Just a couple of lines... Was in Val D'Isere last week and apart from the first day on my Fast Thangs, I ended up spending the rest of the week on my new Scott Rosas (they're the women's version of the Mission). What an incredible ski! At 86 mm underfoot (in a 168) you rather expect them to be able to handle crud and chopped up, skied out stuff off-piste. What you don't expect them to do is thumb their nose at hardpack and ice and be totally stable on piste. They're not spectacularly fast (compared with the Fast Thangs which are Billy Whizz incarnate) but they seem to be a true all-mountain ski. Not really had the conditions yet over here to test them in actual powder but boy they really went absolutely anywhere without turning a hair: the "familiale" itinerary, bumps, the OK world cup run a week after a race - you name it, they did it.
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Scott Rosa
- Thread starter eng_ch
- Start date
Greetings over there in Switzerland - and thanks for the review and yet another addition to my demo wish list. As an aside, I'll be moving to Zurich within the next couple of months and wonder what snow conditions are typical (I know this winter has been an exception!) for skiing close by. We'll probably live in the Kusnacht area, and are looking forward to Swiss gorgeousness at our doorstep to explore and enjoy.
Aha, gold coast! Good luck with the move SkiBaby - we only moved from teh UK and that was stressful enough! If you have any queries let me know - I can probably point you to some useful resources if you haven't found them already. Feel free to PM me
As for conditions etc - it depends what you mean by "nearby". The Swiss consider half an hour to be quite a distance. But if you take a radius of two hours from Zurich then you're spoilt for choice - Davos/Klosters, Wengen/Grindelwald, Engelberg, Arosa, Lenzerheide, and one of our faves, Flims/Laax - we like it so much we're buying an apartment there. And those are just the big "name" resorts. There are tons of smaller local ones and some places up around Einsiedeln have just a single drag lift up a hill for the villagers to use.
Conditions seem to be most similar to American East Coast conditions - on piste tends to be hardpack/ice but you also often get clumps of powder in the middle of the piste (usually where the snowboarders have scraped it :D). If we've had a dump of snow it's not unusual (especially in France) for the piste to be ankle deep.
There is/can be good off-piste too - Flims/Laax has specific designated and avy-controlled back country areas which is pretty rare. However don't expect the sort of snowfalls they seem to get in Colorado and Utah.
What you have to remember, though, is there is no such thing as "inbounds" and "outbounds" in Europe. The moment you go the wrong side of the piste markers you are "off piste", it is entirely your own responsibility and risk, you're on your own and it's not avalanche controlled. As Henry, of Henry's Avalanche Talks, says, being a little bit off piste is like being a little bit pregnant.
If you're going to be based in Europe for a while, you might also want to have a look at Snowheads for a perspective from this side of the pond:
www.snowheads.com
As for conditions etc - it depends what you mean by "nearby". The Swiss consider half an hour to be quite a distance. But if you take a radius of two hours from Zurich then you're spoilt for choice - Davos/Klosters, Wengen/Grindelwald, Engelberg, Arosa, Lenzerheide, and one of our faves, Flims/Laax - we like it so much we're buying an apartment there. And those are just the big "name" resorts. There are tons of smaller local ones and some places up around Einsiedeln have just a single drag lift up a hill for the villagers to use.
Conditions seem to be most similar to American East Coast conditions - on piste tends to be hardpack/ice but you also often get clumps of powder in the middle of the piste (usually where the snowboarders have scraped it :D). If we've had a dump of snow it's not unusual (especially in France) for the piste to be ankle deep.
There is/can be good off-piste too - Flims/Laax has specific designated and avy-controlled back country areas which is pretty rare. However don't expect the sort of snowfalls they seem to get in Colorado and Utah.
What you have to remember, though, is there is no such thing as "inbounds" and "outbounds" in Europe. The moment you go the wrong side of the piste markers you are "off piste", it is entirely your own responsibility and risk, you're on your own and it's not avalanche controlled. As Henry, of Henry's Avalanche Talks, says, being a little bit off piste is like being a little bit pregnant.
If you're going to be based in Europe for a while, you might also want to have a look at Snowheads for a perspective from this side of the pond:
www.snowheads.com
Thanks for all the great info eng_ch. I got back into skiing because of this move, and am happy to hear there are loads of places to play. The description of snow conditions is extremely helpful, as I'm motivated to buy skis here since I've heard everything is significantly more expensive across the pond. True? Or do you have some inside scoop there?
I'm off to check out snowheads now......:D
I'm off to check out snowheads now......:DThe impression I get from Snowheads is that the US is more expensive than Europe. Certainly there are some web retailers in Germany that do very good prices. And buying in April/May is the best time for cheaper prices providing you're happy to ski this year's model next season
No I haven't but Mr Eng has them and is just as happy. I understand from the Smallzookeeper that they haven't messed about with the Mission too much to make the Rosa so it's still sufficiently burly to handle anything thrown at it, but just tweaked in terms of centre of gravity, binding position. We've actually got touring binidngs on our (Fritschi Freeride Plus) so it's my lightest ski by far, yet still doesn't turn a hair.
I admit I was leery as we don't tour (yet) but have had no problems, they are indeed as stable as alpine bindings and much much lighter. The only thing I find is I have to make sure a) not to twist stepping out of them and b) not to hang around stepping out as, before I got the knack, I got stuck neither in nor out. Fine now I know how
