Forum
Northern hemisphere 2011/12
Just since the NZ season is done and dusted!
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eastern bloc or japan are the only places worth visitng. everything else is crap
what about tahoe?
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Has anyone ever been skiing in Bosnia? despite its tragic past, i have seen some very cheap packages to it and the ski resort looks alright.
check this out...cant believe how uncrowded and untracked it looks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzCAOm9DLyE&feature=related [youtube.com]
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Originally posted by: Freshie
what about tahoe?
rubbish. crap snow and facilities, nzs far better
Originally posted by: Freshie
Has anyone ever been skiing in Bosnia? despite its tragic past, i have seen some very cheap packages to it and the ski resort looks alright.
check this out...cant believe how uncrowded and untracked it looks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzCAOm9DLyE&feature=related [youtube.com]
out east so must be epic
ok so lets pretend the bills are paid ,the mortgage is ok and the wife and kids have said i can go..where to??..approx have 12 days in mid feb available..looking for powder and big mountains with some slackcountry back country options, would like some blue skies as well?
options
jackson hole
japan..
revelstoke
others???any ideas..colorado?utah?
austria
tahoe
switzerland
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*edited 08 Nov 2011 11:27
Originally posted by: voltaren
ok so lets pretend the bills are paid ,the mortgage is ok and the wife and kids have said i can go..where to??..approx have 12 days in mid feb available..looking for powder and big mountains with some slackcountry back country options, would like some blue skies as well?
options
jackson hole
japan..
revelstoke
others???any ideas..colorado?utah?
Done Japan and Revelstoke.... Revvy is extremely badass but needs really good snow IMO since it's all pretty freaking gnarly unless you're just cruising the few groomers they have and you need soft landings since everything there tends to be a. steep and b. large
Japan... if you go up north (which is where you should be) the mountains don't tend to be that big or that steep but the snow is generally epic, we had good canadian pow days but at times Japan made it look like a small coating of fresh snow in comparison.
Slackcountry around Niseko is epic. A shame the resort is getting a little overrun with westerners though. A lot of mountains around that area are epic in their own right and have copious touring available too. Blue sky is a bit few and far between but I'd rather ski in a blizzard when it's puking snowflakes the size of playing cards than have a bit of sunshine. Disappearing tracks material there.
Whichever you go to, make sure you have a good crew that knows what they're doing in the backcountry... Revelstoke/the rockies have some extremely gnarly avalanche terrain and in Japan the patrollers seem to open the backcountry gates relatively at random after perhaps 1 or 2 skicuts and some crossed fingers.
thanks rozboon..decisions decisions
If you want the snow of niseko and the steep and gnar you need to try honshu out.
Sh*t loads of resorts, just as much snow and less westerners/ people in general.
Personally id love to smash revvy up. its no.1 on my hitlist.
No snow here in japan yet, next week looks set to change that!
Anyone skiied Romania or Bulgaria. Have a few days spare on the Iran/Russia trip and thinking of heading to one of the two...needs to be short flight from Istanbul.
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reine de l'hiver
*edited 10 Nov 2011 07:12
Romania gets a lot of snow, though ski resorts are smaller, but do have cable cars and chairlifts.
Look around Sinaia area.
ive heard Bulgaria is ok..especially Bansko.
Pamporovo and Borovets are mainly beginner areas. Though they get a bit infested with brits, and can be bad queues mid season.
id be checking out Jasna in Slovakia if i were you.
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^bansko
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jasna, slovakia
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from what i remember the queues in romania for the cable car are massive..granted i was there in summer..but had to wait 2 hrs for the cable car!!
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you could try Ukraine as well..have heard good things about this place..278km of trails is pretty decent and all new chairs etc.
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When i was in the UK you would hear Bankso being totated as the next big thing in europe. Apparently it gets really good snow falls, the flights, accom and food are all cheap. apparently the trees and be pretty tight in places but you can get some sweet pow there.
Thanks everyone. Oh god decisions. Looking at Sinaia.
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reine de l'hiver
beautiful town Jude..was there about 2 months ago.
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Thanks for the heads up on that Freshie. Looks good. Did you stay/was it ok?
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reine de l'hiver
yes i stayed there 2 days..then we took a cable car up to a plateau and hiked to the 2nd tallest mount in Romania, Mount Omu and stayed at a hut there...then hiked back down to Bran (where draculas castle is)!
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there was a skifield at bran..guess about the size of the west ridge at whaka with all t bars. But also saw some skifields near Sinaia..well at least cable cars going up into the mountains
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*edited 11 Nov 2011 20:05
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Hmmm... a bunch of quite exotic locations in there....
My pkans for this northern winter;
Early Dec; Whistler
Jan; Whistler, Alta, Jackson Hole, Whistler
Early Feb; Niseko and Rusutsu
Late Feb; Baker
Early March; Cat skiing somewhere in BC
April/May; Spring days at Whistler probably
So if anyone is around would love a beer.
^ Looks good
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reine de l'hiver
Originally posted by: Freshie
*edited 11 Nov 2011 20:05
^ Porters in a few seasons?
Cauld, your northern hemi missions looks rammed packed with epic times and big lines.
I'm in Fernie, BC at the moment, been dumping here for 4 days straight so its shaping up to been a good start to the season again! Check out Island Lake Catskiing, they're based just outside of Fernie (5mins drive) and get ridiculous amounts of snow. Hopefully I'll be working there this winter too :-)
Originally posted by: downsouthOriginally posted by: Freshie
*edited 11 Nov 2011 20:05
^ Porters in a few seasons?
Porters would have a lot more greenery but it's the right amount of snow
good to see freshie used this thread for some eastern europe marketing, never saw that coming
no marketing here...if u read up a bit, i said the queues were too long.
Though i have to say i think jasna and Ukraine are worth a go.
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4 weeks in the US, wife, 2yr old and 10 month old doing a roadie in a RV. Visits to Tahoe, Utah and Colorado.
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www.BWMsnow.co.nz - Online and instore
go to north america then! new york has lots of choices!
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http://www.toursdesport.com/-ski-resort-destinations-map-.htm
Originally posted by: cauld
Hmmm... a bunch of quite exotic locations in there....
My pkans for this northern winter;
Early Dec; Whistler
Jan; Whistler, Alta, Jackson Hole, Whistler
Early Feb; Niseko and Rusutsu
Late Feb; Baker
Early March; Cat skiing somewhere in BC
April/May; Spring days at Whistler probably
So if anyone is around would love a beer.
In Whistler 1st week of Jan.
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Wait For The Ricochet
Originally posted by: BWMsnow.co.nz
4 weeks in the US, wife, 2yr old and 10 month old doing a roadie in a RV. Visits to Tahoe, Utah and Colorado.
When are you going to be in Tahoe? I'll be there for a few days from 13 Jan.
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Wait For The Ricochet
Anyone have experience with Morzine? thinking seriously about there for mid-end feb
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^Where's that????
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reine de l'hiver
France..part of Port du soleil (sp?)(worlds largest ski area) with les gets, Avoriaz etc.
Found a good deal with a chalet.
Have flagged eastern europe as my mate couldnt go!
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Originally posted by: Freshie
Anyone have experience with Morzine? thinking seriously about there for mid-end feb
My nieces second home basically. She's back there this Feb I'm pretty sure.
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Wait For The Ricochet
your offspring went there didnt he?
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Nah, just my neices. One of them has done several seasons there running chalets.
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Wait For The Ricochet
Flights booked 20th Jan, returning 24th Feb to Geneva, NICE.
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"If in doubt, straighten 'em out"
where are u off to jedski.
I will prob be heading to morzine between 18 feb and 3 march.
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^^^hmmm so tempting but then flights to Japan are crazy cheap.
true..well if u are interested, i am thinking of staying here...
http://www.hofnar.com/index.php/winter-stuffmorzine-french-alps/morzine-french-alps/ [hofnar.com]
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whistlers the place to be right now. 300cm already.
With a La Nina winter in Canada. We booked an entree of 2 days at Silver Star. 4 days Main course at Revelstoke and 5 days at Fernie in Feb. Would have gone for longer, but work and family commitments put a stop to that. Can't wait.
Fernie is an awesome little town. Have fun, sounds like a good hit-list.
Really slow start to the season in europe. got mates in non glacier resorts still on MTBs. lech in austria where i was last year has barely got enough man made snow to cobble a piste together, they were open early novemember last year.
Kicking off slow in honshu too sadly, about 70cm at 1600m but grass at 800m, just need that siberian flow to move south a bit. having said that been out twice and both were pow days, just takes a long time to hike/skin up.
Morzine is pretty boss for parks, Burton stash and what not, its pretty low altitude for france though, i did read once though that it gets some of the biggest snow falls in france, dont know how true that is though.
*edited 05 Dec 2011 16:44
Ugh double post!
yeah seems to be starting slowly..however there was snow on the morzine cam and there is snow predicted for the next 10 or so days. Did read that Klosters in switzerland had virtually nothing
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pretty common for europe to have a lean start though really isnt it? if you want big cover and regular falls maybe look elsewhere?
Booked! And its dumping in Avoriaz
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Originally posted by: brighton_pumps
pretty common for europe to have a lean start though really isnt it? if you want big cover and regular falls maybe look elsewhere?
Every season ive done in europe most resorts have been open for close to a month by now.
When i was posted my last post lech was green, i checked about 5 hours ago and the place was white!
If u read the reports ..about 10 days snow is predicted, so should be all good.
Apparently Klosters was running mid November last year, but was dirt up till yesterday...so they all freak out for a while.
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*edited 06 Dec 2011 09:10
Originally posted by: Draizuhthe usual sales pitchOriginally posted by: brighton_pumps
pretty common for europe to have a lean start though really isnt it? if you want big cover and regular falls maybe look elsewhere?
Every season ive done in europe most resorts have been open for close to a month by now.
When i was posted my last post lech was green, i checked about 5 hours ago and the place was white!
Well as much as I would love to I think a northern trip this year is out.. depends if any kind of Xmas bonus comes through (insert tui billboard here).
Starting to scope up a full season in Canada in either 2012/2013 or 2013/2014. Just got to see how we can make the mortgage and other bits work.
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IT Hack & Genuine NutJob
Check out these guys. Bunch of kiwis skiing Beijing to Venice. http://www.skiingthesilkroad.com/ [skiingthesilkroad.com]
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reine de l'hiver
Saw that yesterday Jude.. be a bit of distraction over the summer months!
Also looking at planning next years southern clubbie trip.. got the bug on that one! Spend a week or so touring around the fields.
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IT Hack & Genuine NutJob