J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

Intriguing pics Mick - they need some text; there must be some great stories there. Looks a wicked place to ski or board.

Dave

chaletinthemountains wrote:...means that its going to be a long season.

Do you know when the lifts shut in the Chamonix valley? Any possibility of them staying open an extra couple of weekends? I know some of the French Resorts open early on an occasional basis but not sure if they ever stay open later than planned... any idea?

Cheers,

Hi Joe, Chamonix's serious skiing reputation comes, deservedly, from the Grands Montets area above Argentiere. From your comments I maybe would not recommend that particular area for you; most runs *are* steep and there are few "easy options" once on the mountain so it's difficult to bail out of anything you don't like the look of.

That said, Chamonix has half a dozen different ski areas; Le Tour and Brevents may suit you better and you may enjoy the variety of those. There is a regular bus service between the different areas but the bus gets very busy at peak times so may be worth thinking about hiring a car.

There is accommodation to suit most budgets - have a look at our Chamonix pages for starters. You can often get good deals last minute as there are plenty of chalets and hotels in the valley.

If you want to try Argentiere (and improve your skiing), how about booking a private lesson for an afternoon on one of the easier areas? Get the instructor to assess you before taking you up the Grands Montets? 8)

powman wrote:Japan-Niseko-give it a try

Yeah but that's a seriously long transfer from Turin! :p

Your best bet may be to try and find a group going the same way. One of our regulars, Chamoissiere, has an apartment in Sere Che and may be able to help.

FWIW, we were there just after New Year and really liked it - great place to ski with plenty of variety.

Good luck! 8)

Courmayeur should usually be pretty good in mid-March, though they've struggled a little for snow so far this season. You'd be unlucky not to have good cover then though.

The town itself is lovely; very charming with a traditional (though well-heeled!) air about it. Not the cheapest of Italian resort towns but a good variety of bars and restaurants with a nice vibe to it. Shouldn't be too busy mid-March, except for the weekends when quite a crowd can come up from Turin.

Something you will notice is that the locals tend to take looooonng lunches (the eateries on the mountain are excellent)
so it's well worthwhile grabbing a snack around 11:30 and then grabbing a couple of hours on empty pistes!

Not a huge ski area but a good variety of runs. Keep a piste map handy though as the signage isn't what it could be! 8)

Yep the forecast is looking pretty damn good across most of the Alps... not much snow in Kent though! :(

Same as the Streetracer 05 but with the 05 graphic reversed? Sorry, no idea really but Salomon have a habit of doing this - best guess would be either a late (or early) production run of the 05 with some subtle difference in construction, graphics or bindings... er, or something else!

IIRC my brother picked up some Crossmax skis a couple of years ago - at the time their brochure listed a choice of Crossmax 8s or Crossmax 10s. His were Crossmax 7.5s... %-6