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Anselme Baud's Book of Death

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
If anyone else out there owns a copy of the legendary book of death (AKA "Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles Rouges - A Guide for Skiers", maybe it's time to sell... I couldn't help myself and have stuck mine up just in case!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1904207278?tag=amz07b-21 !!!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Shocked
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I wouldn't sell mine. It's in poor nick anyway.
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I'd hesitate to part with mine as well, great book. But at that price? Why isn't there a "dollars in the eyes" smiley?

Well aware that getting that much for it is EXTREMELY unlikely!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
stevomcd, almost all the extreme skiers of Bauds era got the chop, including his own son. The book details many of these descents but they are all appropriately graded. I love this book, especially the little stories he winds into the descriptions. There's not a better book even now.
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jbob, agreed, it's fantastic.

I love the under-stated title. It could easily just be a guide to nice mountain restaurants and the best cruisy blues in the valley, not to descents which are still awaiting a repeat (or even a first!) descent.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Sorry I have a pristine copy of this and will never use it, apart from occasional escapism - how much it it actually worth as I remember seeing someone suggesting it was worth hundreds on I think a tgr forum too?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I have one too, in excellent condition ... not for sale .... how would I ever do the North Face of the Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey without it Smile
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Patch wrote:
how would I ever do the North Face of the Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey without it Smile


Wasn't that the one they tried to do in Deeper, and gave up on? It looked like a place that mountaineers go to die.

edit: gosh, relevant links on snowheads, of all places... a recent descent of the same place: http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2046555

Call me a wuss, but I think I prefer my skiing plans not to involve tradeoffs like 'weeeell... that office-block sized serac probably won't fall off and kill us all today' wink
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Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Sat 23-11-13 13:54; edited 1 time in total
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WTF
Can anyone explain this, it's from the Baud book.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Double poled jump turn, no?
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
jbob, better if it was the right way around wink
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
jbob wrote:

WTF
Can anyone explain this, it's from the Baud book.


Pedal Hop Turn (Saute Pedale), a bit old school, not really practised these days with modern skis but a sine-qua-non with 210cm straight skis.


http://youtube.com/v/2soYD8LX7YI
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Bones, I did try but gave up hence the double post.

davidof,Thanks, I thought it might be a pedale/ paddle turn. I have seen it said that it's potentially dangerous and responsible for some fatal falls incl, PV!

I haven't really nailed the double pole turn, if I'm up against it I still use a little stem, I will try again this winter as I now have a lighter set up which should help.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
jbob wrote:

davidof,Thanks, I thought it might be a pedale/ paddle turn. I have seen it said that it's potentially dangerous and responsible for some fatal falls incl, PV!


It doesn't forgive errors and can destabilize you but so can a double pole plant and has maybe led to falls? The steep skiers I know prefer a single pole plant jump turn where they pivot both skis, without the extreme unweighting of the pedal hop. With modern skis - shorter, fatter, better edge hold you only rarely need to get a pedal hop out of your toolbox. See "Ski the whole mountain" book for the Pedal Carve variant.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
The anselme baud books dont sell for that money... It is second hand book traders chancing their arm. Last winter I sourced 2 spare copies and listed them for £450 each. The other book sellers got the hump (and also halved their prices straight away). Over a whole winter none of the books sold : eventually I punted the 2 spares on ebay and got £60 for them to dudes in Norway / Germany. Morally felt a little better about this outcome Wink

Its a great book. Have heard local rumors that the author doesn't want to release a 2nd edition.
However much of the information is now online on various sites, such as camp2camp.
Plus the Pierre Tardivel book is apparently just as good and still in print.
Also : IMHO the 2 vamos books are more useful for normal skiers / holiday makers looking for ski tour or off piste suggestions.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sat 23-11-13 19:35; edited 1 time in total
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Haggis_Trap, now £60 sounds more like it.

I agree the Vamos books plus their raquettes book are good for mortal particularly now I have a more up to date one. The photos are sometimes poor.
I have the Tardivel book which has all the more extreme stuff, but doesn't have the Aigulles Rouges in it which is a shame, I'm assuming they are included in one of the other books in the series.
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And arguably the Toponeige book has more accurate grading of descents....
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
^ the out of print SMC Scottish touring book is another one that appears listed on amazon for £400-500+
though i doubt there are many people rich / stupid enough to pay such a sum.
can sometimes find them on ebay or second hand book stores (etc) for £20-40 if your lucky.
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Haggis_Trap, I've got that one too. Maybe I should put both away in sealed, climate controlled storage and save them for my retirement...
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
jbob wrote:
I have seen it said that it's potentially dangerous and responsible for some fatal falls incl, PV!



Pretty sure Vallencant (if that's who you mean) died in a climbing accident? Steep makes this thing about 'even the deaths of men like Boivon and Vallencant' did little to stop others, Boivon died base jumping in Angel Falls.... Puzzled
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
PV? Abseiling, followed by his wife Mijo a few months later in a parapente accident? There is some controversy over the Boivin death, as I recall another female base jumper was involved and he let her take the first ride out on the helicopter certainly condemning himself. Out of the pioneers of steep I think only Heini Holzer actually died skiing and Bruno Gouvy fell on snowboard, or maybe not even on his board, he was at the summit of the Aiguille Verte

Baud was originally to have written the toponeige book but fell out with the publisher and went ahead with his own book, which is why it hasn't the same quality as the toponeige guides.
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8611, davidof, I wasn't sure hence the exclamation mark.

I have the toponeige (little black book) and it's very good. It's great as a guide book but not so interesting a read. I'm never really sure about the grading, so much depends on the snow conditions. I do find graded lists helpful plus the obvious steepness and fall potential. Really useful in the little black book is the routes listed by how much height gain there is wink
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The grading is for spring snow (top few cm transformed) or powder, anything else and you can add to the difficulty. The fall rating is a bit overdone and random in the toponeige. There is a route near me where you ski on a 45 degree slope over 100 m cliffs and toponeige gives the fall rating a 2 where it is obvious that it is much more likely to be in the 3-4 range. I think 3 levels would be sufficient.

But I agree that the whole rating thing is a bit of 'l'enculage des mouches." Still there's worse, there is the Lou Dawson system! Shocked

I long ago burnt any ski guide books I had to free my mind to ski where I wanted and was able.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
davidof wrote:
'l'enculage des mouches.


That's a splendid phrase. I shall endeavour to use it in conversation more often.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
I thought I only bought mine about 5 years ago??? Did it go out of print that recently? Great book though.
When family skiing, I sometimes find myself in the bar of the Fleche d'Or Hotel at Le Bettex above St Gervais looking at "Himalayan" NW face of Mt Blanc and shaking my head at the lines described in the book. And they are not nearly as properly mental as the ones around Verte, Droite, Courtes, etc.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Haggis_Trap, There were I think 3 editions of this book - 2002, 2004 and 2009. In 2010 in Chamonix they were selling in every news agent - I bought few copies as presents, although in French. I won't be surprised if there will be further editions.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
^ perhaps...
the "local rumor" there will be no further editions / print runs comes via friend of mine who lives in the Chamonix valley and is well connected.
though who knows if it is fact or just Chinese whispers. either way it has been out of print and not easily available for almost 2 years now.

has anyone cashed in and sold their copy for £1000 yet ? wink
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Would anyone be prepared to sell a copy? Been trying to source one out in Chamonix but failing. Browsed through a friends and it's a masterpiece. Sad they are no longer producing it Sad
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Waterstones accepted an order for it on their web site pre Christmas. I was quite excited but needless to say they eventually canceled.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I'dd like to buy a copy of this book, at a reasonable price. Anybody have or know of any for sale?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@jbk12, There is a kindle edition available now at amazon
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Hmm nice, thanks for the heads up and I'll get that ebook downloaded. Would love a hardcopy for the bookshelf though so should anyone want to sell theirs on at fair $ just drop me an Im. Cheers and happy ski fantasising till the season arrives! Very Happy
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
never summer wrote:
@jbk12, There is a kindle edition available now at amazon


It's not the whole book. It only has the routes in the Aig rouges.
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You can get the e-book for less than £3.00 but I'm a bit of a book buff (three tons and rising) so if anyone does want to let go for a reasonable price I will happily discuss terms. Fancy a week in an apartment in Les Arcs in return??

And I don't think that is a pedal hop turn. I got taught a soft turn for dodgy slopes back in the day where you kept one ski planted, lifted and part turned the down hill ski then slip transitioned weight to that ski whilst allowing the uphill ski to curve round. It was sort of like the about face turn whilst standing still that you used to get taught when you started out. It is very non-violent, no hopping or aggressive pole planting. The idea is to try and cause minimal fractioning to the snow base if you think there is a shot it could go but you have no option but to head down it. The diagrams seem to be missing a transition bit. You sit back in the turn and let the up hill ski flow round rather than weight forward as you do when you jump or pedal turn. If you see it done by someone who knows it's bit like ballet on snow.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Has anyone actually sold the book for anything like those prices?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@jbob, Pretty sure you were able to buy the individual sections at one point. I definitely have the "Swiss Val Ferret", "Argentiere" and "Mont Blanc" sections on my Kindle.
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@charlie.wilkinson, I bought it, and only had The first section plus the Aig. Rouges, I complained and was refunded but it automagically disappeared from my iPad kindle app. I'll take another look.
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@charlie.wilkinson, been back on Amazon bought the now available second volume with the Mont Blanc section, again for £2.49, bargain. It's very unclear that it's two halves of the same book.
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