Extremecarving Session IV: ZINAL ECS '07 > details

[fivat]

About the meeting time in the parking.

Meeting everyday is between 8 and 8.20 am in front of the lift in zinal ( parking).. if no one is there, it means we went up already> take the lift, and go up: outside of the lift u cannot miss the place were everyone is (160 people)

See ya!

Patrice Fivat

[Schneewurm]

O.K. Snow is amazing in Zinal! I agree. At the top (2895 m) 60 cm (10 cm more then on 2000 m).

Sorry, but last Friday I was standing in deep powdersnow up to the navel (in the deep blue Zone of the Picture). Today I was on slopes with 20 cm Snow on grass-pasture, hmm, board is now brown! It seem's that the Zinal's could equalize very well anything on mountains with the snowguns. Bravo!

Another question: There are up to 200 Person comming. How many testboards are available for testing?

[nils]

unfortunately we are on low demo quantity... there should be boards for demo of course, but not 30! ..over the three days it should be possible for everyone to test...

Nils

[skywalker]

Hi schneewurm.

there was no big problem with available number of test boards in the last years. Maybe demand will be even less this year, as many participants know the SWOARd already.

BTW: Are you going to join ECS?

skywalker

[Schneewurm]

@skywalker
I have taken the decision today in the morning. I'm not joining. Verry much to less snow.

There are different things:
- When I had a look to the swissgeo map, exact under the best slope there is a well signed, huge stonefield, a result of the cliff above.
- I know what it means to have only 50 to 60 cm of Snow on such a stonefield.
- To ride on artifical snow it's not really funny.
- Additionaly to ECS, I would like to visit some other small Ski-spots in the Wallis, but most of them are also on only 30-90 cm snow. For (perhaps) testing one or two boards, I wouln't ride so far away, four and a half hours to drive across hole Switzerland (Extra pollution for nothing)! And the other well known, big spots aren't verry cool for me, I wouln't check them, for have a look, how the russian Mafia spend their all demolishing Ski-holidays there!
- Wallis in general is expensive (high cost, less service)

Good to know:
- The hole area of Zinal and the Corne de Sorebois, are on one of the dryest part in Switzerland (so you know now, why there is a light blue bubble on the grafic above) You know, I grow up severel Years in one of the next valley, on the dryest village of Switzerland, about 10 miles east of Sorebois. So I rememberd that fact and I'd checked the Swiss-climate-map. At Zinal there are about 60-100 cm rain falling in mean the whole Year. At the place I'm usualy beeing snowboarding there are 200-280 cm rain in mean, and on several places over 280 cm. Now, this Winter we have also too less snow, it's an anomaly. Normaly we have, in about 30 minutes to drive a layer of 3 to 4 m of snow, of course in a 100 m lower area then the Zinal-Village. On top, 1800 m over Sea-Level in standard winters 10-20 % of the avalanche-blocker and in rich winters 50 % of them are overfilled (means more then 6 m of snow)