Snow for the Euros.

[squaremountain_local]

well thats good news about arabba - will be in the area this weekend. Hopefully there will still be something left by then

TR please!

[mtgoat]

Moosewirt 1/26/07 afternoon around 15-16. Anyone? Anyone?

[bbirtle]

On the road at Les Trois Valless with Jackers... awesome. pow. everywhere. Although some rocks here and there, and wind up high fucked a lot of stuff, it's pretty glorious here. I think it snowed a lot more down here... most runs more like 40-50cm.

Winter is finally here!

[Idris]

Is that Martina who works at Chamex? (Hard to tell with goggles)

Yup... She skied from over 8000m last autumn (fall)

[stantonbum1]

Anyone been to this Whitepod place www.whitepod.com ? sposed to be going there with my company later this winter for some teambuilding wank. I think its close to Villars. Im hoping theres some decent skiing around. From a map I see that Leysin is not too far away.

[Franz Klammer]

Nassfeld ended yesterday on 140cm of new. That's what I call an Adriatief.

[runethechamp]

Run, always cool to hook-up, but u sound plenty busy w/ big group et all.

At "Chantier" i prefer to head off w/ knowledgeable small group...no crowds, please!

enjoy ur sejour!

We would probably just be a pain in the ass to you, speaking Norwegian all the time and heading off in all kinds of directions. Should be fun in any case since you finally got some snow there.

[hemas]

Well, today I skied the extremely hard and dangerous Aguille du Hirvensalo in Turku, Finland.

I warmed up on the middle bowl, and as it had snowed for the morning... there was a nice 3 or 4 inches of fresh snow...

After getting amped up, I hiked up again and set my target as #2 lift chute, a life endangering descent with huge potential for crashing into boulders, trees and getting wiped out in an avalance...

Yet, I survived this hairy descent and was pretty happy with the snow. As this chute is pretty sheltered, there was almost a feet of freshies and my Sanouks performed flawlessly .

Here's a shot of the legendary #2 lift chute, after my descent:
Attachment 21167

[Roo]

Slayed it!

Cheers for the DVD, hemas. Got it through yesterday and will watch it in Cham. Here's a report from the valley if anyone's interested...



Last snowfall:
Wednesday 24th January 2007
Depth of lower slopes:132 cm at 2000 metres
Maximum temperature:-7 °C at 1050 metres
Depth of last snowfall: 2 cm at 1900 metres
Depth of upper slopes: 220 cm at 2800 metres
Number of pistes open: 64 out of 80

Report

We’ve had a great couple of days in Chamonix. The snow has finally stopped falling and today was mostly clear and sunny but still very cold, keeping the snow in great shape. The whole valley is now blanketed in snow. The resort really looks how it should in January.

Yesterday, the weather stayed snowy and cloudy, with a thick layer of cloud hovering around mid mountain. Up at Flegere it was snowing constantly for most of the day in the cloud and there was about 20–25 cm of new snow on top of an icy crust. It doesn’t sound like much but it was enough to make a big difference. It wasn’t bottomless powder but it was high-quality light snow and if you found some windloaded sections it was possible to avoid scratching the ice below: we found a few good lines off of the top of the Floria and skier’s left of the Index chairlift. The cloud and cold weather (-12ºC) kept people away, meaning that the lifts and pistes were empty; the only busy place was the mountain restaurant at Flegere as people crammed in just to warm themselves up. Our afternoon was cut short though as the Index lift broke down at around 2pm, which was a shame as we were having great fun. We didn’t venture into Combe Lachenal, which can be great in fresh powder, for two reasons: first, it was closed, and secondly we had heard that the lower section was full of avalanche debris the size of Minis! The pistes were all in superb shape at Flegere: in fact they were the best that they’ve been all season.

It was still cold this morning (-9ºC at our house) and with clear blue skies we went up Brevent with the intent of doing some of the couloirs above the Charles Bozon black run. We ducked the rope, and went past the warning signs as we traversed along the back of the ridge to the Col du Brevent. It wasn’t too bad for my skier buddies but one section required walking in snowboard boots, and crampons would not have gone amiss as the fresh powder just slid away from the hard icy surface below making it nearly impossible to kick a foothold into the ice. There were plenty of others taking this route and we weren’t going to be getting any fresh tracks today. Once at the Col du Brevent, which is the easiest and most open of all the couloirs from the ridge, we strapped in and started the descent. The top section was good and deep even if the snow was a little heavy where the sun had worked on it. There was a little bit of surface sluff but nothing serious enough to worry about. There were a few tracks already but with a little bit of looking we managed a few clean turns and for most of the run down it was really good riding. The section just above the Bozon piste was a bit of a shocker though. I could see the avalanche debris but mistakenly assumed that the 20 cm of snow on top would have softened the lumps somewhat: big mistake, it was like hitting lumps of broken concrete! The icy traverse combined with the hard debris was enough to make me decide to wait for a little more snow before doing the same run again.

For anyone who likes to stick to the piste, the conditions are fantastic at Brevent: soft snow on the piste and good cover with barely a rock in sight. As with Flegere the pistes are in the best state that they have been all season. Queues were non-existent today even though it was a beautiful sunny day, and you’d expect a lot of people to be out taking advantage of the great snow. Don’t forget that it’s very cold up on the mountain at the moment, so wear thermals; if you get too hot you can always take off a layer and put it in a backpack.

This afternoon we headed out for a few laps on the ski de fond in Chamonix. The snow down to the valley has revitalized the ski de fond trails, which were mostly bare at the beginning of the week. With the cold weather the snow cannons have been running too so things are looking up right now. All of the trails around Chamonix were open but hadn’t been properly groomed in places, so there were a few lumpy sections to contend with. The pisteurs were busily sorting this out this afternoon, so I imagine by tomorrow morning it’ll be looking much smoother after the piste basher has had a chance to drive round.

[Incompetent Boob]

http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74922

I'm back in Germany, unfortunately, but here are some pics from Zermatt.

[subtle plague]

here are some pics from the kripp.
a rather depressing sight
we still need LOTS of snow....


december 18th 2005





and january 23rd 2007

[Roo]

gincognito would ski that for sure.

[Ripzalot]

nice day in verbier today.

a quickie pic of LITT killing it with a chestshot i do believe.

[bbirtle]

1/26, on the road in Les Trois Vallees...

Powder is still in great condition owing to the cold temps. Most of the resort is now all tracked out but there are still bits and bobs here and there. A quick 20min ski tour and we were starting at the rim of a completely untracked valley. Pure cruising powder bliss for 500m, negotiate a quick cliffband, longish walkout, smiles all around.

REST DAY TODAY. We're all completely spent. Hope everybody else is feeling about the same!

[H-man]

Snowing hard in St. Anton all day. Everything above Gampen & Galzig was closed today. Tomorrow should be.......

Very nice.

[p@wder]

where to hit in western CH tomorrow?

Freinds are lame and are working tomorrow after taking thur-friday off. Needs to be ascessible by train from Lausanne.

PDS (champerey) seems too thin
Verbier sounds tracked out?
Zermatt too far and too expesnive for the conditions and considering I will be solo.
How is Leysin? Anything apart form stony pistes?

[powders]

(almost) everything is now windfucked in Cham. Did the Col du Lac Noire (2600mt) in the Aiguilles Rouges today, windslabs everywhere. Very few pockets of what i may very generously call 'powder'. heard midi was open due to wind. top bin of grands montets running just 35 people cos of high wind. Mate did col du passon, snow on Le Tour glacier also fucked.

[Sir Jongalot]

Random post.

I have no idea what happening in this thread, but like want you to hear me same something, even if its nothing.

[Incompetent Boob]

Here is a very brief vid from the 24th at Zermatt.

[Gripen]

Looks like Sweden is getting it....
http://www.thelocal.se/6223/20070127/

[addict]

Skiied La Grave today, rocky as shit but super fun snow. Oh yeah1

[p@wder]

ended up skiing verbier with a couple of piste skiiers. Conditions off the groomers were pretty lame, I did a few things but where the snow was vagely soft it was sprawled with rocks, where open and rock free it was wind crust, re-frozen mank.

I guess if you knew the mountain well and did a bit of hiking you would find something more enjoyable.

Still, beatiful weather and the groomers were fast. Very little snow overall though. Below 1800m and grass is showing.

[davidof]

usual French video beta for the 28th Jan

I've attached a line we skied last season. The photo was taken yesterday looking over the valley. Still a big lack of snow.

[Ripzalot]

G3000 was pretty fun on sunday. anywhere from 10 to 20cm dust on crust action...no rocks finally.

[Ripzalot]

Here is a very brief vid from the 24th at Zermatt.

that snow looked great! you caught it good.