Paedde’s Euro / Japan / US Snow Safari 2008

[paedde]

Day 1

Travel from Zurich to St. Moritz. Meet Erich and Mathias from Switzerland, Phil and Dave from Australia.

Day 2 Skiing Corvatsch

After picking up Mark at the train station we started our ski trip right on top of the Corvatsch. Great conditions on the groomed runs and variable off piste. We got some nice powder turns as well as wind/sun affected untracked powder. Not that we would call it a powder day but still much better then expected.

It’s been a few years since I skied here but just like last time I quite like it. Some slow T-Bars are a bit of a pain but otherwise high speed chairs and trams. We skied the major part of the day off piste and enjoyed some steep and even very steep areas.

All pics are going to be right here http://community.webshots.com/user/paedde31

[paedde]

Day 3 Skiing Diavolezza, Lagalp and Corvilia

Skiing Crème Brulée

We started the day at Diavolezza but it was just not good enough to keep us happy. Off piste was unskiable and the groomers are highways. After two runs we went to the avalanche training centre and did some transceiver training. Around lunchtime we moved to Lagalp where we found again unskiable off piste and highway like but steeper groomers. Again too boring. Time to move to Corvilia where we had the better snow but again off piste was very variable or unskiable. Skiing Crème Brulée is probably the best way to describe it. Crusty on top, soft and sweet underneath.

[paedde]

Day 4 Travel from St. Moritz to Schnann (near St. Anton)

Poor weather no skiing.

Day 5 Powderday at Lech / Zürs

Not epic but awesome

Usually boot deep and a few turns in knee deep light powder. Powder competition was high and after only one day the mountain was more or less tracked. Mild temperatures turned the south facing powder into some kind of spring powder.

Despite the avalanche risk being considerable the snow pack was very stable. This allowed us to basically go where ever there was good snow. On the other side I have to say that I’m shocked how the local ski guides handle a powder day like today. A group of 10+ skiers most likely not even equipped with a transceiver skied a wind loaded moderate steep run all at the same time. There was no instruction from the guide to keep some space in between and with the exception of the guide nobody had a back pack with avi gear…

Some pics and many more as usually on http://community.webshots.com/user/paedde31

[Phatstix]

Nice Paedde! Glad to see you're gettin' after it again this year.

[paedde]

Day 6 Skiing Stuben

Still some powder turns

Only the north facing stuff was still good enough to call powder. The spring like temperatures and the sun are working hard on the snow. At Stuben you can even get some nice turns in the trees and ski between the avalanche fences. Officially it is a closed area but nobody really seems to care. Today we met Paul (PG on ski.com.au), Lozenz and Bruce. We skied a few runs together. Our large group got split up and only Mark and I continued to ski together. We went for some long traversing and skied all the way down to Langen which is a long run but the traversing is using almost all the vertical. Not really worth it.

Another good day but how will it be tomorrow. Well above freezing even mid mountain…

[grskier]

The Powder Safari is on, stoked for you...
Looks like some really good days so far.

[TyWebb]

no doubt, some soft bluebird days already...awesome. To continued good travels!

[geo039]

Nice work P!

[Hicks]

Paedde, just ONE question out of freakin' jealousy: what kind of job do you have letting you sneak out every season like that?

Nice stuff!

[U.L.I.]

Some more Pics from the Powderday at Lech / Zürs












Sequence Shot:

[stantonbum1]

Good to see that the snow safari is on. A bit of snow coming down at the moment so there should be decent conditions if you can make it through to verbier.

[paedde]

Verbier target for Sunday. Tomorrow Zermatt

[Below Zero]

Looks tasty!

[sculhane]

Cool. Great start! Coverage looks really good at least.

50-50 chance for Feb 23rd... But odds are really good I will be ok for a week sometime this winter.

Stay safe...

Steve

[Lumpy]

We're waiting on ya' P!

[paedde]

Day 7 Skiing Ischgl / Samnaun

From powder all the way to spring skiing

At first we didn’t expect any good off piste. Grooming was good but the line at the base in Ischgl was by far too long for midweek and especially for the 41.50 Euros you have to pay for a day pass.

It’s about 20 years since I skied this resort the last time and a lot has changed. Most T-Bars become high speed quads, six packs and even 8 passenger chairs. Despite that it was very busy on the groomers. Off piste it was very quiet or we could almost say that we where the only one. Still some untracked powder to be found but the south facing stuff was affected by the sun big time. We even got some spring like off piste skiing.

After lunch time we spotted a nice long off piste run right from the top all the way down to Samnaun. We had to do it and it was great. Some steep powder turns followed by spring stuff..

Tomorrow is Australia Day and I travel with 3 Aussies. What will happen……..













Day 8 Skiing Obergurgl / Hochgurgl and Australia Day

Not so good but at least no lines

It takes 90min from where we stay (Schnaan near Pettnau). Not that it looked very different to November when I last skied this resort. They good some more snow but for sure again combined with heavy wind. Several areas are still not skiable like we did in 2004. We had to ski almost all day to finally find some powder in the trees along the T-Bar at Hochgurgl. This areas would be the place to ski on a snowy day on this side of the mountain. Some better tree skiing can be found at Obergurgl.

As it is Australia day we went to St. Anton to go for some heavy drinking. The “Funky Chicken” was a good start. Good food, Australian Music and even Australian Beer (VB). A good place to start the party. The “older” part of our party of 6 call it a day right after this and the “younger” part was in good mood to continue into the long night…

[jonski]

Please be sure to add the mischief of Aus day before day 9 - you know, who lost their thongs, who dropped the catches in the snow cricket, who won the hottest 100 comp!

[paedde]

Day 9 The long night and the day after

10am

I only know that 2 guys came home at 6am and one is still missing. He sent a text message that we don’t have to worry and that he will be back eventually.

4pm last one home too.

Hangover big time…. They don’t even intend to drink any alcohol for the days to come…. Detox begins…

[ArmadaBC]

So So sick, I always look forward to your Safari.

Can't wait to see whats next.

[paedde]

Day 10 Skiing St. Christoph, St. Anton and Rendl

Hard packed, icy, death cookies and even spring skiing

We had all of it. Off piste was generally poor skiing. With temperatures well above freezing you can’t except any better.

Not more to say about it. Just waiting for new snow.

[paedde]

Sorry way behind the real safari. We are already in Japan but I try to be up to day asap.

Day 11 Travel from Arlberg to Valais

Day 12 Skiing Saas Fee

Cloudy when we left our apartment and from there it didn’t improve at all. Foggy at times, a few minutes of “sunshine” followed by poor visibility.

After 30 years it was the 2nd time that I skied this resort. Coverage is very poor for the time of the year and after all the warm weather off piste skiing was not possible today. With the exception of one nice long run on Plattjen the resort if too flat for me. Some nice tree skiing if they have a decent base.

Not sure if I come back to ski it again.

No pics today.

Day 13 Skiing Zermatt

The view, the fresh and the powder turns

Well not that it was a powder day at all but at least we could find some turns in tracked and untracked powder. Most of the time we had to stay on the groomers but thanks to the few centimetres of fresh over night it was quite good.

Not much to write about this resort as I skied it a hundred times but for the other guys it was the first time and they seem to love it. The view is just incredible and the resort big enough to keep you busy for quite some time.

[paedde]

Day 15 Powderday at Lauchernalp

Awesome on top, variable mid and lower mountain

Once again it was a very difficult decision. Forecasts did vary from a few centimetres to 30cm and snow reports in Switzerland are so lame. After checking the 8am avalanche report I decided to ski Lauchernalp. I wasn’t sure if this was the right decision as it is not a very big resort and with no off piste skiing it would be boring after only an hour or two. On the way up we could see a lot of hard packed and icy snow underneath the chairs and I was almost sure that it’s going to be a disaster. The top Gondola ride made the difference. Boot to knee deep on the top 300m vertical. Light awesome powder with numerous face shots all day.

Once we went for an off piste run mid mountain but it was just not worth it. Icy and hard packed combined with some wind blown powder and this changed within the turns. Other then that we simply had a perfect powder day with almost no competition.

Tomorrow Verbier for the Aussies and no skiing for me. Need to take care about a few things before travelling to Japan on Tuesday.

[bdog]

Damn fine P. Hopin' to meet up with you when you hit this part of the planet. BTW, last week was off the hook! We'll see if we can order up more of the same when you get here.

[fattwins]

Great to finally put a face to the name!

[PeterK]

Day 15 Powderday at Lauchernalp

Must... go... there... now!

I could be confusing this place with something else. Is it mostly south-facing or are there other slope aspects as well? It certainly looks to be a lot of areal that is not very affected by the sun.