 Poster: A snowHead
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Oh to be forced to settle for the Big 3 in the Rockies! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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@Weathercam, I'll give you that. One of the guys I met up with is 79 and has Parkinson's. Still out there, a real gamer. Inspiring, like your friend.
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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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The season started with the novelty of having to try on, and buy, a helmet for the first time ever.
We had Christmas in Cortina. We have previously based ourselves in many different Dolomiti resorts, but never made it over to Cortina. The closest we had got before was Cinque Torri, so we were keen to see what Cortina had to offer, especially with the Olympics coming to town. Unfortunately the Snow Gods hadn't yet woken up for the season in that corner of the Dolomites. With only 30km out of 120km of piste open we quickly realised that, rather than a skiing holiday at Christmas, this would be a Christmas holiday with a bit of skiing. Still cost us £700+ for two local area 5 day tickets though. It's a lovely town and very picturesque area. Seeing all the construction underway for the Olympics was also quite special. But the area is fairly fragmented and the bus service isn't the best. We were stood waiting for an hour and a quarter for a bus that is scheduled every 15mins. When it did finally turn up, the driver shrugged and said he was on his lunch break. There is no mention of a lunch break in the timetable. We got the impression that the resort doesn't really care about the hoi polloi. There is serious money here and the top hotels all offer on-demand shuttle buses. Definately lives up to the reputation that half the folk are there to be seen rather than to ski. Got to giggle at the twatterati parading around in their furs and designer gear though. This was easily our most expensive trip of the season. Also the most underwhelming. We are probably going to skip Christmas in future as the snow conditions have been suboptimal too often in the last few seasons.
In February we headed to Courmayeur. Had done a few daytrips from La Thuile before but, again, hadn't based our selves there. We really lucked out with the weather and had so much snow to play with. Also hit it lucky with the folk in our hotel, most of whom were return visitors, as they were all really friendly and we struck up a good rapport. It is a very fine, compact resort that we will probably return to at some point.
End of March/start of April saw us head to Sauze. This was a new area for both me and Mrs. d, neither of us had been to Vialattea before. Again we got reasonably lucky with a sizeable dump before we arrived to top up the end of season slopes. It's a good size area with wide, flatteringly graded runs. The lift system is fairly dated, but the ski pass cost reflects this in it's inexpensiveness. It kind of reminded me off the Grandvalira in Andorra. Sauze is trying to shrug off its 'Benidorm on Snow' label and there are some really nice winebars in the old town, the old town itself is also remarkably pretty. This was by far the cheapest of the three trips but it was really enjoyable and we will probably return to here too.
The season ended with another purchase. New skis this time as my old ones had done 18 seasons and were pretty knackered. Treated myself to a pair of Stockli laser wrt pro from the Ski Exchange in Cambridge, who were super helpful and had to override their system for my postcode in NE Scotland to be accepted. I'd highly recommend them. I'll try to pick up some new boots in time for the start of next season too as they are the same vintage as the old skis.
Roll on next season to try out my new gear!
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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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Only did 10 days (8 skiing) in Les Arcs this winter but my takeaways were:
1) I love skiing.
2) I love skiing with the family. Now the girls can ski most things, at a decent pace and in control.
3) I love spring skiing. Corm farming for those joyous 2 hours between softening up and getting too sticky is pure joy.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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12 days of skiing this season; half of them spent trying to carve ice, the other 6 spent charging on near-perfect snow.
Think I've had it as good as a holiday skier can have it.... lots of education and progression, lots of time spent chasing my kids who continue to impress me, and it feels like we have a financial recipe for making two trips work (just).
Self-realistion moment; Flow bindings are exactly what my bad back needs. They might not be cool or trendy, maybe not the highest performance, but being able to clip in day after day is the key to enjoying a full week on snow as you near 50yo.
I'm also stoked that we've finally discovered Austria. What a place. Happy to start exploring everything that wonderful country has to offer
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@Specialman, …..surely the Austrians discovered Austria first? They even have a flag….
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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.
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@Specialman, I remember an interesting trip to Zell am See in the 1990s - we stayed in a small guesthouse and the owner was mystified as to why we had not brought our own soap. The hill was boilerplate and the final gondola down everyday was hideously overloaded - massively so. It would slow at it crawled up the cable to each pylon and then plummet dramatically as it left the support. And as much as I like sausage let’s say that the menu in town was Very Authentic. For the last thirty years we have explored the many many tiny resorts of the Rhone Valley and all the amazing off piste on offer. I’ve not even thought about that trip for a long time…maybe we should branch out a bit….but the lure of the Magic Pass is strong….
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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2 new-to-me resorts Selva/Dolomites and St Anton/Arlberg plus the usual HT trip to a snowmaggedon-ed 3Vs.
19 days altogether, not one regretted (well, maybe the morning I spent on a snowboard in Courchevel), but came away with a feeling that my skiing has been quite poor. In my St Anton review I speculated that my season-long snowboard experiment in 23/24 caused lasting psychological harm. I will need to work on that next season, ideally a pre-/early-season solo trip without the pressure of also shepherding various syndicates around the mountain: which *could* mean as many as 25 days for me in 26/27. 
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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.
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For me....vents in salopettes are a game changer.
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"Some people run on a mountain trail
Some like it wild and rough
Some like to fly and some like to sail
And some like the downhill stuff"
I'm about half way through my season, still liking the downhill stuff.
- Assuming it's not invaded I'll be in Greenland in 3 weeks, probably watching it rain. I'll pick up lots of Greenland branded T-shirts, but shall probably not take them to the US later in the year.
- Then Iceland's season runs a little behind that, and it's on the way home...
- Finally there's South America in the summer. Last year I had epic conditions there, so immediately booked a longer trip this year. Only later did I discover I'd hit the decade's best ever conditions. I'll probably end up watching it rain this year. For several weeks.
Reflections:
- Extreme skiers use short poles because they make the snow look deeper.
- My day count has been rising steadily all century. That can't go on forever.
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| Specialman wrote: |
| ...Flow bindings are exactly what my bad back needs. They might not be cool or trendy, maybe not the highest performance, but being able to clip in day after day is the key to enjoying a full week on snow as you near 50yo. |
Mike Basich rode Flows and was a better rider than any number of cool and trendy shop assistants. Next time you might want to also take a look also at Burton's Step-On system - my riding buddy sells push levers for those for folk who don't want to bend down much.
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You know it makes sense.
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@phil_w, I looked at Step-On but the price of the boot and the binding put me off.... strangely, saw very few in France but saw loads of Nidecker/Flow setups. Same in Austria. Maybe everyone has a bad back like me 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Done now. Great end to season.
Some learnings
- I am definitely a vibe skier, the right music really works
- The Ski like an Eagle tm programme is legit. Apply now for Tier 1 membership.
- Carv 2 sub + doohickeys for sale.
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FAQ
