The PowderGuide is currently available on the iPhone and Blackberry and will soon be available on Windows Mobile, Palm as well as the Android platforms and can be accessed through the mobile devices respective app stores. The PowderGuide offers a myriad of content channels, giving users access to all the information they desire about their favorite ski resort and the surrounding community. The PowderGuide utilizes smart technology allowing for GPS based turn-by-turn directions, automatic dialing, access to webcams, ski patrol emergency notification, interactive maps and other coveted information.

“The application suits our demographic perfectly. We have always liked being at the forefront of technology and this keeps us top of mind with young users who live and die by their phones,” said John McColly, the Marketing Director for Southern California ski resort, Mountain High. “Integrating an app complements Mountain High’s efforts to further expand our use of social media to get skiers and riders talking about the resort.”

PowderNation is based in Southern California and was formed by two college friends with a passion for traveling and the outdoors. The integration of society and technology is apparent to PowderNation’s founders who have made it their goal to provide unmatched ease and convenience for other outdoor enthusiasts, through the use of mobile phone applications.

Please, tell me more about PowderGuide..

The PowderGuide is an interactive ski resort guide available on the iPhone, Blackberry and other smartphones. The PowderGuide is designed for skiers and riders to quickly and easily access all the information they desire about their favorite mountain resort and community, 24 hours a day, at the top of a run - or at the office sitting in their desk chair.

The PowderGuide application provides current mountain information - conditions, trails, and tickets. The application also allows visitors to plan and enjoy their vacation with easy access to information on lodging, restaurants, attractions, transportation, equipment rentals, shopping, and more. During the summer, The PowderGuide’s content adapts to promote summer resort activities.

The PowderGuide brings attention to mountain services and provides convenience to the skier. The PowderGuide opens a new channel to directly communicate to visitors, and quickly and conveniently promotes the resort’s services and amenities. The PowderGuide can easily notify users about lift packages, midweek specials, and powder dumps.

The PowderGuide utilizes the features and capabilities that make iPhones and Blackberry’s revolutionary. Skiers and riders will benefit from GPS guided directions, automatic dialing, interactive maps, webcams, videos, reviews, and more. The PowderGuide connects with skiers and riders to deepen the connection to their favorite sports and activities.

The PowderGuide is a green and cost effective marketing tool. The PowderGuide delivers a myriad of content channels to entertain and inform visitors, with no printing or distribution costs. Smart phones are rapidly becoming the primary method of personal communication, allowing users the traditional functions of a phone with the advanced features and convenience of a hand sized computer. PowderNation leads the winter sports industry into this new era by seamlessly delivering the mountain and everything around it to user’s finger tips.

Features.. tell me ALL the features of PowderGuide

So, here they are. Not too shabby..

1. Compatible on: iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, & Android.
2. Family/Buddy Tracker: See your family and friends location on a live map*.
3. Ski Patrol Alert: In cases of emergency, automatically sends GPS coordinates to ski patrol.
4. Facebook Connect Log-In: Users of the PowderGuide can log in with their facebook username and password. Enable users to share their mountain experience with their friends on facebook*.
5. Live Condition Reporting: PowderNation pulls data directly from local and nationwide databases, ensuring the most accurate information.
6. GPS Navigation: For door to door directions.
7. Trail map: Displays the mountain map.
8. Interactive Trail Map: Use GPS to show skiers and boarders exactly where they are*.
9. Snow report: Displays daily snow report & conditions.
10. Grooming Report: Displays daily grooming information.
11. Lift Status: Updated list showing which chair lifts are open, and the current wait at each lift.
12. Skier Stats: Track skiers’ runs throughout the day to provide statistics on which runs were skied, how many total miles skied, total vertical skied, and speed*.
13. About: An introduction of the mountain, mountain profile and statistics, useful phone numbers and addresses.
14. Weather: Current weather and forecast.
15. Tickets: Displays lift ticket prices and purchase.
16. Transportation: Useful information on how to get to the mountain - flight info, road advisory, maps, directions, car repair, roadside assistance.
17. Ski School: Displays ski school information and prices.
18. Rentals: Display equipment rental information.
19. Repairs: Equipment repair information.
20. Dining: Information about the restaurants located on and around the mountain.
21. Lodging: Information on hotels, condos, and chalets.
22. Shopping: Local stores carrying outdoor gear, clothing, groceries, hardware, etc.
23. Event Calendar: Listing of special events.
24. Deals & Packages: Special deals providing discounts on lifts, lodging, transportation, or rentals.
25. Environment: Promote your mountain’s commitment to environmental responsibility and tips for visitors to reduce impact.
26. Family Activities: Family oriented activities – daycare, sledding, dog sleds, sightseeing.
27. Web Cams: Display live webcams.
28. Videos: Play featured videos.
29. Photo Gallery: Share photos.
30. Twitter Integration: PowderGuide users can upload photos and tweets of their experience at your mountain.

*In Forthcoming Versions

Who are these Powder Nation guys, anyway?

PowderNation’s goal is to provide winter enthusiasts information on local mountain conditions and area entertainment in order to make their trip more enjoyable. With all the information anyone would ever want to know at just a touch of their fingertips, 24 hours a day, people can easily plan their next move.

PowderNation offers mountain resorts the solutions to carry them into the next generation of mobile media and communication. PowderNation’s products provide the connection between mountain and guest, and enable mountains to better identify visitors needs.

PowderNation has most recently been featured by Transworld Snowboarding, Snowboarder Magazine and the National Ski Area Association Journal, PowderNation is based in Southern California and was formed by two college friends with a passion for traveling and the outdoors. The integration of society and technology was apparent to PowderNation’s founders who wanted to use technology as a tool for making a vacation more of what it is supposed to be, effortless and fun.

For more check PowderNation website.

Boasting more than 6000 ski runs over 25,000 hectares, France is home to the largest ski areas in the world. The high altitude resorts enjoy excellent snow conditions, some of them even offer a “snow guarantee”. A number of ski areas are open from late November until early May.

The French Tourism Ministry has awarded the “Famille Plus Montagne” label to ski resorts that make an extra special effort to welcome families with children, in terms of services and infrastructure, activities and entertainments, child care and much more.  All the following seven family ski resorts have been awarded the Famille Plus Montagne label.

This article is not an in-depth review such as Krippenstein ski resort review, but a general introduction to the seven best family ski resorts in France. And yeah, this is only our opinion. If you disagree or think differently, please tell us your opinion by leaving a comment.

Family Ski Resort #1 - La Clusaz

La Clusaz has developed over the years, whilst still retaining the charm of an authentic mountain village. Respectful of its traditions, yet forward thinking, La Clusaz has built a reputation for itself that is very different to that of the other French ski resorts. Home to eight world champions and talented freestylers, with its fabulous 400 hectare ski area, a large variety of runs and vertical drops, La Clusaz is undoubtedly the ski resort of all snow sports.

La Clusaz is just 4 hours from Paris by TGV high speed train and 1 hour from Geneva. La Clusaz is an active ski resort with their around 200 free snow sport, sporting and cultural events and activities throughout the winter. As a new thing La Clusaz is going to introduce bowling on ice this season. Set at the heart of La Clusaz, the ice rink covers more than 1000 m2 of ice.

La Clusaz information

Access from airport (Annecy-Meythet): 36 km

Access from railway station (Annecy): 32 km

Heights: 1100 m - 2600 m

Number of ski lifts: 56

Number of slopes: 84 (132 km): 7 black, 24 red, 29 blue, 24 green

Cross country skiing: 84 km

Ski passes: 30 euros / day, 158 euros / 6 days

Linked ski area: Les Aravis (220 km of slopes)

Web: www.laclusaz.com

Family Ski Resort #2 - La Rosière

In the heart of the Haute-Tarentaise, at 1850 meters above the sea level, on a “balcony” facing to South, La Rosière is a friendly family ski resort built respecting mountain architectural traditions. Linked with La Thuile in Italy, it is the only Savoyard ski resort to offer an international ski area of 150 km pisted runs. With the label “Famille Plus Montagne” La Rosière offers a large choice of after ski activities and entertaining nights to spend with family.

La Rosière has several themed weeks, such as Christmas, local produce, air, retro, well-being, the mountains and children. There are also many new snow sports activities in La Rosière, such as snowkites, speed riding, snowpark, boarder cross and snow cross.

La Rosiere information

Access from airport (Lyon St Exupéry): 210 km

Access from railway station (Aime): 23 km

Heights: 1860 m - 2650 m

Number of ski lifts: 37

Number of slopes: 73 (150 km): 12 black, 32 red, 23 blue, 6 green

Ski passes: 36,6 euros / day, 171,9 euros / 6 days

Web: www.larosiere.net

Family Ski Resort #3 - Les Arcs

Les Arcs is a family ski resorts with amazing mountains and plenty of character. Generous with superb panoramic views and bags of sunshine, overwhelming and audacious with all the different styles of skiing on offer and adventures in which to indulge day after day. Les Arcs is “magical” for children by offering a huge range of activities from which to choose. Les Arcs / Bourg Saint Maurice is probably in its best during holidays such as Christmas.

As a new thing Les Arcs offers 50% discount on ski passes on Saturdays for those who have downloaded and printed a discount voucher form Les Arcs website. The resort of Les Arcs has built the largest high altitude reservoir in France (400 000 m3) to supply the artificial snow network across the whole ski area.

Les Arcs information

Access from airport (Geneva): 150 km

Access from railway station (Bourg St Maurice): 15 km

Heights: 1200 m - 3226 m

Number of ski lifts: 54

Number of slopes: 106: 19 black, 32 red, 54 blue, 1 green

Ski passes: 43,5 euros / day, 209 euros / 6 days

Linked ski area: Paradiski (425 km of slopes)

Web: www.lesarcs.com

Family Ski Resort #4 - Les 2 Alpes

This famous Isère destination at the heart of the Oisans, is part of a generation of resorts that were created from scratch. At an altitude of 1600 meters, it was built over high mountain pastures, shared between the villages of Venosc and Mont de Lans.

A dream was to become a reality here during the 1930s. The development of the plateau, originally carried out by private individuals, with the aim of creating a large winter sports resort, was achieved in 1946. 62 years later, the resort of les 2 Alpes has become a high altitude town continually developing, improving and changing for the better.

Les 2 Alpes includes a glacier at 3600 meters of altitude, which means natural snow is guaranteed. There is a kind of boom of freeskiing going on in les 2 Alpes, or at least the linked resort La Grave is known as a playground of hard core freeskiers. Les 2 Alpes is introducing a new teaching concept for ski school this season. The Ski-Voice is a radio system that enables instructors to communicate directly with their pupils (up to six people at once).

Les 2 Alpes  information

Access from airport (Lyon St Exupéry): 160 km

Access from railway station (Grenoble): 70 km

Heights: 1300 m - 3600 m

Number of ski lifts: 51

Number of slopes: 104 (225 km): 14 black, 18 red, 45 blue, 25 green

Ski passes: 38,7 euros / day, 189 euros / 6 days

Cross country skiing: 20 km

Linked ski area: La Grave (220 km of slopes)

Web: www.les2alpes.com

Family Ski Resort #5 - Les Menuires

Located at an altitude of 1850 meters, at the heart of the largest ski area in the world, the 3 Valleys, the Savoyard resort of Les Menuires enjoys an exceptional setting. Its varied ski area offers both gentle and wide open slopes that are perfect for beginners, as well as more technical slopes for advanced skiers.With unforgettable descents, fast and comfortable access to the slopes thanks to an ultra-modern network of ski lifts, Les Menuires offers pretty good skiing in good safety.

Les Menuires is a family ski resort with activities to suit everyone. There is a sports center with well-being areas and aqua club, ice rink, snow scooters, paragliding, ringo tubes, walks and snowshoe outings. It is also good to notice that Les Menuires is the most competitively priced ski resort in the 3 Valleys area. Les Menuires also offers a chance to book early for less, so hurry up..

Les Menuires is introducing a totally new 6-seated detachable chair lift, the Sunny Express, replacing three older chair lifts and a drag lift in the Reberty - Les Bruyères sector. The length of this new ski lift is 2.6 km and it climbs 700 vertical meters.

Les Menuires information

Access from airport (Lyon At Exupéry): 183 km

Access from railway station (Moûtiers): 27 km

Heights: 1850 m - 2850 m

Number of ski lifts: 37

Number of slopes: 61 (160 km): 7 black, 25 red, 25 blue, 4 green

Ski passes: 36,5 euros / day, 177 euros / 6 days

Linked ski area: Les 3 Vallees (600 km of slopes)

Web: www.lesmenuires.com

Family Ski Resort #6 - Serre Chevalier

Serre Chevalier is home to one of the largest ski areas in France, le Grand Serre Che. The area includes 250 km of runs from an altitude of 1200 to 2800 meters for beginners and experts alike. Set between the Lautaret mountain pass and Briancon, Serre Chevalier is a south-facing valley dotted with hamlets and villages ranging from the traditional to the ultra modern.

Serre Chevalier is host to a wide range of activities for the whole family, including sports, relaxation and culture. Located at the foot of the most beautiful summits in the Ecrins National Park, Serre Chevalier is bathed in light. The air and water are pure, the sky is blue and the sun shines for more than 300 days a year. What could be better?

Serre Chevalier information

Access from airport (Grenoble St Geoirs): 120 km

Access from railway station (Briancon): 6 km

Heights: 1200 m - 2800 m

Number of ski lifts: 65

Number of slopes: 108 (250 km): 14 black, 39 red, 31 blue, 24 green

Ski passes: 40,5 euros / day, 194,5 euros / 6 days

Web: www.serre-chevalier.com

Family Ski Resort #7 - Val Thorens

Val Thorens is an interesting family ski resort. It guarantees an excellent quality snow cover all winter long. With five pistes’ summits higher than 3000 meters, and 99% of the ski area higher than 2000 meters, the snow in Val Thorens is guaranteed for up to May.In fact, Val Thorens is the highest ski resort in Europe, set an altitude of 2300 meters.

The ski lifts in Val Thorens are one of the most efficient in the world. And what’s best, whatever the accommodation, you don’t have to walk more than 100 meters to access or come back from the slopes. Val Thorens is part of Les 3 Vallée, the largest ski area in the world (600 km of runs that connect the resorts of Courchevel, la Tania, Méribel, St-Martin, les Menuires and Val Thorens).

This year Val Thorens is putting efforts on providing something new to beginners as they have invested more than 1.5 million euros to create a new 40 hectare, easy skiing are that is totally free of charge for beginners. The area is equipped with four new moving walkways, 2 of which are covered and high speed (fastest in France). Easy to use, they will improve access to all areas at the foot of the slopes.

Val Thorens information

Access from airport (Lyon St Exupéry): 193 km

Access from railway station (Moutiers): 37 km

Heights: 1800 m - 3230 m

Number of ski lifts: 28

Number of slopes: 69 (140 km): 8 black, 27 red, 26 blue, 8 green

Ski passes: 37,5 euros / day, 175 euros / 6 days

Web: www.valthorens.com

Armada JJ has tip and tail rocker but normal camber and sidecut on the middle of the ski

I wrote an overview of the rockered skis in the beginning of the season 07/08. The one pair of skis that immediately caught my attention back then was the Armada JJ. I believed in the concept of negative camber and even sidecut from the beginning but somehow couldn’t see me skiing the variable Euro conditions on a so called reverse-reverse ski like Praxis Powders regularly (or the original Volant Spatula designed by late Shane McConkey himself). This is especially case nowadays when I can’t have the luxury of longer ski trips – the reality is that when you’re on a week or two long trip the weather can be anything. And I don’t like to drag multiple pairs of skis to the shorter holidays anyway.

This review is about the Armada JJ model 2008-2009 but the ski is essentially the same for the coming 2009-2010 season. I guess Armada pretty much nailed it the first time with this ski. The ski has an interesting five dimension sidecut: 126-136-115-133-121 mm, “the ski within a ski” design as Armada calls it. The rocker profile has similar tricks with Armada’s clever “Elf shoe” technology – the idea is that you have some conventional sidecut and camber under your feet but the tips and tails of the ski are rockered and also heavily tapered, meaning the widest part of the ski tip has been moved significantly further back on the ski than on your normal piste carvers (and the same goes for the tail of the ski also).

Skiing the Armada JJ – Tree skiing made even more fun than before

The one thing that comes to mind first when thinking about the JJ is versatility - and this meaning versatility especially in different kind of off-piste conditions. The skis do surprisingly fine on the hard pack and prepared slopes but in my opinion the shape comes alive when you enter natural snow conditions and variable forms of features to play with. The thing with rocker ski is its ability to “slash and slide” and do it also very quickly when needed – and where you need this kind of character is the natural terrain: trees, chutes, so called tricky snow etc. The ski also lets you to get much more playful on the features – rollers, natural half pipes, bumps and so on…

I couldn’t get the opportunity to ski the JJs on real, deep powder but can say they do very well from “dust on crust“ to very heavy spring snow. I had the luck to ski perfect spring corn snow in some relatively tight glades and I guess the ski was in its element right there. Almost any ski is good on that kind of snow but JJs boosted my confidence in the terms of knowing that I can slap the skis sideways in a microsecond when needed and the edge just wouldn’t catch but make a controlled, smooth drift. This is a lot of fun in tight trees; you end up testing how fast you can go without scaring yourself death!

Rocker ski like Armada JJ helps the skier in difficult conditions

I also skied few runs on a very heavy, “rotten” spring snow. My snowboarder friend was having trouble with his quite long and traditionally cambered, stiff freeride board, whereas I could make some remotely decent turns. The feeling was very funny, I ended up skiing like in a slow motion film because the snow was so sticky – not the most pleasant feeling but in this kind of snow I’ve always been scared for my knees before, now I felt to be in control instead. I guess the so called reverse-reverse ski would be even better for this kind of snow though. (The real question is why not rather instead go have a beer and maybe do a few steezy old school daffies in the park , heh).

Some people have complained that for the real tough big mountain skiing the JJs have too much sidecut and have maybe a tad too soft tips and tails. This might be true for real straight-lining, big hucking guys (or girls) but I guess for others it is all about the personal preference. For my use, the long turns were just fine. The sidecut is only present in the so short section of the ski middle that you won’t have the ski feeling too turny or “hooky” in any sense, and the rocker eliminates this completely anyway.

This type of ski, like the Atomic Bent Chetler I tested last season, has mad pop too. The combination of rockered tails and relatively stiff, cambered middle makes you feel like if you had some kind of springs on your feet. Some people have not liked this feature but for an old mogul skier like me this is pure joy. The skis even work pretty well on soft park hits, even though this is not a light set-up (especially with the Marker Dukes I have on them). The so called swing-weight is still relatively low because of the heavily tapered shape (backcountry freestylers take note!).

The negative?

The Armada JJ is clearly a soft snow ski despite its versatility. Once the soft snow melts and starts to re-freeze to uneven crud the tips and tails of the ski start to slap wildly at higher speeds. When (or if) you stay on the middle and be sharp this probably won’t totally drag you but here you will discover the negatives of the short effective edge and feel like if you were on a very short ski, after all. The 195cm or even the manly 200cm version wouldn’t be overkill for bigger skiers and/or for real big mountain use. Rossignol already has the 195cm “Super S7”, so I guess Armada should also step up here?

Hard moguls are not JJ’s strong point either – this can’t be a surprise to anyone. Anyhow, soft and loose, uneven moguls are pretty fun. This is where you can choose any possible turn type and use all kind of combination between pure carve and a total sideways slide. Again, one could state that it beats the office hours at least…

I didn’t ski any real bad breakable crud on these skis. This is probably where the real challenge comes, if the JJs can handle this stuff then the concept is a winner in my mind. I’ll report once I “get” to ski this kind of snow next time (And by the way, please let me know if you’ve already tried it!).

The Summary – Armada JJ is a great ski for a playful skier that seeks for powder but has to encounter all kinds of conditions

A ski that is rockered both at the tails and tips is actually pretty demanding when it comes to fore/aft stability of the skier. If you know what you’re doing and keep your weight centered, the ski will serve you and you will be rewarded with an ability to control your skis that might not have been familiar to you earlier. Anyway, the rocker (especially in the tail) can lead the skier to trouble too. I’ve found that old school “jetting” (moving your weight towards the back of the ski in the end of the turn) is pretty much a no-no. All kinds of lazy back seat turns will be a quest for trouble also. “Vtdownhiller” from TGR forums put this neatly when reviewing some other rocker skis, calling this feature “autobackseat”:

The key to first time reverse/reverse skiing is to ski them weight forward, aggressive stance and keep pressure in on the front of your boot, the fatter width under foot the more “smearing” you have to do….the tips won’t dive, so you have to stay forward to keep from getting the backseat because the skis want to jet out ahead of you…the Moments are a little easier to get to used to because of the flat spot under the foot, continuous rockers allow a more pivot style of skiing…

The JJs won’t do this in an exaggerated manner but on the contrary to first intuition they are quite demanding skis after all. This meaning they will be easy to ski and help anyone to ski difficult conditions but if you really want to get the benefits of the design you will have to know how to ski properly too. And I guess that to an extent this holds true for all rockered skis.

Virne is not a high budget movie and it does not feature any big Alaska mountain faces filmed from helicopters like some TGR’s movies and its not an in depth documentary like the “Steep”. Virne is rather an action packed flick filled with fun lines and no nonsense, just a bunch of guys skiing great snow and having fun doing it. An entertaining ski movie and you can’t go wrong with free. Just sit back and click “play” below to watch it. For another free ski movie check out the “TEN”.

More and more skiers, especially freeriders from all over the world are coming to the Salzkammergut to ski Krippenstein. They don’t really come for the view, which still is spectacular with Dachstein to the south and Hallstätter See to the north. But there is something special about this place, and that is the snow. The snow is not better than in other ski-resorts in the Alps and there probably isn’t an above of average number of days with snowfall. But when it snows, oh my. Expect to be doing a lot of this to even get out to ski:

If a snowstorm comes through from the right direction (which is northwest to north, by the way) just “it is snowing” is no adequate word for the event of incredible amounts of white stuff getting dumped in the area north of Dachstein. And in the middle of this area lies Krippenstein. I have never experienced snowfall as strong as in Krippenstein anywhere else in the Alps and I have been to places which are famous for their strong snowfalls like Arlberg, Engelberg, Nordpark or Andermatt during heavy storms. It just makes you smile even if you are not skiing or snowboarding. Combine that with some nice terrain, lack of crowds and you have a pretty good resort for powder-skiing.

Krippenstein Resort Review: General Info

Krippenstein is different to many other resorts in many respects. One reason is that the infrastructure is not designed for skiing, but for the use during summer and for the Austrian military, which has a base just a bit south-west of the ski-resort.

There is just one important lift, “Dachstein-Krippensteinbahn”. It is a tram with three sections. The first two sections were renewed in 2007 and have pretty modern, comfortable, fast and quite big gondolas. Even on busy days you won’t have to queue for long. If it is very crowded you may not make it into the first gondola which leaves after you enter the station but you’ll always make it to the next one.

The first section takes you from the valley-station at 609m above sea level to the middle station, which is called “Schönbergalm”, at 1350m. There’s a lot of infrastructure here but all the buildings are closed during winter. The second section takes you from there to the top station, which is located pretty close to the summit of Krippenstein at 2100m. The station itself is big and has been a hotel once, but it has been closed for a long time. If you step outside of the station, you can not miss the “Lodge” which is restaurant, hotel and information centre. It is a nice place to have lunch, or a coffee on the terrace with a great view towards the Dachstein or a beer after your ski-day before you make one last decent to the valley. They also serve, hands-down, the best Topfenstrudel (traditional Austrian quark strudel) I’ve ever had. The third section goes down from the top station, towards the Gjaidalm , it has no real use for skiing, but it is a nice old gondola and there are some nice views from it. The Gjaidalm is a private hut, but run in a way that resembles an alpine club hut. It is big, and can get crowded in spring since it is close to the popular skitours towards the Dachstein.

If you ski down on the piste, you will suddenly enter a little village, which is called Krippenbrunn . It consists of a few houses which are all available as accommodation for tourists, and one restaurant and a bar. Krippenbrunn is a popular place to stay at during the season so the restaurant can get pretty crowded at lunch break and in the evening but they offer acceptable and cheap food and drinks.

Tired of dropping cliffs? Try roofs in Krippenbrunn.

There is a special military gondola, which comes from Obertraun and goes through Krippenbrunn to the military barracks behind the Gjaidalm. This gondola is not included in the ski pass and it can not be used as for skiing. You can get single rides on it in the spring and start touring towards Dachstein from the top though.
There is one chairlift at the resort, at the top, which is pretty short and two beginner t-bars, one at the top of the resort, close to the chairlift and one, which chronically lacks snow, down in the valley.

Piste skiing at Krippenstein

As stated above, there is only one real piste. It is a long one, 11km in total. It starts at the top station and goes east for a while, than it turns north and continues through Krippenbrunn towards the valley. It is a nice run, manageable for beginners, but long and demanding enough for more experienced skiers. The snow is usually quite good because it is pretty north-facing and well-groomed. There is another short run from the top station towards the chairlift, which is not really worth mentioning. But you do not come to the Krippenstein to ski on-piste all the time…

Krippenstein Resort Review: The off-piste

There are three really nice and long more or less official off-piste-runs, which are marked with sticks, some shorter variants of them, and countless hidden descents, which are hard to find. Because all of them are north-facing, the snow stays nice and soft for quite some time, especially in the higher parts.

But some words on the special dangers at the Krippenstein at first. The rock in the whole area is limestone, which is heavily karstified due to millennia of chemical weathering. This means that the whole mountain is full of holes and dolines like a piece of Swiss cheese. Some of them are big caves, which attract a lot of tourists in the summer, the dangerous ones are smaller, just a few meters wide. They can be really deep (40m and more) and are basically like crevasses on a glacier in winter, except that because they contain warm air don’t really get covered with snow that well. Falling into one of those holes could be fatal, so you should be very careful if you leave the marked runs. Hire a guide if you are not sure where you can ski safely. Getting lost is also easy if you leave the marked runs.. and that would be very bad because there are huge cliffbands in the area, and slopes which look really good from above may not lead down to the valley. Only a few people ski off-piste, especially on storm days, so there may be no-one to help you if things turn bad. Because of that you should never ski alone and always carry avalanche safety equipment and know how to use it.

Off-piste runs at Krippenstein

The three main off-piste runs, which are marked, but not controlled and not checked for safety, are Angeralm, Schönbergalm and Imisl/Eisgrube (I call the upper part Imisl and the lower part Eisgrube, some people call it upper and lower Imisl).

The combination of Imisl and Eisgrube is the easiest of the three. From the top station, you follow the piste until it crosses the cables of the third gondola section. There is a sign somewhere which shows the exact starting point. The first part is more or less flat and can be bad for snowboarders if there is a lot of fresh snow. There are some sections which are a bit steeper until you reach the start of the Eisgrube, which is a bit east or skier’s right from Krippenbrunn. You can exit here to Krippenbrunn and the piste, and you can also access the Eisgrube from Krippenbrunn if you follow the piste for a few meters until it turns right, and then left pretty soon. Just head straight ahead, instead of following the bend to the left. There is also a sign.

Eisgrube is steeper than Imisl and because it gets skied a lot it turns into a mogul run more or less during the season. It is still great to ski if there is fresh snow (or if you like mogul-skiing), and it is big enough that you will find some untracked parts even some days after a snowfall. You end up pretty low on the piste, from where you have to continue down to the gondola.

Angeralm is a difficult run, especially at the beginning and at the exit. It starts at the top station, just turn left after you leave the building. You can see the upper part of the run from the second gondola section. Its steep at first with some pretty narrow areas, then it opens up in a wide and open slope with scattered trees.

There is the marked run to the left, and an unmarked one further right which requires a traverse to get there and another to get back again. If you ski down, you will notice orange “EXIT”-signs on trees at some point, which all point skiers left. You have to follow them to get to the exit. Do not ski past them. The exit is pretty bad, especially if there is not much snow or if it has been a long time since the last snowfall. It is steep, there are lots of trees and rocks, there is not much snow and it gets skied out pretty bad. If you are not a good skier or snowboarder, you will be in trouble here, at least the first few times. But it is short, and can be sidestepped if the conditions are really bad. After the exit, you come to the lowest part of Eisgrube, from where you get back to the piste and the gondola.

Schönbergalm is an intermediate run skiing wise, but it is really wide and has a lot of variations, which makes it easy to get lost there, especially if it is foggy and you leave or lose the marked run. You reach it with a traverse and a hike of about 15 minutes from the top station.

First, you ski down towards the beginner t-bar, which you cross at the upper end. From there you continue east. In general, there is a cat-track, but it takes some days after a big storm before they groom it properley. If there is no track, you should only go there if you know the way, because there are no marks until you reach the little hut which marks the start of the descent. Again, it is easy to get lost on the traverse in the fog, and there are dolines all over the area, so be careful. The hut at the start of the Schönbergalm run is open, so you can have a break in it if it’s really cold and windy and you feel like it. From the hut you ski more or less directly to the middle station, from where you can get the gondola to the top again. There is a bigger cave a little bit skiers left of the marked run which you can easily visit on your way down. You can see it from the gondola, which makes it easy to find. It may not be really big but it gives a taste of what can be seen at the Krippenstein in summer when the big caves are open for the public.

As stated above, there are lots of runs which are not marked, like Himmeleck, Minigolf, Little Face, Gelber Stein, Gamsjäger nein danke (which is my favourite at least in its name), Krippenbrunn direkt and a lot more. Some shorter stuff from Imisl towards the piste can be seen from the third gondola section, but in general most of the runs are hard to find and not always in good condition. I would recommend hiring a guide if you want to see more of the terrain that Krippenstein has to offer.

Avalanche danger could be considered low in general on the marked descents since they get skied regularly after each snowfall and the runs aren’t very big or steep. They’re also mostly protected from strong winds. But you can never say that anything is safe, so make your own conclusions, or get a guide. Here are just a few things I’d like to point out:

• Be careful at the Start of the Angeralm and Schönbergalm routes right after a storm, there is always windblown snow and the terrain is fairly steep.
• Stick straight to the markings at the beginning of the descent of the Schönbergalm. There are dolines and holes all over, especially to the left.
• Do not ski close to the cliff-faces skiers left in Angeralm and skiers right in Imisl/Eisgrube (especially at the start of Eisgrube), even if it looks pretty good and there are tracks. There are avalanches coming down from the top of the Krippenstein regularly, especially after or during storms, and when temperatures rise.
• Do not ski Schönbergalm late in the afternoon. If you miss the last gondola, you are in trouble, because you can not get down to the valley from the middle station on skis.
• Do not follow tracks which go straight instead of following the EXIT-signs at the end of the Angeralm. There is one possibility to get down there safe (except the normal exit) and it involves a 3m drop. And there is always just enough snow for one or two skiers. You will not find it if there are no tracks, and if there are tracks it is already skied and you have to downclimb it, or to go back up to the normal exit. Both of those options suck, believe me.

Here are the links to the local avalanche-bulletins (you may take a look at those from Salzburger Land and Styria too, because Krippenstein is located very close to the border):
Upper Austria
Styria
Salzburger Land

Ski-touring near Krippenstein

A lot of people ski-tours in the area, especially from Krippenstein towards Dachstein. As nice as the tours may be landscape-wise, most of the classic ones do not offer great descents. There are some nice ones, for example down to Hallstatt if there is enough snow, but the plateau between the Dachstein and the Krippenstein is pretty flat, and you skin from the Gjaidalm to the Dachstein ski-resort on a cat-track most of the time. In spring, lots of people take the gondola up to the Krippenstein, skin from there to the Dachstein (you can not reach the summit with skis), ski back to the Gjaidalm on the cat-track and continue from there on the piste to Obertraun.

Krippenstein accomodation/après-ski

You can stay in Obertraun or in Hallstatt, but I would recommend staying at the mountain, at the Lodge, the Gjaidalm or in Krippenbrunn. Unlike at other resorts, it is not really expensive (especially in Krippenbrunn) and you will not have to drive to the mountain in the morning. There are ski-buses, but you can not reach the first gondola with them. There is also a kind of a hostel in between Obertraun and the ski-resort.
There is no real après-ski at the Krippenstein. You will meet lots of people in the Lodge, after the last ride up with the gondola and sometimes there are nice spontaneous parties in the Bar in Krippenbrunn. Obertraun is a small village with less than 1000 inhabitants, but if you really want to party you can try the Haifischbar…

Best times to visit

The season starts in mid December and ends at some point in April. I would say that in general, February is the best time to ski the Krippenstein. Since the terrain in the upper parts of the mountain is quite rough and rocky it requires a lot of snow to be really skiable; I would say at least 2m base is needed at the top station. This amount can be reached in January, but not always. In a normal season, there are between 3 and 5 meters of snow at the top station by the beginning of March. Later in the season, it can get pretty warm at the lowest parts of the resort, but still be chilly enough at the top. I had one of my best skiing days in Krippenstein at the end of March, even when I had to carry my skis back to the gondola through pouring rain for about 15 minutes after each run. The higher elevation bit was still really great and you can always avoid going down into the valley by skiing Schönbergalm.

How to get there

You can get to the Krippenstein by car or by train. Do not forget to check the road-conditions if you choose the car! The nearest bigger airport is Salzburg and some cheap flights exist. From Salzburg you have to drive over the Pass Gschütt which can be difficult in heavy snowfall! If it really snows a lot, which it does sometimes in the area, the road from Hallstatt to Obertraun will be closed because of avalanche danger. Very rarely the train connection gets cut off also.

Stuff to do without skis

Hallstatt is definitely worth a visit. It is a really nice village with a long and rich history and culture, lots of nice old houses, some parts of them are build on wooden piles into the lake.

Hallstat during snowfall

The famous big caves in the area are closed during winter, but you can see the small cave in the Schönbergalm descent and you can visit the old salt mines in Hallein and Bad Aussee.

Got a comment or a question that wasn’t answered in this article? Go ahead and drop a note!

May 2007 a team of skiers and film makers were heading towards Mount St. Elias on Tyndall Glacier where nighttime temperature can drop down to -40 Celsius degrees. “You crash, you’re dead“, said one of the team members referring to skiing the 65-degree section of St. Elias. Axel Naglich was attempting to ski the longest ski descent ever, and he knew it is dangerous up there.

Skiing the entire mountain face of St. Elias means continues 18,008-foot (5,488 meters) vertical slope. As a comparison for us Europeans the highest peak in Europe is Mont Blanc (4,811 meters), but skiing from the top of Mont Blanc down to Chamonix valley makes only 3761 meters because the altitude of Chamonix vallee is 1050 meters. So skiing mount St. Elias means a longer descent than from the the top of Mont Blanc down to sea level.

Who is Axel Naglich?

Full-time architect Alex Naglich is nervous. “I promise, I will survive“, he says. Weather can be extremely bad in St. Elieas, and may be that is the reason why the mountain is also called the “man eater”.

Photocredit: (c)Günther Göberl/Red Bull Photofiles

Axel Naglich is a tough guy. This 41 years old Austrian has done many impressive descents, and he has toured also some competitions. Even though Axel was a new name to me, I was impressed with what he did with his team in St. Elias.

Time to do the longest ski descent ever

In April 2002, Aaron Martin and Reed Sanders were part of a four-person team dropped on the mountain during an encouraging weather window. Within days, they had summited the peak and were preparing to descend. Their success was short-lived. A few turns below the summit, both began an irreversible tumble. Their bodies have never been recovered from Elias’ upper slopes.

Hold on, why did we write about this descent if it was done already years ago? Well, I got en email from Red Bull, and in one story they discussed about this attempt. Why? Because there is a film coming out next month, so it was a promotion.

Anyhow, I got interested and started studying what actually happened.

There has been a lot of discussion about Axel Naglich and his attempt on ski the longest descent ever. For some time people understood that he did really ski from the top down to sea level, but this is wrong. In fact the team did it in two parts and partly by using a helicopter. Lou Dawson discussed with Naglich and Johnston, and here a short excerpt from Lou’s WildSnow blog.

Photocredit: (c)Vitek Ludvik/Red Bull Photofiles

“During the May trip they did ski from the Hayden shoulder down to about 800 vertical feet above sea level, a huge descent in its own right and in a sense “down to the sea,” but not exactly to the tide line. After that, Naglich returned later in the summer, climbed the peak, and did ski a new route from the summit down to Hayden, where they were picked up by bush plane as most climbers are.”

Axel Naglich and his team did something hardcore that yielded several accomplishments, but this during this expedition nobody really skied from the top of St. Elias down to sea-level.

Photocredit: (c)Günther Göberl/Red Bull Photofiles

So who did?

Lorne Glick along with James Bracken and Andy Ward, did the first ski descent of Mount St. Elias back in 2000, along with a second ascent of the Mira Face route. Axel Naglich also knows this and gives all the respect to Lorne Glick’s team as mentioned in this excerpt from Lou Dawson’s WildSnow.

“Sorry for creating a mess in Mt. St. Elias climbing and skiing history. We didn’t plan to claim the first ski descent of Mt. St. Elias. We knew that this group did it in the year 2000 and we knew about Mira Face which has been skied by Mr. Glick too (couldn’t believe he waited for 3 weeks on the face for conditions, that’s hardcore!!!). As we know the mountain a little better now I just can say congratulations to the guys who did the first ski descent of the summit. I would never want to take this accomplishment away from them.”

Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann seizing the summit

May be the reason behind this confuse is related to Red Bull’s marketing hype. Certainly I don’t know the details, but I believe the whole story was misunderstood by Red Bull people. When using misleading information in their articles, the confusing story was born.

What did we learn from the story of longest ski descent ever?

People have posted aggressive and sometimes rude comments in various discussion forums of Axel Naglich and his expedition, and no wonder because many active ski mountaineers want true stories. Thanks Lou Dawson for figuring out the truth and communicating it to all of us.

When Reinhold Messner talked about “murdering the impossible”, he was talking about using technology and siege tactics to bring mountaineering objectives down to a lower level. These guys did all that, and took it one step further by not even doing a coherent descent, and then spinning it to make it sound like they did.

– Anonymous reader in TGR discussion forum

Photocredit: (c)Beat Kammerlander/Red Bull Photofiles

Although the story of Axel Naglich’s expedition and the longest ski descent ever was misunderstood, both teams did amazing things in Mount St. Elias. Climbing this aggressive mountain is already a big thing, and skiing in those conditions is something that most of us can’t even imagine. Reader named “Mark” puts it very well in WildSnow comments:

“Simply surviving all that St. Elias dishes out is a huge feat. Skiing it is almost unthinkable. Massive kudos on a phenomenal ski mountaineering piece of history”.

Photocredit: (c)Vitek Ludvik/Red Bull Photofiles

Yeah. Both stories are amazing.

I asked Dave to describe their contest.

“Basically it’s a competition to win a short break for two at Lyngen Lodge. Winners will enjoy a two day Norwegian experience, including a boat trip to see whales and sea-eagles, skiing and “snow-shoeing” under the Northern Lights.  In the evenings the lodge is the perfect place to relax, with fine dining, superb guest rooms, and an outdoor hot-tub overlooking the fjord.  Return flights to Tromso are included with Norwegian airline, as are transfers from the airport”, said Dave.

I have skied and traveled in Norway and I know our neighboring country is absolutely beautiful. So, join the contest now,because if you win you won’t be disappointed.

“It’s free to enter and the winners will be selected at random in December, and the holiday will be taken in February 2010 (alternative dates may be offered). I have attached a couple of photos of Lyngen“, Dave continues.

Not a bad contest at all! This fantasic prize - worth over £2000 - includes return flights to Tromsø with Norwegian, airport transfers in Norway, and three nights full board accommodation at Lyngen Lodge.

Red Bull created Shaun White a private giant pipe in the backwoods of Silverton mountain in Colorado. Shaun’s goal is to invent totally new tricks and push the sport further.

“I’ve had all these tricks in my mind I’ve wanted to try. I just needed a place to figure them out“, says Shaun White.

Project-X was born.

Silverton, Colorado is home to some of the best powder in the world. Silverton is not a regular ski resort. There are no similar infrastructure and services as for example in nearby Vail. Silverton is for experienced skiers and riders, and because of that it gets much less traffic than normal ski resorts. Silverton is a perfect spot to keep Shaun’s work under wraps.

Shaun’s giant pipe includes foam pit to which Shaun practices his new tricks. After training Shaun takes his tricks from concept to reality. After couple of months of training Shaun has his bag full of new tricks to be shown to the world.

So the world, including Hometown Boyz, is waiting to see these new tricks. No need to wait long, because all new tricks will be unleashed during season 2010. For those who can’t wait, check Shaun White private half pipe on November 3rd. It’s a preview date.

Red Bull Project X statistics

• needed 7200 foam blocks to fill the foam pit
• needed 300 man hours to build the foam pit
• 250,000 cubic yards of snow was moved to make the half pipe
• 30 avalanches were created by dropping dynamite to build Shaun’s pipe

For those who have lived under the rock, Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986 in Carlsbad, California) has been a notable competitor in professional snowboarding since he was 9 years old, but is also known for being a professional skateboarder as well. He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect for which he endured two open-heart operations; one operation at six months, and the second at 12 months.

For us those wondering what the heck this place is, Las Leñas is one of the largest Andean ski resorts in Argentina, together with Cerro Catedral in San Carlos de Bariloche, located in the western part of Mendoza Province. It is well known for its powder snow, good climate and excellent opportunities for extreme and off-piste skiing.

The skiing season lasts from mid June to mid October. The center is also open during the southern hemisphere summer for mountain activities including mountain biking, horse riding, climbing and other activities.

Anyhow, check out this cool footage from Kye Petersen. You can see more videos and photos in Key Petersen’s blog.

Here’s a preview of 90s freestyle skiing, starting with summer training and moving on to winter stuff, my personal fave, the ski ballet, starts at 4:30 or so..

Don’t forget the 80s and this awesome “how-to-ski-on-grass” machine? .. hmm

For more freestyle skiing videos go to digitalfreestyleskiing.com for a pretty comprehensive list. Now we’re just left wondering when the pole flip and other ski ballet tricks invade the slopes again.

photo source: digitalfreestyleskiing.com

“I am very happy! Now I know everything is fine. Nothing had went wrong during last summer“, says Poutiainen.

Opening race in Sölden is difficult to most skiers because of the long half a year break between seasons. Many skiers are nervous, and so was Tanja Poutiainen.

“This was not easier even though I have lots of experience“.

Tanja Poutiainen has always liked Sölden race, and she has received several medals there.

Before the second run Poutiainen was third. Race in Sölden is difficult and challenging, and for women it is probably the most difficult one in the whole world cup. The slope is steep and partly in shadows.

Tanja Poutiainen (FIN) was the first, Kathrin Zettel (AUS) second and Denise Karbon third (ITA).

Tanja Poutiainen didn’t have time to celebrate long because soon after the race she had to pack up and head back to Finland where she continues preparing for the second Alpine World Cup race in Levi in November 14th-15th.

Snow in October is not really unusual in the Alps, but when it snows the snowline is usually very high up. This time it snowed more or less straight for 6 days all the way to the valley and at least us skiers got very excited…

The first storm came in on Monday last week, at first fairly high up in the mountains, but on Tuesday the snowline dropped to 1000m or even lower in the Northern Alps. Most of the areas which profit from precipitation from the north had a snowpack of nearly 1m by then, which meant that there would be enough snow for the first real powder-turns for us. Unfortunately at this point of the season all the ski-resorts are closed, except of  the glacier-resorts. And because skiing off-piste on a glacier in October always is a game of crevasse-slalom we decided against lift-served skiing.

On Wednesday we grabbed our ski-touring stuff in Innsbruck, and left for the close (and closed) Resort Rosshütte in Seefeld. We figured out there would be a lot of snow like everywhere in the northern Alps, and the parking lot is at 1230m, which was high enough to start skinning right from the car.

The weather was nice as we started to follow a skintrack towards the topstation of the Härmelekopfbahn. Soon, we were quite happy that we did not have to break trail in all the soft snow which was getting deeper and deeper as we gained elevation. The snow-covered trees, the white mountains in all directions and the fresh snow on the ungroomed slopes made us feel like in the middle of winter. After two hours of skinning we reached the topstation and decided against climbing higher because the snow was very wind-affected above the treeline. After a break we skied our first powder-turns of the season 2009/2010. So we made our way back to the valley, a bit awkward at first, how you always feel if you do something you havent done in a while, and always careful because we expected more hidden rocks or other obstacles under the snow, then faster and with more confidence. We even had a few turns in the trees, where there is really just enough snow. The snowpack got thinner and thinner as we skied down but there was just enough to reach the car without major problems.

As we drove home with a big grin we decided to do something similar again tomorrow.So we are back at the parking lot in Seefeld on Thursday. This time to climb the “Seefelder Joch”. The snow has melted a bit in the valley but it starts to snow again just as we start skinning. We take our time and skin on the piste covered in fresh snow to the Seefelder Joch where we are entertained by two nosy alpine choughs during our break.

The descent is even a little bit better than yesterday and we don’t mind about having to carry our skis back to the car the last couple of meters.

The snowfall gets heavier during our drive back to Innsbruck and it is snowing even in downtown Innsbruck, which is only 580m above sealevel! We watch the snow flurry getting heavier and heavier all evening and decide to skin up to Seegrube in the Nordpark ski-resort on Friday. Even there at 800m there’s enough snow to start skinning from the car. We follow a flat forest-trail at first, where we pass some big, snow-covered wood-cutter-machinery and continue steeper, with a lot of switchbacks under the gondola. There was plenty of snow in Seefeld the last two days we were there, but it can not be compared to the masses of snow here in Nordpark, even at fairly low elevation. It is cold and snowing a bit, which gets me in the same kind of mood that I had last winter when I had some really great days at Nordpark. We even meet the same people we meet in winter after every big snowfall. But this time we meet on the skintrack instead of the valley station where everyone tries to get into the first gondola after a big snowfall when the bombing is done and the resort opens.

No, I’m not kidding, it’s October..

Just before we arrive at Seegrube, the clouds start disappearing. We have a short break next to the Seegrube gondola station before we start the descent.

View from Nordpark towards Innsbruck and the Stubai Valley, hidden by the clouds

And it is really deep today. With every turn I sink into the snow and get spray on my face. We are almost flying towards the valley. Had I forgotten what skiing is about during the summer I would have been reminded now at the latest, and in a quite impressive way. But despite the low temperature, the October sun is burning and the south-facing slope starts to get heavier down low. So we head into the trees. At first, we are not sure if there will be enough snow, but there is. This is the first time I get to ski trees in October. And then, way too fast, we are back in the valley, where we carry our skis back to the car on the forest-trail.

It is getting warmer during the day but the precipitation is increasing again. It is raining up to 1000m in the night, but not just raining. It is pouring down like the world is coming to an end. Naturally, we want to do another skitour on Saturday. We choose to drive to the Arlberg, and so we drive through heavy rain, then sleet and then snow towards the Arlbergpass. We cant manage the last short part of the passroad in St. Christoph without snowchains and after a short break we continue our drive towards Lech.

The snow looks pretty windblown at  the pass but better and better as we drive through Lech and finally park the car in Zug. We decide to skin up towards Kriegerhorn and start the ascent. It is cold, snowing hard, and it seems that no-one except us had the idea to go touring in the area, so we have to break trail right from the beginning. Slowly we gain elevation, sinking into the snow till the knees with every step. Everything looks like in February, except from the occasional sight of snow-covered broad-leaved trees and red berries on bushes.

We make our way higher, past the treeline, but decide against the summit and ski down from around 2100m because the snow gets windaffected higher up. And again the descent is good. Real good. I get so much snow in my face, that I have to stop every few turns to breathe and to wipe the snow off my goggles. I haven’t skied that much and that light snow since February.

I also learned about the effects of hidden logs and a massive amounts of snow.

Down in the valley I feel my legs burning from the breaking the trail during the ascent but despite that I’d like to go up again. Unfortunately it is too late in the day so we decide to head home and come back to Arlberg tomorrow.

The word about great snow is spreading around, or maybe it’s just the weather that’s supposed to get better, either way we are a way bigger group on Sunday. We start from Zürs towards the Zürser See. After a short ascent, we ski down towards Lech. The snow has settled a bit since yesterday but the skiing is still great. Visibility is way better than yesterday so we can ski faster and have a lot of fun again, so we decide to climb up again and descent towards the road from Zürs to Lech this time, from where we walk back to the cars in Zürs.

It is snowing again, as we drive home. The weather in the forecast is cold and sunny for tomorrow, then warmer from tuesday on. The days of this short winter-episode seem to be counted, so we decide to do another tour on Monday. Because it is supposed to be sunny, we want to start from the Hahntennjoch. Not only because we can start from almost 1900m, but also because the Hahntennjoch is closed during the winter, so the opportunity to go skitouring there is rare.

We start pretty early in Innsbruck in drive carefully on a slippery road up to the pass, where we need some time to get out of the car and into the cold. The air is clear and very cold as we start skinning. I’m wearing two jackets even though we have to break trail again.

We head towards Muttekopf, but the depth of the snowpack decreases as we gain elevation since the strong winds have been blowing the snow off. We decide to ski down on a big, open field from a random point. After a few last turns in the crippled trees, we reach the Passroad, and are back in Innsbruck around noon and on our way to university.

The mountains are still white, but temperature is rising, and it is supposed to rain up to 2400m this week. So I guess October reality with the occasional visits to crowded glacier resorts is back..

Photos & Skiers: Lea Hartl, Lorenzo Rieg