Skiing

Sack the instructor, smoke weed on the chair lifts, head down hill fast. Turn only when necessary.

And bend at the knee.

Best life advice I’ve ever had.

I really jealous. Might have to mute the thread. Also ate the last tin of french supermarket cassoulet a while back. Maybe console myself with a homemade tartiflette this weekend.

This

Will see what I can make happen tomorrow.

110 is pretty stiff. But 110 is also not the same across the board. Could always try a nice soft pair of rentals. Insoles make a massive difference to boot fit too. Finally, when warming up in the morning (whilst the shells are still warmish), stand clipped in to your skis on the flat but with the buckles really loose. Flex your ankles (the bend is from the ankles not the knees) nice and far forwards and backwards. Then repeat whilst progressively tightening the boots a notch each time. Enjoy!

Will do. I moved the ratchet straps last night as I run out of “more tight” before I want to, be interesting to see if that stops the feeling of the ski see-sawing when going through rough stuff.

I was told not to use boot warmers as the shop deformed the shell of the boots, and if the warmer is too hot the modifications will undo themselves, so I just hang them up.

Boot warmers destroy boots. Pull the liner out each night if they’re sweaty and that’s enough to dry them

My boots have got a couple of adjusters on the back, worth seeing if I can angle them forward a little more?

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They might be stiffness adjusters, looking at them. IDK

After being all grumpy about it yesterday, I'm kind of looking forward to a few days piste skiing while the temps rise, winds drop, and hopefully things settle down a little.

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Yep they’re stiffness adjusters. Another way of thinking about bending at the ankle is shifting your feet backwards. Again, standing stationary on the flat, quickly shift both feet backwards. You’ll feel all the weight shift to the front of the ski. Keep your hands forward for balance, as though you’re hugging a bear. Getting a lesson is great, especially from a variety of instructors as different things work for different people

What was the base structure like pre-snowfall?
Hoar?
Sun Crust?
Judging by @Dammit's photo upthread- I think thats going to form a persistent weak layer, and you may be disappointed by lack of improvement over the week.
But my avalanche tekkers are weak these days.

(Ask a friendly local guide for a breakdown- I want to hear about the crystals!)

Judging by @Dammit's photo upthread- I think thats going to form a persistent weak layer, and you may be disappointed by lack of improvement over the week.

Yeah, i'm being overly optimistic. Previous pack is weak AF. Just holding on to the slim hope that the big rise in temps and a few days of being above freezing in the afternoon might improve things enough on the South facing slopes.

We're staying with the head of the local mountain rescue service and the plan was to do some touring with him next week. He knows a thing or two about snow. Might see if we can just take advantage of the conditions and do a bunch of avalanche training instead.

Weather forecasts can be so frustrating. Conditions were ideal for safe backcountry routes and the forecast, superficially, was for a few days of light snow showers if you only bothered to look at the BBC. 1m of new snow later...

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Avo training is always good.
I need to be in the mountains again.
6 years now without a ski, because work.
8 years since I last set off a slide.
10 years since I last dropped an explosive off a cliff, on a piece of string.
That is depressing (in a totally GC way)

The local forecasts were also quite low compared to what actually fell, especially here in the west. I think in a couple of days it could have settled to be quite stable. The snowpack underneath wasn't deep, but has become quite stable over the last few weeks. Not a crazy amount of surface hoar like before the last snow. And the mild temperatures should give the new (very wind loaded) snow a decent chance to bond. I wish I had paid more attention in school when we were learning how to read and analyse the raw snowpack data from SLF. Huge amount of useful information there if you know how to read it!

I wish I had paid more attention in school when we were learning how to read and analyse the raw snowpack data from SLF.

Fuck it, I'm moving the family to Switzerland.

Haha, that was part of my masters, all my education up until then was done in the UK. But sure, come on over! (University is really very cheap here, just about the only thing that is...)

Any interested snow supernerds can find further info here.

wow that is cool (nerd).

@Stonehedge how about some shallow slopes? 20* meadow skipping can be fun too!

how about some shallow slopes? 20* meadow skipping can be fun too!

Totally. I'm just throwing my toys out of the pram a bit. Just haven't had any luck with weather matching up to our hopeful plans in recent years. Summer or winter. I was really really hoping to get a Wildspitze ascent in from Vent this winter or perhaps Hochfirst from Gaisbergtal, which will definitely not be possible because it involves a steep snow climb at the end. I've seen it avalanche in the summer before.

There are some pretty gentle options for us if the situation stabilisies a little bit and as you say, they can be fun too. Especially if you're the only people in the valley. We're going to be in Obergurgl and some of the hanging glacial side valleys further down the valley (Konigstal, Ferwaltal etc) have much shallower slopes and get quite a lot of sun. Could work out just fine. Fingers crossed.

Can see this route being ok in a few days https://www.almenrausch.at/touren/detail/koenigsjoch-2825-m-von-obergurgl/

Ha...this is the final slope to the top of Hochfirst....45 to 55 degreees. Thats a hard no then :D

Although, perhaps sauna and kaiserschmarrn isn't such a bad approach for the first few days...