Season 14/15 Banter thread

fannymagee · 18-02-2015 8:39am

hawkwind23 wrote: »

Just arrived in Bialka Tatzrasanka in Poland.
went for a couple of hours night skiing , never felt cold like it! temp said -17 but felt colder.
So retreated slopeside for pizza and drinks , 3 pizzas , 3 chips , hot chocolate , mulled wine and a pint - €12

Bluebird today so happy days , thermals on , shades on , 1st beer o clock around 11

WOW!! Sounds perfect, enjoy! It makes all the difference when you don't have to think about the price of everything. I will never forget being charged €32 for two large beers in Norway, I nearly fainted!! :-)

sallymomo · 18-02-2015 11:00am

a148pro wrote: »

Yeah the food and the people are big for me, just managed to pick up a bottle of the house red from our main apres bar I over there saw it by chance in an offie in Castlebar today, looking forward to opening it some friday night

Sally was it you posting about going to limone, it was predicted to get huge dumps the days I was out, and more now, would have tried it only I had the three days free skiing in cervinia

Madonna and further dolomites on cards now, been to cortina and scenery stunning but snow was bad when I was there

A148pro,
yep that was me, they got super dumps - as it is so close to the med, when its cold they get huge dumps of snow - the french resort just across the border, Isola 2000, got most coverage in the whole of Europe last year.
have a look at the webcam here, first few are whiteouts at the moment but 5th/6th are clear and they are at 1400m. It will give you an indication of the amount of snow. 3 weeks tomorrow, can't feckin wait :-) :-)
http://www.riservabianca.it/webcam-riserva-bianca/

man no plan, nail on the head there about italy. so laid back and the smaller resorts are big enough for my needs as I'm not good enough to be an off pister and thats ok by me! I enjoy the whole experience. I have done the whole package thing before and I prefer the DIY route into less man made places.

Another boardsie is just back from Limone after my recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it which just makes me happy (a bit like fannymagee's love for Soll, I'm slightly biased too!!)

Enjoy lads, wherever your mecca is! I hope its a late season and those of you that can, go again..

fannymagee · 18-02-2015 11:34am

sallymomo wrote: »

Another boardsie is just back from Limone after my recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it which just makes me happy (a bit like fannymagee's love for Soll, I'm slightly biased too!!)

Enjoy lads, wherever your mecca is! I hope its a late season and those of you that can, go again..

I love a bit of passion- it really brings the different places alive! Limone sounds amazing, and your photos last year were gorgeous. When does the season end there Sallymomo- is it much later than Easter?

sallymomo · 18-02-2015 11:47am

fannymagee wrote: »

I love a bit of passion- it really brings the different places alive! Limone sounds amazing, and your photos last year were gorgeous. When does the season end there Sallymomo- is it much later than Easter?

Completely agree with you there fannymagee! I got a personal email before Christmas from the hotel we normally stay in wishing us a happy christmas and asking for due dates of our baby! Since then the manager has offered personally to babysit when we go in 3 weeks..
The local restaurants/bars/wine bars always recognise you and take time out to chat and always give extra regardless of what you order..
We have been told by locals that the tourist board should be bringing us over due to the dumps of snow they get when we are there!!

Season isn't that late, end of April at the max - as I mentioned its quite close to the Med, so when the temps rise, they rise!! The melting is quite rapid..

How late is Soll generally?

fannymagee · 18-02-2015 11:59am

Lifts close April 10, so pretty similar. There's no leaving Soll during the season, so I like to keep the eyes and ears open for places to try either before or after the season here

AlternateID · 18-02-2015 11:52pm

Take a t-bar or test my fears.

Now I need to do it again.

fannymagee · 18-02-2015 11:54pm

AlternateID wrote: »

Take a t-bar or test my fears.

Now I need to do it again.

LOVE IT!! AND you managed to keep hold of your selfie stick?! RESULT! ;-)

Northern Monkey · 20-02-2015 8:45am

Is it wrong to look at snow forecast and hope for less snow?

AlternateID · 20-02-2015 9:14am

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Is it wrong to look at snow forecast and hope for less snow?

Very much so. Need some fresh powder here.

Northern Monkey · 20-02-2015 9:30am

I'm more of a piste skier (and more so this year as my knee is dodgy), so powder is less of a concern for me, but I will obviously be happy with a top up. It's more the snow on Saturday afternoon/night (30cms) I'm concerned about, don't want to spend hours on a bus!

man_no_plan · 20-02-2015 9:45am

Northern Monkey wrote: »

I'm more of a piste skier (and more so this year as my knee is dodgy), so powder is less of a concern for me, but I will obviously be happy with a top up. It's more the snow on Saturday afternoon/night (30cms) I'm concerned about, don't want to spend hours on a bus!

Do what you have to for the greater good. Its unheard of to want less snow, even if said snow is causing difficulty, you want snow and plenty of it.

Now go say three hail Mary's, five our fathers and wash your dirty mind with soap.

dzer2 · 20-02-2015 12:23pm

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Is it wrong to look at snow forecast and hope for less snow?

Instant Ban for such thought :eek:

kal7 · 20-02-2015 3:03pm

off to flaine tomorrow.

can't wait. New snow will be great if can get to resort ok.

Anyone know about Gers valley in flaine. An unpisted bowl with black down middle. Sounds great to me.

fobster · 20-02-2015 3:32pm

kal7 wrote: »

off to flaine tomorrow.

can't wait. New snow will be great if can get to resort ok.

Anyone know about Gers valley in flaine. An unpisted bowl with black down middle. Sounds great to me.

Enjoy! The Gers area and the Piste de Cascades area were closed when I was there, but there's plenty more besides. There's a fun snaking area on the Serpentine slope about halfway down to the right of the piste.

And if it's off-piste bowls you want, the best section we did was at the top of the Corbalanche lift, as you're coming up the lift it is to your right, it's a moderate sloped bowl which opens out into a slope between two river gullies and leads back down to the Corbalanche lift. We did that run 3 times in succession, it was perfect for my intermediate off-piste capabilities, bliss... We did that on the Tuesday, the main snowfall was Friday/Saturday and we still managed to get fresh tracks.

Best apres-ski place on the slopes was La Cascade on the red Azurite piste. The auld Chocalat et Alcool are €6.50 but feck it I was fading on Friday afternoon and had 3 of em, set me right I tell ya!

Any questions holler!

P.S. Watch out for the holes and if you want proper off-piste, hire a guide!

kal7 · 20-02-2015 4:39pm

Thanks Fobster,

good info, will have to have a chocolat et alcool.

will be getting guide to go proper off piste, especially in crevass filled flaine.

Dr Nic · 20-02-2015 10:21pm

Fattes wrote: »

Powder club in st Anton is €10 a head approx for a days pow skiing with a guide!!!

Sorry lads but dusk tonight is out of this world

Does anyone have a link for what fattes was talking about here? I cqnt find anything about a guidr for 10euro in san anton. Noone on snowheads knows either!?!

fannymagee · 20-02-2015 11:23pm

Dr Nic is it this?! It's an off-shoot of the Arlberg ski school: http://www.powderclub.at/en.html

cormee · 21-02-2015 12:57am

AlternateID wrote: »

Take a t-bar or test my fears.

Now I need to do it again.

Great photo.:D

It's one of those -

a/ how did I end up here
b/ how do I get down?

d/ I'm made it down and I'm still alive!

khc · 22-02-2015 9:02pm

fannymagee wrote: »

Dr Nic is it this?! It's an off-shoot of the Arlberg ski school: http://www.powderclub.at/en.html

That is it. The Powder Club has never been, and isn't €10 for anyone - it's €100

Sorry! It's well worth it though

khc · 22-02-2015 9:03pm

Actually it appears to have gone up since I lived there - €115. Still worth it though - do it!

stevire · 24-02-2015 10:18am

If you're considering PowderClub @ 115e checkout ABC Snowboarding. It'll be cheaper with a group of 3-4 of ye, Walter is a great guide!

a148pro · 25-02-2015 3:19am

Boo to fattes' absence this thread would have been bumped daily albeit with unnecessary car park snow updates, love it or hate it was a good boost for the forum

prunudo · 25-02-2015 8:07am

I had noticed it had gone quiet alright. Shame really.

hawkwind23 · 25-02-2015 10:15am

yeah just back myself and catching up , forum lacking minus Fattes.

had a week in Poland , really enjoyed it but some negatives.

Is it always busy at half term? 20 mins to get on the lift , as much as i tried to be chill about it , i ended up feeling stressed with all the crowds.
Took around 4 days to figure out the quieter runs and lifts and times.
Wouldnt ever go at that time again.

Also got legs cut from rental boots , had to bandage both legs to ski , my own fault for not changing them earlier but still hurt like hell and affected skiing.
Think its time to buy my own boots

Much more positives , we all improved massively , daughter learned to snowboard. Weather was superb and the views were awe inspiring.Had some of the best meals ever! weighed in 5lbs heavier this morning

was well worth it though. availed of the spa due to the leg injuries , thats a guilty pleasure ill have to do every trip!

Such a great holiday and we get to go again in 3 weeks

zagmund · 25-02-2015 10:46am

Mid-term is always going to be busy, but I think things (queue-wise) are getting better these days at least in resorts that invest in their infrastructure.

Back in the day (say 15+ years ago) tales of 30-40-50-60 minute queues just to get on the first lift up from the valley were the norm. In the last 5 years or so I think the most I would have had would have been maybe 20 minutes, with 5-10 the norm. Probably this has as much to do with increased capacity (faster & bigger lifts) than lower numbers.

Once up the top (in a well designed resort) people head off in different directions, so you don't get the same problems at the other lifts. I found this year though that there were two places in particular in Kitzbuhel where massive queues built up at certain times of the day because of the way the runs were laid out - essentially you end up in a dead end where you *must* take the lift out and if there's 500, and at certain times of the day as people started or finished their day they all funneled into these two pits of despair as I ended up calling them. Once I copped on to this issue I avoided these routes entirely.

z

hawkwind23 · 25-02-2015 11:11am

Yeah its frustrating the lift queues.
In Poland a run only is around 2km so your down in a couple of minutes , then facing a 20 minute queue to do it all again!
the lifts are grand , real fancy expensive ones , heated 6 seaters.
Any other year we have been you ski down and 1 minute max wait time so this was a shocker

dzer2 · 25-02-2015 11:28am

zagmund wrote: »

Mid-term is always going to be busy, but I think things (queue-wise) are getting better these days at least in resorts that invest in their infrastructure.

Back in the day (say 15+ years ago) tales of 30-40-50-60 minute queues just to get on the first lift up from the valley were the norm. In the last 5 years or so I think the most I would have had would have been maybe 20 minutes, with 5-10 the norm. Probably this has as much to do with increased capacity (faster & bigger lifts) than lower numbers.

Once up the top (in a well designed resort) people head off in different directions, so you don't get the same problems at the other lifts. I found this year though that there were two places in particular in Kitzbuhel where massive queues built up at certain times of the day because of the way the runs were laid out - essentially you end up in a dead end where you *must* take the lift out and if there's 500, and at certain times of the day as people started or finished their day they all funneled into these two pits of despair as I ended up calling them. Once I copped on to this issue I avoided these routes entirely.

z

just wondering which lifts in kitz you got caught on as have being there and only the lift c1 was jammers

cormee · 25-02-2015 12:02pm

a148pro wrote: »

Boo to fattes' absence this thread would have been bumped daily albeit with unnecessary car park snow updates, love it or hate it was a good boost for the forum

Allow me...

So, this is what my office looked like today.

zagmund · 25-02-2015 1:19pm

dzer2 wrote: »

just wondering which lifts in kitz you got caught on as have being there and only the lift c1 was jammers

C1/C2 as you ski off the top of the main lift up from Kitzbuhel is one that catches you in the morning. At least there's a cafe at the bottom of that one.

D7/D1 off the top of the Pengelstein/3S. This one is *ugly*. It's narrow. There's no run out area. In the afternoon the bottom gets pretty bumpy/chopped up/icy/slushy depending on the weather. People heading back to Kitz from up the valley have to come through here. Once you start down this route you are committed unless you like walking uphill.

z

AlternateID · 25-02-2015 1:25pm

cormee wrote: »

Allow me...

So, this is what my office looked like today.

Day 12 for me here so I won't show you my office. ****e weather the last 2 days but managed to find one mountain with some visibility today.

dzer2 · 25-02-2015 1:39pm

zagmund wrote: »

C1/C2 as you ski off the top of the main lift up from Kitzbuhel is one that catches you in the morning. At least there's a cafe at the bottom of that one.

D7/D1 off the top of the Pengelstein/3S. This one is *ugly*. It's narrow. There's no run out area. In the afternoon the bottom gets pretty bumpy/chopped up/icy/slushy depending on the weather. People heading back to Kitz from up the valley have to come through here. Once you start down this route you are committed unless you like walking uphill.

z

Ah yes C1 first thing normally got c2 and headed down 18 onto 16 for strudel at the orange bull then back up legs warmed up and over there by 10. If you dont work by the german clock and be the last back you normally dont have a wait at D7. As for it being bumpy and rough sure thats the challenge. If I arrived at a black that was groomed and nice and level I could fly down it. Picking my route and making it down in some sort of reasonable fashion is what makes ski holiday.

zagmund · 25-02-2015 2:35pm

Ah I know bumps are part of the fun, but the problem part is when they are right down at the bottom like they are at D7/D1 and there literally is no run-out area, just a seething mass of 150-200 people waiting to get onto the lift.

z

zagmund · 25-02-2015 2:45pm

I've nowhere better to stick this, so it may as well go into the banter thread . . . going for a night ski has been on the kids wishlist for a while now and we finally got to do it this time around. The slope at Gaisberg in Kirchberg is open on Thursday & Fridays so we gave it a go on Thursday.

I have to say I was more than a little under-impressed. There are technically two pistes there - a black which is reserved for ski racing at the best of times and a red. This time around the black was closed and half of the red was taken over for either a race or some race practice. So, we had half the normal width of a slope. Right off the top of the lifts was a pretty vicious steep bit which (on the night we were there) hadn't been prepared in any way so it was basically a sheet of ice. A little bit of grooming would at least have made it more usable for the less accomplished among us. It took a fair bit of skill to get down that top bit without coming a cropper. Once you passed that part the rest of the run was fine, but again unprepared in any way so pretty icy & juddering as you went over it. The final problem was that the ski racers weren't content with taking over half the piste for their practice and were pretty much going full tilt down the slope. I'm sure *they* were in control, but it was like going for a tootle around Mondello Park in your Micra and finding out that there was race practice going on at the same time around you.

Summary - it was fine, it has been ticked off the list, but I wouldn't be in a rush to go back and do it again.

z

dzer2 · 25-02-2015 3:18pm

zagmund wrote: »

I've nowhere better to stick this, so it may as well go into the banter thread . . . going for a night ski has been on the kids wishlist for a while now and we finally got to do it this time around. The slope at Gaisberg in Kirchberg is open on Thursday & Fridays so we gave it a go on Thursday.

I have to say I was more than a little under-impressed. There are technically two pistes there - a black which is reserved for ski racing at the best of times and a red. This time around the black was closed and half of the red was taken over for either a race or some race practice. So, we had half the normal width of a slope. Right off the top of the lifts was a pretty vicious steep bit which (on the night we were there) hadn't been prepared in any way so it was basically a sheet of ice. A little bit of grooming would at least have made it more usable for the less accomplished among us. It took a fair bit of skill to get down that top bit without coming a cropper. Once you passed that part the rest of the run was fine, but again unprepared in any way so pretty icy & juddering as you went over it. The final problem was that the ski racers weren't content with taking over half the piste for their practice and were pretty much going full tilt down the slope. I'm sure *they* were in control, but it was like going for a tootle around Mondello Park in your Micra and finding out that there was race practice going on at the same time around you.

Summary - it was fine, it has been ticked off the list, but I wouldn't be in a rush to go back and do it again.

z

Yeah being there and didnt do that had a look during day light hours and was told that they just turned on the lights in the evening and let the punters off.

It is only any good for the toboggan run

cormee · 25-02-2015 4:31pm

AlternateID wrote: »

Day 12 for me here so I won't show you my office. ****e weather the last 2 days but managed to find one mountain with some visibility today.

I'm down to single-digit days until my trip to Chamonix, so I'm not too insanely jealous.

a148pro · 25-02-2015 9:32pm

cormee wrote: »

Allow me...

So, this is what my office looked like today.

I lol'd thank you, you're right, on the level of envy reduction Fattes' absence is at least in that sense welcome

AlternateID · 26-02-2015 7:03pm

Off piste Unintentional somersault today. Head was briefly buried up to neck. GoPro ripped off helmet. No damage to helmet. Searching for the GoPro distracted me from the pain in my neck. Found the camera. Footage isn't very exciting as it never is when on the helmet. Mate was busy taking a selfie not too far away and didn't see what happened.

Photo is the moment of impact before it was buried. Bit of a tomahawk.

granty1987 · 27-02-2015 11:24am

AlternateID wrote: »

Off piste Unintentional somersault today. Head was briefly buried up to neck. GoPro ripped off helmet. No damage to helmet. Searching for the GoPro distracted me from the pain in my neck. Found the camera. Footage isn't very exciting as it never is when on the helmet. Mate was busy taking a selfie not too far away and didn't see what happened.

Photo is the moment of impact before it was buried. Bit of a tomahawk.

Never fun that.

I ended up in a neck brace for weeks from an (intentional) frontflip off a mogul, head was clearly getting too big as I thought I could land it off this tiny bump.. I got halfway around, like yourself and reenacted a pogo stick with my neck and bounced back onto my feet - cue the pain

Dr Nic · 27-02-2015 2:49pm

Third and last trip of the yr tomorrow. any advice on driving from munich airport to san anton? Via garmisch or via kufstein?

granty1987 · 27-02-2015 2:49pm

Dr Nic wrote: »

Third and last trip of the yr tomorrow. any advice on driving from munich airport to san anton? Via garmisch or via kufstein?

Drive on the right side of the road

Northern Monkey · 28-02-2015 3:30pm

Action shot from yesterday.

I hope none of you are heading to Val Thorens today, our flight back was 1/3 empty due to the rock fall on the road up the mountain.

man_no_plan · 28-02-2015 5:22pm

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Action shot from yesterday.

I hope none of you are heading to Val Thorens today, our flight back was 1/3 empty due to the rock fall on the road up the mountain.

May watch your technique, lying back a bit in those boots (he says jealously)

Northern Monkey · 28-02-2015 5:53pm

man_no_plan wrote: »

May watch your technique, lying back a bit in those boots (he says jealously)

Ha! That's as good as my landing technique gets!

hullabulloo · 01-03-2015 7:25am

flew Dublin chambery yesterday with crystal ski and unable to get to val thorens last night due to the rock fall. put up in chambery over night and hoping for the transfer this morning :-(

masseyno9 · 02-03-2015 2:41am

Couple of pictures, as promised. Apologies for the couple-y type ones, but I'm not much of a photo person unless I'm asked (told).

The pano is from the top of stairway to heaven chair at Kicking Horse from our work ski-trip on Saturday. It's a great hill but is suffering seriously this year from lack of snow. It's a big-mountain hill but the last decent snow was a ferw weeks ago and everything is very tracked out. The bowl in the photo is epic with good, fresh snow. Still, $75 for a day out with a group including bus, breakfast, day ticket and beers isn't bad!

The skating one is from Lake Louise. Skating on the frozen lake is good fun. The rink is managed by the hotel there and open to the public for as long as there's ice. There's a little castle made from ice and a bar made from ice, but it was closed.

The frozen waterfall one is from the other end of the lake, and I don't think it shows in the photo but there's a guy climbing it. Something I'd love to try but it takes a lot of training and equipment.

cormee · 02-03-2015 11:30am

masseyno9 wrote: »

The frozen waterfall one is from the other end of the lake

Here was me thinking it was a very icy slope

cormee · 04-03-2015 1:16pm

Anyone heading off this weekend?

Funny you should ask.

I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM!

Vegeta · 04-03-2015 1:40pm

cormee wrote: »

Anyone heading off this weekend?

Funny you should ask.

I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM!

I am just back from a week and have serious post holiday blues

So how many times do people try and go every season? I would love to sneak away again this year

cormee · 04-03-2015 1:55pm

Vegeta wrote: »

I am just back from a week and have serious post holiday blues

So how many times do people try and go every season? I would love to sneak away again this year

Where were you? Any good?

This will be my second trip, I do at least two every year. On the odd occasion I do three. First one is always the week-long trip, any subsequent trips are long weekends.

Seifer · 04-03-2015 2:00pm

Vegeta wrote: »

I am just back from a week and have serious post holiday blues

So how many times do people try and go every season? I would love to sneak away again this year

I was away in Andorra last week with friends and am seriously thinking about getting away with the UCPA again in maybe early April.

Anyone have any advice on which one of the UCPA venues would be best for that time of year?

Season 14/15 Banter thread

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