Who is going skiing and where 2015?

[//j17]

a311 said:

Parts of France looking at a big dump Sunday/Monday with well over a meter.

Well, if they will eat all that rich food over the Christmas period...

[//j17]

Not liking the look of the forecast again - even that bastion of pessimism snow-forecast.com has the freezing point coming back up over 2000m from News Years day...

Please don't all melt again before I get there on the 10th!

[//j17]

AOK said:

Now that is what I like to hear! I'm off to Ischgl later in the season for the first time and looking forward to it trying out something different after years of the same drive/pistes/food/atmosphere/après in France

You're in for a treat as no-where does Apres quite like Ischgl!

Traditionally it's not an amazing resort for off-piste, though we missed last year so haven't seen what the new Piz Val gondola's opened up but the on-piste is great for all but the most hard-core, 'I only do blacks' skiers. Give or take the whole resort is covered by snow makers and as all lift pass profits are ring-fenced for the lift system you usually find them replacing the sort of lifts you see French resorts fitting. Most have covers and an increasing number have heated seats.

The runs back to the village can be a bit of a nightmare at the end of the day just due to the number of people, height and fact some get a lot of sun but the 7/7a/1a run back to the bottom of the Pardatschgratbahn is usually empty and a great long run to do earlier in the day.

Food, certainly on-mountain is better and cheaper than France - provided you like meat! Make sure you get over to the Alp Bella restaurant in the bottom left corner of the map. It's just half a rotisserie chicken, a bread roll and some coleslaw but WHAT a half rotisserie chicken!

No matter what you're looking for from apres you'll find it in Ischgl. The press and other people I can only assume have never actually been to Ischgl always seem to say Trofana Alm. We tried it. It was a rammed saussage-fest with hardly room to stand, let alone site and getting a drink took ages. We left.

The Trofana Royal Hotel bar is a really nice place for a civilised drink though.

[//j17]

AOK said:

Thank you! Some great advice there... its rare these days, but sometimes PH really proves invaluable!

PS - your name and number plates look familiar... do we know eachother? Jigsaw racing perhaps?

Been to Jigsaw a few times, though not for a few years. The numberplates are faked (badly) and just a bit of an in-joke for any Triumph fans

[//j17]

Check out the "Solo Skiers v Groups - Organising Trips" forums over on SnowHeads too. You'll find things like; people offering lifts, spare spaces in groups, and other solo travellers who'll be there at the same time.

[//j17]

a311 mentioning Les Arcs/La Plagne gives another option - live somewhere on the train line up to Bourge-St-Maurice. You can then get the train to Bourge and funicular up to Les Arcs/ski across to La Plagne. Two ski areas for the price of one and a wider range of places to live and balance your snow/transport link times.

[//j17]

Asterix said:

Not wishing to sound like a 12 year old girl, but I shall....

1 Sleep to go

Same here.

Bags packed - check.
Taxi booked - check.
Checked-in and boarding pass downloaded - check.
Alarm set - check.
Checking snow-forecast.com every hour - check.
Checking passport still in bag every 30 minutes, despite there being no-one else here to move it - check.
Really focused on work - umm...

[//j17]

Was up around Avoriaz yesterday and above Chatel today and actually amazed by how good things are - considering.

Yes there's patches of ice and a but of slush lower down but no crust on top and skiing well all day.

[//j17]

taaffy said:

schmalex said:

My only slight concern is complete whiteout conditions. I'm going with my wife and son, who are decent beginners, but struggle in flat light / whiteout.

I'm sure all will be fine, though. It would be lovely to see a 50cm / 1m dump on Friday and then decent flurries for the rest of the weekend. Equally, it might be fun to have a 2m dump on Sunday night meaning that we're stuck in the village...

Yellow goggle lenses will help tremendously in flat light.

What he said.

Having bought yellow lenses after struggling with flat light in Jan last year...followed by clear sunny days and no need of them in March I finally got a chance to compare them to the standard ones last week in Morzine and I'm glad the voice saying "it's just a con, how can they make any difference" was drouned out by the one saying "buy a new ski toy!".

When things are at their worst you only get an extra meter or so, but that's the difference between seeing that little hump that's going to try and knock you off balance and hitting it blind and being knocked off balance.

Usually things aren't that bad though and in those conditions it's like the difference on a sunny day when you ski from a sunny section of a piste in to a shaded one.

[//j17]

Zigster said:

Any tips on where to get some salopettes at this time of year? I got rid of my last pair last year as they were worn out but have been so busy at work for a while that I haven't had chance to go to the shops and all that seems to be left are very expensive (I went to Snow and Rock at Monument this lunchtime), odd sizes or garish colours. Given the strength of the Swiss Franc at the moment, I'd rather buy before I go.

If you went to Monument I'm assuming you work in the City so tomorrow lunch time jump on the tube to Canada Water and pop in to Decathlon (signed from inside the station). Will they be the best/most fasionable salopettes? No. With they do the job and be cheap-enough to leave behind if you need more space for duty free? Yes.

Not been in recently but they usually stock all their ski gear right through the season - http://www.decathlon.co.uk/C-313369-ski-pants-and-...


Either that or tube to Temple/walk up to Covent Garden where you get a choice Ellis Brigham, Snow and Rock, North Face, Cotswold.

There's also a Cotswold hidden in the back streets south to Liverpool Street station, but not the biggest.

Edited by //j17 on Wednesday 28th January 15:37

[//j17]

Welshbeef said:

Going out in the 2-3 week of March.

Will it be icy?

Depends, if you can tell us what the weather will be like we can tell you...

Europe isn't 'snow sure' like some of the north American and Japanese resorts so it depends what we get. Fresh snow the week before you go and not too warm while you're there then no, probably not much ice. No fresh snow and temps hovering around zero the yes, some ice. There's no strict patterns to the weather in Europe either. You can ski in early Jan one year with snow everywhere and ski in early Jan the next with grass everywhere. The same in late March, you can be knee-deep in powder or only able to ski till lunch and have to sit in the sun all afternoon.

But really, does it matter? Unless there's nothing but grass and cows on the hill, strap on the planks, get out there and make the most of it.

[//j17]

Abbott said:

Ok point taken, my comments were aimed at all of the Parisiens and Dutch that were failing to get up to the resort on normal tyres.

Actually it's the Belgians most of the locals in the French alps complain about. Similar to the Brits in that most only have summer tyres and think having an urban off-roader means they will be OK but also have a habit of driving in the middle of the road.

[//j17]

Off to Ischgl tomorrow - only 34cm of snow forecast to fall on Monday