[El Mocho]

Kids in till 2pm sounds pretty good - decent amount of skiing for you guys.

I can't really remember that much to be honest. We went down the Alagna side a fair bit - all v. easy accessible and didn't feel like you needed avi gear. The inbren gondola was only open the first day I think (or maybe it only looked good the first day) and we ended up not going up there. It did all look nice coming down from that, again not massively 'out there'. I'm not sure if you needed transceivers to go on it? Guess they take up f all room to pack anyhow. I guess being more safety aware when skiing than climbing (maybe as family are involved rather than just me) we all have transcievers on all the time and I virtually always carry shovel, probe, bothy bag and skins etc even piste skiing.

Sorry about the vagueness, it must have been 6 odd years ago, which for me is a long time to remember.

[SA Chris]

No worries. I'll probably stick in transceivers as much safety gear as i can fit. Not sure we will do much full on stuff, missus has not done much in the last 10 years, and we are both doing London Marathon at the end of the moth, so don't want to spanner ourselves!

Thanks again.

[Fultonius]

We went for a couple of days a few years ago, the snow was a bit bullet hard, but I've always kept it in the back of my mind as a potential for a week away as there seemed to be loads of accessible "side country". It's all fairly low risk from what I remember. We didn't hit the Indren lift, so can't help there.

Fairly quiet and nae one seems to go offpiste!

[galpinos]

Anyone "on the ground" know where is best in Scotland for this weekend?

[SA Chris]

I can see a bit of white on Lochnagar from my desk, but I don't think anywhere is great. Assume you mean touring? Coe / Ben Nevis / Northern Corries look to be best bet, but none look too exciting. look at "Mark Back Corries" Facebook posts to get an idea.

[SA Chris]

http://www.winterhighland.info/general/

best place for summary and forecast

[SA Chris]

Looking at that, Glencoe.

[galpinos]

 A mate is flying up from Devon, we had "booked" the weekend to do the Ski Orienteering Championships but that is obviously cancelled.

We're heading up whatever though. I've got ski gear, winter gear and rock gear in the van!

[galpinos]

I thought Glencoe was looking the best, closed today because of wind though.

[galpinos]

Cheers for the advise.

We had a day in Glencoe (fun but a lot of walking to get a couple of good lines), a day on Aonach Mor (awesome creamy spring snow and could nearly ski back round to the front) and Monday was a bit rubbish weather wise so just took at wander up Am Brodach at the east end on the Aonach Eagach.

You always have to work for it but I do love skiing in Scotland.....

[galpinos]

For those keen for one last hurrah, it looks like Scotland is back “in”. Missed it by a couple of days......
 

[SA Chris]

Just got back from Alps, looks like it's back "out" again.

[Johnny Brown]

Had a fun week in Val d'Isere last week, hired a splitboard the last couple of days, one day backcountry whiteout vibes then final day a proper tour over the Col des fours. Nitro board with Voile bindings. It worked perfectly well but didn't set my world on fire. I'm mainly putting that down to finding myself on proper mountain terrain in deeply unsuitable soft boots that couldn't kick steps, and faffing with fragile flappy straps. Thinking there must be some halfway house? My 20+ year old Burton step-in boots and bindings would seem to be a start but I appreciate they never caught on. Anyone else got any experience?

[SA Chris]

Guess you got the dump we did!

Can't think of an alternative, as much as it's a daft statement, maybe learn to ski?

I bit the bullet and had to take a few steps back, and force myself to learn to ski off piste when i would have usually reached for a board at the first sign of soft / fresh snow. But I've always been a reasonably competent piste skier (i learned in the pre-snowboard area) so it wasn't a massive leap. Loads of friends have said that they were surprised how easily they made the transition from board to skis.

Benefits of minimal faff switching over, shuffling on flatter terrain, easily taking a step in crampon, and in steep technical terrain I will now take 2 poles and 2 edges of skis over the single edge of a snowboard any d

[Johnny Brown]

Yeah I'm very aware of that alternative. It was actually my plan to sacrifice half this holiday to ski lessons, but I changed my mind after one run.

[SA Chris]

...ay.

Sorry if it came across as teaching granny...

What did you struggle with? Need to give it half a day at least.

[Muenchener]

Loads of friends have said that they were surprised how easily they made the transition from board to skis.

Good to hear, I'm contemplating it next year.

[Johnny Brown]

It wasn't so much a case of struggling, just a feeling of instant disappointment.  Boarding just seems to be a lot more fun. I did five or six weeks on skis as a youth but totally plateaued. Boarding rapidly opened up the terrain I wanted to hit at the expense of some hassle on the flat. I guess new skis are easier, but my Dad and sister are far from crushing the powder despite having 20/30 weeks plus. Given this was my third trip since leaving Uni, I'm leaving skiing for the off chance I become a monied early retiree.

[Johnny Brown]

Ta, those Jones boots look better but they've still got clown toes. Not likely to buy anything soon tbh so just interested in what folk are using. What bindings are you on/ are popular over there?

[alpinebisou]

I'm a skier and don't follow splitboard technology closely. However, since this is a discussion about alternatives...

At least as far as the Alps are concerned, where the snow conditions are mixed and terrain rarely uniformly mellow, splitboarders do face problems going up. They have a big floppy boot and fat ski, which is hard to handle on slippery, steep or exposed skintrack. The boot is not well adapted to taking a crampon, or mountaineering in general. You do see splitboarders, but they are in a massive minority compared to ski tourers.

One solution that you occasionally see (not sure how common it is in the 'scene') is the Dynasplit or AT Split. Essentially you put dynafit toe pieces on the board for going up. And you use some lightweight ski touring boots (e.g. Scarpa Alien, Dynafit TLT). These are super flexible and comfy but have a stiff, mountaineering sole and take a proper crampon. You can control the ski better and your uphill setup is also lighter on the feet because your snowboard binding is in the bag. You can also use dynafit couteaux on the bindings.

No doubt a compromise, but I think it makes sense if you are more into using a board for ski/snowboard mountaineering.

See here: https://www.wildsnow.com/22105/ski-tour-hardboot-splitboard-snowboard/

[lagerstarfish]

Some low quality footage from the helmet of some ageing fat bloke descending the ridge that runs north from the summit of Dereše in the Low Tatra, Slovakia.

I know that nobody likes to hear the scrape of a board on hard snow, but it's worth it for the few moments where the snow turns soft and quiet.

Usual problems with head/neck/camera angle changing depending on the slope

[gollum]

Brilliant stuff.

Do love that feeling when descending a gully and there’s just a bit of sluff in front of you, like riding a wave.

Bring on the season.

Winter is coming.

[SA Chris]

Nice. Terrain looks like halfway between Alpine and Scottish.

Keen for a good winter, scored a golden duck in Scottish skiing last winter, compared to the great winter before..

[lagerstarfish]

Nice. Terrain looks like halfway between Alpine and Scottish.

Just like a big version of the Cairngorms - similar problems with wind and flat light

[SA Chris]

Not selling it to me!

PM me an email address and I'll dropbox a clip from Cairngorms winter before last. Dropping down to Loch Eanaich from the west side ridge. Amazing day.