J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Real Ale Madrid

daved wrote:This is all very good for you small guys...I am 6'4" and weigh 235 and am skiing on 190 cm semi carvers at the moment...what should i get

My mate is 6 foot 3 weighs about 200 and skies on 175 parabolics but he is quite a good skier so I would go for 165s and make sure they are soft flex and preferably Salomon

Hi there I've just come back toFrom Saux on Fri 2nd Feb. First in answer to your question you'll have no problem getting money, there are ATMs banks etc BUT you must have your pin number or you will not be able to get any money. Conditions are not great at the moment due to lack of snow, try and get to Sanscicario, its great and quieter and sunnier there, it will take you an hour from Saux also Claviere is worth a visit but will take you 2 hours. Ski high in Saux and Sestriere is pretty grim. The apres ski in Saux is brilliant, loads of happy hours, fantastic food and really nice people. Paddy McGinties is great for 3 - 6pm happy hours, make sure you have a bombardino (hot advocat plus whisky and sugar topped with cream, bliss!!) Grand trum bar is quieter with happy hours and the staff are reallly nice. Bar 24 after 9pm is staggeringly cheap. Plus there are things like pop idol, exotic night and other chav stuff if you want it. Hope this helps. Cheers I wish I was going back.

Exactly!! I found the same thing trying to teach a teacher (male) windsurfing who would simply not do the things I told him to and wanted to short cut everything. He would make the same mistakes over and over again and implied it was my fault for telling him it wrong and kept asking more and more convoluted questions exasperating me to death. A young female PE teacher progressd 100 times quicker than the 20 years experience maths teacher. It is the same teaching female school pupils compared with male school pupils, the boys try to use physical strength to uphaul etc while the girls use exactly the techniques I tell them and progrees much faster. It is also the same trying to teach golf some people will not accept the fact that someone knows better than them and are exasperating to say the least. But I suppose it is the nature of the population to want to get on as fast as possible in the corporate world of Britain and the USA.

Just to add to this debate I'm no expert but have skied about 25 years. I've been on Salomon F2s for the last 10 years refusing to be sucked into yet another gimick of skies that look like spoons. (or so I thought!) but I tried a pair of salomon 165 'spoons' hire skies this year on hard packed conditions in Saux and they were brilliant. I had tried 2 pairs previously and hated them one was Volkyl and one Rossignol. I think they were both too stiff. So if I were you I would specify Salomon skies and if they don't have them go to a shop that has and ask for soft flex whatever your weight, about 165s will be fine as you don't need long and therefore faster skis.

I would try and change your booking to Val Thorens or Tignes if you are on a package deal with a company such as Thomson or Crystal. It might cost you 30 or 40 pounds each but I did this once changing from Morzine to Val Thorens, brillliant move, worth the cost. I've just got back from Saux D'oulx in Italy (Sat 3rd Feb) and its getting desperate, I'm glad I'm not going next week

Well I'm back from Saux now, great week fantastic weather, blue sky and sun all week and generally good skiing. BUT it is detiorating and could do with a snowfall. Pistes from Sportina are worn and stoney but Sansicario was brilliant, wide open sunny pistes a bit skitty in places and you do have to concentrate but great fun. But as I said at the end of the day its not getting any better. They have snowmaking but its not ideal but if it snows a bit it will be brilliant. PS I would ignore the 'more information' on the Ski Club Great Britain' site for Saux that says "fast skiing on hard pistes" I don't know who writes this rubbish but the last thing you want to be doing on these pistes is to ski fast, you need to ski in control or you'll end up with a broken leg or ankle/knee! Cheers heres to some snow.

You can get a train from Turin which takes about 90 minutes to Saux D' Oulx where the skiing is normally great but not at the moment due to lack of snow.