J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by verbier_ski_bum

TNF became like a GAP in the last 10-11 years. Their summit series are good enough but being their "technical" line don't touch the likes of Mammut, Arcteryx, Norrona etc., though the difference is somewhat reflected in the price. Anyway for a bit of skiing on holidays their kit does the job and is a fair value for money, especially if you get it on sales, but that's about it. Oh, and at least in their ladies line their stuff come in 3 lengths - short, regular and long, which is useful as I find some NA brands believe that if you need an XS then you must be no taller than 5' - probably true over there, but still not true in Europe.

Basically I believe in two approaches - either to buy the cheapest you can find (especially in the beginning when money is better spent on lessons then on latest gear when all you need is something to keep you warm and dry on slopes), trash it and throw it away with no regrets or to buy the best you can afford. I tried both (started with most stuff borrowed from my BF sister) and using the second approach now, but on 70 days a season it doesn't really matter for me how much I pay (as long as I can afford it) as I get a really good wear out of my kit. My old shells have been retired after 3.5 seasons and I use it for touring as it's still waterproof, just colours faded, but 3.5 seasons is almost 250 days on slopes, so I definitely got my money worth and the fact that it's still very useable proves to me that technical stuff is worth its price tag + the price tag of Nikwax. I am not sure if it's worth buying top of the range for infrequent use - on one hand it will last really long time, on the other hand you will probably get bored with it and will want something new after few years anyway and then feel guilty:) What should be avoided is buying cheap stuff (not discounted on sales) but with expensive care - this is just plainly silly to me to by a 40-50 pounds jacket which is "dry clean only". At this price it should be washable even in a dishwasher :)

Damn it, I am in the wrong country and definitely in the wrong valley - it's been snowing steadily and heavily in Zermatt for the last few days and they were forecast to get close to 2 meters by the next weekend while we are promised a mighty 4 cm :( Unless things change I need to work out a canning plan to convince my friend - who prefer to ski when it's sunny rather than when it's snowing - to drive up from sunny Verbier to snowy Zermatt.

I usually rent myself and get on with whatever I'm given, so not an expert but maybe this may help
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/snowshoes.html. If you are planning on getting your own, I would say get the ones with the best traction.

At the current weather in Europe nothing below 20 cm should even count.

Yeah, they still don't know whether her hand could be saved… :(

Forecasts in local Swiss paper were showing some snow over the weekend but today forecasts changed and apart from some cloudy spells nothing is forecasts. In any case this snow would have been insignificant and wouldn't last as on Tuesday temps will be back in double digits with bright sunshine. The freeride extreme final was moved this year a week later than it's normally being held, I wonder if the gamble pays off - usually they are quite lucky as it has always been snowing on the week of the final, even in 2010/2011 a week before the final there were talks that Bec des Rosses is not safe due to lack of snow and it dumped just two days before the competition…

Wow! What a chance of this happening?!! Lucky indeed that she only had her hand injured

My friends took sabbatical this year to spend a season in Fernie, but moved to Mexico a few weeks ago as it was pretty dismal to stay in a ski town without any snow. They did well over Christmas and New Year but nothing since then and it was very warm. I saw pictured of daffodils bloming in the valleys in the beginning of February. Compared to this Alps are doing fantastic!