 Poster: A snowHead
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A group of us organised a trip to ski the off-piste in the Dolomites in January (14th - 22nd: 8 days skiing). The guide is Zeb Roche (I did a thread about him a while ago, and more recently mentioned this holiday). However, just as we were about to book the flights someone has dropped out.
Anyone interested? We might be able to take 2 people (we were 5 and could take 6 maximum).
You must have been graded as Ski Club of GB Gold standard, or something equivalent, since we are trying to keep up the standard to ski the steep stuff. (I don't mean you have to have taken the Gold test! )
I should mention that my companions are at this moment also trying various other contacts.
I am also thinking of organising a group of Gold skiers to ski off-piste at St Anton with guide Graham Austick probably going out 11th Feb, skiing 8 days (last 6 with guide).Anyone interested in that?
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DOLOMITES AND MAURIENNE Friday 14th January - Saturday 22nd
Maurienne has about 15 small resorts, including Val Cenis that no serious skiers go to, hence leave all the off-piste untracked. The terrain has everything, trees, steeps, big itineraries, little hidden valleys etc. Because it is not tracked out most of this is available from the top of the lifts. Zeb gave us the best weeks skiing any of us had ever had this year. The people are friendly as they are all locals from the small villages. Everything is relatively cheap- a whole valley pass is 14 euros [£10] a day.
Dolomites- everyone knows they are beautiful and the food is good, and everyone likes the idea of skiing there 'some time', but never get round to it because of the fear of the poor snow record. But also
Zeb and James Mann both say the off-piste especially the steeps are tremendous, and more important it does not get skied. The first time Zeb went was with perfect powder and he was worried because there were no tracks, so he checked with the piste security who confirmed everything was safe, but the Italians donot ski serious offpiste.
So we want to go to the Dolomites, but only if the snow is right. Solution, fly into Turin and ski in the Maurienne for a couple of days to warm up, then transfer to Dolomites if the snow is right, but stay in the Maurienne if it is not.
Group; ski club gold standard.
Guide; Zeb Roche[, for those who donot know is late twenties, youngest person up Everest [until recently] at age 16, and, with his wife, the only people to parapente off the top of Everest (and the highest mountain in every continent) a wonderful guide and a wonderful person to ski and socialise with. He also likes good food and wine.
Zeb proposes;
Fri 14th jan 2005 fly Ryan air, Stansted to Turin arrive 11.10. Zebs' wife Claire picks us up and drives us to Val Cenis to arrive 13.00. Stay in Hotel Etoiles de Neige fri/sat, ski fri pm, sat and sun am.
If snow in Dolomites is good, Sun pm transfer (driven in Zeb's Minibus) to Cortina D'Ampezzo for 2 nights, ski mon/tues in cortina.
Tues early eve transfer to Arabba, ski 4 days in Arabba including one excursion to stay night in a Refuge.
Sat 22 eve tansfer to Turin to catch 22.00 flight to Stansted.
This gives 8 days skiing, 7 days in Hotel, 1 in refuge.
if snow in Dolomites poor, stay in Maurienne at Etoiles de Neige hotel and ski whole valley, get 8.5 days skiing transfer to Turin sat eve as above.
Hotels will be booked at last minute by Zeb through personal contacts (Val Cenis had lots of empty beds last year at that time)
Costings;
Flights £50. [yes I know that is cheap but its £45 booked now]
Hotel/ refuge 8 x £35= £280
Guide 6 days x £220 divide 6 clients= £220
Sub-total£550
if stay in val maurienne, transfers £20, grand total £570, cheap for 8.5 days skiing of this quality.
dolomite extras; transfers £60. guides accomodation £210 divide 6= £35. guides liftpass £120 divide 6= £20. subtotal £115. Total £655.
These figures are obviously approximate, some may be more, some less.
Extras; flight ski carriage £15- double ski bags will half that cost.
Liftpass- about £10 a day in maurienne if we get a whole area 5 day or longer pass, about £13.50 if we buy one off day tickets. A bit more expensive in dolomites- say £20 per day.
Some photos from Val Cenis last January on this site
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 28-09-04 15:37; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks for the message, Cedric, I've sent you a reply.
Flights if booked now are only £45!
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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?
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that sounds fab. I would have fancied that, but don;t think I'd get permisson off Mrs NBT (who wouldn;t want to ski steep off-piste) even if we weren't going out on Jan 9th for a week 
Would love contact details for Zeb if you can pass them on? Sounds like something we could look at organising for our own group in the next couple of years
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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nbt, Zeb or Zebulon (a nickname he is generally known by - French version of children's TV Zebedee) is much in demand and well known in France. He has lots of regulars, and took on more when his father, another guide, was killed 2 years ago (fell guiding climbers on the Matterhorn when he temporarily unclipped himself). We booked him at the end of January last year and he had very limited weeks available.
He also , with his wife, teaches paragliding (they were both in the French team and she was world champion several years).
He particularly knows well (other than his own Maurienne and nearby resorts) the Dolomites, and Verbier, where he guided for a season.
But he is cheaper in the Maurienne since he can live at home.
You can find his e mail on his website (click on his highlighted name in my original posting). Stuart Bonham, my friend who has generally arranged things with him, can give me his home phone number if you have any difficulty.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sorry, should have given Ski-Club of GB defenitions:
Gold is defined as "Expert": (from ski Club Website)
On piste
Expert on piste
This is our highest standard of skiing. You are a fluent confident skier on all pistes, whatever the conditions. You take the fall line at all times, whether in moguls or on steep terrain. You are very fit, use the terrain and used to skiing hard and fast all day.
View expert on piste holidays
Off piste
Expert off piste
An expert skier in all off piste conditions, including breakable crust as well as deep, light powder. You ski fast and fluently off piste on steep slopes and are able to ski couloirs. You don't mind the odd climb to get to a perfect slope. You are unerringly keen, love and respect the mountains and recognise that by including yourself in this category you are volunteering for our most challenging skiing adventures.
View expert off piste holidays
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Sun 3-10-04 11:40; edited 3 times in total
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nbt know what you mean - sounds like a lovely trip but I will have to practise a bit first!
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OK, Cedric is coming to the Dolomites, so we have a full complement.
As for St Anton, a couple of us have put ourselves down to ski with the guide monday to saturday and are going out on th friday so we ski without guide 2 days first.
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FAQ
