No, I'm currently in Boston, but I am going home to Austria for Christmas. See the Euro Skiing Tour Thread for the schedule.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ripzalot
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No, I'm currently in Boston, but I am going home to Austria for Christmas. See the Euro Skiing Tour Thread for the schedule.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ripzalot
well, i can certainly vouch for al's ascertations....it was very deep. :the_finge
the tele-man was nice enough to let me crash in cell block A for a couple of nights and chase him and the boys around leysin saturday and sunday. saturday was complete storm skiing and leysin is probably one of the few places in the alps with great tree skiing, and it was vital. probably 2 feet of fresh at the beginning of the day, another foot easily fell during the day (with more depositing in the trees). we just couldn't resist tacking another run on, we skied bell to bell and walked onto the lift every time, hardly anyone out. by the end of the day, when i would look back up hill for the other 3 guys i was with, i was only seeing balls of moving fluff with hands and a head sticking out. al, my favorite memory of the trip was standing on a cat track and not even seeing bill till he got spit out in a cloud of snow and hearing his crazy detroit laugh.
all of us were kicked after saturday only to wake up sunday to complete and utter bluebird. now the word bluebird is overused in my mind, this is no exaggeration. the wind had died through the night and left another foot of the lightest pow i've ever skied in the alps (on top of the monster accumulation from the day before). we were first cabin (again :the_finge ) and ripped everything as it opened up across the mountain. riding in the caboose down the black run, sailing straight into the sunrise behind 3 plumes of crystally powder, unreal. the thighs and crotch of my bibs were wetting through from constantly being in waist deep powder. i wasn't even reaching my hands down and i had a hard time keep them out of the snow.
if there was ever a more perfect day to catch some footage, it was sunday. alas, none of us could even fathom stopping for photos in this gobble-fest. it all still seems like a dream.
sounds like feb 15th last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by ulty_guy
must....resist....the despair...
:tdo13: :tdo13: :tdo13:
;)
jay- bill, tim, al, and i all knew that we couldn't have been having that much fun without a sacrifice first....we all agreed that mailing you to the snow gods was worth it ;)
but seriously, heal up and you'll be out there before the end of the season. it's not like anyone else is going to beat you and the boys to the pow there in leysin!
skied schlick again on saturday, in trees easily over waist deep. i had to click some random snowboarder out of his bindings cause he had fell down and couldnt get up.. too much snow. i think you get the idea..
sunday - skies were clearing but my time was very limited as i was going to fly from munich to finland for the christmas, and the airport taxi was leaving at 2pm. so i went to patscherkofel, cause it was the nearest resort for me and the map looked like it could have some tree skiing. yeah there were some trees but why didnt anybody tell me that this place is like an airport? flat. and apparently not a good location either (wrong side of the mountain..(?)), there was only like 15-20cm of new snow (which was nothing compared to schlick). oh well, i took a couple of runs and went to pack up the rest of my things.
I heard 3+ feet and the off piste is pretty much all set with coverage. Any tuth to it? Avi update?Quote:
Originally Posted by powslut
Thanks
Avi conditions to be concerned about. A few big cracks out there, and it is not from the current snowfall but the bonding layer below the snow.Quote:
Originally Posted by H-man
Cracks showing earth below.
Latest snow came in small granular like from a snow cannon for about a day. The end of the storm, another 12 hours or so, was nice and light.
3+feet??? I can't say. But, I won't argue.
my last day skiing on friday there was about 120cm in the trees below osthang and it didn#t stop snowing until yesterday morning. coverage is definately set, now we just need to wait for it to settle out a bit.
from the avalanche report: der letzten Tage betragen 110 bis 130 cm, lokal auch mehr
It was nice in Les Diablerets this WE. Sunday incredible, sunny and Fat Fresh Swiss Pow, just heavy enough to be the finest pow for snowboarding. I'd say around 60cm of fresh (3 days fall). All the freestyle stars from te freeski were out there so it was hard to find untracked fields (plus avalanche danger blinking red), but still, nice to have its 6th powder day on a december 18th :)
A few pictures : http://www.skipass.com/articles/sais...reeski1000.php
(and my text for the french speaking guys in here)
Almost nothing back in Grenoble, maybe 20cm fell in the last 3 days according to the roomates but a lot of wind has swept (sp?) everything above 2000m.
Time for a freestyle christmas break : no snow scheduled before next year (France).
My brother just phoned me saying that the Krippenstein was closed today and probably will be closed tomorrow. You might ask why?
Here's the answer
Total Snow: 300cm (170cm in the last 4 days)
Awww... So can you say that in generalisation that:
Switzerland : Ok
Francia :Ok
Austria : Super Ok
Italy : Sucks
?
Eh?
Boys, so the base is supposedy quite/very good in souther switzerland now. Unless the pooh-pooh comes and fucks everything up.
Or?
No need to bring rocks skis there...
:fmicon:
not all italy. dolomiti have a perfect bottom, prolly better than switz. Appennini (ROCCARASO is the place) have been nuked like hell. Monterosa sucks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Meathelmet
Off the glacier the base is thin to non-existent in Saas-Fee, Haute Valais (or, Wallais).Quote:
Originally Posted by Meathelmet
Glacier pistes: some the best snow conditions I have experienced.
Pistes from Glacier & Mid-station into village: Sadly, only 1 red run is open. It is in excellent shape, though.
Saas-Fee needs at least 50cms of new snow to open up the additional pistes.
Off-Piste: All the scree & talus fields are very exposed right now. The glacier is too dangerous.
Needs 100+cms of new snow in at least 2 storms to open up the off-piste terrain.
Saas-Fee findings here:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=42021
Thanks LITT, go to know that no need to bother to go to that area!
12 hours and I´ll sitting in a car in Geneve..
Fkna!!!
well... closed and yet not closed ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Franz Klammer
ok sat was only one run until they got the order, that we were not allowed to ski anymore, but sunday was quite nice, although they were still "closed" :cool:
i'll post an audio file soon that will sum it up quite nicely. vid maybe, but i do not want to shatter all your ideas of an "opening weekend" :D
and since i got the order from my fellow german maggots: the krip does suck, and there is no powder to be had. (they'll torture me if i do not stop posting positive propaganda )
edit: i must edit out conditions( im scared ;) ) . but I still resist a bit...... the terms "february" and "good year" should help building a sentence concerning the conditions........
pics for your viewing pleasure.
im too lazy for an TR right now :)
http://freeskiers.x-skier.com/index....0&topic=587.45
Mit's reporting some nice conditions from the Interlaken area. Some of the best powder he's skied, he states. Couple shoulder deep turns, plenty of waist deep and consistently over the knees. Sounds alright...
Sick and ashamed and happy (and wish I could have stayed longer),
d.
It's 4am and I've got a massive jet lag. Snow in Sölden is good and even 4 days after the storm there were still some stashes left - nothing spectacular though.
My brother launching the famous "Gorilla Air" on 67mm waists (Scratch BC with Gwat's bindings to follow tomorrow)
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5432_crop.jpg
Some more steeze from my brother
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5433_crop.jpg
Looking forward to seeing you all soon in Chamonix, Verbier, Leysin, Krippenstein ...
Are you still going to come for a ski in St Anton as well?Quote:
Originally Posted by Franz Klammer
Live Reporting from Sölden
December 23
Sölden got a big dump on December 23 - it was a fantastic day. Low visibility with face shots to be had on every single turn. Possibly my best day of skiing ever because my brother and I had a high-speed quad with a black run with free refills and full on face-shots COMPLETELY to ourselves from 8:30 until 12:30. Photos were impossible.
December 24
Blue-bird day so we brought out the cameras and took the lines we had scouted on December 22.
Me crossing my brother's line (damn poacher!!!)
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/IMG_1428_crop.jpg
Me dropping in (that line down there was also ours ...)
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/IMG_1430_crop.jpg
My brother getting some
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5449_crop.jpg
Anticipating ...
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5467_crop2.jpg
Flying ...
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5468_crop2.jpg
Exploding ...
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5469_crop2.jpg
And once again
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5484_crop2.jpg
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5485_crop2.jpg
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/DSCN5486_crop2.jpg
And finally me with some gorilla steeze ...
http://www.mit.edu/~ederer/snow/IMG_1433_crop.jpg
December 25
More good stuff. Just gotta love Sölden where everyone stays on the slopes and you can have the good stuff all to yourself. Oh, first slide of the season - bit of a scare but all's fine.
Off to Les Deux Alpes tomorrow until January 1st.
Powslut - sorry, have to stay with the folks, but there is a high chance that I'll show my face in St. Anton in early January.
Many thanks to all the maggots for hook-ups: I'm using the backpack that Meg Oster sold about a year ago in gear swap, my brother is using one that mntlion sent to me for a ridiculously cheap price. My brother is also rocking some awesome Look TT09 that gwat hooked me up with - they look so rad.
Sweeeeet!!
God, I envy you:tdo13:
im heading out for bovec tomorrow.
you'll get a decent TR, resort rating(to see if the rumors are true) and pics.
i promise.
and you'll get some teaser video from the best season opening i ever had.(at the secret location in eastern austria, of course ;) )
right now the first audio TR ever! it will have to suffice. :biggrin:
it's in german, but i guess you'll get the picture...... ;)
http://freeskiers.x-skier.com/index....fileinfo&id=19
Nice work Franz.
Was in Solden for their first dump in '00 I think it was? Looked like it would be a good hill with more snow. Way to bring the Euro stoke
Currently in Les Deux Alpes. It's cold as hell and there's very little snow so I am working on those tricks with the French ghetto crew in the L2A 3600 snowpark.
Any news from Ripz, Verb61, powslut, bbirtle?
shame to hear there's so little snow there. have you got any plans to go over into la grave? any idea what the conditions are like over there?Quote:
Originally Posted by Franz Klammer
just look at the webcam.... :eek:
barely any snow at 2400m.
edit for a webspace plea:
does anyone have about 10mb webspace ? i can't reach my site from here and im leaving for bovec tonight, but i wanted to share some eastern austria secret area stoke ;)
yeah, i admit the webcam doesn't look good... but i think that cam's a bit misleading. it gets really windy up there, and those rocks can be scoured bare by the wind, even when there's ok snow coverage.Quote:
Originally Posted by subtle plague
29 December 2005 00h24
Leysin, Suisse Altitude=1264m.
COLD! Very Cold. -18C at 2000m at 08h00 Wednesday.
Not much wind, but cold. Did I mention, it's cold???
Snowing the last couple days, lightly, but snowing.
Snow living in shelter from sun, still nice and soft.
Snow hit by sun crusty with new snow on top.
New snow as of Wednesday was about over the boot.
It ain't much, but hey, it's a snow report.
Edit=Av cracks developed on some SE facing slopes in Leysin.
This has taken place over a series of days; they kept gettin' bigger.
The bond with the earth ain't there in some(?) places.
Something about cold ground making hoar frost before the snowfall is what I hear.
For the euro-snow conditions: check www.sionvalais.com, pretty much every webcam in the euro-zone, plus a shitload of weather-links. (I'm guessing: eastside of the alps are rocksolid right now, western-austria = got hammered last week, but little base, france very sketchy)
We have a huge base of snow here, all the way from the top to the village.Quote:
Originally Posted by AH
I'll speak for the Alpes Vaudoises, which includes Gstaad.
Not sure about the Valais, nor the Cham area.
Cham is pretty okay, from what I've heard. Alpe D'Huez/L2 Alpes/La Grave are still pretty low on snow. I'm looking at hitting Les Contamines somewhere in January.. They've got hit by a storm last week, but that was just a base..
The Arlberg is doing OK. Had some good snow in the Langen trees and Backside as well as Schindler have filled in pretty well. Apparently Zurs is still pretty low on snow and the alpine in Sonnenkopf was hurting, but below tree line good snow was to be found. Rendl is rocky as always. Things are set up really well for when we get more snow.
does anyone know if the base in st. anton is ok?
Franz - Nice Christmas pics!
I'm home for Christmas and so can't tell you about the Chamonix conditions, unfortunately... but Ohio has been very warm and fairly sunny, so although the super amazing ohhmygod huge fantastic Mad River Ski Area (150ft vertical) is rumered to be open here, I predict sloppy manmade snow and don't recommend it.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, all you insane Maggots around the world...
hi there florian, I just left verb this morning at 5AM (-13° C in the village) for two :cussing: days of work in milan. No doubt there's snow in Verb, but the turf it's certainly not at its best yet. We got 5-7 cm in the last 3 days that really added nothing to the bottom made mostly on december 14-16. Mt fort is nice to ski and there are still some good spots to ride, but jezus knows we need more... and looks like something might come from Friday onward.Quote:
Originally Posted by Franz Klammer
On a general note, snowforecast.com people must be drunk. In my drive from Verb to milano I saw this morning decent snow in low valais, really nothing in all aosta valley (not to mention monterosa which is dry as hell) and 25 cm snow in Milan! but try to see it in the "last 3 days" section of snowforecast. They are simply not accurate
more likely on holiday. the maps havent been updated since monday.Quote:
Originally Posted by verbier61
a dusting here in lausanne. been watching the radars, not much to reprt.
http://www.slf.ch/swiss-snow/hn1dc.html
http://www.slf.ch/swiss-snow/hn3dc.html
p.s. this damn cast has got to go!!! :cussing:
pps. crash pics: http://ripzalot.blogspot.com/2005/12...6-8-weeks.html
uh! well taken, my fault!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ripzalot
Hence why I rely on this thread for my info(!),Quote:
Originally Posted by verbier61
and do my best to provide REAL data for snow searching maggots.
I only hope you are all telling the truth,
and not trying to keep me out of your lines!
:D :D :D
dont look at this then...Quote:
Originally Posted by TeleAl
http://www.meteoliguria.it/tabbolam06.asp
or this:
http://131.54.120.150/asp/syn00120_l...&loc=GifImages
I won't. I never do.
Here is where I jerk off to the thought of coming snow:
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetter/meteosat/met_512.mpg
Note: it takes me about 7 plays to see what might happen in the near future.
TeleAl's ForeCast:
One can see from today's image that the cold high pressure system over Suisse
is pushing hard against that moist front from the Atlantic Ocean
:cussing: :cussing: :cussing: :cussing:
which is trying to paste the Southern French Alps and/or Pyrenees.
:tdo13: :tdo13: :tdo13: (why don't these guys smile?)
Also, the light snow we are getting is little more than a swirl caught in the cold NE high.
Mid-lower Italy seems to be getting wet, as does Ireland and Bretagne.
How'm I doin'?
Fucking Rocket Science.