St Anton report and pics

Great Report as expected Tony :wink: Glad you had a great time and not surprising looking at those conditions in March :shock: We will most likely return again in January however, its highly unlikely we will get the same amount of snow next year?

Anyway, thanks for the report enjoyed it as always.

All the best Ali :D

Thanks for your comprehensive review Tony H. I'll be there a week on Saturday so that review has raised the excitement levels a bit. We're staying in Nasserrien . Already got a few guided days booked so hoping there'll be a dump before we go but it's looking in good shape.

There's a few lads going who are pretty inexperienced but aren't timid, which isn't always the best combination. I was hoping to convince them to get a few lessons but I don't think they well so it looks like it will be a baptism of fire…..

Does look busy in some places, was there any euro holidays or perhaps just that St Anton is a victim of it's own success?

Looking forward to Germknödel and Grostl.

Grizwald wrote:Thanks for your comprehensive review Tony H. I'll be there a week on Saturday so that review has raised the excitement levels a bit. We're staying in Nasserrien . Already got a few guided days booked so hoping there'll be a dump before we go but it's looking in good shape.

There's a few lads going who are pretty inexperienced but aren't timid, which isn't always the best combination. I was hoping to convince them to get a few lessons but I don't think they well so it looks like it will be a baptism of fire…..

Does look busy in some places, was there any euro holidays or perhaps just that St Anton is a victim of it's own success?

Looking forward to Germknödel and Grostl.

No euro holidays. Its not busy everywhere but certain runs can be. It is busy as ski area go to be fair.

A good write-up as usual Tony; glad you had a good week, and hope Wickers is on the mend.

Tony_H wrote:I believe Mrs W got a stiff telling off from Ian when she told him we had gone off piste onto non patrolled sectors. Oops.

:shock:

He showed commendable restraint.

Presumably he was reassured by your having checked the avalanche bulletin and hiring a guide to show you around? And by the fact that you all (including Mrs W) had avy kit with you?

Admin wrote:A good write-up as usual Tony; glad you had a good week, and hope Wickers is on the mend.

Tony_H wrote:I believe Mrs W got a stiff telling off from Ian when she told him we had gone off piste onto non patrolled sectors. Oops.

:shock:

He showed commendable restraint.

Presumably he was reassured by your having checked the avalanche bulletin and hiring a guide to show you around? And by the fact that you all (including Mrs W) had avy kit with you?

Wibble?

Admin wrote:A good write-up as usual Tony; glad you had a good week, and hope Wickers is on the mend.

Tony_H wrote:I believe Mrs W got a stiff telling off from Ian when she told him we had gone off piste onto non patrolled sectors. Oops.

:shock:

He showed commendable restraint.

Presumably he was reassured by your having checked the avalanche bulletin and hiring a guide to show you around? And by the fact that you all (including Mrs W) had avy kit with you?

I'm still of the opinion of what WE think is off piste and what IS off piste are two completely different things. If there had been an avalanche the piste 50m below us would have been taken out too.

I was on Carving skis for jeeps sake :D

ellistine wrote:I'm still of the opinion of what WE think is off piste and what IS off piste are two completely different things.

:?: Not entirely sure who thinks what TBH, from reading that... :lol: ...but it's not rocket science; if you're not on the piste then you're off it.

ellistine wrote:If there had been an avalanche the piste 50m below us would have been taken out too.

That happens. I posted a picture last Xmas of an avalanche that had crossed a piste in Samoens; triggered by two boarders - one of whom was seriously injured - on a slope right next to the piste and very much like the slope with the avalanche fences in one of Tony's pictures.

There have been at least two fatalities from avalanches onto pistes in Europe this season that I'm aware of (and around 30 off-piste, so far).

There are regular (free) avalanche safety lectures in a number of French resorts (Henry's Avalanche Talk in various places, the Avalanche Academy in Chamonix for starters) and also in the UK every Autumn. There's lots of good stuff online too. Seek it out.

Yep. All perfectly valid points.

I'm sure if the slope was completely untracked we wouldn't even had considered it. In reality it looked like it had seen more action than the piste had. It's a difficult one. There's probably a reluctance to invest too much time/money in off piste gear until at least you know you can ski a few inches of fresh and you can't find out without trying a little.

The wife seemed to do really well in the deep stuff mind so perhaps it's time to swat up a bit.