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09-24-2021, 09:14 AM #151User
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I’ll add a question. How realistic is it to tour without a guide? For example, how complex is the terrain (avy wise), and what is route finding like? I can imagine that a storm or cloud moving in would make things somewhat hairball with all of the above tree line terrain without knowledge of the area.
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09-24-2021, 09:17 AM #152User
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09-24-2021, 09:30 AM #153
great question.
things i was totally comfortable/chill with
- tanners
- suicide
- argenta
- east face of raymond
- 9776
- benson and hedges/hallway
- lake chute
- rock & roll
things i was slightly uncomfortable with:
- s ridge of superior (in absolute shit hard bullet proof ice, if it was good snow i would have been fine)
- northwest couloir on nebo (only the corniced entrance, nothing else was hard)
- little pine
god i feel like a noob typing that out. but it's the truth.
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09-24-2021, 09:40 AM #154Registered User
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There's tons of terrain that isn't you fall you die. It's fucking awesome. Go.
Re:guide -- ideal for big objectives or if you're in glaciated terrain. Guides are also way less expensive over there. But there is sooo much good skiing that you can get eyes on and evaluate before committing that you can ski without a guide as long as you've got a solid partner or two and know how to navigate avy terrain.
Sort of on that topic: if you're coming from CO/Utah/Mt and are used to continental snowpacks it can be hard to adjust your risk meter to take advantage. My guide at dinner on the first day of the Urner had to have a talk with me that this is his snowpack and I just needed to chill because we're not in fucking CO anymore and a DPS was extremely unlikely.
My wife just took a job with a big pay increase...trying to figure out how I leverage that to be gone for another 10 days for this...
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09-24-2021, 09:41 AM #155
I've done it a lot. I understand that assertion breaks in a number of different ways. Really, lots of people tour, and some routes actually have flag markers.
Of course it's all conditions dependent, but with stable snow and good visibility, you can't really exhaust the options in a lifetime.
The Gemsstock alone has incredible tours/traverses that can be done with a modicum of common sense. Look up the Giraffe, Guspis, Hans Im Glugg, Maigels Hutte.
https://www.outdooractive.com/en/ski...matt/11450990/
moar mapz: https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&...5272.50&zoom=5
I'd be up for chipping in on a guided day with Dan Loutrel. He's an expat and an awesome k00k ski fiend.
In years past, vendul and his buddies have acted as guides for us around the SkiArena as well as St. Moritz for free. If we can fill the hotel, vendul will have more time to join us.
Also, for those that haven't yet, chip in a few bucks to sponsor a mag on a trip of a lifetime: https://www.gofundme.com/f/stoke-dreamsLast edited by Buster Highmen; 09-24-2021 at 10:07 AM.
Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
>>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<
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09-24-2021, 10:45 AM #156
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09-24-2021, 10:55 AM #157User
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09-24-2021, 11:33 AM #158Registered User
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I probably wouldn't go on this trip just to ski groomers, but if you ski off-piste black/double black terrain anywhere in Western NA you'll have an absolute blast. There's a spectrum of charginess of folks who showed up and all had a blast. Not everyone is just full on raging.
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09-24-2021, 11:41 AM #159
Honestly even if you did just ski groomers you could have a lot of fun. Take advantage of the train and ski in one direction all day, then ride the bar car home. It might not be worthy of a week, but I could see doing a zoomer cruiser visit to andermatt.
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09-24-2021, 11:46 AM #160
^ A good segue for this reminder, speaking of groomers:
In Europe, anywhere off piste is uncontrolled and unpatrolled. Like, call the the rescue chopper if you get into trouble 300 meters off the groomer.
Get a membership to REGA
https://www.rega.ch/en/
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09-25-2021, 06:39 AM #161
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09-25-2021, 08:36 AM #162
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09-25-2021, 10:09 AM #163
I forgot to mention the train access to Oberalppass, Realp and East through the tunnel to Goms.
Howa about some more donations: https://www.gofundme.com/f/stoke-dreamsMerde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
>>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<
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09-25-2021, 10:51 AM #164User
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09-27-2021, 02:17 AM #165Registered User
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Skied Andermatt (Gemstock) many years back but would love to go back with some local knowledge and looks like there’s a ton of additional stuff over the Oberalp pass. Would be up for coming over from Vevey/Montreux way for the weekend of 5th or 13th March if there’s space at the hotel and some mags up for exploring. Will have space in the car and some extra (touring) rigs if that can help someone out
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09-27-2021, 07:27 AM #166
^That would be great. I think I'll get to Rueras around the 8th or 9th and stay through the 15th.
Here's the spooky upper Giraffe entrance:
Last edited by Buster Highmen; 09-27-2021 at 11:50 AM.
Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
>>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<
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09-27-2021, 07:46 PM #167Registered User
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most fun day I had in 2019 was skiing St. Mo with Mrs. Mike, Mrs. LWS, Vendul and Mrs. Vendul. All 3 of the women were intermediates with no interest in pushing it that day. We had a great time--here for coffee midmorning, there for a tasty lunch and glass of wine at 1 and over there for a beer at 4 (after about a 5 mile, 5,000 vertical cruise to the bar, then the rest of the way down the mountain.
If looking for cruisy skiing, I'd rather do it with the views, expanse (ski 20 miles away in a day and back is cool), food, etc. in the Alps than somewhere in the Rockies.
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09-27-2021, 07:58 PM #168Registered User
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keep in mind that Vendul's place, like many in Euro includes breakfast and dinner in price. Food is great too--you are not at the Hampton Inn breakfast bar. So, the only meal you have to add on is lunch, which is priced more reasonably than in the US. You can have a very good meal for $10-20. So, you basically have your bar tab and lunch on top of the expenses you are already considering, and just thought to add ground transport. If you just go Zurich to Vendul's and back, probably less than $100. Local trains will be covered by your ski pass.
In summary, after you get past the airfare, skiing in Europe can definitely be done cheaper than any destination resort in the U.S. If you want to stay in Courcheval and drink champagne with oligarchs, you can spend a lot of money skiing in Europe. If you are thoughtful about it at all, it's significantly less than a ski holiday here. There is less of an "on slope" premium for everything in Europe, including food, booze, rooms and transportation.
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09-29-2021, 08:21 AM #169
Discount Andermatt-Disentis SkiArena lift tickets.
https://www.andermatt-sedrun-disenti...edrun-disentis
With a 25% savings, it's currently $264 ($213 for seniors, I think over 62, but not sure) for a 6 day ticket to the SkiArena between March 9 and 15 , 20 miles across of lifts, including the train which traverses the entire zone.
This is an early season price.
That's $44/day for access to one of the largest interconnected ski areas in the world. They get a LOT of snow.
I'm researching other options like the SkiCard, but haven't been able to find a price.Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
>>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<
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09-29-2021, 08:54 AM #170Registered User
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Prices may have gone up a bit -- but I did my 10 day trip, including airfare, 3 days off lifts, the Urner Haute route ($1200 base + $100 tip), eating and drinking well for under 3k.
If you go tgapp remind me to give you my leftover Swiss francs when we're in BC. It'll cover a round of drinks for folks at Venduls.
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09-29-2021, 10:40 AM #171
Were the cards issued last year like the one in 2020? Those were better deal than buying multi day pass
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09-29-2021, 10:43 AM #172
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09-29-2021, 10:46 AM #173
Yes that one. Lots of ticket practices changed in states with Covid. Guessing not announced yet but good it went last year
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09-29-2021, 10:54 AM #174
Here's the half price pass link: https://www.andermatt-sedrun-disenti.../halbpreis-abo .
It's 50CHF and gets the purchaser 50% off. I'm not sure what a full price day ticket is but I think it's $60-$90.
(edit) according to our sagacious subtle plague, the variable pricing worst case scenario are a rack of bluebird pow days at $90/each.
That makes the 25% off flat rate better if it's max price every day.
But that's unlikely.
Since I suck at probability, I'm just going to guess that the half price card is a better deal unless it's all time conditions for which one will have to pay $45/day + a one time $53.50.
So with the half price card and perfect days at max price, the max cost is $53.50 + x*45 which is about $280 for x= 5 days of skiing max, likely is more like $53.50 + $35*x which is about $220 for 5 days.
With the 25% off prepurchase at a fixed price, that's about $220.
So for budgeting purposes, it will be less than $300 for 5 days of lift served skiing across the entire SkiArena. I hope we do another day at St. Moritz or Lenzerheide, which will add another $70.
(end edit)
Remember, 210 from Sandy to Alta is 6 miles.
From Hospental to Disentis, the skiable area is over 20 miles across with vertical drop 1700 (5500 feet) meters at Disentis and 1500+ meters (4900+ feet) at Andermatt.Last edited by Buster Highmen; 09-29-2021 at 11:27 AM.
Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
>>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<
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09-29-2021, 11:05 AM #175
Since they changed to variable prices every bluebird pow day equals 84 chf. So the 50% thing is important.
It's a war of the mind and we're armed to the teeth.
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