Ok it is only the 6th of February but it was 13.7C in La Chaux-de-Fonds, 11C on the summit of the Moléson at 2000 meters, 3.9C on the glacier of les Diablerets at 3000 mètres and 8.5C at Davos. It seems like the hot weather has made the Swiss think of other activities than skiing. The number of skiers was around 2/3 of what it would typically be at this time of the year despite generally good conditions on the slopes.

it was warm, after a week of picnic lunches snowshoeing around the Portes du Soleil area we took the bikes out on Sunday in Switzerland. Not very seasonable but a nice change.

.. in fact, now I’ve finally repaired my practically non-functioning rear brake I’ll probably go out again while it’s still warm.

Despite afternoon temps of 10C in Cham snow is finally getting a mention in the forecast after a month of blue skies!

EXTENDED OUTLOOK UNTIL SATURDAY FEBRUARY 12 2011
Thursday : sunny - fairly mild on sunny slopes in the afternoon. Friday : fairly sunny - high cloud coming in later - getting slightly colder. Saturday : sunny spells in the morning - mostly cloudy with snowflurries later.
Forecast reliability : fairly good until Friday - poor thereafter.

Meteo France said it reached a maximum of 19.4C in the shade yesterday afternoon in Cham, which may be a record.

I’m thinking of snowshoeing now!

It may have been warm, but on piste conditions in Davos on Saturday where great, as mentioned hardly a soul in sight so hired a pair of Fischer GS skis and went for a proper blast, sometimes its great to let the lifts take the strain.

Great skis for the conditions and at least the warm weather has softened the snow a little bit.

Just back from ISPO looking at powder ski after powder ski and feeling it was all a little futile.

Preparing to add a couple of hours to my commute and head east this weekend to find better snow.

Certainly not the conditions to use rocker skis here in France at the moment.

still just awesome conditions for fat rocker skis on the internet dude, sick freshies on the forums

Yeah those guy are such powder technicians. Did you see the new “cleated” rocker skis?

http://www.dpsskis.com/blogs/2011/january/dps-spoon-150-patent-pending-dps-cleat-technology

pretty rad for shredding the g.n.a.r.

Actually I’d assumed that their company van had just ran over a pair on the way to the ISPO and they didn’t have time to build a new pair so simply turned tragedy into triumph.

Yep. The convex bases should be the headline on those but the cleats always will be. Rolling your knees on those on hard snow to engage the cleats seems like lesson in stopping by skiing into a fallen log.

They said they saw a market in heli companies in allowing their customers to rent them. In a show which was dominated by a bit more rocker here here and bit less rocker there, it was nice to see something different (along with the BBR and the Amphibio).

More and more focus on touring equipment from the mainstream brands was the main theme I took away.

If I had 50 quid for every time I’ve tried to convince friends in the UK that their 1 week a year on the reds and blues in les 3 vallees doesn’t require 100+mm underfoot, with an adverse camber’d rockered, reverse side cut yada yada yada I’d be a rich man

adie - 10 February 2011 02:52 PM

If I had 50 quid for every time I’ve tried to convince friends in the UK that their 1 week a year on the reds and blues in les 3 vallees doesn’t require 100+mm underfoot, with an adverse camber’d rockered, reverse side cut yada yada yada I’d be a rich man

OTOH, if the manufacturers and stores had a few quid each time someone was convinced to buy some then they’d be rich...... oh, wait a minute.. that is what happens

Touring gear seems to be going the same way, if I had a quid for every metre of ascent most of it gets I’d be no better off than I am now. I’d not be a lot better off if we counted a couple of hundred metres up a closed piste once a year either.

I still can’t get over colour coded crampons from dynafit. I’ve a couple of old pairs, if I sprayed them yellow maybe I could ebay them?

Mind you, I was just looking at bikes in the local store, I can’t believe how much they go for