Snowboard/Skiing Thread!!

[tomcat360]

Haha, I'm flying into Denver, (tenatively) then getting a ride from there to Steamboat. So about 2 hours from the airport and I don't care how long the plane ride is

But somehow, some reason, a place 5 hours south of me is open!!! It's got some decent elevation to it and they have between 6 and 18" of base, and I'm dying! So I might drive all that way to get some slush.


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


It's been a long summer, as you can tell.

[Hang11]

We've got snow to 400 metres in NZ today - it will be absolutely puking on some of the local mountains. But they're all closed

I wish I had a mate with a helicopter.

[kitesurfer]

There's only one thing left to say about this!

http://www.chamonix.net/english/webcam/chamcam.htm



Early snow this year it's looking good already.

KS

[long_man]

There's only one thing left to say about this!

http://www.chamonix.net/english/webcam/chamcam.htm



Early snow this year it's looking good already.

KS

its even snowed in the town centre......

lets just hope it doesnt peak to early......

[le' doc...]

wooooo hoooo! bring it on!

early jan for me in morzine so not long now,

[tomato3000]

Italy in Feb for a week.

Hope there's plenty of snow!

[Hang11]

39 degrees where I live at the moment, too hot IMO. The last of the snow on the mountains has melted , and we have had two months of onshore sea breezes

I just read the snow report for Europe and the US, sounds like it's shaping up to be an epic season.

Bring on July in the Southern Hemisphere....

[tomcat360]

Skied today for the 2nd time this year. Skied really. Really. Crappy.

Or it felt like it. Conditions were pretty bad, really thick heavy wet slush. I was working on 180s (I ski not board) and some little tiny rails. I decided it would be fun to try a little rainbow rail meant for snowboarders to ride over. But I can't ride over it, I have to jump and go sideways. So i hit it like 5 times, apparently it looks stylish, so I continue. Then, I messed up on the first flat rail, then went into the rainbow too slow, got to the top, and let my leading ski edge cut deep into the metal rail. Sucks..........

Ate it in front of all the park rats, smashed my elbow on it. Icing it up now. Isn't swollen or brusied or anything but hurts pretty damn bad which is strange because I usually swell and bruise and that feels not as bad as this does.

But anyways, after that and probably 5 botched 180s (landed like 10 though...guess thats good) I decided I was skiing progressively worse throughout the day, so called it quits early.

[pkbum]

I heard that snowboard helps your balance on surfing? Is that true?

[Hang11]

Snowboarding is pretty different really. After a winter of boarding, and not surfing as much, my paddling goes a bit wrong. I think my cutbacks definitely improve due to boarding, probably because of the front/back weight transition that you use a lot when boarding, but the rest of it doesn't help much.

Surfing definitely helps with snowboarding steep slopes in good powder (which is where it's at for me), it's very similar, all back foot, powering through turns etc.

Bottom line, snowboarding (and I guess skiing) and surfing are both great fun, you don't do one to get better at the other. Just surf more if you want to improve at that.

I hope you feel better Tomcat. Early season injuries suck

[tomato3000]

I think all boardsports will help you get the basics to other boardsports quicker than someone who has done none.

I think surfing helps your bottle. You get used to falling off (at least I do!)and it not hurting so you don't worry so much.

[tomcat360]

Thanks for the concern, but I woke up this morning and can't feel it at all! Woot!

Anyways, I've heard wakeboarding really helps with your spins and inverts for snowboarding.

Skiing steeps in good powder is where it's at for me as well, its just the steeps and good powder aren't where I am, haha.

[long_man]

well the closest I could get to real white stuff, was the snow dome at Milton Keynes. It was my first time up there, had some real good fun. managed to nail the drags which for me, I am really pleased with, as I just couldn't get on with them before, had a bad fall and hurt my shoulder pretty bad a couple of years ago, but hey....all is good now........

under 4 weeks until I hit Chamonix now.......

can't wait

oh, glad to hear the injury's better TomCat......

[Real Pol]

I hear ya Tomcat. My mate lost a tooth on one of those rails with his skies a couple of years ago and hasn't hit a rail since! You sound like the type of person who would just get back on the bike though.

Good to hear you've got the drag lift sorted long_man, that can be one of the toughest, most frustrating and embarrassing parts of learning to snowboard which can really hold you back depending on where you learn. I actually know some folk who have been boarding for years and still struggle on them. In fact I've heard of this bloke in Norway who takes his board off and runs up the slope holding on to the tow. You're okay at Chamonix, though as I think apart from the beginner slopes the only place with some drags is Les Houches which is down the valley and in my opinion not worth the trip.

[long_man]

I hear ya Tomcat. My mate lost a tooth on one of those rails with his skies a couple of years ago and hasn't hit a rail since! You sound like the type of person who would just get back on the bike though.

Good to hear you've got the drag lift sorted long_man, that can be one of the toughest, most frustrating and embarrassing parts of learning to snowboard which can really hold you back depending on where you learn. I actually know some folk who have been boarding for years and still struggle on them. In fact I've heard of this bloke in Norway who takes his board off and runs up the slope holding on to the tow. You're okay at Chamonix, though as I think apart from the beginner slopes the only place with some drags is Les Houches which is down the valley and in my opinion not worth the trip.

yeah there were a few people doing that at MK......crazy fools

that's the crazy thing, I can snowboard OK, but as soon as it came to a drag, i was like "erm.....i'll just meet you back down here guys." but now....watch out mr drag lift, the H is coming to get ya.......

i've looked at the piste maps for Chamonix and there seems to be very few drags which is cool......

have you read/heard about the snow they are having in Cham' at the moment....... EPIC.....

[tomcat360]

Oh Real Pol, thanks for including skiers in the title of the thread!

We are sometimes forgotten, haha.

Which brings up a discussion, more boarders or skiers where ya'll ride?


For a while boarders were outnumbering skiers, myself being one of the few somewhat freestyle skiers out there, but this year, the number out freestyle skiers is outrageous!

[Real Pol]

Yeah there is ridiculous amounts of snow all over the Alps!

POWDER FOR ALL!!!


There seems to be more and more skiers in the BOARD ( ) parks and last winter seemed about 50/50 in some of the parks in the alps.

A week in Chamonx hitting the powder (no parks here) followed by a week in Verbier hitting the big (ok medium) airs! Nothing fancy, just stuff that looks good for the camera!

Can't bloody wait!!!

[long_man]

hey Tomcat.....

do you still rock out an "all-in-one" pink suit

oh and hold on to 2 sticks when your going down a slope


Just couldn't help myself

(apologies )

[Hang11]

hey Tomcat.....

do you still rock out an "all-in-one" pink suit

Check this site out http://www.fluorescentrompersuits.co.uk/

There's some classics on there.

Long Man - here in NZ, T-Bars and Pomas are a bit of a luxury - a lot of our ski fields only have rope tows, which are a nightmare. You have to wear a climbing harness with a nutcracker attached to it, and you sling that round the rope and hold on tight. It's a real easy way to lose a couple of fingers.

It really sucks to be struggling to get up a hill on a good powder day because the lift is so hard to ride. We don't have gondolas or cable cars either, so it's usually a real scary drive up 4wd tracks in the snow to the base lift, and sometimes a good walk of 30 or 40 minutes as well. The upside of all that is that you can often be sharing a whole mountain with only 30 or 40 other people, and the passes are cheap. It definitely keeps the tourists away, who stick to the few big areas with chair lifts.

[tomcat360]

Dude single colored suits are coming back!!!

A whole bunch of park rats decided that their dad's really stupid looking suits from the 70s were awesome, but I guess they wanted them to be hanging off their ass, so they wrote Sessions and burton and all of them and they made them.

I really just go for functional clothes, tan helmet, orange jacket, tan pants. That's it.

Yeah and I do have those funny lookin sticks

Hey they make me look cooler when I'm smearin the landing from a cork 3!