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Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii


Tree taps are the new trend in 2018, make sure to tap a tree daily

Skiing and Snowboarding thread 2018-19. Nobody cares about your van.

Thread summary: snow is good.

Babby's first day on the mountain

A lot of people ask what they should do for their first day on the mountain, how to get into the sport, etc. The simple answer is to go to the mountains and take a group lesson. Prices vary, but you will get all the equipment you need, you will be guided through appropriate and safe terrain, and you will have someone to tell you how to suck just a little less. Be positive, embrace the challenge, appreciate the scenery, and feel for the magic that is sliding on snow.

Equipment rental covers boots, skis, and poles or snowboard and boots. You can also rent a helmet for $5-10 if you do not already own one. The rest of the stuff is on you to buy, list and guide below.

What do I buy

Buy this stuff, then read below to see how it works together to keep you warm.
  • Ski pants and jacket – waterproof, windproof, breathable. Jacket should be shell style with minimum insulation. Pants will usually have some insulation. Best value features are zippered vents on jacket and pants. Highly recommend helmet-compatible hood on jacket.
  • Windproof, waterproof gloves. Outer material should be GoreTex/similar or waterproofed leather. Inside should be well insulated with Primaloft/similar.
  • Goggles. More expensive goggles have nicer and/or swappable lenses. Best value feature is some form of venting for airflow which will help with fogging.
  • Helmet. Everyone wears one and they are very comfortable. Make sure goggles and helmet fit well together when purchasing with no discernible gap between goggles and brim of helmet. Best value features for helmets are vents in brim above goggles and adjustable vents on top of the helmet
  • Upper body baselayer. Wicking material ala Nike Dryfit/similar. Option between t-shirt or full sleeve ok. Can add a poly-cot or thin wool layer on top of synthetic material for comfort.
  • Insulating midlayers. One each of flannel shirt, fleece, and down zippered jacket. If only one is in your budget, get a midweight down jacket.
  • Lower body baselayer. Wicking material similar to upper body baselayer. Best to get in ¾ length—goes below the knee but stays above the boot.
  • Socks. Get actual ski socks ala Smartwool/similar. Should be thin. Primary function is to wick away moisture, ski or snowboard boot liners will provide warmth. Thick socks cut off bloodflow and make foot colder.
  • Skis, poles, boots—or—snowboard and boots.
  • Backpack (optional). Choose something with waterproof exterior and low profile. Chest and waist strap recommended. Ski/snowboard carry system very useful if utilizing resort hike-to terrain.

Layering for warmth and fashion

Perhaps the biggest turnoff about skiing and snowboarding is the cold. That is pretty understandable considering that most newbies have no idea how to properly dress themselves. Lucky for you, it is not hard.

Step 1: Baselayer. The purpose of a baselayer is to wick sweat away from the skin and convert it into vapor. An upper baselayer can be a t-shirt or full sleeved and should be either merino wool or a synthetic fabric like Nike DryFit or UnderArmour ColdGear. Bottom baselayers should be ¾ length—stopping below the knee like yoga pants but ending high enough to stay out of boot. Ski socks should be thin—their purpose is once again to wick away sweat and keep your feet dry. Fluffy ski socks will actually cut off circulation to your foot and make you colder than a thin sock. Ski socks can be purchased quite cheap online.

There are many ways to set up a base layer system. Some are okay with a single, thin layer of synthetic material. Others prefer a synthetic tee and a loose poly-cot quarter zip pullover. As long as what is between your body and your midlayer is wicking/quick-drying, feel free to use whatever setup is most natural.



Step 2: Midlayer. This layer is what traps warm air around your body. A very lofty material like down traps a lot of heat, a thin fabric like flannel traps less. Fleeces are a good in between. Having several midlayers allows you to choose the right one for the temperature. Cold winter days call for down while flannel is good in springtime or during a heat wave.

Most of the time a midlayer is not needed for the legs as the majority of pants have some amount of insulation. Since the legs do most of the work, they are also naturally the warmest part of the body. If your legs are getting cold, cut off sweatpants, track pants, or yoga pants are a good option. Note that in ski boots, this is where the liner comes in: the liner of a ski boot is what keeps your foot warm, not your sock.



Step 3: Outer layer. Your defense against the elements. Both the jacket and pants should be waterproof and windproof, which keeps you dry and prevents the wind from stripping away that hot air stored in your midlayer. However, both the jacket and pants also need to be breathable, which means that they allow water vapor to move from inside to out. Simply put, all that sweat from your body needs somewhere to go or else you will quickly end up soggy. Look for outerwear that specifically states it is both waterproof and breathable, oftentimes evaluated as two ratings (eg. 5000/5000). Avoid the temptation to get an insulated jacket. If you are still cold, add another layer or buff up your midlayer (for instance, move from fleece to a thicker down jacket). In a ski boot, the plastic shell is the outerlayer that keeps wind and water off your foot.



Step 4: Regulating your temperature. While a base-, mid-, and outerlayer system is the best way to stay warm, it also offers many options for regulating temperature. If you get hot, you can start by opening the vents on your jacket, pants, and helmet. Still warm? Open the front zipper of your shell jacket. Warm again? Open the zipper on your midlayer. Still warm? Ditch the midlayer or swap to something thinner. Additionally, it saves space and allows you to be ready for almost any conditions with one set of gear. You could have a warm start to the week and be okay with a flannel midlayer, but when it cools down later in the trip, you don't need to search for a second jacket, just swap out that flannel for your down jacket.

Advice for your trip

1. Wait to book and, if possible, be flexible. Booking a January trip in October is a bad idea because nobody knows if there will be any snow for the trip. Waiting until mid-November to book a January trip will allow for a good guess as to the conditions come January. If possible, it also means that if the original destination lacks snow, the trip might be changed to an alternate resort in a different region with better snow. For people with powder as a priority, having flexible dates is even better.

2. Look around for deals. For lodging, check VRBO, AirBnB, etc. for condos if going with a large group. It is also a good idea to call the resort lodging desk as well as the town tourism bureau to look into lodging, airfare, and lift ticket specials. For lift tickets, be sure to check Liftopia. Also consider whether or not destination passes like the Epic Pass or the Ikon Pass would work considering that they cover a wide variety of resorts per pass.

Good poo poo to watch

Salomon FreeskiTV
Real Skifi
https://instagram.com/jerryoftheday - Mostly pics and vids of posters from the thread
GNAR - Perhaps the ski movie to watch

Places to buy stuff

https://www.backcountry.com - Huge selection, excellent return policy, slightly more oriented towards backcountry equipment (duh) but has full variety
https://www.evo.com - Huge selection, a bit more oriented towards resort riding
https://www.levelninesports.com - Discount retailer
https://www.powder7.com - Sells lots of old inventory for dirt cheap
https://www.steepandcheap.com - Daily deals
https://www.whiskeymilitia.com - Daily deals

Useful sites for weather, other places to post, or just for fun

https://www.opensnow.com - Resort specific forecasts, bunch of useful features, primary purpose is predicting snowfall
https://www.weather.gov - Point forecasts and weather graphs extremely useful for determining wind and temperature for up to 7 days, not as accurate about snowfall as OpenSnow
https://spotwx.com/ - Point forecasts with ability to look at several different models
https://forecast.io/ - Animated weather and forecast map, big picture style
http://www.avalanche.ca/weather (Canada only)
https://www.tetongravity.com - Tons of professionally edited videos, articles, "interesting" forum
https://www.newschoolers.com - Tons of semi-pro videos, hilarious forum
https://www.blistergearreview.com - Pretty reliable gear review site

Best posts u dont want 2 miss
Disinterested posts a bunch of videos of how to ski bumps

DON'T WEAR JEANS SKIING!!!


Never don’t go full send

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Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

Hold place one

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

Two place hold, JUST IN CASE

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

Hey y'all new thread. Let me know if you want to add anything to the OP.

Pretty much anything will be better than last year so it's gonna be a good year!

The Glumslinger
Sep 24, 2008

Coach Nagy, you want me to throw to WHAT side of the field?


Hair Elf
Did you mean to link to an fyad thread instead of this one?

IncredibleIgloo
Feb 17, 2011





The Glumslinger posted:

Did you mean to link to an fyad thread instead of this one?

I was very surprised myself!

davebo
Nov 15, 2006

Parallel lines do meet, but they do it incognito
College Slice
It's my last Winter before having a kid in May. Hope we get some snow and I can actually travel somewhere this year.

Edit: also whiskeymilitia.com got merged into steepandcheap so you can delete that.

Spime Wrangler
Feb 23, 2003

Because we can.

pardon my boner, but i'm looking forward to ski season

highme
May 25, 2001


I posted my food for USPOL Thanksgiving!


Let's get some snow.

Tweak
Jul 28, 2003

or dont whatever








i think the 0 was stripped from the url in the last thread, took me a whole extra half second to find this one!

one last season at Steven's before I'm charged out the rear end by Vail

Literally Lewis Hamilton
Feb 22, 2005



I like boners but here I am?

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
I like Bogner

kiimo
Jul 24, 2003

The Glumslinger posted:

Did you mean to link to an fyad thread instead of this one?

oh you goons

Fifty Three
Oct 29, 2007

Woo, new snow thread.

Third year going out west for a ski trip for me. This year it's Lake Louise at the beginning of February. :toot:

Recommendations on things to do in "town" are appreciated!

Landsknecht
Oct 27, 2009
I hope this person is trolling, nobody can be so unfunny and dumb
frame bindings are dumb

waffle enthusiast
Nov 16, 2007



Oh hello there, new thread. Prepare for lots of kid stoke this season.

Residency Evil
Jul 28, 2003

4/5 godo... Schumi
Wife and I got our Ikon passes today. :whatup:

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Fifty Three posted:

Woo, new snow thread.

Third year going out west for a ski trip for me. This year it's Lake Louise at the beginning of February. :toot:

Recommendations on things to do in "town" are appreciated!

Go eat at Touloulou's in Banff for breakfast, but get there early (like 7:30) or you won't get a seat. I loving dream of that place. If you're willing to go out to Canmore for the best poutine on the western side of the Rockies (or close enough) then La Belle Patate there is amazing and I 100% would make the drive out for it, simply for the true Canadian experience since IIRC you're American. Eat a poutine and a smoked meat sandwich for maximum Quebecoisness.

Mongoose
Jul 7, 2005
Gettin' in on the first page. Last year living in Japan's snow country for me, going to make the best of it snowboarding in Myoko / Yuzawa / Hakuba area as much as possible. Maybe taking a trip to Hokkaido if things line up.

Yuns
Aug 19, 2000

There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.
I'm super excited that ski/snowboard season is here again. My kids are ski racing again this season and it's their 8th season of skiing/6th season of race development. Riding with the kids is so awesome especially now that they can ski most terrain. However, that near catastrophic training accident one of the kids had last season was super sobering. She could have died and last season one kid from a team in PA did die
Last year we did trips to Quebec and Montana. Not sure we can do much travel this year but we'll try to do at least one trip.

Top Quark
Aug 2, 2010

"Going where no man has gone before."
Heading up to Tremblant this season (probably February??), as well as the usual local teeny tiny hill on evenings. Hoping to get 50+ days in this time, which will mean I have to not be such a lazy pile of rear end like last season though.

Also why are smith replacement lenses so goddamn expensive hnghh

Fifty Three
Oct 29, 2007

HookShot posted:

Go eat at Touloulou's in Banff for breakfast, but get there early (like 7:30) or you won't get a seat. I loving dream of that place. If you're willing to go out to Canmore for the best poutine on the western side of the Rockies (or close enough) then La Belle Patate there is amazing and I 100% would make the drive out for it, simply for the true Canadian experience since IIRC you're American. Eat a poutine and a smoked meat sandwich for maximum Quebecoisness.
Awesome! I appreciate the food recommendations, especially since it doesn't look like there's much of a nightlife scene either.

highme
May 25, 2001


I posted my food for USPOL Thanksgiving!


Top Quark posted:

Also why are smith replacement lenses so goddamn expensive hnghh

I can get lenses on that pro-form I posted about near the end of the last thread. They're still a bit spendy, but definitely more affordable.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Fifty Three posted:

Awesome! I appreciate the food recommendations, especially since it doesn't look like there's much of a nightlife scene either.
No, Lake Louise itself is actually pretty small and quiet. Banff is definitely the feeder town into the mountain resort where basically everything is going to be. Banff is a really cute mountain town, for sure.

You should also get a beavertail when you're in Banff.

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

Yeah there isn't really much in Lake Louise besides the resort and a very few places to grab a bite or drink. Banff is basically the Breckenridge of Alberta, in that it's a well developed, fun ski town.

Disinterested
Jun 29, 2011

You look like you're still raking it in. Still killing 'em?
We always talk about brands we like for outdoor wear and equipment, but is there anyone you guys won't buy poo poo from?

Math You
Oct 27, 2010

So put your faith
in more than steel
Hi thread,

All of my favourite kit have come from recs in this thread. I require your services once more!

I'm looking for new snowboard boots. I'm currently using like 7 year old Burton imperials. Admittedly probably sub 20 day seasons on average during that span, but they are starting to cause some issues around the ankle strap since I got much stiffer board last season
Fullbag Diamond Blade (THANKS THREAD)

So. I'm looking for new boots. The imperials are the stiffest boot I've ever owned so I probably don't want to go quite HYPER stiff, but definitely on that end. All I do anymore is go fast and carve hard, but comfort is still #1

My local shops sell lots of Thirty two, Deeluxe, K2, Ride, Burton and Vans

Obviously I'm going to select the boot that feels best to me, but I wouldn't mind some help narrowing things down!

TIA

Fifty Three
Oct 29, 2007

Good to know. If I could do it over again I probably would have booked a hotel in Banff rather than in Lake Louise itself. As it is we probably won't have many options for going out and getting back to Lake Louise at the end of a night. Oh well, still gonna be dope.


Edit: Looks like there's a Lake Louise-Banff bus. :getin:

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Disinterested posted:

We always talk about brands we like for outdoor wear and equipment, but is there anyone you guys won't buy poo poo from?

Arcteryx hosed over a friend of mine on warranty for the armpit zipper of a jacket that came apart at the seam. For $500+ per jacket yeah, you better loving fix that under warranty, so I wouldn't buy from them.

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

Disinterested posted:

We always talk about brands we like for outdoor wear and equipment, but is there anyone you guys won't buy poo poo from?

Burton.

bawfuls
Oct 28, 2009

highme posted:

I can get lenses on that pro-form I posted about near the end of the last thread. They're still a bit spendy, but definitely more affordable.
Remind me how much the I/O mag is on that form? I do need new goggles...

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

Fifty Three posted:

Good to know. If I could do it over again I probably would have booked a hotel in Banff rather than in Lake Louise itself. As it is we probably won't have many options for going out and getting back to Lake Louise at the end of a night. Oh well, still gonna be dope.


Edit: Looks like there's a Lake Louise-Banff bus. :getin:

Yeah it's worth partying in Banff for a night or two, do it.

Landsknecht
Oct 27, 2009
I hope this person is trolling, nobody can be so unfunny and dumb

Eejit posted:

Yeah it's worth partying in Banff for a night or two, do it.

you'll get STIs from aussies

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

Landsknecht posted:

you'll get STIs from aussies

I recall reading that sometime in the last decade, Banff was the highest for STI rates in all of Canada

knox_harrington
Feb 18, 2011

Running no point.

Couple of metres of snow forecast in Zermatt over the next week.

Shame I'm booked in for surgery on my knee on Tuesday. They are drilling in from underneath to push the top of the bone and cartilage back into place, and then filling the gap left with allograft bone material. Then screwing a plate to the top bit to hold it together.

Looks like I'll be getting my ski fix vicariously from this thread!

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

Cold outside in western Norway, but not winter yet. But I've got a big cup of coffee and there's world cup GS on!

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Eejit posted:

I recall reading that sometime in the last decade, Banff was the highest for STI rates in all of Canada

I'm pretty sure that title bounces between Whistler and Banff pretty evenly hahaha.

Spime Wrangler
Feb 23, 2003

Because we can.

born on the mountain, raised in a cave

huckin and fuckin is all that I crave

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
Also someone made an instagram account called whistler_memes and it's super accurate for anyone who has spent a lot of time up here. Most of them I'm sure you can apply to literally every single other ski town, too, just change the names of the bars/restaurants slightly.

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Disinterested
Jun 29, 2011

You look like you're still raking it in. Still killing 'em?
Maybe I'll try to write a post about racing soon.

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