Poster: A snowHead
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
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?
|
Tarentaise (in general) - stay in BSM (cheaper accomodation, central location) and all Tarentaise resorts are within an easy drive - La Plagne, Les Arcs, La Rosiere, Sainte Foy, Tignes and Val d'Isere - different area every day, pick and choose the best conditions as you go along. Easily accesible - Eurostar to BSM, couple of hours to/from Geneva, Chambery, Lyon, Grenoble airports.
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Snowbird, Tignes 'n Verbier; but these are also the only places I've been with a guide or on an off-piste course.
The lad in Tignes was really keen for me to go again next year so we could nip down to St. Foy for a day or two. He was getting quite giddy at the thought, so I presume it's a bit good.
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
ha ha ...good one..
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Guvnor, now that's a good idea - BSM decent place to stay I assume? not been there for years. Don't need wild apres but a decent bar and restaurant or five would fulfull needs. Ideas like that might get me back to France
|
|
|
|
|
|
gortonator, I stay 10 minutes up the road with friends, in Villaroger, where I can heartily recommend a fantastic chalet, but I know there are some decent enough bars and restaurants in BSM itself.....it's surprisingly good, actually
|
|
|
|
|
|
gortonator, check out my "Steep Vanoise" TR - this followed the stay in BSM and travel around format and very fun it was too. there are still too many people around the Tarentaise for me to fall for it completely but there is a lot of fun to be had even for a misanthrope like me
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Arno, I'm with you on the crowds issue, but there's undoubtedly some top terrain to explore
|
|
|
|
|
|
Craghopper, Utah, Wyoming, Verbier, Chamonix, Praz-de-Lys (no I am not joking, no one goes off piste)...
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
La Grave (what isn't off piste there), Lech, Verbier, Engelberg, Chamonix, had great fun a few years ago in Bareges in the French Pyrenees the pic du midi is one of the great freeride mountains anywhere in the World.
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Tignes, naturally!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Valdez...
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
I think, despite the pita that Verbier is, it is pretty much up there for so-called lift served off-piste. You have to take your hat off to guys like Davidof and Phil Ingle but for resort skiing it's Verbier or Jackson Hole.
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
Kicking Horse BC
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
serre che!
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
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?
|
Caviahue; Chapelco; La Hoya; Las Lenas, Argentina
St Anton, Austria
Castle Mountain, AB; Kicking Horse, BC, Canada
Antillanca; Portillo; Termas de Chillan, Chile
La Grave, France
Kiroro; Niseko; Rusutsu; Sapporo Kokusai, Japan
Engelberg, Switzerland
Crested Butte, Colorado; Steamboat, Colorado; Telluride, Colorado; Whitefish Mountain Resort, Montana; Powder Mountain, Utah; Snowbasin, Utah; Solitude, Utah, USA
Brecon Beacons, Wales
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
La Grave, Saas Fee, Zurs, Flaine (but be with someone who knows the area very well because of limestone holes) Wengen, Alpe D'Huez (especially above Vujaany), LDA. Note how many are not the well-known 'off-piste' resorts, where any decent off-piste powder, reasonably accessible, gets trashed immediately. For that reason, I bet Jonpim is right about La Plagne, but I have not been there, so I cannot say myself.
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Another vote for Verbier for great lift accessed terrain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anywhere with someone who knows...
|
|
|
|
|
|
JT, Zinal looked good
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Kicking Horse
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
JT, rob@rar, excellent point.
I thought I knew La Plagne pretty well, but this year John Arkle and Graham Woolley (SCGB reps) took me down runs I didn't know existed.
BernardC is of course in another league entirely.
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Jonpim, interesting. Did you enjoy your reps' party days (or was it an SCGB holiday)?
|
|
|
|
|
|
achilles, Reps' Parties? They have parties?
Not invited.
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
Jonpim,
You said you skied with a couple of SCGB reps
Jonpim wrote: |
...........I thought I knew La Plagne pretty well, but this year John Arkle and Graham Woolley (SCGB reps) took me down runs I didn't know existed........ |
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
achilles, I think it was a bit of word play ie different meanings of the word 'party'.
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
achilles, well, we think we know a few things...but then we find more stuff. I have at least 4 decent routes to check out and I just know that will open up other lines.
I will have to do 2 1-weekers there next year
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Sainte Foy (obviously!), Chamonix, St Anton, Val d'Isere, Nevis Range.
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
Fernie, Kicking Horse, Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee, Chamonix, Monterosa......
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
I've just got back from a week in Verbier - my first real trip there (ignoring a booze fueled weekend last year) and was hugely impressed. As several people alluded to above there's an amazing amount of lift-accessed off-p that run back to the main valley without too much of a problem.
That's not to say you shouldn't be cautious though. There are several ungroomed but marked runs that the big cables serve so in theory you'd like to think that they're reasonably avvy-safe but we saw a few places, particularly a couple of the traverse run outs, that could be a bit hairy. There's never a substitue for having the right safety gear and some common sense, especially if you're not with a guide. There are also several places you can quite happily get away from the marked routes but need to be even more cautious.
Most of the big gondolas seem to be closed with high winds (I think we can let them off..) but since the areas they serve aren't accessed by any other lifts it means once they're opened you'll have plenty of fresh tracks even a few day after a fall.
BTW Hi all! first post here
RIP Shane.
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Not here - we've got enough freeriders already!
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Have any of the people putting Kicking Horse been to the place ? The locals and ski bums are so good that anything off-piste is skied out 5 seconds after the snow hits the ground.
Someone put Grand Targhee. For a smallish resort that place really is fantastic. Had one of my most fun days ever there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
666 wrote: |
Have any of the people putting Kicking Horse been to the place ? The locals and ski bums are so good that anything off-piste is skied out 5 seconds after the snow hits the ground.
|
Yes. Spent two seasons there (2001/02 & 2002/03) and visited during the 2003/04 winter.
Never had a problem finding fresh in and out of the resort.
|
|
|
|
|
|
eurozone, chamonix/stateside, vail..did both this year (just back from cham) and am now in the throws of depression..271 days to go until i get the planks on again
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Yeah, was in Kicking Horse last year for a couple of days. There wasn't much fresh pow but the snow was still in great condition. The bowls are amazing to mess around in even there isn't any powder. Just get off the lift, pick a line and go for it!
Went to Targhee in 2007 for two days and Jackon Hole for seven days. I thought Targhee, although small, was a cracking area - and it gets way more snow than JH!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Targhee is great fun - wide open terrain and great snow. I love it.
I actually tend to favor off the beaten track places which have good snow and terrain but aren't renowned powderhound/off-piste destinations. So eg give me Lech over St Anton, Snowbasin over Snowbird, Targhee over Jackson, Revelstoke over Whistler. All great places, but its nice to be able to find feshies for days instead of watching the local heroes eat the pow in 2 hours. I try to reserve visiting the 'famous' places in early or late season when not so busy.
|
|
|
|
|
|