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Saturday. They still have time to sort out those avalanches. Or else. The weather's bad though. Only a few weeks ago a similar thing has happened in France, sudden massive snowfall, resorts paralyzed with wind, cut out villages, and now the same stuff is going on here.

Dun-Dun-Duuuuun... Will I even get there? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ski/news/ski-resorts-across-europe-close-as-the-worse-weather-in-19-years/ http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/austria-switzerland-weather-latest-heavy-snow-ski-resorts-thousands-tourists-stranded-cut-off-a8171751.html

About $600. Apparently ZRH is a popular destination. There are like three daily flights going there from EWR.

Well, there is gas and tolls (vignette) that I didn't count, but other than that it should be all.

Assuming that we split 2BR apartment and car two ways, I think it's gonna be about $1500pp plus food. The car rent is insanely expensive in Switzerland.

Haha, we missed the factory tour. Were too late to schedule.

No. In the movie they rode up the mountain through the tunnel and made a stop in the middle. They disembarked the train and went to an open balcony. That's also the balcony from where Luise climbed in an attempt to save the only guy who made it down in the blizzard. When you rode that train, it also made one stop, but the balcony there was all closed. There is a special tour that visits the place that's shown in the movie. Alas, we didn't make it.

This is an awesome place! I hope you watched North Face and took a special tour to visit that station with a balcony on the way up. We've been there in July two years ago. It was insanely hot and humid down (like 90-100F, a real anomaly), and just like your picture on top.

There is a rather long way around the area, but the direct path is closed due to winter. I hope I won't have to find out if there are cabs or not. We fly into Zurich, about 3 hours from Warth. No, we're not planning on a guide, we'll stay exclusively on piste. Which may be a shame because people say that Warth and Sonnenkopf do have awesome opportunities for skiing off piste.

Are you glued to your monitors watching snowfall on that intersection in the middle of Jackson Hole and counting days until your flight? I'm trying to memorize the major zones in the Arlberg ski area that we'll be leaving for this Saturday. Have never skied in that part of Alps and can only anticipate things based on friends' feedback and various reviews. The area is huge. The fact that it's hard to find online maps of all individual zones isn't helping at all. Roughly it's divided into the very busy, popular and advanced St. Anton, more intermediate-friendly and less busy Zurs+Lech+Oberlech, quiet Warth+Shrocken and a Sonnenkopf, which can only be reached from St. Anton by bus. The villages are all scattered around 4000ft elevation, the peaks in the St. Anton area can reach 9200ft, but generally stay around 7500ft. The easiest Warth+Shrocken have a 1800ft vertical. At St. Anton the vertical is about 4900ft. The skiing areas are all connected (except for Sonnenkopf), and like Sella Ronda in Italy, they have a circular route here called White Ring that one can take to tour Lech-Oberlech-Zug-Zurs in one day. Except that if Sella Ronda is about 40km long, here it's more like 20km, and so we should be done with it in half a day. You basically hop on a lift, ski down, hop on a second lift, ski down, etc until you make a complete circle and come back to where you've started. From what we've gathered when we planned this trip last year, St. Anton is the most expensive area with lodging that costs several $K per accommodation per week. The price is driven by its popularity, difficulty of the trails and intensity of night life. People on a budget tend to stay in nearby Lech or even Sonnenkopf, with the latter having a big disadvantage of being disconnected from the rest of the skiing area. We picked Warth as the smallest and the quietest connected village of all. Price-wise it's somewhere in the middle. The 2BR apartments for a week cost us around $900. During summer it's possible to drive from Warth to Lech and then farther south to St. Anton, in winter this road is closed. This would make Warth disconnected from the rest of the resort, but a few years ago they've finished a lift that can be used to expand from Warth+Shrocken area into Lech, Zurs and then farther to St. Christof, St. Anton and finally Sonnenkopf. We'll have to continuously keep track of time to make sure we can always ski back to Warth, for otherwise we'll get stuck for night in a place with no easy way of getting back "home". The plan is to ski for 6 days, weather permitting, and take a small break in the middle to drive to Neuschwanstein castle. The skipass is gonna cost €280, plus the rent will be about half of that. Now, that's when I'll get to hand-flex all those Austrian Kastles any way I want! Warth+Shrocken: http://www.ultimate-ski.com/ski-resorts/austria/bregenzerwald/warth-schroecken/ski-area.aspx Lech+Zurs: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ski/resort-guides/Ski-Lech-resort-guide/ St. Anton: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ski/resort-guides/Ski-St-Anton-resort-guide/ Sonnenkopf: http://www.ultimate-ski.com/ski-resorts/austria/vorarlberg/sonnenkopf.aspx White Ring: https://www.skiarlberg.at/en/regions/ski-area/lech-oberlech-zuers/the-white-ring Map: These maps are difficult to read because they try to show perspective, but this ends up distorting the scale of the resorts in the back. E.g. Warth+Schroken in the top-right corner of the picture above actually look like this on a dedicated map. And hey, do I see three peaks here as well? MC for sure!

Nah, she'll be a poor company for him anyway. I fear she's gonna quit skiing, as her mind is getting more and more obsessed with horses. And that's just too bad because she's quite good at it.

What's that? Yeah, I was trying to organize my thoughts while I was typing. The process was kind of chaotic, and in no way scientific. It was fun comparing notes all the time and seeing how different people were viewing the same ski differently. Take that weird 172/85 for instance. I personally liked it, but neither my daughter nor friend were fond of it. And IDK why. They're both lighter than me, so perhaps the extra grip was working against them. But anyway, I'm done with trying new Nordicas now, and perhaps will indeed get on the controversial RTMs at CB next month.

Nope, but I've seen this: "Meh, the last 2 days have been pretty uneventful. Starting to get bored with skiing, I've done every single trail at Camelback ad nauseum at this point. Maybe I'll take a brief hiatus and go road biking next weekend instead."

Well, that was our initial WTF feeling when we found at 8am that the lodge was almost full with racers and their families. That combined with the Subaru event was a solid sign that during the day the crowds would be unbearable. But luckily things turned out to be way brighter. The snow was fine all day long except for perhaps 12pm-1:30pm timeframe when it suddenly became sticky. It was so noticeable to us because we stopped for a lunch at about 12pm, and after we came out all of our skis had trouble going. At about 1:30pm things started to get better, but we really had to pack and leave at 2pm, so never really got a chance of skiing that late afternoon snow. Demo program was great. We've been a group of three, all having boots with the same BSL, so in the morning we just grabbed three pairs that we were most interested in and kept swapping them with each other. There were mostly Navigators and Enforcers of different sizes available, and a lonely GT 80 TI. We were able to change our set once at about 11am, but later at noon there were no skis left so "early bird gets the worm" couldn't describe the situation any better. Granted, at 2pm everything was back in stock again. I've started on Enforcers 185/100 after having heard at Shawnee the stories of a guy who loved them so much that he had two sets of them. Well, to me they skied as if my feet just lost all sensitivity. Like a cruiser when you can't feel the road at all. Is this as hard as I can push them? Are they about to skid? I never had any idea of what was going on or was about to happen. Yeah, they held and felt safe, but I just didn't like the sensation of a complete isolation from the snow. My daughter was on Navigator 172/85, and she hated them. That was quite unexpected because she liked 172/80 on BM a lot. Then my friend got on 172/85 as well and didn't like them either, again after having tried 172/80 at JF. Bewildered we repeatedly swapped 172/80 and 172/85, trying them back to back a few times, checked their flex and edges and eventually blamed the difference on sharpening issues. 172/85 edges were extremely sharp end to end. The skis just wouldn't allow you to ski them flat, they'd continuously catch an edge - something that my daughter hated. And once on the edge they'd take you for a ride on a curve they wanted to go on - that's what my friend wasn't fond of. Both of them were pleased with a 172/80 variant that had its ends detuned. And that just shows how unreliable demoing can be. You think you're testing the ski, but in reality you're testing their tuning job. The racing was going on all this time on Challenge and farther east. It never bothered us. We kept on looping T-Bolt and the adjacent blues on Nordicas. I didn't even get a chance to ride my SLs once. In the end we've each tried Navigators 172/80, 172/85, 179/90, Enforcers 168/93, 185/100, and GT 80 TI 168/80... My daughter was impossible to sway from her own Elan Insomnias, she found Navigators 172/80 marginally better, but really didn't like the rest a lot. My favorites were definitely Navigator 179/90. They could ride through the afternoon crud effortlessly, and yet did not feel so dead as Enforcers 185/100. I can easily see how they could be my daily skis, fun to carve, reliable feedback, hold well. Alas, the weather wasn't really the best, no ice anywhere, so I have no idea how they'd behave on ice. The friend somehow liked GT 80 TI. I was already tired by the time when we got on them, and remember the feeling of good carving skis, but perhaps it was their shorter length or stiffer construction, I just felt the crud more on them, and so for me the Navigators 185/90 provided a better balance of performance and comfort. All in all, extremely fun and busy day, snow was just OK and borderline bad around noon, but that didn't spoil demoing a little bit.

I think there've even been free tickets, if you RSVP in time. Somehow I didn't find anything like that this year. But anyway, I'm excited. Parking should be no big deal, since we'll get there around opening time, and everything else sounds like a great deal of fun.

Unfortunately for him he likes hanging out more than just pure skiing. So CB while being financially enticing is a losing choice because he'll have nobody to ski with on a regular basis. I bet he'll get a BM pass in the end.

Demos too? And hold on, is this free only to Subaru owners?? That's gonna suck, 'cause I'm not.

So, what's this event for anyway? I've caught a glimpse of it once. Subarus on the snow, some tents, and surprisingly not overwhelming crowds. Did you take advantage of anything, or just went out and skied?

How were the crowds, and is Subaru Fest worth it at all? Do they really have ski demos there? Practical to get on the demo skis, or there are lines everywhere?

Sorry about your situation. Going back and forth all the time must be a real pain. That pass and skiing in between is definitely a good way of making those trips bearable.

Hold on. Lemme run outside and check the phase of the Moon real quick... Oh yeah, it's the new Moon! I now remember how some kid on that mountain was marveling how he could see both the crescent and the thin round outline. Damn. Now must be the best time to approach Atomic and ask him to hand flex his Kastles w/o fear of being rejected right away. And stupid me has planned a trip to JF instead...

It's interesting that I've been eyeballing the maxpass recently and now you bring it up. How did you end up with two passes in the first place? Maxpass can't be bought as an extension to BM pass, and of all local mountains there is only MC, Windham and Belleayre. How are you using it, if a drive to MC is hard to justify?

I'm glad you like it. My last visit to MC was controversial, I hope I was able to convey that in the report to some extent.

I know you all love MC, some secretly, some so desperately that you piss on its lifts only to keep the place to yourself. I've returned to MC this Thursday again, just to finish it off. Last week I really didn't have enough time to explore because the resort is so spread out, and frankly I don't remember where all the time went... What can I say? MC is both the same, and at the same time has changed! They've figured that skiers' life on the Bear peak was too mellow, and spiced it up by converting the blue run (the only run immune from racing closures) to something with the rolls, banks and other shebangs that people of adventurous mind are bound to love. Really, give the gift of new snow to the fools, and they'll use it well! Other than that the actual snow was awesome. Of course not much remaining of the recent snowfall, it's all been compacted, but nevertheless it was a very grippy and enjoyable coverage allowing one to carve strong and w/o fear of slippage. That is unless you're on the Granite peak, where I had another Deja Vu moment of discovering plenty of icy spots and almost falling on the side. IDK, but from my memories the middle peak of MC is indeed notorious for ice. Must be the microclimate, with a resort that's so wide that the side peaks are not even visible from each other, the weather is bound to vary. You can't just look up Tannersville, PA and assume that you know how it is on the JF slopes. You have to type "Mountain Creek Granite Peak", and then the Weather Channel will tell you if there is something special going on there or not. Speaking of peak sighting, I discovered to my great surprise that Hidden Valley is back in operation. It was brightly lit in the distance. Some internet searching revealed that it's not Hidden Valley anymore, the resort was bought and is used as a non-profit venue to teach kids to ski, but it's just so cool that after installing all the upgrades they can take advantage of them this winter 100%. Back to the MC... It's never boring here. The only fun one can have at BM is the up-and-down kind of fun. You go up, you ski down, you wait in line, you go up, have an occasional forced conversation... Here it's two-dimensional, it's explorational. Since the majority of parking is at the Vernon peak, and the South one protrudes in the distance as an irresistible magnet for snowboarders, you can actually do a small study on these birds watching how they migrate south during the day, and at 8:15pm sharp start their journey back on that long and quiet lift where they can rethink all the victories of the day. After 8:15pm the South peak becomes completely deserted and is the best place to be for a skier, for he no longer fears of being knocked down by a flying board, or tripping over a sitting penguin. Regretfully, some boarders never get to see the South peak because they arrived by a bus and have strict policies of where they get to go. Then you have to listen to their sad stories of how they once were here with their parents and could venture anywhere they wanted. It was fun seeing busses to come. At BM you flee in fear at the first sight of those gapers, here you enjoy listening to their conversations, which can be quite entertaining. "Did you see the sparks that I've made??" - asked one after flying down a mountain bike course (yes, there is that much snow!). "I just love living and being here, I'm a teacher, and every time when it snows I'm off work and pretty much have the mountain to myself". A very high-end, educated and obedient crowd here. Both teachers and kids, mostly from NJ and NY... If they're told to stay at Vernon, they'll never go to the South. I just wish they chose freaking skis over the snowboards! Might be a tad less sparks, but a whole safer for everybody else. I get it why some are so pissed at the Cabriolet. If you really think for a moment, it's the most reliable lift out there. Not once has it stopped or slowed down. It's just a beast running non-stop, and it's fast. There is definitely something to be pissed about. How can a mountain in NJ have something that's so good while others have to endure up to 4 stops at a time on the way up on a gaper's day?! And yeah, it can take 8 people, and yes, salty, it has a dedicated permanent line for singles. I've been pondering about where to go this Sunday all Thursday long. If it was not for the Subaru fest, I'd most likely come back to MC. It's entertaining in some twisted way, and I still have one set of cards left. But too bad, I'm leaning toward giving those Subarus and gourmet coffee a try, so will see MC again at the end of Feb.

Yeah, JF will apparently have only Nordica to try, so unless you already have a cheap ticket to JF, it may definitely not be worth going there just to demo.