Ski Europe Now

Little Bit of Research.

With my membership to the website www.snow-forecast.com I have access to their historical snowfall records which is nice.  You can compare different resorts for the same year or different years, or compare one resort over different years.  Nice to be able to say if a certain area is getting above average snowfall and whether or not the conditions will suck when you decide you want to visit.  Getting this information does require buying a membership.  I buy one for three months starting in late December and that covers it.  If you want to save a few bucks, you can always use the website of the Swiss avalanche foundation at www.slf.ch and poke around there for the current snow depths as a percentage of a 10 year average.  This website covers only Switzerland.

Patagonia Los Lobos Jacket Review (Part 2).

I was wearing my Patagonia Los Lobos jacket recently on a cold winter day recently, and found out that when you zip up the jacket fully, there is no inside zipper guard to protect your neck.  Which leads to the small knives at the top of the zipper digging into your neck.  Painful, very painful.  I had to unzip the jacket a few inches to spare my neck.  WTF Patagonia?  Whomever the f*ck!? designed this should be shot, or slathered in beef juice and then locked naked in a room full of rabid weasels.

I Amaze Even Myself...

sometimes.  I took a peek at the blog traffic for yesterday and hoo boy, somebody must have been bored at the office.  Easily three or four times the normal traffic.  Now I know my one sided conversations are sooo on point, so rational, and so darn interesting that I am surprised the servers for Typepad don't crash on a daily basis from the ravening public eager to read my enlightening statments but yesterday was an oddity.  I know men envy me and I have to carry a large stick to fend off the fawning women, but this is too much people.  I vant to be alone.

Head X-Shape MTX PR Ski Review (Part 2).

With the new snow we have had in the last two weeks I can get back out on my new skis.  They are plenty turny and I can certainly make railroad tracks like nobody's business.  They are a bit softer lengthwise and torsionally than my Supershape Magnums so the edge hold isn't as good on real firm snow or ice (they remind me of the Xenon 9.0 i that Head came out about six years ago); they handle crud and bumps fairly well but I haven't had a chance to use them in powder to say how they would be.  I do find that they punch through on softer snow (not much ski holding me up) and with the low rise tip and fairly stiff construction skiing powder could be challenging so be careful.  If it was a good powder day with a consistent base underneath, you could use these skis.  On softer crud, you can easily submarine and do an endo.  I do like the ski and would recommend them for someone looking for a good all-around piste ski.  Score:  90 out of 100.

Hard to believe this is the 750th post.  I can't believe I babble that much.

Maybe NOT Switzerland.

The more I look at going to Flims-Laax and Saas Fee, the more I like Austria.  I went to Lech/Zurs and St. Anton in April 2008 and had a great time.  In all my trips to Europe to ski, Lech and St. Anton had the best coverage and snow conditions.  I skied powder five days while there in April, April for God's sake.  I looked at the historical snowfall info from Snow-Forecast.com and saw that on January 26 in 2008 St. Anton was sitting with 250 cm up high and 75 cm down low (and ended with 375 cm up high and 5 cm low on April 16, 2008, the day I skied powder all day), and Lech was sitting with 445 cm up high and 165 cm low on that day in 2008 (and 485 cm up high and 175 low on the first day I skied with knee deep powder).  Looking at the current conditions, St. Anton has 500 cm up high and 180 down low as of January 26, 2012, and Lech had 430 cm high and 210 cm down low.  So, when I went there in April 2008 and was blown away by the conditions in Lech and St. Anton, this year could be even better.  Almost twice as much snow in St. Anton this year as in 2008 on that date, and about the same amount in Lech (except more in the valley this year).  Hmm.  Better think about this.

Enough Babbling. Time for a Break.

After almost a week of babble, here are some photos for a visual break.

 

Recent sunset at the Kaiser.

 

Blast from the Past: April 2007, Zermatt.  Still one my favorite trips of all time.

PS.  Fermented ham juice is the crutch of all patrollers; little bit of allspice and some brown sugar and damn, you're f@cked up.  Serious juicers smoke some cloves or inject them while drinking the juice.  POW!  That's living.

 

Icebreaker Merino Wool Review (Update 1).

It has been a while since I gushed on about Icebreaker merino wool and since I recently purchased more of their stuff, I thought it was time for an update.  I bought several tops and bottoms and as always have been very happy and impressed with my purchases.  I have blogged in the past about the durability of the Icebreaker line and overall have been very impressed except for the leggings.  While the tops never seem to wear out, I have had one pair of leggings completely wear out in the crotch and another pair is well on the way there.  To be honest, the blown out pair is four years old and I have worn them probably well over 100 days working so considering my pants and bottom layers normally wear out in the crotch in this amount of time, I guess the durability is pretty good.  Considering how well the bottoms work otherwise, I am not complaining.

This most recent purchase also included a vest and several hooded tops with full zips.  Icebreaker hasn't produced many full zip tops and hoodies until this year it seems.  I like the full zip tops because the full zip allows for more venting while hot and can be put on and taken off without having to take off your bib pants.  Plus, they have a hood which adds a lot of warmth on colder days.  I used the full zip Sierra hood this past Sunday on a race and it was a cold windy day but with the hood over my hat I was much warmer. 

I had blogged in the past about the saggy nature of Patagonia merino wool tops and bottoms, and I think this was due to the fact Patagonia used 100% merino wool.  Icebreaker uses a little bit of lycra in some of the tops and this helps them from sagging.  Strangely, most of the Icebreaker tops and bottoms I own are 100% merino but no saggy issues.  Must be higher quality manufacturing or a tighter weave. 

Again, Icebreaker is not cheap but look at it as an investment in your comfort.  Great stuff.

Klim Togwotee Bibs Review: Best Ski Pants Ever.

After three weeks of using the Klim Togwotee bib pants, I can easily confirm that they are the best ski pants I have ever owned, period.  I have spilled ham juice all over them and never noticed it (my coworkers had to tell me I was covered in ham juice).  They cleaned right up with a damp rag.  I have run around in a field looking for avalanche tranceivers, worked on an avalanche drill (normally a super sweaty activity), sat in two inches of slush on a 20 minute chairlift ride several times, stood on a race course in minus 10 degree cold, wallowed around in waist deep snow for an hour resetting ropelines and bamboo, and not once have I gotten wet from water or snow leaching through the pants, gotten sweaty and had the goretex get overpowered (very breatheable pants for their weight), had snow sneak its way into my boots past the burliest snow gaiters I have ever seen, or gotten cold.  I lent a pair of Klim Klimate insulated bibs to a fellow patroller to use while being buried in the snow for an avalanche drill and he said it was the first time he was ever warm during the entire drill (and he was buried three times for about 90 minutes per burial).  I used them this past Friday to powder ski on a day off at the Kaiser and I made six laps in 90 minutes, and normally when powder skiiing I tend to get pretty soaked from the snow melting on my thighs and ass from skiing and sitting on a snowy chairlift but not with the Klims.  Never got wet or even a little damp, and I stayed quite dry.  I wish I had bought a pair of these pants years ago and not messed with other brands.  If you want the best ski pants, get a pair of Klims.  Utter perfection.

Nordica Enforcer Ski Review Part 3.

After last weeks huge storm here in Jackson, I pulled out my Enforcers for a powder day of free skiing (no work = Yay!) and they rocked.  They handled the deep (up to my waist) snow with no issue and the tips have just enough flex to stay up and not submarine; they worked really well on steeper slopes where you wanted to make tighter turns and I didn't find myself working them that hard (or getting worked by the skis); and on the less steep slopes and groomed slopes with 8 inches of new snow they loved opening the throttle up and making big GS turns.  The heavier crud and mank in the later part of the day didn't phase them at all and they powered through the most nasty crud without a blink.  The only thing holding them back was the pain in my thighs in trying to hang on in the crud.  A great powder ski but powerful:  hang on and be centered or be prepared for an ass kicking.  I also should point out my skis are 177cm in length, not 185 like I originally thought.

Nordica Fire Arrow F1 Ski Boot Review Continued (Part 6).

The weather has calmed down here in Jackson and after Snow King got 35 inches of new snow over four days, I feel now I can write a review of the F1s as they handled powder.  I skied with them on Friday in a variety of conditions but mostly powder and cut up powder, and as the day got warmer, true crud and mank (even sandpaper and glue).  I didn't feel like I needed to crank down on the boots to get the control needed to handle a pair of Nordica Enforcers (size 177) in the knee to waist deep powder, and even after six fast bomber runs in 90 minutes, no cramps, sore spots, foot fatigue, or other common problems.  A damn near perfect pair of boots and the only things that prevent me from marrying these boots in a public ceremony are a lack of a walk mode and replaceable Vibram or AT soles.  If Nordica could figure out a way to do this with these boots, they would be a perfect 100.  As it stands, I give them a 95 out of 100.

Standing at top of Upper Elk just before first run of the day.