Doorstep Skis

The Canadian Avalanche Center has just released a press release denouncing the use of “smart phone apps” as avalanche beacon.   3 European smart phone apps are offering service as avalanche beacons now and they have been found to NOT WORK.   When you are running out of air underneath an avalanche, you won’t feel that great about having saved $300 bucks by using a smart phone app instead of a real, certified avalanche beacon. A smart phone app will never replace your avalanche beacon.   There are so many reasons that an app cannot replace an avalanche beacon:   they don’t work properly,  battery life, robustness, reliability and interference .  Please get an proper avalanche beacon and learn how to use it. Please read the Canadian Avalanche Center’s press release: Canadian Avalanche Centre Warns Backcountry Users About New Smartphone Apps Apps marketed as transceivers give users false sense of protection Oct 24, 2013, Revelstoke, BC :    Smartphone avalanche search application

 Ski Technique: How to Ski Better on Pistes by    Welove2ski There are few better places to boost your ski technique than on the groomed pistes of Morzine, France. Welove2sk.comi give  some tips on how to ski these slopes more smoothly. We whittled the list down to four key points to think about while you’re carving: 1. Stay Centred Over Your Skis Your weight needs to be evenly distributed right along the length of your feet, which means you’ll be able to maintain downward pressure right along the full length of your skis. Don’t lean back. RIGHT WRONG 2. Even Up the Weight Distribution Between Your Feet Read on...

The Portes du Soleil is one of the largest ski areas in the world with over 650km of marked pistes encompassing twelve resorts. It stretches between Mont Blanc and Lake Geneva, which creates a microclimate that is excellent for snowfall. Jean Vuarnet was responsible for developing Avoriaz and then linking it to the surrounding resorts creating the Portes du Soleil ski area. The highest point in the area is 2466m and the lowest is at 1000m and there are more than 200 lifts linking the area, which stretches over 14 valleys. Luckily, for skiers and snowboarders who are keen to explore, most of the Portes du Soleil ski area can be reached in a single circuit. The circuit will take most average skiers and snowboarders a whole day to complete so first lifts are advised! There are two directions the circuit can be skied; clockwise or counterclockwise. Completing the circuit counterclockwise could mean challenging La Chavanette otherwise known as The Swiss Wall or facing the getting the ch

Linda Marsh is involved in the day-to-day running of  Cophall Parking , one of Gatwick’s oldest off-airport parking and valet services. The 24-hour business that started with just a couple of family members and a single minibus now has 50 staff and a fleet of vehicles. “In the winter, many of our customers are skiers and boarders, and we love hearing stories from the slopes on their return,” she says. “Although quite a few of them involve the embarrassing behavior of their fellow skiers.”  READ ON

You might be new to skiing but there is no way we’re going to let you out on the slops without knowing the skiing lingo. Afterall, as every newcomer to a sport knows, you can get away with looking less than skilful if you’re using the right kit, wearing the right clothing and understand the language. Slush:  Looks like a Slush puppy but rarely comes in the same luridly bright blues or greens. Slush in skiing parlance is when the snow is just starting to melt and has a slushy consistency. It also looks a little like wet granulated sugar. This kind of snow is wet and sticky and will slow you down. Read on....

Gear Made Clear: Skis  The evolution of ski manufacturing over the past decade—with ever-changing shapes, sizes and materials—has been utterly overwhelming. At the end of the day, though, similar construction principles apply to each pair of planks on the market, regardless of the manufacturer. Sure, you’ll encounter snazzy, colorful and sometimes downright vague marketing buzzwords on your hunt for new skis, and that’s about as fun as tomahawking down a steep ice field. Never fear, FREESKIER is here to help. To ensure you’re well-versed in ski tech, we’ve put together this nifty guide. You’ll find breakdowns of the terminology, materials and construction techniques associated with the skis you covet so dearly. Remember, someone out there has made a life for themselves tweaking, prototyping, testing and repeating in order to produce skis that suit your needs. School yourself with this information and further validate the efforts of ski manufacturers everywhere. Ski

Coutesy of  —Mary Catherine O'Connor  @outsideonline.com Pointing to the sacredness of the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff, Arizona, a coalition of Native American tribes has been fighting the development and expansion of Arizona Snowbowl ski resort since 1979. It remains defiant,  reports the  New York Times , despite having suffered a key legal defeat this winter. A federal court ruled against the tribes in a nearly decade-old lawsuit that claims the ski resort's plans to use treated wastewater from Flagstaff's sewage system to make artificial snow for the resort would interfere with religious practices and mar the mountains. Wait. The resort will use sewage to make snow? Technically, yes. That's why the story has garnered lots of attention. But recycling treated wastewater for applications that do not require potable water is not nearly as icky, nor as uncommon, as it might sound. This type of water is commonly used for irrigating golf courses and so