The light was flat, but the snow quality was great. Great day of skiing.

now I'm a bit jealous, but I guess my legs would thank me anyways

There is time for them to recover during the week.

Engelberg for me today. Seemed to have completely forgotten how to ski.
Lower down snow was a bit sticky and slow, higher up was better but slightly too much (in terms of difficulty for me) to be starting out with.
Legs suffered way more than I remember them doing.

If they recover then I hope to get back out on Tue. Anyone got any suggestions?

was at Flumserberg yesterday (sunday) I'd love to see there tape measure, website said 65cm of snow, not sure where that was, on the slopes it certainly wasn't anywhere near that deep, also really hard and icy in places. Think I'll be waiting for some more drops

The Ski Club of Great Britain agrees with Eire on the ski resort info for Chamonix. "Not ideal for beginners or intermediates."

Sounds like a great start to the season!

I'm heading out next Saturday the 12th, not sure where but since it's my first time skiing in Switzerland I'm open to suggestions!

So if you are an advanced/intermediate looking to ski Saturday I would love the company!

Have car/can drive or take the train.

The weather yesterday was good at Passen in Davos. Thin cloud but still light. We were recommended to go there as we were told Jakobshorn (which I find a bit monotonous anyway) was quite windy.
However making out the contours / terrain wasn't that great Sunday and I was skiing without any goggles / glasses a couple of times.

Saturday was brighter and really fab conditions.

There weren't too many people in the resort so the piste was quite uncrowded. That was fortunate because only 5 or so main runs were open at Passen. Many pistes looked great but the ski lifts weren't running.
The resort isn't fully operational yet which was highlighted by the batches of new ski instructors being shown the ropes on the slopes. But we still managed two days' skiing.
Davos was so empty in fact that, after warning my friends how horrible the Ex Bar is, it was remarkably uncrowded than usual on Friday night. On Saturday night when we returned however, it was the overpacked hot schlargery place as per usual.

The Slovenian ski team were also practicing in Davos this weekend.

One tip if you're going to Davos in a group by train. When returning get on the train at the first stop Davos Platz even if you are staying in Davos Dorf / elsewhere. That way you have a better chance of sitting together.

That will depend on what the weather does this week.

@ Higgybaby... the light was crap in the area by Weissfluhjoch, but a little further down over near Parsennhutte and Gotschnagrat and beside the piste over there the light was much better and I could make out plenty of contrast.

Anyone keen or tempted for this coming weekend, then please can I share a skiing gem I stumbled upon last season in Engelberg.

http://www.titlis.ch/index.php?id=33...63&evYear=2009

The deal is 2 nights accom, lift pass, and all hire thrown in.
And if last year was anything to go by, more than a couple of drinks too

Crowning treat was that they have a ski-shop worth of kit that they ship up to Stand, so you can swap and borrow to your hearts content. You can even learn your carvers from your race-skis and your slalom skis from your off-piste skis to "impress" other EF'ers. Last season they had 2 instructors up there too and they would ski a couple of runs with you and throw out a few pointers.

As already covered on the thread Engelberg isn't the easiest place, but intermediate or advanced with a few spare shekels, then you might find this as good fun.

Certainly not a commercail plug, but I was able to make it last year and it proved to be an unexpected treat and an awesome start to the season. I shall be checking the weather forecast on Thursday and will be making a decision then in conjunction with surviving my christmas party.

Wishing you blue skies and soft powder
Cheers
Mike

As we live in Geneva we are perfectly placed for skiing in France or Switzerland. We did our own booking for a couple of weeks holiday with the children last year which were great, however it was a bit fraught with trying to get the ski schools booked for the kids, accomodation etc.

So down to the questions:

[1] Is there anything like the ski club I used to belong to in the UK where you could book everything in one go: https://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/default.aspx

[2] Also what about "Insurance" for sports accidents for example if one of us gets wiped out on a slope by another skier and needs to be airlifted to hospital for example. (yes the Swiss agents must be rolling around laughing at the moment). It can happen as I once got taken out by a Russian on a snowboard who had no lessons and was out of control. I was unconcious for five minutes and a bad headache for sometime.

If this has been discussed before please can someone give me the link, thanks.

If you are employed more then a certain percentage in Switzerland then you have automatic accident insurance which covers you for sporting injuries. You can take out an additional insurance with Rega (about 30CHF per year) which covers needing to be rescued or airlifted while in the mountains.

Hi Eire, thanks for the reply, REGA looks good for Switzerland but not so good if your accident happens in France. (Not sure but my interpretation from what I have read). Yes, I am employed and I pay so many insurances that it makes my head spin. Strangely I used to fly some casevac missions so I know they do not come cheap.

Free lift off the mountain is only in Switzerland - outside CH, rega won't get
you off the mountain; in this case, it's a case_monitoring/repatriation operation.

"Generally, the Rega physicians decide how and when a patient should be transported back to Switzerland. This decision is based on such criteria as poor medical care in the country concerned or a lengthy stay in a foreign hospital."

Update, I just phoned www.skiclub.co.uk (0845 45 807 80) and I can join even though I am no longer a UK resident. They use another company for holiday bookings (Ski Solutions) which you can get 5% discount for skiclub members. The ski insurance is also available to expats as well (if you think it is suitable here is a link to the pdf http://www.skiclubinsurance.co.uk/do...cover-0910.pdf). There is no extra cost for the magazines to be posted abroad to you either.

I have no affiliation with them except I used to be a member and booked some really great ski holidays through them.

I went to Brunni yesterday and it was a little dis-appointing, icy at the top and slushy and patchy in the middle and almost down to mud at the bottom. I'm going to Hoch ybrig this afternoon, as it looks pretty good for it, so if anyone spots a red jacket flailing behind a wee pink rocket... twill be me... in the red jacket

Rolo has a pink coat now?

Hey, so I am pretty up for skiing next Sat/Sun.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Weekend is coming :-)


BR,

karina

Hi everyone. I have suddenly realised how close christmas is and still have no idea what to get my Swiss boyfriend. One of the things he mentioned were new Snowboard gloves - help! I'm a skier and not really sure of the latest, best snowboard gear.. He has recently bought a new Burton Custom board, bindings and boots, and is pretty serious about having quality gear.

Any tips, advice appreciated. The nearest town in St Gallen..

Thanks all!

Does he usually wear wrist protection?