Carving and Speed

ise wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:
Believe it or not I agree with what you are saying, I'm very careful on what piste I take little Wickham on, I have seen examples of kids skiing unsupervised who could cause problems. I took little Wickham on her first red last year but I did this after an early lunch as the piste was less busy . I think really ise it's a common sense thing and of cause giving some people a wide birth, what I will pass on to Little Wickham is the etiquette of skiing as I think
it's important part of her skiing development.

sorry I was trying not to suggest you weren't doing it safely, I would think it's perfectly possible to do safely providing you're a reasonable skier and the kid's not a total beginner. The guy I saw probably ought to have been in lessons and not trying to supervise two kids. I suppose the desire to do some stuff with your own kids and not be separated in different classes is quite normal so it's hard to get right.

No need to apologize, Little Wickham always has her lessons in the a.m and we family ski in the p.m. I do take your point and agree 100%. How we would line up is Mrs Wickham in front, Little Wickham following Mrs Wickham ski tracks, and me at the back, we do this as a bit of a "follow the leader " so Little Wickham can turn at will, well thats the plan any way, Little Wickham is pretty cool on her skis she parallel turns and goes for her second star at the end of the month.

bandit wrote:

ise wrote:

I've not been hit by another skier but when it's busy I go snow shoeing, ski touring, build igloos or chill out. the case I'm not sure what can be about it.

ISTR that you used to have a blue helmet, same style, until you you were knocked over and hit your head? Was that a snowboarder?

It was the slope incident that led to the "shiny red helmet" gag

I shall answer my own query

You were hit by a snowboarder at Gstaad. You blogged it here...

http://snowslider.net/2005/12/04/2005-12-04-gstaad-saanenmoser-hit-and-run/

You still have a shiny red helmet

bandit wrote:

bandit wrote:

ise wrote:

I've not been hit by another skier but when it's busy I go snow shoeing, ski touring, build igloos or chill out. the case I'm not sure what can be about it.

ISTR that you used to have a blue helmet, same style, until you you were knocked over and hit your head? Was that a snowboarder?

It was the slope incident that led to the "shiny red helmet" gag

I shall answer my own query

You were hit by a snowboarder at Gstaad. You blogged it here...

http://snowslider.net/2005/12/04/2005-12-04-gstaad-saanenmoser-hit-and-run/

You still have a shiny red helmet

Bandit, your in trouble now

I'd forgot about that you did say 2 or 3 winters, that was longer ago

ise wrote:I'd forgot about that you did say 2 or 3 winters, that was longer ago

I certainly remember innocently commenting about the helmet, and that it was shiny and er...red...

bandit wrote:Excess speed by inexperienced skiers could be curbed by resorts ceasing their overgrooming of pistes, and not remodelling (aka bulldozing) them so that all of the terrain is dumbed down.
Last month I was in Zermatt, and I was chatting to a Swiss from Bern about the pistes. I'd thought I was skiing hard packed powder, quite firm but grippy. He was complaining that the slopes were not packed down hard enough for his carvers

Still, the accessible off piste areas were nice and quiet

That's like blaming the powder for avalanche accidents.

What I was trying to convey before is that carving requires a greater awareness than is usualy needed for skiing. Alpine snowboard carvers, who generally have the greatest experience at free carving will often be seen waiting at the top of a run for the way to clear out. They often take note of those that might come behind them, letting any wannabe racers or potential straight liners go first. Better to wait and enjoy a full run of linked carved turns than have to keep skidding around people. The people I carve with switch to smaller radius boards as it becomes more crowded and go home if they can't carve safely. I can see that someone on vacation with limited days to ski might take chances that we would not.

Trencher

Trencher wrote:

That's like blaming the powder for avalanche accidents.

Trencher

Actually powder, that is snow, does cause avalanche accidents. It has a habit of falling in large quantities and periodically slides off the mountains in an unpredictable manner, despite the best efforts of resort professionals.

Carving, being only one aspect of skiing, IMV requires less awareness than, for example, skiing an off piste pitch, which will have many variables to consider.

Trencher wrote:What I was trying to convey before is that carving requires a greater awareness than is usualy needed for skiing.

oh, come on, you're in cloud cuckoo land now how utterly absurd, it's the easiest of things to do requiring the very least of concentration or effort which is why most accomplished skiers move on to other challenges.