair or ballistic semi race style carvers last time, will be so much fun in the fluffy stuff!
Looks like you should be in for some fresh stuff over the weekend tinybits.
Current piste conditions are lovely, although as mentioned above the temperature is pretty fresh!
Happly I’m ok with that, and I’ve bought the kids so much they should never get cold! Even insisted that Mrsbits gets mereno wool thermals this year - they will be warm!
Can’t wait, just wish I could shift this bloody end of flu that seems to drag on for ever!
After a painful tumble at New Year in Cervinia which ended up with very sore ribs, I've ordered one of these
and it would have been rude not to buy some new skis for the Easter jaunt too 🙂
Roll on April
Off to Sainte Foy on Friday night
Had my first trip to St Foy earlier this month - completely taken with the place!
Really enjoyed it and we were very fortunate with the snow - 40cm of cold smoke blower powder and no wind!
Will definetely be on the list for a return visit but I'm tempted to take the snow train to B-S-M next time!
Yep, it's a good place especially for the family. No waiting at the lifts (outside term time!) and lots of area to muck around in while being able to get back in 15min to the kids in ski school. Another 60cm of snow before I get there, or actually as I'm arriving but I'm not taking a stupid rwd bmw this year, 4WD Amarok with snow tyres and chains - there's nothing stopping me getting to resort! Some other friends are taking the snow train, they've just realised they are getting into BSM at 6:00am, with no idea what to do next.....
Haven’t they banned drinking on the snow train now? I’m out! 😄
Haven’t they banned drinking on the snow train now? I’m out!
Yes, but nothing to stop you pre-loading/getting squiffy at the St Pancras champagne bar and then sleeping it off on the train ... 🙂
Possibly the most depressing thing I saw in the Alps last week was a party of Brits buying drinks until they counld barely get any more on the table before the end of Happy Hour. I did think of shouting "bollocks to ******" to see how they reacted but wasn't sure I could run fast enough.
Why do you think they had to ban drinks on the snow train?
yeah Sainte Foy has been out go -to resort for the last 5 or 6 years. absolutely love it there.
one extreme to the other this year with a trip to La Plagne but looking forward to doing some mileage in and getting a bit lost.
You could always do a day trip to La Rossier, and nip over the top to Italy. Bloody good day out (other than the mega drag lift to get you over the 2nd Col into La Thuile...) without the crowds.
Face shots a plenty in PDS today.
Question for all you folk who've been to Morzine / Avoriaz / nearby this year -
Anywhere I can rent one of these (or similar)? I really want to have a go on one...
Im sure I saw some hanging outside ALAN shop earlier this year. I can check this weekend.
http://www.alanbike-morzine.com/rent-a-bike-in-morzine.html
although I dont know why Im enabling such disgusting behaviour.
Why do you think they had to ban drinks on the snow train?
I think it's fairly obvious why they had to ban drinking on the snow train, but what a shame that groups of rowdy Brits have to spoil it for those like me who like to enjoy a few quiet glasses of vin rouge in the evening.
Also heading to la Plagne this weekend, and pleased to see my long-term near-faultless record as Bringer Of Snow looking set to continue! Hoping we've picked the right week ahead of the big half term ones that it won't be too mobbed. Conditions look pretty mint.
Lots of snow in the grand massif today, a couple of times I was stuck in the powder due to the sheer volume of snow I was up against (admittedly I am less than 8 stones so not the biggest mass to push through).
The snow is light and powdery, all the heaviness of early in the week has gone. Hugh grin factor apart from when a binding spontaneously popped off and I head planted - woke me up though.
Looking forward to tomorrow and more snow is forecast - whoever is doing the snow dance for us please carry on.
Why do you think they had to ban drinks on the snow train?
We took the snow train once. Our carriage was right next to the disco car, which of course was noisy. No big deal.
The drunken ****wits used the toilet inbetween our car and the disco until all the water ran out and it wouldn't flush
... and for about 3 hours afterward. Shite, puke, christ knows what else all over the floor & walls. Frigging Brits abroad
Ots, really enjoyed Pila. Different feel to it compared to Cervenia. Nice wide pistes with some undulations and tree lined areas. Also looks good from a value point of view, certainly compared to Cervenia. If I was to take the family away it's somewhere I'd definitely consider.
Worked out really well for us as a load of the lifts were shut in Cervenia and the conditions in Pila were fab. Bit of a pass snafu on our part meant we had to buy a day pass but the Cervenia one should have covered it. It was 20 euro for the bus organised by Crystal.
Sounds worth a look. Heading back to Cervinia for the first week of April to may nip across then.
If you’ve got an Aosta valley pass and a car I can highly recommend the Monte Rosa area starting at Champulac. Had a great day there going across to Algna and back.
Quick question for boarders (or skiers). Does anyone keep on top of their skills by visiting indoor slopes? Or even getting lessons through the year? I don't think I'm far off where I was when I was boarding last though there is definite room for improvement. And also boarding seems to have changed a bit in the last 20yrs, picking up some new skills may be a good idea.
I don't have lessons out of season. But this year had a 3 hour refresher lesson on the slopes.
Possibly the most depressing thing I saw in the Alps last week was a party of Brits buying drinks until they counld barely get any more on the table before the end of Happy Hour. I did think of shouting “bollocks to ******” to see how they reacted but wasn’t sure I could run fast enough.
Don't be such a curmudgeonly olde git Ed...its expensive at current exchange rates and us clever Brits need to use every trick in the book to get value for money! 🙂
Quick question for boarders (or skiers). Does anyone keep on top of their skills by visiting indoor slopes? Or even getting lessons through the year? I don’t think I’m far off where I was when I was boarding last though there is definite room for improvement. And also boarding seems to have changed a bit in the last 20yrs, picking up some new skills may be a good idea.
I just watch a few events on Eurosport or Ski Sunday and I'm ready! 🙂
Im sure I saw some hanging outside ALAN shop earlier this year. I can check this weekend.
http://www.alanbike-morzine.com/rent-a-bike-in-morzine.html
/a>although I dont know why Im enabling such disgusting behaviour.
Ta 😛
I’ve got an old Santa Cruz Bullit out here in Austria that I want to stick a ski on the front of, I reckon it’ll be mega in the park.
Still great powder to be had here, and a beautiful sunshine day today.
High winds and patchy visibility meant a day playing in the powder of flaine, went up Grand Vans once with a vague idea of skiing to Morillon but the high winds and sign at the bottom saying we might have to shut the lift put us off and we skied back into flaine.
Thankfully the high winds have gone but the snow is coming down hard this morning, fingers crossed that it is as fluffy as yesterday 🙂
dammit, Brizzle runways closed until 12:00. Our flight is going to slip 🙁
Well I’ve just started the long (got to go via the office) journey to Les Arcs. Eurostar tonight and getting picked up from BSM. Kinda glad of the drinks ban on the train as we want to be out playing by mid morning tomorrow!
We do a couple of fridge sessions each year - 1 mid summer just to keep on top of things, one just before we go out so we don’t waste proper snow time skiing like muppets. Actually had a really good bumps lesson at Castleford last week.
harrumph, flight from Briz to GVA cancelled.
Fortunately was sat at computer when notification came through so managed to grab a free change flight to tomorrow evening and slip the return back a day too.
Transfer tickets non refundable though, so will have to shake down insurance to get those back. And Id just bought two more tickets as "backstop" transfers to make sure we could get away from GVA this evening if our flight as late...just before the cancellation notice came through.
Anyway, not a disaster. Trip salvaged for an extra €80 which I should get back from insurance.
But Stoner, look at the week you’ve picked.
Snow, snow and more snow (on chaine meteo at least).
indeed. Id just rather 100% of the snow was in France and not Bristol 😉
Quick question for boarders (or skiers). Does anyone keep on top of their skills by visiting indoor slopes?
Not these days I don't ... not since SSV burned down. I'd also tried Castleford but I could only get there when it was busy, so didn't seem to get many laps in:
2 hours in the fridge seemed to be about the same as the first 15 minutes of a trip on real snow ... I fall down a couple of times and then the 'muscle memory' starts to engage!
Or even getting lessons through the year?
I'm always up for lessons/improvement. In fact the more I ride the more I want to try and improve. I got 50 days last season and quite a few of them were spent working on technique etc
@colp - nice indy! 🙂
Quick question for boarders (or skiers). Does anyone keep on top of their skills by visiting indoor slopes?
Personally didn't enjoy the conditions at either Mk or Hemel, so tend to get a lesson or two in resort each time. Although not this year for some reason (weather was a bit unpredictable).
Heading home tomorrow, I'm going to miss this snow!
Have been doing freestyle boarding all year in mk, have definitely seen a massive jump in my ability in the mountains this year.
mind you having over a metre of snow in a week helps with that.
unreal conditions and it's up to about 50cm in les gets for today on its own
I hate snow chains but I doubt Winter tyres will be enough tonight. Two sets or one?
Just got back from an impromptu visit into Flaine - didn't happened as we had to help 2 young lasses get their clio up the road. She was busy burning out the clutch and sliding backwards into a snow bank. Managed to get them going forward to a safe area then the snow plough came up the road so they snuck in behind it.
A small truck got stuck a little further down the road then the car which pulled out to over take it then got stuck - road completely blocked so we aborted and came back home.
The resort shut this afternoon due to 5/5 avalanche risk after a bad fall. I think at one point the magic carpets and one poma were running.
It is still snowing hard and we've had a lot more snow fall than was forecast. Getting slightly worried that I won't make GVA on Sunday for my flight home to my Dad's funeral on Monday.
PDS has been epic this week. The 2nd half was not so great as the high lifts were mostly shut for wind reasons, but over to pre la joux was full of untracked powder. Prob because seasoners don't have lift passes for there!
Today was a let down. Loads of snow, but temp has risen and got soaked to the bone. It's wet heavy snow that's covering what was left of the fluffy soft stuff.
Little one joined ski school from mid week and still managed Ourson in the ESF scheme. Not bad for 3yrs 9 months.
Got a leave window in early March so already floating the idea with the other half.
We have a week in Val Cenis for half term, and are planning on driving there on the Friday/Saturday. Not having driven to the alps in the winter before, what are people’s recommendations for tyres, etc. I currently have standard summer tyres on the van, should I a) get winter tyres? b) autosocks? c) chains?
From what I’ve seen on google maps and from others, the drive to Val Cenis is on the main road, no big switchback climbs. Anyone been?
Just spotted a nice deal with Eaprit for me, Mrs DD and dd for St.Anton for mid-April. Anybody have any idea what kind of a gamble wrt snow that might be? It’s generally in the top ten of lists of best places to ski in April. Esprit have deals for under 2k for 2 adults, 1 kid (childcare included) - plus lift passes and hire (just for Mrs DD).
EDIT: NOT including lift passes or hire.
I LOVED St Anton, but we went in January so can't comment on the snow. Like you say, it's one of the better places in Austria for late season.
Just don't let this happen to you, because there's no public hospital in the resort:
