*sigh*

cormee

*sigh*

Feck summer.

AlternateID

lol I like the sun....when I'm on the slopes.

Fattes

cormee wrote: »

*sigh*

Feck summer.

In on the snow again in 2 weeks! It will have been a whole month

cormee

Fattes wrote: »

In on the snow again in 2 weeks! It will have been a whole month

Nice one, where?

a148pro

Summer only makes Winter better

Timmaay

I use to utterly hate the winter. Cold, wet dark etc, not good for a pure outdoors person like me! However one skiing trip this year changed all that for me. So yep, I like it this way!

AlternateID

I still hate cold, wet, dark Irish winter. If we had snow like the Scots I would of started boarding decades ago.

cormee

AlternateID wrote: »

I still hate cold, wet, dark Irish winter. If we had snow like the Scots I would of started boarding decades ago.

My brother went there (Cairngorm) once, said the conditions (wind chill factor, etc) were far worse than anything he ever experience in the Alps. But yeah, I'd probably have been the same, would have started years ago. Am dead jealous of people living in towns cities around ski areas, must be great throwing the gear in the car on a Friday evening and heading off for a weekend.

Fattes

UK Snow domes, Landgraff in Holland for equipment testing and then Hintertux and Saas Fee in August and Sep

AlternateID

You make it easy for me to hate you

Heading to Landgraaf myself on the 5th but just for a quick visit. Never been indoors so it'll be interesting.

Fattes

Landgraaf is as good as it gets, as you look up the hill to the left of the lift tends to be fully piste injected and race ready at all times with teams on it you never know who you might see. The park under the lift is excellent as it the bar mid way down the lift!

cormee

My brother got engaged over the weekend, I've been suggesting Landgraaf to him for his hen night. It looks great from what I've seen on Vimeo.

On a positive note - June 21 has passed, so it's downhill to winter from here. Yay!

AlternateID

His "hen"??

Really looking forward to getting back on a slope even if it's indoor.

cormee

AlternateID wrote: »

His "hen"??

Really looking forward to getting back on a slope even if it's indoor.

Yes, his "hen".

I like to antagonise him.

Fattes

cormee wrote: »

My brother got engaged over the weekend, I've been suggesting Landgraaf to him for his hen night. It looks great from what I've seen on Vimeo.

On a positive note - June 21 has passed, so it's downhill to winter from here. Yay!

They do group deals about €90 a night and that includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and lift passes. Only an hour from Dusseldorf and Masteicht for livelier towns

AlternateID

Landgraaf was interesting as I'd never been indoors but I was bored very quickly. It takes seconds to get to the bottom. Would be good if you wanted some quick practice and lived near by. Playing in the park would keep you there longer if that was your thing. Lots of beginners to navigate around too. BBQ was great. After a few hours I just missed the mountain. Rental board was ok too.

If we had one here I'd go regularly to get over my fears of the park.

cormee

AlternateID wrote: »

Landgraaf was interesting as I'd never been indoors but I was bored very quickly. It takes seconds to get to the bottom. Would be good if you wanted some quick practice and lived near by. Playing in the park would keep you there longer if that was your thing. Lots of beginners to navigate around too. BBQ was great. After a few hours I just missed the mountain. Rental board was ok too.

If we had one here I'd go regularly to get over my fears of the park.

Population is too small I'd imagine, I always thought one or two pistes, down the side of one of the the Dublin mountains, covered by snow machines from say, November to March, would be great.

Re: parks - have you tried buttering/flatlands at all? It looks great. I only really tried doing some tricks for the first time last year, but my board doesn't seem to have the sort of flex required for them. Check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZhj98NsaNE

AlternateID

There was a proposal some years back to use a disused quarry which I thought would be ideal as it wouldn't be visible but it got turned down as far as I know. I would of invested in that venture myself.

Ah Ryan Knapton. I'm a big fan. I watch his videos all the time when bored. I can butter but not pretzel. My board is a directional Flying V with the bindings set back for powder so I suck at riding switch but buttering is easy as a result. Will be getting the 14 Flying V at some point which is twin. It was on sale in Landgraaf but I didn't bring my board/bag.

You'd be surprised how flexible a board is when you really get on the tale. Knapton is on a custom which isn't overly flexible. He has one spoof video where he reviews a board he picked up in a boot sale. Nasty old thing but he still does all the same tricks on it.

I just need lots of practice.

cormee

AlternateID wrote: »

There was a proposal some years back to use a disused quarry which I thought would be ideal as it wouldn't be visible but it got turned down as far as I know. I would of invested in that venture myself.

Ah Ryan Knapton. I'm a big fan. I watch his videos all the time when bored. I can butter but not pretzel. My board is a directional Flying V with the bindings set back for powder so I suck at riding switch but buttering is easy as a result. Will be getting the 14 Flying V at some point which is twin. It was on sale in Landgraaf but I didn't bring my board/bag.

You'd be surprised how flexible a board is when you really get on the tale. Knapton is on a custom which isn't overly flexible. He has one spoof video where he reviews a board he picked up in a boot sale. Nasty old thing but he still does all the same tricks on it.

I just need lots of practice.

My current board has a flex rating of 4, I have my doubts though, centering myself over the tail, without pulling, only raises it about 4", I'd have expected more from a board with that rating. Using my strength to raise it more just sends me off course.

Interesting choice of board, I was considering a Rome Artifact, but it seems a little too flexible to be a good all rounder, I spend most of my time on the mountain, or off piste, so it's not really suitable from that pov. I'll look into the Flying V.

What bindings do you use? I'm considering flow/step in, as my treat to myself this year. They seem to have come along in leaps and bounds in the last three or four years.

AlternateID

I think most boards will only rise a bit unless really flexible. Mine is a 5 I think. Knaptons should be the same or is it a 4? It's all technique, strength and balance for the stuff he does.

I'm using 14 Burton Cartels now. I've had missions and customs but prefer the cartel. Big fan of the Chanel system too as I can rapidly change angle, width or set back really far if I was nuts. Flow bindings are not for everyone. I've only met one person using them. Personally I don't mind sitting on the mountain taking in the view and most of the time I don't need to sit to strap in.

I like my hybrid board but again it's not for everyone. Can be a bit twitchy on ice sometimes.

Shame we can't try out kit here.

Fattes

Thats what most domes are, a good place to work on technic in a closed and controlled environment! Landgraff is the best of them.

You will never see a dome here, the costs just don't add up, the ones in the UK like Manchester with a catchment area of 10 Million people rely on gimmicks and rents to survive, half of the slope in manchester is taken up by a giant zoorbing thing every 3rd weekend!

cormee

AlternateID wrote: »

It's all technique, strength and balance for the stuff he does.

Yep, my logic was, to make it easier to learn by cutting down on the requirement for strength, by using a more flexible board.

I reckon I'll dig the board out this weekend and try the flex in the back garden, then decide. The missus will love it. :rolleyes:

fannymagee

Is it STILL July?! Feck sake...

cormee

fannymagee wrote: »

Is it STILL July?! Feck sake...

It's depressing, Fanny. Utterly depressing. It hasn't even reached the stage where we can say the cold weather is on its way back, there are still two months of summer ahead of us.

It's too early to even start preparing for next season - planning the trips, going to gym, visiting webcams daily, watching videos on YouTube/Vimeo, buying snowboard bits & pieces on eBay.

There's NO HOPE. It's NEVER going to end.

What do you do all summer in Soll, anyway?

fannymagee

Haha! Aww everything comes to an end Cormee (eventually!). I can't even look at ski gear in the summer, my legs start aching to be back in ski boots.

I'm not in Soll for the whole summer, but when I am I climb mountains, herd cows & chickens, jump in the lake, have barbeques in the sun & do the occasional bit of work (for myself, online). It's terrible, this place is a hellhole all year round (HAA!!).

But still. Roll on October- that's when all the cool stuff starts happening ;-)

AlternateID

cormee wrote: »

It's depressing, Fanny. Utterly depressing. It hasn't even reached the stage where we can say the cold weather is on its way back, there are still two months of summer ahead of us.

It's too early to even start preparing for next season - planning the trips, going to gym, visiting webcams daily, watching videos on YouTube/Vimeo, buying snowboard bits & pieces on eBay.

There's NO HOPE. It's NEVER going to end.

What do you do all summer in Soll, anyway?

I still do all of that except going to the gym. Web cam at Hintertux is depressing to watch.

cormee

AlternateID wrote: »

I still do all of that except going to the gym. Web cam at Hintertux is depressing to watch.

Oh dear me, I hadn't even thought of Hintertux, so there is a European webcam worth watching during the summer? *bookmark* Have you gone there during summer? Has anyone? What's it like?

Re gym, it makes an incredible difference to your strength, control, abilities, and confidence in general - I'd definitely recommend it. As soon as you hit the snow you know you have the strength to do things you haven't done before.

I went a bit overboard last year, though - two hours in gym x three times a week for three months. But it was definitely worth it. This year I'm going all year round, less frequently, so I don't have to cram it in in the last few months.

Fanny - you must hate life.

AlternateID

cormee wrote: »

Oh dear me, I hadn't even thought of Hintertux, so there is a European webcam worth watching during the summer? *bookmark* Have you gone there during summer? Has anyone? What's it like?

Re gym, it makes an incredible difference to your strength, control, abilities, and confidence in general - I'd definitely recommend it. As soon as you hit the snow you know you have the strength to do things you haven't done before.

I went a bit overboard last year, though - two hours in gym x three times a week for three months. But it was definitely worth it. This year I'm going all year round, less frequently, so I don't have to cram it in in the last few months.

Fanny - you must hate life.

I bought yet another pair of gloves the other day and when we got to Landgraaf I bought another pair for my friend as she forgot hers. Nice pair too and only €15.

I went to tux last August/September. It was ok but nothing compared to how it was in April this year. Will find link to video when laptop starts working again. I can't believe how much my boarding has come on since then. I sucked. It was my first trip since the 3 fractures in my wrist the previous feb.

Webcams of tux here. Www.bergfex.com/hintertux/webcams/

AlternateID

Laptop won't let me login to boards.

God I miss the snow.

http://youtu.be/jHfKTXuRdAo

3 edits to get a link to work. Stupid iPad.

fannymagee

cormee wrote: »

Oh dear me, I hadn't even thought of Hintertux, so there is a European webcam worth watching during the summer? *bookmark* Have you gone there during summer? Has anyone? What's it like?

Re gym, it makes an incredible difference to your strength, control, abilities, and confidence in general - I'd definitely recommend it. As soon as you hit the snow you know you have the strength to do things you haven't done before.

I went a bit overboard last year, though - two hours in gym x three times a week for three months. But it was definitely worth it. This year I'm going all year round, less frequently, so I don't have to cram it in in the last few months.

Fanny - you must hate life.

Haha! Yes I do indeed. I wake up every morning wishing I worked for The Man ;-)

I had friends in Hintertux this weekend, it looked like the depths of winter in their pics, weird!

You can still check out the Soll webcams, but it's a very different picture in Summer!

cormee

AlternateID wrote: »

Laptop won't let me login to boards.

God I miss the snow.

http://youtu.be/jHfKTXuRdAo

3 edits to get a link to work. Stupid iPad.

Good video, looks a bit slushy in places! Must be lethal first thing in the morning.

Is the ski area big during summer?

AlternateID

You do get to do a bit of surfing and in spots you might see rocks after lunch.

When I get home I'll see if I can find a photo or two to show a comparison. I don't mind the slush too much as there's plenty of gradient to keep you moving. Ice in the morning but I don't mind too much. It was -16c in April at the top one morning. Brrrr.

I've started thinking of taking a trip in Sept just to break up the year.

AlternateID

Here's some photos from Hintertux from the last year. It might be hard to spot the differences as they are all from the upper area but look at the snow in the distance.

This is last April at the top 3200m -16c at the time. That's snow and ice blasting across. In the distance opposite is where I was heading. Up a long t-bar. The park is opposite behind that guy in the middle.


This is January of this year. It's hard to tell but there's hardly any powder and you had to stay on piste most of the time whereas in April I was all over the ridge opposite and was only on piste to get across to the next bit of powder.


This is last August/September. Rocks are visible, breaks in the snow off piste are clear and very dangerous. The t-bar is near flat low down such is the difference is snow level.


Lower down the mountain this is all snow covered in Jan and April and is basically all open.


This will help. The best snow is always at the top regardless of the time of year. The blue line are the runs that are open in summer. The lower you get the narrower it is which you can see that video. The 2 dark green lines are the routes I was playing in in April in the video at the bottom of this post. There's no snow below 2531m in summer and below about 2900m it's all visible rock off piste. Jan wasn't great either but April was. You could drop below the green and red gondolas at 2531m and head down off piste. Long T-bars on the right which I haven't done but will next time there's snow I'll be up there looking for runs I haven't done. At the end of the day it's not that bad in summer. The park is closed and there's little or no powder but it's real snow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJIpfVZ2LUU

cormee

Thanks for the info. The ski area seems pretty small during the summer.

Conditions in that video look fantastic, that's one I'd say you pop on the computer, after a few beers during the off-season.

What's the GoPro pole btw? Am looking for a good one, the longer telescopic ones I've seen are always too long when collapsed, then I found one that collapsed to a compact size, but unfortunately the segments didn't lock, so the f*n camera was rotating on the pole by day 3
I had a bigger one as well, but it nearly killed me when it got caught up in a chairlift (it was in my backpack), the guy working the lift taught me a few french words I'd never heard before.

fannymagee

Haaa!! The Adventures of Cormee's GoPro ;-)

AlternateID

The pole is an SP POV pole. Buy on ebay of course. http://www.sp-gadgets.com/en/

The shot above is done with a gospin360.

Ski area is small but there's more than enough for some fun. You do have to pay for the bus in summer. In winter it's included in the ski pass. If I go this summer I'll probably fly and rent a car. I'm so bored here now I'm really think about going even though I said I'd save the cash for later.