Snowboarding

I would go to St Anton, you can fly to Zurich and get a direct train to St Anton, really easy transfer, takes a couple of hours.
St Anton great snowboarding and good apres.
For non snowboarders Lech might be better as nice walking and amazing toboggan run from oberlech back to town.
Expensive though.

Expensive though.

Switzerland

Lech and St Anton are Austria but I think the point is that Lech is quite a bit more £££ than St Anton (and Zurs is ££££ more).

We paid ~650 EUR for a transfer between Zurich airport and Lech (and return obviously) which isn't too bad when split across 6 of us. They also just deal with flight delays without a gripe.

What makes it a women's binding!? Dont we have the same ankles?

Ha - no we don't!

In general, compared to male norms our legs are shorter so the highbacks need to be lower, we aren't as strong for our weight so board and binding flex needs to be different, our calves fatten in a different place which makes both highback shape and boot fit different, our feet are longer compared to the width and so on. Even stuff you probably never think about like where a rucksack with a hip strap sits when you have female hips not male and how that affects pocket access.

All at the population level rather than the individual obviously - some female people are always going find male stuff fits better and vice versa - but as a short, fat female I definitely found boarding easier when I switched to female specific stuff.

It's just the branding that's icky.

Ah! Gotcha! Makes sense.

Cheers.

It would be in Jan. It's for a birthday celebration. I don't want non-snowboarders/skiiers to dictate. It's mainly to snowboard.

The appeal of Granada is having a decent apartment and being able to go out drinking and eating without it costing a fortune. I can't imagine many non-snowboarders going, but they might so I just thought it may be a more fun vibe.

I think places like St Anton are out based on cost. Well they are for me at least.

It's only a long weekend, and I'd like to encourage people to go, rather than say; "why am I going to spend >£2k on 3-4 days"?

Hence the idea of a sleeper train to Austria. That way the length of the trip doesn't matter as much and it's cheaper to eat, drink and ride.

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Sleeper to Briancon? Times work out well, you can bring vin, pain et fromage to enjoy on the the train, Serre Chevalier offers (very) good snowboarding and there should be enough for non-skiers to do in the town, including the Cite Vauban. Not as cheap as southern Spain but Italy is just up the road...

I've just done a trip to Bansko Bulgeria and it was insane how cheap it was. Not sure what people would do if they werent skiing or boarding because when i wasnt i was either dying of a hangover or miserable because i was ill. But for cheap, you'd struggle to beat it.

I just dont know how much snow would be there in January though.

It's only a long weekend, and I'd like to encourage people to go, rather than say; "why am I going to spend >£2k on 3-4 days"?

What worked best for us was to have a couple of people who were on for a week and get an apartment for a week even if most people only stayed for the long weekend.

We used to split the cost into "person nights" so everyone pays the same for each night no mater how many other people there are that night. Eg if 2 people stayed 7 nights and 5 people stayed 3 nights it's 29 person-nights, so we'd divide the total hire by 29. The long stayers would pay 7*29 and the short stayers 5*29.

On paper the short stay people are subsidising the long stay but since weekend only accommodation is typically more expensive for less space and rarely self catering, everyone agreed it was worth it to get a nicer place. Plus the long stay people would do all the shopping etc ahead of the weekend so the short stay people could just arrive and chill.

(We used to go to Morzine - cheap flights to Geneva, short transfer and a reasonable range of cheaper places to eat.)

Back from a week in Val Thorens. I love love love the new bindings. Hardly even noticed them, just felt really solid and natural on the board. After the first day I adjusted the heelcup position to make them a little shorter since my boot size is at the bottom of the range for the binding and that's made a massive difference to how solid my landings are - I've starting popping off bumps again!

Not much fresh snow, but really quiet slopes meant opportunities to rip up the corduroy which I hardly ever do. And a really good group of people to ride/drink/sing with!

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• WhatsApp Video 2022-04-19 at 3.55.04 PM.mp4

It was a great week doing what we do best...

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It was a great week. It's been years since I've had a mostly on-piste, mostly snowboarders group and I'd forgotten how much fun it is.

Good video. Made me jealous you managed some snow again.

Very very long shot - Does anyone have a Burton EST bindings adaptor plate (for non Burton boards) in London that they would be willing to lend/sell/rent before Saturday?

I have not dealt with Burton for a bit but isn’t EST bindings a non disc system? Never heard of an adaptor plate for them but could be very wrong of course.

Yeah. I think you maybe right. All the internet answers seem to say that but they were from years ago.

I’ve fired off an email to Burton but looks like it’s new bindings time. FFS

Anyone know where I can get smith cariboo otg lenses? Cheers

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Im starting to look for a snowboarding bag. What are peoples thoughts?
Im assuming carry all of ones kit in one bag?
Does it need to be exatly the same size as the board?
...Im assuming wheels and padding...
Can it be too big? Do airlines have restrictions on boardbags? (weird question - but ive never travelled with one.)

Long time fan of DaKine high roller - but have heard good things about the DB bags.

They do come in lengths, but I wouldn't worry too much about getting 'exactly the right' fit - as long as it'll fit of course.

Cram it all in and pray? As a student trying to get past the 'one bag' coach limitations, definitely. As an adult using a plane? No way. Have a bag of sports kit (boots, board etc), and a bag with your other sundries. Much more manageable around airports and won't bump you into overweight fees territory.

Airlines get picky? unlikely you'll hit restrictions, but worth checking the airlines sport kit policy when you book...

Another fan of the Dakine high roller here. Even with 2 decks, avi kit, boots and stuffed full of clothes it never comes close to 23kg. That and a backpack as a cabin bag is fine.

I've got the low roller plus the split roller. They are designed to work together like this and the combo is amazingly well balanced - it actually feels lighter and easier to manoeuvre with the two together than just the low roller, I guess because the bag lifts the handle up rather than your arm, and because it's rolling from the middle not the end.

The other option, which I did for a long time, is a backpack board bag. Definitely one to use with another bag not by itself, but has advantages if you need to get to and from airports on public transport which being in London, I do. That style seems hard to find now, I guess cos the snowboarder demographic these days skews towards middle aged dads who drive big cars.

Selling my gear, £250 for everything you need (except coat)
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/382244/

last time i checked there was a ski bus 3 times a day from granada to sierra nevada. what leggyblonde says tho. unless you can leave it late and there’s great snow and the forecast is good, can i come?

I want to get better at snowboarding (can do the indoors thing at MK Snowdone - but fancy an actual holiday) - any recommendations for places/set ups for the solo learner. None of my mates want to go, learn or have the spare cash and other half is also less keen.
Not so into the apres, more into mountains.
Isn't there a French hostelling thing set up for people? Have tried google but can't find it

Thanks for any advice,
cheers