Ski Morzine: resort guide

Ski Morzine, France

 Complete guide to skiing Morzine for skiers and snowboarders including hotels, chalets, restaurants and piste guide.  Guide to Morzine

SkiTrade Magazine

 .

The Ski Trade Magazine is a new publication launching in October 2013. It’s aim is to focus exclusively on the winter snow sports industry providing a resource of industry participants not yet available within the snow sports industry. It will be distributed as a free compliment with InTheSnow Magazine as well as being made available at a number events related to the Winter Sports industry.

Read on..

How to Ride a Chairlift with a Stranger

  There’s always two main goals you should have anytime you get on the chairlift with a person/people you don’t know: A) Make them feel incredibly awkward, or B) Make yourself seem like something (hopefully cooler) that you’re not. This is merely a list of options, feel free to stick to the basics, or make mind-bottling hybrids of your own.

• Lie: This is the go to move whenever you get on the chairlift with someone who looks like they know less about skiing than you. Lie about anything, lie about everything. Tell them that you’re the heir to the outright ownership of Salomon Skis, tell them that you ski professionally, tell them that you hold the world record for longest distance skied backwards, it doesn’t really matter. As long you act confident in what you’re saying, there’s a 95% chance that they’ll believe you. Note: if they look like they actually know something about skiing, you need to craft your lie so that it is at least a shred believable.
• 
  
• Check their season pass: If you manage to sneak a peak at their season pass and get their name, do your best to pretend you recognize the name and you are actually somehow related. Bonus points if you can find a mutual acquaintance. 
• 
  
• Sit right next to them: This is especially entertaining when there is only two of you on a four (or more) seat lift. Sit uncomfortably close to them and don’t say a word. Possibly even let your hands fall to the side and touch their leg. The key to this is to have headphones in that are playing ridiculously loud music, so that when they plea for you to scoot over, unfortunately you can’t hear a word that they’re saying.
• 
  
• Breath really loud: This move isn’t quite as popular, but is sure to produce some sort of reaction. From the second you take your seat to the instant you’re freed from the confines of the lift, breathe really, really loud. If you’re feeling extra crazy, give your breathing patterns a sexual connotation, for added discomfort. This move is especially fun whilst sitting uncomfortably close to your new lift buddy.
• 
  
• Scratch your inner thigh: You heard me, get your glove off, reach inside your snowpants, and vigorously scratch your inner thigh. Who cares if it looks like something it’s not, you just have an itch, right?
• 
  
• Repeatedly move the safety bar: This is sure to annoy anyone who has a pulse. Put the bar down to rest your feet, act like you get a leg cramp so you have to put it up to stretch your leg, then lower it again to rest your feet. Repeat. Another clutch move is to reach for your boot buckles, and claim you can’t reach them with the bar down, thus your need to lift it, unbuckle, and replace it. The good thing about the boot move is that you can do it twice a trip, for unbuckling then rebuckling. But be sure to space out your movements a good 30-45 seconds, just to make sure that the people on the lift are just getting comfortable.
•  
• Talk on your phone: Whenever someone is on their phone, you eavesdrop, it’s human nature. So take advantage of this and have an extremely awkward conversation. Some of my favorite lines include (but are not limited to): “Wait so it itches? I think that you should get tested and get some cream for that.” “Yeah dude, she was so down. I have all the photos on my phone. I got some video too, I’ll show you later.” Or, “Man I can’t believe that fool. I’ve done time for less, he better watch his back.”

• And at all costs, no matter what you do, make sure you don't expose your "pole"

Author: Logan Imlach

Is Freeskiing Killing Snowboarding?

Snowboarding, considered by many to be the saviour of the slopes over the last 20 years, has become so big that a full circle effect has taken place. In some strange ecological, Mother Naturesque way it has helped spawn the craze of freeskiing. Now the two sports live in perfect symbiotic elegance, both using the same terrain in different ways. Can this continue? Will nature’s balance prevail? Or will one fall to the wayside via man’s trend-conscious hand? Read on..

Ski Mountaineering; An Introduction

Why would anyone give up the happy comforts of chairlift-assisted skiing for this gem of an experience?

Simple: earning your turns makes them taste better no matter how crap the snow. Skiing becomes a way of interacting with a mountain rather than just using it as a ramp (yeah, I am biased…I own it). And, combining ski touring and mountaineering is like an Italian sub—everything that is awesome in one epic package. Trust me: ditch the day pass and go on a real adventure. (Added bonuses of backcountry skiing: no lift ticket purchase necessary, great looking glutes, fresh tracks forever, sure way of building your network of fellow crazy people).

Photo: Mark Houston

How to get started:

1. Be honest about your abilities. You should be completely comfortable on black diamonds before heading into the backcountry. Keep in mind: you will be going into terrain that is not under the jurisdiction of any ski patrol and good snow conditions are in no way guaranteed.
   
2. Avalanche safety. Before heading into uncontrolled terrain, you MUST receive education on how to avoid avalanches and stage a rescue in the event of one. ***DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.
   
3. Find a guru and gain experience. Just like climbing, backcountry skiing requires a period of learning. You will need a partner (not the braggart-bro who regaled you with stories of awesomeness outside the ropes). I recommend getting a guide. Going with a certified mountain guide (AMGA or IFMGA) will provide you the opportunity to learn from a pro and allow you to enjoy the experience of playing in the backcountry without worrying about not coming back (No, I am NOT being paranoid). Another great resource is Bruce Tremper’s, Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain.
   
4. Get the right gear and know how to use it. (See Annie’s gear guide here.)
   
5. Establish a routine. Mine is: check avalanche report and discuss with partner(s), determine a safe route with regards to conditions, inform a non-participant of the intended plan, put on avalanche beacon, go through essential gear checklist (see below), take VW van to trailhead, double-check that everyone’s beacon is on, ski uphill, ski downhill, repeat until orgasm has been achieved, drive to après spot, brewskis and bad decisions.
   
6. Conditioning. Skiing uphill is hard work. Being in good physical shape makes the experience safer and more enjoyable.
   
7. Basic or wilderness first aid is never a bad idea.
   
8. ADVANCED-if you are serious about ski mountaineering make sure you have experience on rock, mixed, and ice routes. Have advanced knowledge of rappelling, setting anchors, and crampon technique. Again, if you are just starting out go with a guide or someone with equivalent knowledge. Your local climbing gym is always a good place to receive further instruction and find partners.  
   
9. Stay hungry. Chris Davenport, Brody Leven, KT Miller, and JP Auclair are some of the most inspiring ski-mountaineers out there. I highly recommend social media stalking them. I do.

 To read the full article click here.

Grand Couloir

4810 m ; 1400 m, 200 m 50°, 1000 m 45°, pass. 55° ; East ; ED ; 5.4/ E4

Riding a line like the Sentinelle Rouge is not a ski journey; it is a trip into another dimension. First you have to climb to the top of Mont Blanc where you ride on sight over 1000 m of terrain which is technical, steep and exposed to serac falls. A line which drops into what can only be described as the “unknown”. Finally and most importantly you then have to return from one of the nastiest, scariest and remote places on Earth entirely on your own....read on

Why I Love Ski Movie Trailers

Trailers? Really?
Yes, really. I look at skiing as having momentum, this activity that keeps evolving. Some use the word progression, but that sounds too forced. Evolution is slow, crawling speed. Picture, if you will, the idea of a person pushing a boulder up an endless hill. Everyday he gets a little bit higher. That’s sort of how I see skiing. With every year, every tap, pow slash, and impossibly tweaked grab (I’m looking at you, 2010 T.J. Schiller), we get a little further up the hill and little better. Read on...