....hopefully for some fresh later this week.......
Yes looks like Northern Alps is getting it from tomorrow and the Lautaret doing it's blocking thing and we'll miss out
@davidof, Aaaaahh thought I'd left that in the edit when I commented on seeing one, it was one of those Polaris 4x4's (big quad) never seen tracks like that on that Chemin this time of year, he must have been going up to a house in or around La Puy de la Salle.
@DB, and hope you clocked yet another pole that could be destined for the bin, or the OH
When I took my big tumble last week and careered down the piste on my backside with the toe piece still attached to the boot with my ski up the hill I managed to bend the pole, on the third outing
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Weathercam wrote:
@DB, and hope you clocked yet another pole that could be destined for the bin, or the OH
When I took my big tumble last week and careered down the piste on my backside with the toe piece still attached to the boot with my ski up the hill I managed to bend the pole, on the third outing
Hey I've had very good experiences with Komperdell ski poles up to now. Had a pair of Hans Kammerlander signature models for many years, the foam grips went almost all the way down the pole and so were great for traversing. Lost one skiing offpiste at Krippenstein - my excuse was it was the first outing on a pair of touring skis that were edge damaged since hitting a rock very hard with them on the way down from the Wildspitze. Amazed to see no visual damage it was only later when I took them in for a service that the sevice guy said I had compressed the edge. (caught an edge while traversving on an icy path above a steep drop) Moved the bindings over to other skis but the heel piece started playing up and eventually exploded while I was skiing with 3 other snowheads, which was embarassing I could have bought a set of carbon poles in St Anton (where I was skiing when the black diamond poles broke) but decided against taking out a second mortgage. Who pays €300+ for ski poles?
As for bindings - recently put some shim plates on two different pairs of touring skis. On one pair some screws were loose, the other pair had rust on the bottom of some screws. Suspect screws become loose over time and water gets in there (or they weren't mounted properly in the first place). Also read somewhere that it's the glue that stops the water ingress and this should be applied whenever the bindings are remounted to the skis.
PS this binding knocking sound you heard, was that another problem with your gear?
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?
Weathercam wrote:
At least once a season I tour up from the village next to us, La Salles Les Alpes, 1,435m heading towards the Col de Granon and the Gardiole 2,753m, and usually when I'm far more acclimatised!
The method behind the thinking is that everyone else who tours up the Granon starts a good kilometre away at Villard Late so with this route I normally have the mountain to myself. It's an area I know very well, almost my back-garden as I cycle and run up there a lot!
Today I opted to boot-pack a steep path in the forest as opposed to a winding Chemin to gain elevation fast.
As I broke out of the forest the snow-pack was decidedly wind-affected so the next couple of hours I climbed trying to suss out where the best cold snow would be for the all-important descent and at least on a couple of occasions I came close to packing in.
However, the snow became better and I was rewarded with a long descent, devoid of people and tracks, well apart from animal tracks as you'll see
It was only when I was editing the video, and it is long, as I'm talking pretty well all the way through it, that I noticed the knocking sounds of my bindings, but hopefully you'll find the bollox I'm spouting of interest, not least about my 97 year old Mum who tested positive for Covid yesterday!
Yesterday decided to opt for a tour where I'd be disappointed if I did not get to ski some good cold untracked in the forest.
The only issue is that to get to the skiing it's nigh on a 1hr 20m 500m climb and then a further 350-400m climb for the skiing, so we often do two laps, of the 350m climb.
On the way up there was a well-trodden path/skin-track so was not too sure what I'd find.
As I was climbing up so the wind was increasing, a sign of the incoming storm maybe?
After I passed through the picture-postcard Summer hamlets I decided to take my normal route up through the forest, not least as the other side had a fair number of tracks and would be far more exposed to the wind.
My "vlog" below is more about the decision making process and navigation of the climb that some might find interesting, as the GoPro died before the descent
But did take some snaps
The wind was howling on the ridge, as you'll see in the video, but just below I was in the lee and was calm, though I'd already decided to get off the mountain and not do a second lap!
As you can see it's superb safe terrain and well-spaced trees.
@skimottaret, but where's the exciting video of their descent
Been really windy the past three days or so, and temps have been well above freezing and the snow in my garden has been disappearing fast and the snow in the field alongside (always a good barometer) now is more akin to porridge.
So options limited as we've not seen the fresh snow the Northern Alps have had, so we've been in a similar situation before so I suggested to @KenX, that we return to where I was last Tuesday as I was pretty hopeful that snow would still be cold and again it should still be untracked, and turned that was true on both counts
In fact I did not even come across my tracks from a couple of days ago as the wind had filled them in.
And just as we were nearing the final part of the climb we were both walking across a flattish plateau and we both felt a "whumpf" go under us, which must have been the wind-blown snow sinking down and the air releasing.
And then just to further make me jump, I was near the top standing and a feckin grouse/ptarmigan shot out of the snow near to me, was weird as very black and not white, so I was just settling down when another one even closer to me, less than 2m social distance or thereabouts flew out of the snow as well, much to @KenX's amusement
So pics of the tour.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@skimottaret, but where's the exciting video of their descent
Been really windy the past three days or so, and temps have been well above freezing and the snow in my garden has been disappearing fast and the snow in the field alongside (always a good barometer) now is more akin to porridge.
So options limited as we've not seen the fresh snow the Northern Alps have had, so we've been in a similar situation before so I suggested to @KenX, that we return to where I was last Tuesday as I was pretty hopeful that snow would still be cold and again it should still be untracked, and turned that was true on both counts
In fact I did not even come across my tracks from a couple of days ago as the wind had filled them in.
And just as we were nearing the final part of the climb we were both walking across a flattish plateau and we both felt a "whumpf" go under us, which must have been the wind-blown snow sinking down and the air releasing.
And then just to further make me jump, I was near the top standing and a feckin grouse/ptarmigan shot out of the snow near to me, was weird as very black and not white, so I was just settling down when another one even closer to me, less than 2m social distance or thereabouts flew out of the snow as well, much to @KenX's amusement
So pics of the tour.
Nice. Get your own back during hunt season
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
a bit tongue in cheek, but a tour to/from my doorstep in North Leeds at the heady 155m height!
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.
@kitenski, Hope you got it on Strava
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
Was way better today than expected! Cold temps an N aspect helped
Had a whumph underfoot crossing a flat section, felt and heard it, it was windblown crust with 5cm of fresh on top so OK, but in a while with some fresh snow on top and a 30 degree slope could be interesting..........
Wow are you always that fast on snowshoes or did someone need the toilet?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Is that you in bright orange @KenX? What happened did you get tangoed?
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@DB, yellow actually, Weathercam's filters were playing up!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Bad weather continuing today and it was difficult just driving around the place, the skiing wasn't too bad though, 80cm has fallen at this spot at 1700 meters over the last 4 days but with the freeze/thaw/rain only the top 20-30cm was fresh.
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?
@kitenski, well done, always worth getting some turns in.
Today was back to the same forest but before I'd spent quite a bit of time working on the possibility of a new route that would give a better line for the descent, more skiing and not so much traversing.
Main issue was that there are a series of rock bands, some not on the map, plus I knew if there was a route then it would be quite steep and hopefully safe and no terrain traps etc.
I had also told myself that if I ended up at a point where I could go no further, then I'd still have a good ski back down, and that was patently obvious a third of the way into the climb.
I know the area reasonably well and had looked at possible alternatives when on the hill, but very difficult to see in the forest!
So I downloaded the GPX file of the tour above and converted it to a kml which you can then view in Google Earth, next I created a route in Google Earth where I thought a route might be possible, then I had to convert that to a GPX to upload back to my phone so I had it on my mapping software..............phew!
Google Earth
Then route transferred to phone
The climb was very steep towards the end, and hard work as I'd been breaking trail for a good hour+ and ironically I ended up close to the plateau where we were the other day, so there is another way, less steep, however, if I had not climbed it I would not have known it was feasible to ski!
The descent was just superb with the snow still in great condition and the only tracks I crossed were those in my skin track.
Video captures the day well and even the transition, which I've speeded up
Why is it that the best of the snow falls on a Friday so the Weekend Warriors get it as well?
Actually, as it turned out what with my hombre delayed due to de-icing his car, we ended up with a big group of Frenchies ahead of us, I knew one of the guys, as a few weeks back we were touring together (he was on a Splitboard then) for about 45mins before we went our separate ways, he's 52 and has been skiing/boarding Sere Che (lives outside Monaco but has a place here) since he was 3 so I was quite happy he'd break a trail heading in a good direction. I did catch them up a couple of times and put an effort in breaking trail, all be it briefly, especially when he was breaking trail in the deep powder in the forest above Frejus summer village, and he's a strong boy, and all his team were more than happy to let him do the work
We had violent winds last night and in the early hours so many a ridge and face was scoured back to the base, so I was well pleased with his track as it was obvious we're both of a similar mindset in sniffing out the best snow-pack.
Have to admit that we did not adhere to a strict touring etiquette, in that we let them go on and then selfishly decided that light was getting flat so best to transition and make the most of the untracked and failing light, as we'd done nigh on a 1,000m with my pace circa 500 mts per hour.
So nice pretty pictures.
Another Cross but pretty basic compared to the one above
And @KenX, might upload a photo of something you don't come across too often
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Yes, rather annoyingly a Skidoo came flying past us earlier on in the climb, we both remarked as he approached "hope he hasn't got a train of skiers attached"
40 mins later, he was stuck fast and spitting feathers
We of course offered our help and hightailed it before he could reply!
After all it is free
After all it is free
I for one was glad of the diversion as I'm more of a sloth-like 400m/hour.........
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I was the only idiot that gave him a hand, but then thought I stand more chance of ripping my back and what for so retreated as he was loosing it big time on the phone as someone kept ringing him asking him where he was
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I think I learned several new French swear words today
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Well Glenshee today was absolutely magical.
Powder and sun on Carnaosda and a backcountry line off Carn nan sac
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.
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
@ecrinscollective,
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
An early start today by French standards (08:30) and I was the third car in the parking.
On my own and nice and cold so climbing at a good pace though not in the red zone, most of the Frenchies took the more obvious tracks that we did yesterday, so mind started working, and decided on a couple of options, and thankfully there was a nice skin track 60% of the way, but then I was breaking trail, but no pain no gain (untracked).
There is a lovely face that we often ski, Pikey's shoulder but that today looked beautiful and dangerous, I was tad concerned at a couple following me so I deviated off the more obvious skin track almost going back on myself hoping that the two behind me would follow the more pronounced skin track and then I started climbing up the Crete drag towards the nice n'safe meadows and then a line in the forest below.
It was really windy on the summits and ridges and on the route that I took, but drop off a metre and it was calm.
Conflicting forecasts for tomorrow but if weather is bright I'm back up there tomorrow
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Motivated the tot for a bit of Chartreuse touring. Powder was quite heavy where it had caught the wind or sun. Thousands of people on the climb to the Charmant Som, a classic. We were on Mont Fromage and there were perhaps 20 cars at the trailhead and people soon vanished.
Maybe the last skitour before lockdown
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Stuck in lockdown in Derby we got a couple of inches of snowfall today so in the afternoon I looked out my old first set of Telemark equipment (leather duckbill boots, Åsnes long skinny skis with Rottefella 3 pin bindings) and did a bit of langlauf out from the front door of my house along the pavements to a country park about a mile away. Where people had walked and compressed the snow I was able to get a pretty good classic style glide going. I skied around the showground area at the park which was quite hard going as I was having to break fresh tracks through the snow, then back home. My first time on skis this winter, so a good workout. Here's the loipe (!) at the country park....
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 24-01-21 20:28; edited 1 time in total
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Alastair Pink, the Americans, who get colder winters, often make up Loipe on golf courses when it snows.
There should have been some skiing in Lahndan today.
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?
@Alastair Pink, shouldn't this be in the Cross Country thread
Good effort though
Overnight 10cm so off out shortly taking a Val D'Isere guy out to show him our terrain and busy area......
@snowheid, that looks good, you must be chuffed with that!
I took a friend who had lived in Val-d'Isère for many a year up the hill today, and we were fortunate enough to have had another 10cm overnight, so yesterday's tracks lower down on the piste to the valley floor were nigh on covered, most unexpected.
Was a bit of a Ground Hog Day going back up to where I was yesterday, but it was so good, this time there was a group of young Frenchies who were going at a pace, and luckily put a good track in for us on the last part of the climb.
And this is looking across to the Vallons below Cucumelle and you can see a couple of people we know climbing up.
So maybe back out again tomorrow as best to get it while we still can.
I can feel the brewing empathy from many as we lunge towards confinement
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@snowheid,
That looks lovely.
20,000 vertical metres for me so far this season and not a photo in sight. I must work out how to post them!
After all it is free
After all it is free
Quote:
20,000 vertical metres
Impressive I think I might be on about 1500m
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@zzz, what you don't do Strava then
I'm way down on where I'd usually be at this point in the season, but there again I only arrived Dec 31st
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
zzz wrote:
. I must work out how to post them!
put them on a website such as https://imgur.com then copy link (top right of photo - if there is no .jpg on the end then add it) and put it on here with [img] before, then [/img]after.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Tue 26-01-21 14:42; edited 1 time in total
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
Who pays €300+ for ski poles?
