Author Topic: The Ski Locker thread  (Read 126316 times)

PaulF

  • "World's Scariest Barman"
  • It's only impossible if you stop to think about it
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #25 on: 03 January, 2012, 01:20:21 pm »
Not done it for years but if you can do the Vallon de la Sache down to les Brevierres on fresh snow it's a truly superb run. Avoids the almost moguls on the Sache run :).

Most memorable run I've done is the run down from le Peclet in Val Thorens, but that needs a guide, and skins, and climbing and ropes....


Do you mean going around the back? I thought Sache went down Vallon de la Sache?

I've heard about the run down Peclet, never done it, but Christine is quite nice coming back the "normal" way from Peclet

And also happens to be Mrs Ham's name....





From memory the Vallon run is an 'Iteneraire' (sp?) which is further to the right as you look at the piste map. But itis a long time since I've done it....

The Peclet (Face Ouest) run starts in the top right corner of this picture:

completed by paulfulford, on Flickr


Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #26 on: 03 January, 2012, 02:19:10 pm »
That would be the Glacier Pers, and the refuge is the Prariond. I did a video yonks ago which features the Vallon de la Sachette, Point Pers and the Glacier Pers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiWk6IZqwDk
The Vallon de la Sachette is accessed via a traverse from the top of the Aiguille Percee lift.

Ah yes, I know what you mean now. Was that your vid ? </impressed>

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #27 on: 03 January, 2012, 04:26:02 pm »
Ah yes, I know what you mean now. Was that your vid ? </impressed>

I tend not to feature in the videos of powder, as I'm very bad in it. We used to do quite a bit of off-piste skiing, when the Pound was worth more than Euro 1.50. We last went to Val at the time of the Icelandic Volcano.
I found difficulty getting a HD video camera to stop down enough, so I taped a sunglasses lens on the front, which worked quite well. Any trip over the Col Pers depends on the Gorge de Malpasset, when it's not passable there will be walking involved. It's also quite a long flat pole out from the Pont St. Charles.

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #28 on: 03 January, 2012, 04:54:47 pm »
Any trip over the Col Pers depends on the Gorge de Malpasset, when it's not passable there will be walking involved. It's also quite a long flat pole out from the Pont St. Charles.
I had a couple of friends dip under the rope on Col Pers in a very snow-light season.

The lack of tracks should have warned them. It took them many hours to get out as the whole of the bottom of the Gorge was sheet ice. For a whole sections in the Gorge they had to cut steps in the ice with the tail end of their skis.

Safely back in a bar that evening the Gorge came up in conversation with a local guide (without letting on that they had been down it that very day).

"Anyone who goes in the Gorge now will die. There is no way out."

(Ths was in the days before mobile phones.)

I think they both felt pretty lucky to get away with just a knackered pair of skis each.
Rust never sleeps

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #29 on: 03 January, 2012, 07:57:42 pm »
We've generally gone at the end of the season to Val, as there's often good powder. The summer path above the Gorge is an option then.
I'd quite like to do some ski-touring in Slovenia, as I like the place, but equipment hire might be an issue.

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #30 on: 03 January, 2012, 08:36:59 pm »
Any trip over the Col Pers depends on the Gorge de Malpasset, when it's not passable there will be walking involved. It's also quite a long flat pole out from the Pont St. Charles.
I had a couple of friends dip under the rope on Col Pers in a very snow-light season.

The lack of tracks should have warned them. It took them many hours to get out as the whole of the bottom of the Gorge was sheet ice. For a whole sections in the Gorge they had to cut steps in the ice with the tail end of their skis.

Safely back in a bar that evening the Gorge came up in conversation with a local guide (without letting on that they had been down it that very day).

"Anyone who goes in the Gorge now will die. There is no way out."

(Ths was in the days before mobile phones.)

I think they both felt pretty lucky to get away with just a knackered pair of skis each.

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Savoie/Val-D-Isere-Col-Du-Pers ....

Quote
Unless the Gorges are in condition, indicated by a sign at the ski lift, they can trap skiers like a spider at the bottom of a bathtub

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #31 on: 03 January, 2012, 08:47:47 pm »
And wasn't a lot of Apocalypse Snow shot in Les Arcs? (answer may be "no"...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTtyXn7B4Y4

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #32 on: 04 January, 2012, 01:11:06 am »
And wasn't a lot of Apocalypse Snow shot in Les Arcs? (answer may be "no"...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTtyXn7B4Y4

One piece suits and mono's! How old is that - 1983 that explains it!

The tandem mono's look fun (read dangerous)
and as for the catermaran that is just mental!

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #33 on: 04 January, 2012, 01:48:27 am »
Favourite pisted runs (all I do) are Ventina down into Cervinia from Klein Matterhorn, or perhaps International from same place into Zermatt. In the 3V's Jockeys into La Praz is good, Suisses above 1850 is good, just over a bit is Combe de Saulire, of which the entrance is something of a bottle tester the first time you see it. Chapelets and Rochers above 1650 are good and fast, Christine from Peclet over at VT is a good leg burner at warp 8 too. Jerusalem and Pramint above the St Martin mid station are good blasts too -with plenty of little drop aways for a bit of safe 'air'. I can't do deliberate 'proper air' as I always bottle it, and while it isn't pretty, it is probably funny to watch :o  ;D

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #34 on: 08 January, 2012, 08:59:37 pm »

Most loosy-stuff ski holiday ever...

All skis were unloaded from flying-machine at Edinburgh before we even took off, because the flying machine was over-weight.
So we had to hire for 3 days, till they arrived by the steamer.  Shit happens, no big deal.

Boots all arrived OK at Geneva, and transferred to coach.
We were last off the coach, to find some muppet at some intervening stop had taken Junior#2's boot bag as well as his own.   Didn't even have the courtesey to get onto his rep and 'fess up, which would have at least got us the bag back.   Lost permenantly.   Purchased new boots, helmet, gogs and bag at Courchevel 1850 'Russian Oligarch' prices

Then the worst: I lost a ski in Deep Powder for NO REASON, and despite spending over 2 hours probing with the probe and digging with the shuvvel in a carefully set out search zone, no trace was found.   Gave up.   Thing is, I have a pair of flourescent tape streamers which I would normally wear in these conditions but I'd not put them on because I was just doing a quick reccy run early AM before everyone set out! Gah!

And the 'Liasons Trois Valleys' links were closed most of the week due to high winds and it neiging like buggery.
So mostly confined to Courchevel 1850.
Good neige tho!

Got back to Edinburgh Airport to find my brother's car with a wrecked wing and bonnet, where some item of loose debris had been blown into it at high speed by some storms that have been around, as I hear it.

Harrumph.


Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #35 on: 08 January, 2012, 09:17:18 pm »
Re: Fave Things To Do in Espace Killy:

The kids always want me to take them down the Vallee Perdue, which is an open-secret off-piste gulley which starts from the bottom of the Tommeuses chair, and wends it's way down into La Daille.  The name is on the piste map, but the route is not.   It's just a drop into the un-marked gulley directly from the Tommeuses chair 'queue'.

It is narrow and winding, has a speliological section which can require limboing, and depending on snow depth can involve climbing down ropes and throwing skis down etc etc.

Just remembered, I did a bit of a video on it a couple of years back ( sorry it's shit quality, it's a hand-held cam.. ):

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lPpCUhjQIms&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/lPpCUhjQIms&rel=1</a>


Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #36 on: 08 January, 2012, 10:04:57 pm »

Come on then, tell us about it  ::-)

We're going to Les Arcs in a couple of weeks  :thumbsup:


You can try the new(ish) fangled Vanoise Express and tootle over to La Plagne!

I've not been to either resort since it was built ( and closed / re-opened! )

Looks like a fair old piece of engineering.

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #37 on: 08 January, 2012, 11:13:28 pm »

Come on then, tell us about it  ::-)

We're going to Les Arcs in a couple of weeks  :thumbsup:


You can try the new(ish) fangled Vanoise Express and tootle over to La Plagne!

I've not been to either resort since it was built ( and closed / re-opened! )

Looks like a fair old piece of engineering.

Now the wheels are aligned to the actual cable line it's fine  ;) It was only ever the wear layer that wore (funny that).

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #38 on: 08 January, 2012, 11:50:36 pm »
Then the worst: I lost a ski in Deep Powder for NO REASON, and despite spending over 2 hours probing with the probe and digging with the shuvvel in a carefully set out search zone, no trace was found.   Gave up.

BTDTGTTS paid the feckin' insewerants  :hand:

Jakob

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #39 on: 09 January, 2012, 03:43:57 am »
This season has been a mixed bag. Loads of snow in early season, but the local mountains have been shit since then. Whistler has been good since Xmas, but there's no point in going there in the Xmas break (over-crowded). Wanted to go today, but my wife needed the car :(.

Forecast for the next week (at whistler) only promises lots of snow tonight and then it dries out again:(. Local mountains it's going to be near spring condition, so I may just go up and pretend it's spring..I guess it's good for falling around in the terrain-park.

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #40 on: 09 January, 2012, 09:04:07 am »

Come on then, tell us about it  ::-)

We're going to Les Arcs in a couple of weeks  :thumbsup:


You can try the new(ish) fangled Vanoise Express and tootle over to La Plagne!

I've not been to either resort since it was built ( and closed / re-opened! )

Looks like a fair old piece of engineering.

You can ... but why? ;)

On the favourite run theme, any of those going down through the trees to Vallandry are great fun, Ours being the one you need to catch the Vanoise Express. (I think Myrtilles was my favourite - if you go down it when it is officially closed but looking OH so inviting, be aware there can be a series of horizontal ditches in evidence across the width.)

CommuteTooFar

  • Inadequate Randonneur
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #41 on: 09 January, 2012, 01:25:37 pm »
I think the biggest problem with skiing this year was booking the train.  Normally the overnight ski trains can be booked 4 months in advance.  This year they did not appear when expected particularly the St Gervais train.  So I bought my Eurostar tickets fairly early to avoid the huge step in pricing (Rich big brother insists on Standard Premier). Then I was horrified when the sleeper trains didn't appear.  Then the outward train for an earlier Friday was to set off 2 hours early so I would miss that on my date Fri 27 Jan.  Then on the second of January all the Friday night trains finally appeared.  Hastily booked.  But the Saturday night train to get me home did not.  That appeared last week and was booked. Phew. 

I am going to Flaine by train  14:00 Fri 27 Cardiff to Paddington, Underground, St Pancras to Gare du Nord, Metro, Gare d'Austerlitz to Cluses, Bus ( 20km) Cluses to Flaine. 10am Sat 28
In reverse 17:30 Sat 4 Feb Bus Flaine to Cluses, ......  Cardiff Midday Sun 5 Feb.  After 8 glorious days skiing.
 
I find this site interesting for the state of resorts
http://www.skiplan.com/stations-temps-reel/   

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #42 on: 09 January, 2012, 08:38:08 pm »
Then the worst: I lost a ski in Deep Powder for NO REASON, and despite spending over 2 hours probing with the probe and digging with the shuvvel in a carefully set out search zone, no trace was found.   Gave up.

BTDTGTTS paid the feckin' insewerants  :hand:
Oh dear, I will never hear the end of that will I?

ETA: Though to be fair I *did* have a reason....
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #43 on: 09 January, 2012, 08:45:16 pm »
Did your insewerants cover such a loss?
We're looking at our policy at the moment.

The reason I ask is that I need to replace them before the Easter Jolly to Breckenridge / Aspen, and there's still stock available at the moment, but it will all be gone if I leave it too long.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #44 on: 09 January, 2012, 08:53:35 pm »
Bit different, they were hire skis (I don't see the point in owning skis any more for 1 trip a year when there's always the latest 'thing'). One less thing to humph round the airport anyway :)
And I didn't take the shop insurance either (learned that lesson the hard way!). Still, didn't do quite as badly as I expected. I got 5/6ths* of what I had to pay the shop back from the insurers.

*Exact figures hidden to protect the financially innocent (i.e. Pingu).
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #45 on: 09 January, 2012, 09:30:01 pm »
Well, the lost ski was a Salomon Xwing Tornado Ti, now superseded by the Enduro XT 800 / 850 so I'm looking at around £500 ish so I'll be persuing any insurance cover I can.

I know what you mean about renting.
We currently do between 7 -  10 days in Europe at xmas, and then 2 weeks in the US at Easter.
That's been the case for the last 6 or 7 years.
I also try to do a bit in Ecosse, weather depending, but I use OLD skis for that.

At least the kids are no longer doing club racing: That involved around 3 pairs per kid... Drymat skis, training skis, and race skis!
And I was prepping perhaps 4 sets of skis a week!
I should go to the Gordon Skiers kit day and sell the race skis, they are quite specalised and have residual value.
Than perhaps my store room would look less like Craigdon Mountain Sports.

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #46 on: 09 January, 2012, 09:48:56 pm »
I like having my own skis because it means that (1) I'm not at the mercy of the rental shop, and decent skis are £££ to rent, too (2) I can set them up how I like, giving me better performance on ice especially over shop setup.

I've had a few pairs off this chap http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Barolas24/SKI-SNOWBOARD-/_i.html?_fsub=3037133&_sid=272472030&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322 in Greece - current are a set of bulldozers Streetracer10 bought brand new a couple of years ago at the end of the season for not much (£200-ish !!!), they're still in very good nick a the moment, when I've had enough of them, tart them up, sharpen and wax, put 'em on eBay and I'll probably get what I paid for them :) (except I can't imagine a better ski for me these days)

Done that with a couple of pairs before (Crossmax, Equipe 3v).

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #47 on: 09 January, 2012, 10:09:11 pm »
I can set them up how I like, giving me better performance on ice especially over shop setup.

Right.
With proper edge guides and base guides, you can set the edge angles as you like.

Because of the racing the kids were doing, I was pushing the side-edges from the factory-default of 89 deg to a more agressive 87 or so, giving a more agressive edge.  This also gives much better performance on ice *if* you are able to apply downward pressure on the edge correctly ( ie you can carve properly without side-slipping in normal snow ).   If you are pushing out rather than down, then it will skitter away just the same.

On the slalom skis,  I reduced the base-edge bevel from 1 degree down to 0.5, so the edges set earlier when rolling onto them, but any less can make them twitchy and unstable at speed in straight line, as the edges will 'catch' more easily.

I *may* have adjusted my rental skis which I needed this year, but they can't prove nuffink.
Frankly, then edges were very poorly set up out of the shop.
Using a marker pen and gentle file to determine the angles, they were all over the place.
I wonder if they will notice the increased side-edge angle.   I doubt it.

Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #48 on: 09 January, 2012, 10:24:41 pm »
I really CBA to bugger around when I'm there, I don't suppose you need a bench, but it does make it easier, strength to your elbow, if you do.

http://www.jonsskituning.co.uk/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,25/category_id,16/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,1/ is what I use for the base, with a Toko adjustable for the edge (@ 87 ;) ) You did know about Jon's Tuning, didn't you ? http://www.jonsskituning.co.uk/index.php If not, I will not be held responsible for spending on bits you didn't know you needed. (his wax is pretty good, too)

I *may* have adjusted my rental skis which I needed this year, but they can't prove nuffink.
Frankly, then edges were very poorly set up out of the shop.
Using a marker pen and gentle file to determine the angles, they were all over the place.
I wonder if they will notice the increased side-edge angle.   I doubt it.

'sactly

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: The Ski Locker thread
« Reply #49 on: 09 January, 2012, 10:41:22 pm »
Thx for the links.

I'm well kitted-up, and carry a complete service kit with me when I go away for more than a week or so, which raises eyebrows at the far end usually.

I have a fold-away bench, a set of vices, edge files of various grades including moonflex diamond stones, base and side edge guides, holmenkol wax iron, various waxes ( toko, holmenkol, data ) for various temperatures, scrapers, brushes, and a p-tex repair gun and p-tex for base repairs.

This all fits into an old Salomon snow-blade bag which is very small but weighs many Kg!
Depending on snow conditions, I'll give the skis a quick once-over every few days.

Yes, I'm probably barking mad.