Meanwhile, in Serre Che...
https://twitter.com/SerreChe_EN/status/1103711994258096128?s=19
Nice. Trying to work out where in Serre Che that is?? Would like to see a time lapse of the build..
I think it's the valley between Cucumelle and Yret.
Today was raining at the bottom in Samoens with some snow and poor visibility at the top above Flaine.
Snow was great high up, slushy below mid station.
This week has been a bit hit and miss with too many people, an error on our part not realising its the Paris half term. Children and ski schools at every turn and queues at the lifts. However today (changeover) was superb even with the rain.
No queues, very few people on piste and some good snow to be found.
Snow is being washed away with the rain lower down but there's lots of it high above.
Temperatures have been mild for this time of the year, so let's hope it gets a bit colder in the next few days for others.
too many people, an error on our part not realising its the Paris half term. Children and ski schools at every turn and queues at the lifts
Yeah, we got that too. Did our first “boys’” trip four years ago, leaving 6th March - and have done 1st Sat in March ever since. Seems this year, we got caught out going too early in March and crossed with one of the French zones’ winter break. And, as far as we could make out, Belgium’s too. We’ll wind it back to Sat 7th March (which is the 1st Sat anyway, but will keep a closer eye on it in future) next year - the last French break finishes on 8th March. Noticeably busier at lifts this year for sure. I blame Stoner.
Snowheads forum always has a useful table of all the European s tool holidays for the next season.
Stool holidays are long breaks they have from pooing, the weirdos.
Back in Flaine for the rest of the season, drive down was busier than Jan and the rain for the last 3 hours of the drive made it tough going.
Our chalet is at 1700m and disappointing it's raining outside. Good news it's due to turn colder and snow with a foot due later this week.
Can't wait to try my new skis (Nordica Santa Ana 93) - will let the ladies of STW know how I find them when I finally get to use them (I bought them start of Jan but they didn't arrive in time)
Anyone who's out to the Grand massif feel free to contact us if they fancy trying to arrange a meet up. That even includes boarders, yes, you Cameron !
Bon ski tout la monde
Ha. yes Sprootlet we couldn’t have avoided each other better if we tried to!
Jealous you are there for all of the spring. Conditions seem to have been variable but at least the cover is good and should last. I am waiting to make a last minute call on an end of season week. Would like to make it for the telemark weekend at Morillon start April.
Enjoy your new skis.
Doz
DD I too blame Stoner :o)
Yes we have the full list from 'snowheads' for all the kiddie holidays but this was left out, will not be making that mistake again. You couldn't make a turn without nearly squashing a wee thing. It was embarrassing as most of them were better skiers than I was.
Sprootlet - there is plenty of snow high up above Flaine. Let's hope they keep the gondola running if there are high winds. We missed a day due to the mountain being closed last Mon. Made up for it yesterday though.
Good food to be had at Cafe/restaurant '1967' next to the yogurt pots. Half the price of the mountain restaurants.
Bunnyhop, picked this up from about-france.com. Shows the winter holiday dates for next year (though I assume, like us, you’ll be more “on it” next year).
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EDIT: Probably obvious, but they’re the three zones left to right.
Interested to know if anyone else has experienced altitude sickness ('Acute Mountain Sickness') on a normal ski holiday. My friend had it last week at La Rosière. On the first day of skiing, we did two runs from about 2400m down to 2000m, then up to 2800m. On the way up the lift he said he was feeling a bit unwell, on the run down he rapidly became exhausted and had to stop, with dizziness, nausea, numbness in both arms and rapid breathing. I was initially concerned he might be having a heart attack, but he had no chest pain, his pulse was normal and both arms were affected not just the left one. He declined an asprin because he was nauseous and I didn't push it (I would have if he'd had chest pain).
We descended as fast as he was able to and once down to about 2100m he lay down for a while, feeling better, and after getting back to the chalet at 1850m the symptoms went entirely. A web search confirmed that the three principal triggers are rapid increase in altitude to above 2400m, physical activity and dehydration (all present). He rested that day and drank lots of water, skied a bit on the lower lifts the next and was skiing normally on the third day.
Apparently it's quite common when going straight from sea level to over 2400m but I've never seen it happen before.
It happens, have had people I'm teaching like that in V D'I in the past. Generally main thing is dehydration at altitude which seems to be trigger for it. Unusual but not a problem, i've got a heart murmur at altitude bizarrely - found it during my medical.
I've had mild symptoms when staying quite high. But, I was also coming down with a virus so hard to nail down the exact cause.
Heading to Avoriaz on Thursday for the weekend. Looks like some new snow might be arriving up top, which will be welcome!
DD - thanks that's helpful.
Re altitude sickness, I've only experienced it in the rockies (Breckenridge), where you really do need to drink a lot.
Quick question snow folks: wax/base cleaner.
Do you bother with a snow/wax-specific base cleaner like Datawax?
I've got a 2 boards and 2 pairs of skis that are manky and sticky after a week in a snowdome with a coolant leak. I was planning just to use some bike degreaser / chain-cleaner as I have plenty kicking about.
If it was me I'd just do a hot wax clean (i.e. wax and scrape when still warm), then re-wax and scrape as normal (when fully cold). I'd not use anything like chain cleaner as you don't want any residue left in there when you do come to wax. The base is porous and specific cleaners are designed to evaporate off - not sure if chain cleaner would do the same. I've got some Toko wax cleaner but tend to only use it on areas I'm going to repair, although I admit I've never spent a week skiing on coolant 😉
Dashed +1
Even using specific wax cleaning products is a subject of debate in Canada (some people do, some people don't). I use them on the grip zones of nordic kit but try to avoid using them on glide zones.
The base is porous and specific cleaners are designed to evaporate off – not sure if chain cleaner would do the same.
My thinking was that most base cleaners just seem to be degreaser and evaporant. Bike degreasers tend to be water-soluble so I was just going to rinse it down after degreasing.
Don't think a hot wax clean will do the job as the bases are seriously sticky, but I'll give it a go.
In which case I'd be tempted by getting a specific ski base cleaner if it isn't total hassle...
One other (crazy perhaps) idea would be to use the same method as getting skin wax off the base.. namely newspaper and using the wax iron on a low temperature. However not having done this ever personally as it seemed like an opportunity to get everything wrong I'm not sure if that's a great idea or the worst ever....
Not sure a wax is gonna help Gee. 😛
The Coolant is just going to be water based / glycol so not particularly troublesome to clean off. A bit of warm soapy water should be sufficient.
A bit of IPA on a cloth and a wipe won't do any harm to the bases I wouldn't think though.
Dry out properly before waxing.
I clean wax off the scraper with water from the kettle - I can't see that boiling water will do any harm to the base, it's cooler than the iron.
Just back from Belle Plagne with Esprit. Great set-up from the Esprit team as usual, how they find so many young adults with boundless enthusiasm for looking after kids still surprises me! La Plagne is a good resort, plenty to go at, even though we never made it over to Les Arcs. Had some snow to freshen it up, plus some blue skies. Took an off-piste guided session with Oxygene on the Weds afternoon - way out of my comfort zone to start with, up to the glacier and down the back, with some "challenging" approach work, screaming at myself to turn on the steep slopes! A great experience though, and one that I would do again. Plenty of in-between piste off-piste action in La Plagne, so the session has made me keep an eye out for that more than ever.
But my word, the queues. The queues. Queuemageddon! I have never, ever experienced anything like it. At times coming down to Bellecotte it was impossible to see where one queue ended and another began, such was the seething mass of humanity. Some of the runs on some days were chaos. Luckily, with Esprit, it's Sunday to Sunday, the Saturday was absolute bliss in comparison. Will need to study the holiday guide and judge the week bettter for next year. Will study the links above^^
Good to hear you had a good time iwluap. Yeah, as per discussion above, it seems a few of the 1st-Saturday-in-March crowd were caught out with one of the Zones' winter holiday stretching till end of first week in March. Dates for 2020 are in the table above - Sat/Sun 7/8 March are the days to go next year - which of course is still the first full weekend in March, but last French winter holiday finishes 8th March.
Top tip for those of you whose holidays coincide with the parisiens: head the sunny side of the Lauteret. We've just spent the week in Vars and there were only queues at the major pinch points.
So I'm looking for some snowheads help... none of their email addresses seem to work for contacting admin etc.... which is pretty shocking to be honest and almost makes we want to give up trying.
I can't login and I'm wondering and not sure why. When I try to reset password it tells me user ID and e-mail incorrect - I know my e-mail so I'm assuming I've forgotten my userID. The last thread I contributed to was this one
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=141727
If someone could message me what my forum ID is that'd be much appreciated (it's a variant on the one I use here if not identical)
@Swearman
Had the same issue, couldn't get anywhere, ended up creating a new login / account (Thick As)
Thanks - yeah it's very frustrating to be honest....
Swearman22 is the profile name BTW
BTW Admin is notoriously bad for replying, especially in season, and especially when he's running trips - this week is the Off Piste Bash based in Serre Chevalier so he'll be herding about 60 snowheads plus assorted guides and instructors
Back in Flaine and despite the first day being unrelenting rain (there's nothing more depressing in a ski resort) it has been great since with much colder temperatures and a reasonable amount of snow with a big bump forecast tomorrow.
Snow is the best in the Flaine bowl with Samoens feeling a little sticky lower down. Haven't been too far into the Grand Massif as I have been sampling the powder locally.
Hoping to have a lesson with Serge soon if he's not busy then we're having a day with Diane who often teaches the ski club GB crowd. I'm really looking forward to that.
My new skis - took a bit of getting used to but today has just been fantastic. A ski popped off a couple of times but I'm getting used to that - child sized feet and adult bindings are not a match made in heaven
All in all its great to be back !
Out in Colorado for 8 days of splitboarding backcountry adventure, 470 avalanches in the first 9 days of March have killed that plan, level 5 avalanche risk everywhere.
Stay safe out there everyone, especially as things start to warm up, no amount of fresh tracks are worth dying for, and all the safety kit in the world won’t help if you get caught in a big one.
we had a lot of rain there last week. downloaded to Vercland towards the end of the week as it was like skiing over soup after 1pm, and it was getting bloody thin towards the bottom.
Piste of the week was Calcedoine, absolutely perfect corduroy groomer with slightly softend snow and no tracks. I had to go back up the drag and do it again it was so nice
Hi, Anyone know what the conditions are like in the Grand Massif at the moment? Seen some forecast that say there's been snow, others say its warm.
Supplementary question, which site has the most reliable snow reports
Cheers
snow-forecast.com
Seem relatively reliable.
In local news, it looks like this will be the only weekend that all the Scottish resorts will be open.
Got ahead of the curve and had an afternoon at Glenshee today.
A real mixed bag wind, snow, sunshine with the usual natural hazards.
Making an early start for Glencoe tomorrow then Nevis Range on Sunday!
Was considering glenshee tomorrow, but the forecast is mixed and it’s likely to be mobbed. If it hangs around into the week, I might take a cheeky half day.
Starman82
We're in Flaine at the moment and the weather has been incredibly changeable. Thursday was an amazing powder day (must keep mouth shut when skiing steep and deep), it snowed about 30cm thursday night and we met at 9am yesterday with high hopes of a great day ......
Although it was still snowing it was very heavy and wet, the first short red run had people strewn across it and 2 ladies had taken off their skis and were walking back up the slope. Went up to the mid station with fingers crossed - not much better.
Called it a day after 2 runs because it was break a leg territory. I will ski in most conditions but yesterday was just horrible. Chatting to a couple of ski instructors and they said "we wouldn't be out if we didn't have to be".
This morning it's blue skies and mild temperatures so I'm expecting spring conditions.
Due to turn colder in a day or two and some snow due mid week.
Snowforecast.com has been very good this season, or alternatively ask me - I'm here until 7th April 🙂
Real spring conditions yesterday with blue skies, mild temperatures and heavy snow but it was a lovely day. Played a little in Flaine then did a tour of the villages when the lift queues started to get longer - that worked really well.
Cooler today and due to snow later so fingers crossed for tomorrow, the heavy mess of last week can't happen again, can it ?
oldtennishoe, did you go to Glenshee on Saturday?
Saturday at Glencoe was a day of poor visibility and constant snow which made for some hilarity.
Sunday at Nevis Range was slightly better but when the sun made an appearance in the afternoon it was top notch!
Is it too much to ask for it to stick around until next weekend?
oldtennishoe, did you go to Glenshee on Saturday?
No, I didn't bother in the end. The weather here (Perth) was thick heavy wet snow with low visibility. Sunday looked better, but I couldn't face the queues.
If I wasn't heading back to Italy in the easter hols, I may have been more motivated.
Beautiful day in the GM, the balcony was -9 at 7am with blue skies and hopefully crisp snow.
Should have one more day of cold temps then it's warming up for the weekend.
Yesterday was good fun too although I managed to stack it in a compression I'd failed to see.
My new skis - after a shaky start I think I'm going to like them. They do require effort to get the best out of them but they have been great in powder, stable yet responsive.
They also have really attractive graphics and a brushed finish to them (which I'm hoping lasts well).
My thinking was that most base cleaners just seem to be degreaser and evaporant. Bike degreasers tend to be water-soluble so I was just going to rinse it down after degreasing
@GrahamS - I be tempted to get some base cleaner to remove dirt, grease & contaminants etc. I've had good results from Dakine's base cleaner and Holmenkol's. Both are fairly widely available, not really expensive and last for years - you don't need to use it everytime you wax.
I did once try some bike chain citrus degreaser and it made a bit of a gooey mess that just made for more cleaning.
So my 10 year old Patagucci Primo Down ski jacket is looking a little tired (broken zips and cuffs). Looking for suggestions for potential replacements. Although potentially not fashionable I'm looking for gore-tex, tough wearing face fabric, some sort of insulation (down, primoloft) and a removable hood. I'd get another but I don't like the current colours.
Suggestions?
Norrona is lovely kit, I bought my other half a pair of goretex narvik pants for £100 and they have been fantastic. They are working hard on making things ethical and responsibly sourced too. It is expensive though - but there is an outlet tab to have a look at previous years kit (click on the gender tab then the outlet tab is the last one). I think you have to register with them to be able to see the prices and order from this. They also do free delivery and returns to the UK, not sure about Canada.
Jottnar are also having a 20% off deal a the moment too and I do like the look of some of their kit.
Off to slap on the factor 50 and start skiing the slush of the grand massif (still having an amazing time 🙂
Well, we only have 1 more day left of our season and it was a powder day with about 30-40cm falling through last night and today. It was great skiing and I am thoroughly knackered.
It's due to stop snowing soon and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny with freezing point about 1800m so hopefully it'll be a bluebird morning in the powder.
To anyone who's coming to the Grand Massif at Easter I think there should be enough snow to get you to the end of the season. If you are coming out on Saturday and staying in Flaine then Le Pre (next to the DMC) are having an end of season BBQ ....
Thanks Flashie for another great ski thread
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Coming to the end of a week in Cervinia & Zermatt. Excellent conditions at the beginning of the week, snow yesterday and today. 50cm fell last night - that's my hire car next to the Ape . Should be up for a good final day tomorrow. I'm tempted to come back for the 1st of May - ski down in your swimming shorts and get a free list pass for next season!
Coming to the end of a week in Cervinia & Zermatt.
I arrived in Cervinia on Tuesday. We've had a staggering amount of snow since then. Had bluebird days on Friday and Saturday then it started dumping last night again. I was riding 3ft deep powder at the top of Cervinia today. Quite staggering conditions. Supposed to be heading home on Thursday but I might extend for another week
Stay BoardingBob - conditions like that are to be the made the most of.....
I'm suffering from ski withdrawl today - probably not helped by all the ski kit dotted around the house getting aired out prior to being put away for this year.
Drive back was painless - left resort at 9.10am (would have been earlier except for the Belgium **** who parked in front of the garage so we couldn't get the car out). Made a huge amount of noise with no response and Ended up going into the chalet next door (it was unlocked) searching for the van keys (which I found). We got home at 7.10pm. Lots of traffic going down to the Alps but quiet in our direction.
So following the previous advice I tried hot waxing the boards to get rid of the gunk on them but it wasn't really helping. It just sort of smeared it around and didn't get it out of the scratches etc. So ignoring all the other good advice (because STW) I tried a test patch of Morgan Blue Chain Cleaner and it worked a treat. 🙂
I ended up using that on two boards and two sets of skis. Just a liberal spray, scrub down with a dish sponge, then hosed off with plenty of clean water. Left all the bases clean and thirsty for a good wax.
Possibly not the best solution but worked well.
Off to Kitzbuhel on Saturday for the Easter break. Hoping for some spring skiing - though the conditions are not looking that fantastic at the moment (runs closed, light rain and snow level way above max altitude). Fingers crossed.
Bob - definitely stay, although I was roasting in the 16 degree heat at Plan Maison on Friday, the conditions up top and the unpisted stuff below the Pancheron was amazeballs. ⛷😀
So we were in Kitzbühel last week (13-20th April) for a late ski break in the Easter holidays with our kids and the brother-in-law's family.
In short:
- late season so only about 8 or 9 lifts open (Hahnenkamm, Steinbergkogel and Pengelstein)
- the runs that were open were actually in very decent nick for Spring.
- surprisingly there were still some good off-piste/slackcountry runs available at the top, but little beyond that.
- the Hahnenkamm home run was open which I rode multiple times. It takes in parts of the proper Hahnenkamm course and lets you take a bum-clenching peek over the edges of the real jumps. Those guys are insane!
- snowed the day we arrived then was blazing hot for the rest of the week. Proper t-shirt skiing weather.
- Kitzbühel is pretty, but clearly moneyed (car parks full of very high-end luxury cars) and it was a bit pretentious in parts. Lunch on the hill wasn't too bad though.
- we hired this holiday home for the 8 of us and it was really nice. Four storeys including the sauna/wetroom. Central. Great facilities and tons of room.
- we hired lockers at the bottom of Hahnenkamm to avoid trudging kids through town in ski boots in blazing sunshine. Well worth doing!
- my girls (5 & 8) did some ski school with Rote Teufel and had a good time. They did end-of-week races for the various groups with a commentator and speed guns, which was a nice touch. My girls took silver and gold in their groups - proud dad!
I didn't take many snaps, but here are a couple from my phone to brighten up a dull Thursday:
Not much snow, but you can see they have preserved the end of the home run to allow ski to base.
Brother-in-Law and me (beard).
Eldest on her new skis.
They had giant painted Easter eggs around the town.
Main street was pretty quiet.
Side streets even more so.
BL20 gives you 20% off at Igero if, like me, you want new goggs for next season.
#Taps fingers#
1st August tomorrow CFH
Just sayin.
😁
I reckon it's in his draft posts already 🙂
Whoop! Got one trip booked already.
Same, one trip booked, second one being argued over
Booked Flaine for New Year today, off out to Tahoe for Easter as well. Pondering an off piste week as well. Works overrated!
#Drums fingers#
...
Mayrhofen for me 😁
Milan flights booked for February - can't decide on resort though.
Booked Austria for Feb already, can't wait
#Drums fingers#
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Oi, wrong season thread you lot, keep it in till there's an 'official' CFH 2019/20 thread please 😉
