Season 2016-17 Plans

[jamesdeluxe]

In general there are many more badly exposed areas in the Alps than in western North America. (...) I browsed the alpinforum TR. That area is situated for impressive scenic views in all directions. However, the skiing is mostly SE facing, so I'd say that March poster got very lucky.

Given the sheer number of ski areas in the Alps compared to North America, there’s no question that a larger percentage are going to be at least partially south-facing. I scheduled my early-March trip to the Val d'Anniviers/Val d'Herens -- which consists of terrain that is either east- or west-facing (rather than optimum north-facing) -- but still has an excellent reputation for late-season conditions.

Tony tends to take a much more studied approach to destination trips than me. While I try not to make obvious mistakes, at the same time I like to plan in the possibility for oddly-located, under-the-radar ski areas like Mythen (comparatively low elevation) and Kappl (100% south-facing) that he would reject purely out of principle.

Speaking of Kappl, given that Tony will be in the region in mid-January, I’d recommend a one-day detour there before its connection to the expanding Ski Arlberg/Rendl sector, which environmental groups are opposing. You can see the planned new lifts in this article.

[Tony Crocker]

I skied off-piste in that area south of Rendl where the Kappl extension is proposed with Piste-to-Powder in 2013.

One idea with the extra 2 weeks is flexibility to check out places we hear are good last minute. That 2013 trip was a bit unlucky. Even east and west facing at Lech/Zurs had some crust from a warm spell just before we arrived.

[jamesdeluxe]

Die Erteilung der Genehmigung ist aus Sicht des Naturschutzes, als auch aus naturschutzrechtlicher Sicht, schockierend. Die Region ist bereits in besonders starkem Maße von Skitourismus geprägt: zwischen Serfaus-Fiss-Ladies, See, Kappl, Ischgl und St. Anton verbleiben nur noch wenige Räume ohne starke Prägung menschlicher Aktivität. (...)

Der Anschluss des kleinen Skigebietes Kappl an einen großen Skizirkus lässt nun ein weiteres Familienskigebiet alleine dastehen: See im Paznauntal wird ohne Zweifel seine Bemühungen um einen Zusammenschluss mit Fiss-Serfaus-Ladis forcieren, um im Konkurrenzkampf mit Kappl-St. Anton und Ischgl bestehen zu können.

The two quotes above from the article are interesting because they show how different things are over there compared to North America, where we have comparably so much physical space (both in the East and West): a skier version of the "be careful what you wish for" (huge, interconnected ski areas) maxim.

The first points out that the approval of Kappl/Rendl connection is "shocking because the region is already influenced by ski tourism to such a significant degree -- between Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, See, Kappl, Ischgl, and St. Anton, there's not much space left that isn't strongly impacted by human activity."

The second quote criticises the connection of the smaller ski area Kappl to a big ski circus (Ski Arlberg) because it'll likely force the remaining standalone family area in the Paznaun Valley, See (100% north-facing), to link with the nearby interconnected region Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis (currently with 214 km of marked trails) to avoid being driven out of business due to its proximity to Ski Arlberg and Ischgl.

[BigSpencer]

Boyne/Sugarloaf season pass with hope of retaining as many outdoor winter skills as possible...

[Mark Wall]

Will go to Southeast Asia for 1 month in June to experoence some wild nature and travel by bike around, then Canada, family and skiing for Christmas, March hopefully will ski in Austrian Alps. That's the plan for 2017-2018.