Ski Magazine Articles on The Alps

jamesdeluxe

jamesdeluxe

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I received an e-mail with links to a number of Ski Mag articles with American opinions and observations on the Alps (of course, our opinions and observations are more interesting and helpful but still, they're worth reading to see where you agree and disagree). You have to use your Google account to read them. Batter up!
 
jamesdeluxe said:
Confirming that they're free,
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Ski Mag - You receive a certain number of "free" articles per month. It's an Outside Interactive property with strict paywalls. Unfortunately, I am familiar with it, have 10 accounts, and clean cookies once per month.

Why do I do that? I think the offering is priced too high for fluff pieces.

Every business is trying to transition to Subscription (used to just be SaaS -> Everything-as-a-Service). I just feel a lot of 'services' are worth about zero.


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I like Trailforks. Great hiking maps for National and State Parks. Can track your hike via GPS when offline.

Warren Miller - Best days are behind it, but great catalog. It's humorous, nostalgic, and comforting.


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jamesdeluxe said:
What European Guides Wish Americans Knew
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I thought this article was more interesting than most.

Agreed with this sentiment:

As an American guide living in France, Erin uniquely understands the challenges Americans face when trying to make the most of the Alps: “The Alps are not intuitive if you grew up skiing in North America. The logistics alone—lift systems, valley connections, weather patterns, avalanche forecasting, route finding—can be overwhelming. Much of the best skiing is unmarked and uncontrolled, necessitating decisions that require experience.”

That brings Erin to her conclusion: “Hiring a guide removes that friction. A local guide understands how conditions vary from one aspect or valley to the next, how to move efficiently through big terrain, how to match objectives to a group’s actual skiing ability…Instead of spending your trip figuring out where to go or what’s safe, you get to ski the best possible terrain for that day, with confidence and flow.”



And I am somewhat of a nightmare with the below issue, but I generally suggest a few lines/itineraries/zones I am interested in (using some knowledge of what might be good), to show some interest. I consider it data input for the guide algorithm, so it knows what you like. (I think it's horrible when ski guiding, scuba diving or sailing - to have no preference of runs, dive sites or destinations/islands).

Of course, it’s always prudent to do one’s homework, but guides don’t necessarily want you to show up with a list of potential accomplishments. “The best clients don’t have an itinerary of dream lines or some kind of schedule,” says Joe, “They just trust that I’m going to take them to the good stuff.”

Erin stresses the necessity of experiencing the mountains on their own terms, while Benji is adamant that the Alps have far more on tap than big, steep lines. “I’ve had plenty of American clients finish a day saying “That was one of the best ski days of my life” — and it wasn’t even that steep.”
 
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Sbooker said:
Where would I buy my Lech beer glass? Or my wife her Lech coffee mug?
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No Kitschy stores, just some of the poshest ski stores that can put anything in Aspen/Vail or Gstaad/St. Moritz to shame. They look poor comparatively; I think there was a gilded old-school elevator inside Strolz.

I am sure any Austrian resort sells a mug; in Lech, it might be 2x.


Strolz Sport Lech

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That said, I really like Lech, and it has amazing skiing. By the end of a week in St. Anton, my brother and I were trying to get over to Zurs/Lech/Warth to ski (less powder competition), stay there for après-ski, and take the 6 PM bus back to St. Anton. (In particular, I thought the sidecountry around Zurs skiing almost 4-5k runs down to Lech or Stuben were the best).


Again, I am surprised Sbooker decided to ski a more limited, crowded St. Anton specifically for intermediate terrain, when Lech/Zurs are exactly the type of place he would like. (i.e. Targhee with big powdery rolling terrain vs. a technical Jackson Hole).

Some great huts/lunch spots with scenic locations

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www.skimag.com

I Timed a Storm in Austria—and Found the Perfect Powder Weekend

Deep powder, interconnected terrain, and classic Austrian charm are three reasons why Lech belongs on every skier’s itinerary.
www.skimag.com www.skimag.com
 
ChrisC said:
Again, I am surprised Sbooker decided to ski a more limited, crowded St. Anton
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Gaper move. It’s worth remembering I am not a life long skier. Aside from a few days when I was about 20 I took up skiing at 39. And I have no way of accessing skiing easily from Brisbane. I’m still a relative beginner on the ski journey.
 
ChrisC said:
Again, I am surprised Sbooker decided to ski a more limited, crowded St. Anton
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Gaper move. It’s worth remembering I am not a life long skier. Aside from a few days when I was about 20 I took up skiing at 39. And I have no way of accessing skiing easily from Brisbane. I’m still a relative beginner on the ski journey.
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I don't recall when this was, but if sbooker had inquired here, I would have strongly argued basing in Lech/Zurs, as I did on my first Arlberg trip in 2013 because I was with my terminal intermediate friend Richard. This was despite me having to get an abbreviated early breakfast twice in order to catch the bus to St. Anton for Piste-to-Powder guided days. When I returned with Liz 4 years later, I chose to repeat the excellent Winter Sports Week at the Sandhof, a promotion which sadly is no longer available.
 
Sbooker said:
Gaper move. It’s worth remembering I am not a life long skier. Aside from a few days when I was about 20 I took up skiing at 39. And I have no way of accessing skiing easily from Brisbane. I’m still a relative beginner on the ski journey.
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I thought you were going to spend a couple of days at the various Arlberg resorts, and you would have easily discovered the differences.

However, you based in Landeck and were using trains, which totally explains your choice of Austrian ski resorts (plus Ischgl/See).


S

Thread 'St Anton Austria - February 9, 2024.'

I was going to send this last night but I decided to sleep on it as my fresh memories may have clouded my judgement so this is a slightly edited report.

@Tony Crocker i acknowledge your previous advice to stay at Lech/Zurs. Sometimes I take your advice (for which I’m thankful) and sometimes I don’t. We wanted to check out multiple ski areas for research purposes for future trips so we picked the unglamorous but central and totally comfortable base of Landeck. The half board deal we’re on is probably one third of the price of the same deal at Lech. I get that my sensitivity with...
 
I forgot that we had dissected sbooker's day at St. Anton before. We were in the Alps at the same time and James had been with us a few days earlier.
 
ChrisC said:
thought you were going to spend a couple of days at the various Arlberg resorts, and you would have easily discovered the differences.

However, you based in Landeck and were using trains, which totally explains your choice of Austrian ski resorts (plus Ischgl/See).
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The train idea was suboptimal. I wish someone had advised me of that beforehand. :)
We will not go on a ski holiday without a car again. (With the possible exception of a week or multi week ski camp at a particular hill like I have done with Snoworks in the past). Like this one in La Grave -
https://www.snoworks.co.uk/tour/backcountry-la-grave-22-mar/ that I would love to do.
 
Sbooker has really stepped up his ski game if he's considering La Grave. I've aged out of that kind of skiing, which is why it was one of the first trips I made at age 55 a few years after divorce.
 
Tony Crocker said:
Sbooker has really stepped up his ski game if he's considering La Grave. I've aged out of that kind of skiing, which is why it was one of the first trips I made at age 55 a few years after divorce.
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Not really. Snoworks doesn't cater to true expert skiers. That course is 'level 5.5' and above. They have me as a 5.5. (By that metric the highest level should be 10 - not 7 :) ). I'm sure it would be nothing extreme and a very steady pace.
As it happens the timing doesn't work for me this coming winter. I'd have to do it by myself because my better half would be extremely limited being there for a week.
This one here might work. Kylie could travel with the group each day and cruise around on piste while I'm doing my thing.
www.snoworks.co.uk

All-Terrain Ski Safari Courses - Improve And Explore

Ski Safari courses enable you to explore different ski resorts whilst developing your skiing. On and off-piste. Intermediates to advanced.
www.snoworks.co.uk www.snoworks.co.uk
 
I'm fairly sure you and Kylie should be in different guided groups. The Bourg St. Maurice setup I suspect would accommodate you both just fine, as would Piste-to-Powder in St. Anton, where I was in second highest out of 4 groups.

La Grave is like Alaska; people are there to ski extreme and technical 40+ degree terrain. Alaska says they will take strong intermediates too, but that's not the demographic who signs up. If for example, Snowbird Upper Cirque/Great Scott or Mammoth WipeOut/Drop Out, chair 22 Avalanche Chutes are not in your comfort zone for continuous connected turns, you do not belong at La Grave. You will be the outlier vs. the other clients and it's not a comfortable group dynamic. There were six clients when I was there in 2008 and I was the second slowest though not an outlier. We have all heard ChrisC and EMSC warn that they do not want to be held up by slow skiers when they are paying the $$$ for guides.

Ask your guide after several days skiing off piste in the Arlberg or the Tarantaise if they think you should go to La Grave. They will know much more than I do, but I would view that type of experience as appropriate preparation for La Grave in any case.
 
Tony Crocker said:
La Grave is like Alaska; people are there to ski extreme and technical 40+ degree terrain. Alaska says they will take strong intermediates too, but that's not the demographic who signs up.
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This is no doubt the case but in my opinion Snoworks caters to a different demographic given their courses are a mix of guiding and instruction. They don't attract true experts. Their 'off piste' labelled courses are suitable for levels 4.5 to 6, their 'backcountry' labelled courses are suitable for levels 5 to 7 and the La Grave one is 5.5 to 7. I like to be pushed out of my comfort zone as long as I'm not holding a group back too much. I don't think that course would be a big problem as I expect they'd have two groups and I'd ask to be in the slowest one.
Regardless we won't find out this year.
 
Sbooker said:
This is no doubt the case but in my opinion Snoworks caters to a different demographic given their courses are a mix of guiding and instruction.
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Extremely Canadian at Whistler is also a mix of guiding and instruction, but their "World Tours" to Las Lenas and especially La Grave attracted the top end skiers. My advice stands: take a course in the Arlberg or Tarantaise, get on some terrain like I've described from Mammoth and Snowbird, and at the end ask your instructor about La Grave.
out of my comfort zone
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is what you don't want to be in DFU terrain. That's why you work your way up very gradually. I was fortunate to have Mammoth as a home mountain where it's easy to do that. There are still places at Mammoth where:
1) I have never skied if it involves launching cliffs.
2) Top of the World, skied once lifetime on the best powder day I've ever seen at Mammoth.
3) Philippe's, which I've skied maybe 5x lifetime but inspected far more often and turned down.
4) Hangman's and Huevos, which I historically turned down about half the time I inspected but at my age it's not likely I will ski them again unless it's unusually forgiving conditions.

If you come to Canada, I strongly recommend the Extremely Canadian clinic at Whistler, which is explicitly geared towards teaching aspiring skiers in steep terrain.
 
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Sbooker said:
Like this one in La Grave -
https://www.snoworks.co.uk/tour/backcountry-la-grave-22-mar/ that I would love to d
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Interesting.

The issue: terrain at La Grave quickly goes from expert to extreme & technical. It's a huge mountain, with 7,000 ft of vertical, but there isn't a ton of big expert bowls/faces with escape routes. One quickly gets forced into couloirs of various narrowness/lengths, trees, glaciers, hikes, etc. Other resorts include extreme terrain; La Grave basically is just extreme terrain.

However, reading the course description:
For this trip we have included our own minibus so that we can access even more varied routes and different resorts for maximum flexibility. ​
This 6-day course includes 5 days skiing La Grave with a UIAGM guide and a Snoworks instructor per group, and 1 day (the last day) skiing in a neighboring resort, with the Snoworks ski instructors.​

One simply cannot base a group only at La Grave for a week. You will have a van! And assume 50% of your time will be at other mountains (Alpe d'Huez, Les 2 Alpes, Serre Chevalier, possibly Montgenevre, etc)

I might have read somewhere: La Grave's main/only lift closes 2 out of 7 days in the winter due to wind, snow, or avalanche risk. (Likely similar to the Aiguille du Midi Cable Car). Seems likely.

My experiences:
2006 - La Grave (Booked 4 days). Result: La Grave - 2, Serre Chevalier - 1, Les Deux Alpes - 1
2025 - La Grave (Booked 3 days). Result: La Grave - 2, Serre Chevalier - 1

Both my visits were during high snowfall periods and excellent surface conditions (2006 snow bases were only 100-125 cm (just OK/passable); 2026 snow bases were 200-250 cm (high avalanche risk). But due to the lack of stable weather, I have probably skied only 50-60%+ of the Big Lines of La Grave.
 
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