J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

AllyG wrote:

ise wrote:
You might try switching to Nordic Walking instead, if you put some shoe crampons on (like these) it actually increases the resistance you get and nordic walking's even more benefit than usual. In general Nordic Walking will give you the fitness levels you're looking for on a ski holiday. There's probably a group local to you if you want to do this socially or you can do a single session to get some idea of the technique and go out alone.

We've not tried Nordic Walking with wellies though, I'm sure we could work something out :)

Do you think those crampons would fit over my wellies? They look like they'd be pretty good to stop me from sliding down the muddy steep bits and falling over. I fell flat the other day and got plastered in mud.

maybe, some years back I recall BT or someone like that buying thousands for guys working on steep grassy banks.

AllyG wrote:Quite honestly I think simply walking up and down our hills is enough exercise without trying the Nordic walking. An 8 mile hike along our coastal path is enough to make anyone's legs ache :D Mind you, I generally stop after 4 miles for a cup of tea and a rest in a very convenient hotel which is right next to the path and allows dogs in the cellar bar :D

Ally

That's the beauty of Nordic Walking, you can get a good bit of exercise for an hour of time, no need to spend all day doing it.

AllyG wrote:
Ise,
Do you give diamox to everyone before they start climbing (like sea-sick pills) or only when they become ill?

I do seem to be affected by the altitude more than other people - maybe this is because I have such a large brain? :wink:

I found an interesting article about this on travel doctor. I'm pretty sure they injected me with dexamethasone when I had concussion (from falling off my horse). Have you used one of the Gamow bags?

http://www.traveldoctor.co.uk/altitude.htm

Ally

Diamox works best when you start taking it at around 3000m the day before you start climbing. You can start taking it when symptoms occur as well but the primary use is to aid acclimatization. Bear in mind I'm taking about very high (3500 m – 5500 m) and extreme altitude (5500m+) , skiers are only at high altitude (1500 m – 3500 m)

We do carry Dexamethasone in oral form primarily for HACE treatment and Nifedipine for HAPE. Dexamethasone is a powerful and versatile drug so carrying it makes a lot of sense as you can use it for other conditions, in fact Nifedipine is useful for other conditions as well.

Gamow bags are a form of hyperbaric chamber or Portable Altitude Chamber (PAC), I've never needed to use one either personally or for someone else but one of the companies I've led for provides us with access to them in certain locations.

(edited for clarity)

I know a recent Swiss study showed exactly that but there's a lot less research on the impact of altitude on adolescents than there is on adults. IIRC there was some work in Colorado looking at inter-cranial pressure where no increase was found, it was referenced in another paper which I don't have to hand right now. The last International Society for Mountain Medicine statement I'm pretty sure suggested that AMS incidence in adolescents was around the same as adults, that was a few years back but I don't think they've changed their consensus statement.

The advice we get for taking teenagers to altitude is that there's no significant additional risk, that the symptoms will manifest the same as an adult and that we'd follow the same precautions although there's a caveat to that in that we use diamox for all the group unless is contraindicated.

AllyG wrote:I am trying to get fit, but it's very difficult because there always seems to be something hindering me - like; it was Christmas and I ate far too much, then I had a terrible cold, next we had all that snow and ice (I was walking up to 10 miles per day in it but I couldn't jog on it), and finally we've had lots of rain and everywhere's been very muddy and slippery.

You might try switching to Nordic Walking instead, if you put some shoe crampons on (like these) it actually increases the resistance you get and nordic walking's even more benefit than usual. In general Nordic Walking will give you the fitness levels you're looking for on a ski holiday. There's probably a group local to you if you want to do this socially or you can do a single session to get some idea of the technique and go out alone.

We've not tried Nordic Walking with wellies though, I'm sure we could work something out :)

AllyG wrote:Ise,
So what you're really saying (I think?) is that rental skis are much better quality, because they're built to last.

Ally

Not necessarily, I think the article (I cant' be bothered to read it a second time though) just says quite correctly they're different, that's going to be sometime better and sometimes worse depending on what you like. Recreational skiers tend to do better on heavier skis so it might be the average customer prefers the rental version.

So when you're skiing the latest "Salomic turbo thruster crapri ghia gti powder dude" ski or whatever they're calling this years laminated bit of foam from last year with a different paint job then you're going to find it's not the same as the one on sale on the high street.

Robust would be on my list of desirable features though :)

I can't see what earthly difference it makes to most customers, mostly people aren't going to be buying the ski they're renting they just want to have a decent ski to use for a week or so.

The problem Edge-2-Edge will have is that most of the popular skis aren't going to last more than a few weeks treated as normal rental skis with the rental full service, either they'll have to replace the skis every 4 to 6 weeks or either not service them or do it by hand. If they can find the bigger fool though and sell most of them at the end and rent enough pairs you can see they could turn a profit on 4 to 6 weeks rental. The stuff they're stocking while a bit dull is all very popular.

I would just point out that neither the Fallline article nor the the Edge-2-Edge website actually say explicitly they're not using the exact same rental stock as any other store, you'd think the website might headline it if it's such a big deal.

Incidentally, although apparently written recently Falline neglect to mention this brave new world pioneered by Ski Republic isn't going very well, they're in serious financial difficulty. The founder apparently still thinks it's a good business model despite loosing money and being in receivership, his CV is a former career in international finance coincidentally also full of good business models that didn't work out too well. Hopefully they'll get their problems sorted out though, ski rental can be very over priced with poor service.

AllyG wrote:I don't know anything about skis, but having read that article very carefully I reckon that their maths is all to pieces.

probably so, but it's not an easy thing to work out at the best of times to be fair )

AllyG wrote:
And worst of all, they forget to allow for the capital cost of buying the skis in the first place, which you may only use for 5 years (either because they're worn out or simply outdated), and they don't allow for annual depreciation or the 'cost' of borrowing the money to buy them in the first place.

you're kidding :lol: most UK skiers don't keep their skis for anything like 5 years, even if they did it would only between 30 and 60 days use on average anyway, I'd need two or three pairs a year if I did the same or more like 10 pairs from what I think is the real usage and lifetime of around 20 days or less. That's exactly how manufacturers are able to get away with cutting corners in bases or using foam constructions, they only have a lifetime of a few weeks so it just doesn't matter, that's kind of what that article is trying to point out about rental skis needing to be a bit more robust.

Mostly true I think, but probably missing the point to an extent. The big name volume ski manufacturers behave like any other businesses trying to make a profit, I'm not sure why that would be surprising.

While they're making a fair point about the exact rental version being a little different from a retail one it does cut both ways, it's a bit annoying when you're repairing a pair of skis to discover how wafer thin the base is so in some ways you might prefer the rental version anyway with a thicker base. Although CD's are the same, once reassuring thick now paper thin )

Most of the skis rented out are pretty dull things anyway, there's precious little difference between most of them and there hardly needs to be most people can't tell the difference anyhow. You've got to applaud some rental outfits for being to send out customers with some mass-produced foam filled plank and convince them it's deluxe model and the sheer cheek some have with the age of their kit is unbelievable.

Mind you, if mass market skis are dull and predictable then so's ski journalism, every article just a fluff piece for some outfit or another. Particularly sad to see Fallline having fallen so low though, it was genuinely very good in the first incarnation although I should declare an interest that the founder and I are members of the same climbing club.

AllyG wrote:

snowb4ndit wrote:My son had a nose bleed in Les Men. I read somewhere it's to do with dry air i.e. lack of moisture in ski accommodation. Apparently Vaseline up the nostrils helps prevent the nose bleeds.

The altitude definitely increases the chance of a nose bleed, but I don't know about the effect of moisture. When I was in Zambia, which is on a plateau 6000 feet up, several people had nose bleeds.

Even at very high or extreme altitude the pressure difference isn't enough to make blood start spurting from your body :lol: Zambia is good case in point, you're talking around 1800m and that's a level where you need laboratory instruments to detect the altitude effects.

If you read the anecdotes above you see two things that hint what the problem is, it's only nosebleeds and people talk about getting them in the night quite often. That's enough to suggest what's happening is related to respiration. What's actually happening is you're damaging the nasal passage breathing dry air, that's why is happens to some people in deserts as well. The fact the air is often cold obviously makes that much worse.

It's the same reason you tend to get more chest infections at altitude, thin air makes you gasp for air which damages the throat and you bypass your normal nasal filters.

As an aside, actually blood clots better at altitude so bleeds don't get out of control.