J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

[MaccA wrote:]Hi all,

does the fact that Europe has had so much snow recently, and many resorts are reporting larger depths than normal for this time of year

are they? I didn't see that, are you looking at anywhere in particular?

Finn wrote:Correction from original statement, only 30% of the resorts lifts were operating & 40% of the resort runs open during Xmas week high season. Ripped off.
Booked up for La Plange next season :D

Finn

This was pretty normal over Xmas all over Europe, conditions were pretty dire and in many ways still are. There's around 50-100cm snow less consistently over Europe at this time, that's due to the abnormally high temperatures early season and the very modest amounts of snow that have actually fallen. In the small number of most popular high stations conditions have been good to great, lower down it's been dire for a lot of ski stations and a lot of people were disappointed with their Xmas breaks. You have to feel for a lot of people who had real difficulties getting from the low countries to their ski holiday to discover they'd left more snow at home.

It's the mountains, that's what happens from time to time, it happens in La Plagne as well.

Dids1 wrote:Last year our lift passes were reduced at Les Saisies as Praz sur Arly and lower parts of Noredame De Bellecote were closed. This was at the later end of the season - 1st week in April.
There was still plenty of skiing so we thought we were pretty lucky.

Not sure if that's normal all over France though.

start and end of the season it's normal practice at many ski stations. That seems reasonable to me, they might reasonably expect those conditions at the start/end of the season, we skied over at Betternalp for 10 chf before Xmas for that reason. It's so normal that the lift company probably has less staff on, isn't able to run the snow canons and never planned to open some lifts so it's reasonable to make a reduction and passs some of their reduced cost on. Middle of the season though is another deal, it's the mountains and exceptional weather happens, you can't expect the lift company to take on that risk.

Some insurers will offer cover is a certain amount is closed but how it's calculated is difficult. For example I know for certain the original statement "only 40% of the resorts lifts & pistes were open" is obviously not strictly true, either 40% of the lifts were closed or 40% of the runs or 40% of one and some other percentage of the other which is neither here nor there for a normal person but important for the insurers )

It is the mountains in the end, not Disney or Alton Towers, sometimes some of the rides are going to be closed sadly :D ... although the rides are all open here today so I ought to go and try some...

AllyG wrote:My brain doesn't work very well at the best of times, and it's decidedly 'off key' at altitude.

Ise,
What you said about the tent poles reminded me of that scene in 'An officer and a gentleman' where they're doing the altitude test (while training to be pilots) and trying to play cards and clap hands together :D

Ally

good example, that's exactly what I'm looking for with clients. When I was struggling with the tent I recall thinking if I saw one of the group having the same problem I'd have been mildly concerned and kept an eye on them :D I've put a tent up a thousand times, in blizzards, in snow, in deserts, in extreme cold and so on, I'd have thought I could do it without much conscious thought, all of which I was aware of while taking double the time I normally would.

AllyG wrote:
I did some exceptionally stupid things - a drop in'mental alertness' as Ise says, like for example when I was in Val Thorens I used the wrong end of those double ended lip and suncream sticks and put lipsalve all over my face, and I tried to get in to my room using my lift pass!

The worst problem I've had is struggling to get the poles into my tent at around 5500m, you can really feel how slowly your brain is working at that height and threading the poles into the right sleeves takes more coordination and thought than you'd expect :D

AllyG wrote:Ise,
I should have explained - the gondola sickness was caused at Val Thorens, going up to the highest point there, which I think is the Cime de Caron, at 3200 metres.

I also suffered altitude sickness at Kaprun, going straight up in that gondola to the top. I got all silly and giggly (like I was tipsy) and then when I was sitting down in the restaurant at the top everything started moving up and down (or at least I thought it did). I guess I must be very sensitive to altitude.

Ally

That's all pretty standard stuff for over 3000m, that's around the level where partial pressure of oxygen drops to a point where it's hard to maintain full physical and mental alertness. Underground or sealed uplift like funiculars for example are particularly bad because the partial pressure is all over the place on the uplift. If you're ascending further it's worth spending a day or so at around 3000m before going up, it's around the limit you can quickly adapt to, straight to 4000m or more is pushing it. But over 3000m isn't much of an issue for skiers of course.

AllyG wrote:Sm4sh,
I don't think it was a silly question either.

I have also felt slightly sick in a long and fast gondola ride up the mountain, but I put that down to altitude sickness. The next time I went up it I took a bottle of water and a mars bar and I found eating and drinking stopped the nausea, whatever the cause was :D And drinking plenty of water is supposed to help with altitude sickness.

Altitude, or altitude sickness, might affect proprioception and kinesthesia but I'm not sure it's going to be significant. You're not going to get the onset of altitude sickness making the ascent that a chairlift does, it's just not high enough or making enough of an ascent.

The top of La Rosiere is only 2600m which isn't much in terms of altitude, it's enough for there to be measurable impact but altitude sickness isn't likely. Most people suffering from altitude sickness in ski stations aren't )

The differential diagnosis for altitude sickness is altitude, that's not facetious it's just the way it is because the symptoms are very similar to a bunch of things people are way more likely to have. Doctors would call that a "Zebra Diagnosis" by which they mean "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras"", in this case, if you're dehydrated think mild dehydration and if your blood sugar is low think low blood sugar. If you've just travelled to a ski station the most likely cause is travel, the journey, interrupted meals and sleep. By the same token if you're at 5000m then it's more likely you have altitude sickness than malaria or swine flu for example.

sm4sh wrote:Ok maybe a really dumb question but if you get sea sickness does a chair lift make u sick?
I get sea sick and in Ibiza lasy year thought i would try out Parasailing. When up in the air i started to feel really sick because the seat under the parasail rocks back and forth. When going though the forum i noticed a topic with links to youtube showing people stuck on chair lifts. I noticed that in one of the videos the chair lifts rock like a parasail.
there you go, my question isnt as random as you thought.
may still be a silly question though lol :roll: :lol:

No it's not a silly question although you can be sure of some silly answers :roll:

There's no physiological difference between sea-sickness and motion sickness, so if you suffer from sea-sickness then potentially you can experience the same or similar symptoms on a chair lift. It's pretty common, as many of us know from experience, that people experience problems on chairlifts and cable-cars which they associate with heights. In fact it's really often just a variation of motion sickness which is a problem in their sense of balance and equilibrium or more technically, proprioception and kinesthesia.

Proprioception is an odd sense, partly based on direct physical stimuli, like the way ears know we're level or on a slope, and partly on the way the brain processes that information and it tells us how we're orientated. Kinesthesia is very similar with the main difference that it tells us how we're moving in space.

These are both very different from vertigo which is a specific physiological condition related to the inner ear. People struggling with proprioception and kinesthesia may have some underling condition or the problem may be like an aversion. For example, I had a mild cold recently that affected my sinuses slightly and I could feel my spatial senses altered and I had a couple of attacks of mild nausea as a result.

So if you suffer from sea sickness you might possibly suffer on a ski lift, knowing that you might take some anti-nausea tablets with you. Mostly though people only suffer from motion sicknesses after longer periods and you're on a lift too short a time.