J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Innsbrucker

Thanks bandit, that sounds like very sound advice. Getting on elbows and knees would probably have helped. Turning to get feet first, I tried a bit and felt high risk, I would have tried harder if heading for a disaster, but as the slope was clear it felt safer not to struggle too much.

EmmaEvs, thanks, I thought of that. But as said, was worried the skis would come off. Obviously yours did not not! Maybe in that situation they don't come off so easily as I feared.

I may try that spreading if I fall again, thanks Brimster. Not sure why I did not try it. Maybe I was afraid of my legs, with skis still on, getting tangled and injured.

Yes, somtimes you have to push a little bit. I am actually quite risk averse, with only 3 years skiing, moderate fitness, and over 50. And yesterday I had tired legs from a jogging. That is why I listened to intuition and abandoned my hope of doing the hardest pistes that day. One of the two pistes at the top of Nordkette, a near vertical gully, is out of the question for me (and not much used by locals), the other is possible but such a long way down. OTH coping with a couple of the normal diamond slopes showed me that an ice-free black is normally within my safety limits (though there is loads of room for improvement), and I was suprised to fall.

However, no skier is toally immune from falling. Obviously people who are qualified for these ultra-steep runs (or for extreme skiing off piste) will somtimes have to handle a fall. It is good to be prepared as far as possible.

Nordkette is a lovely resort only 2km from Innsbruck. Amazing views, superb snow (yesterday, until a chill wind started to harden it), big half pipe for boarders / freestylers. It is playground for locals, avoided by tourists as it is rather small (though long), and rather steep.

A gondol goes to the summit, a couple of gullies down with slopes up to 70%, and I bottled out as it's such a long way to slide if you fall, and I am a relative beginner. But I want to try, probably not before next year now as I need to work up to it.

Then I did a diamond slope (which I began to think are meant to be steeper than blacks, though the Austrian plans show them in red dotted lines). And fell, well that was ok as there was a mogul field to the side and it was easy to stop, so I stood up and skied down the rest gingerly.

Then fell again :!: on a black. The large beer had been a bad idea... And I slid headfirst on my tummy. And slid. And slid. And slid. Skis still on, so I knew it would be ok if I could get feet first. But how? Try to turn sideways and you slide even faster.

And what if skis come off? I was afraid to dig them in when moving headfirst as I really did not want to leave one or both of them on the piste (even though gf was following so could have collected them). I had PLENTY of thinking time on the way down :oops: And plenty of snow in my anorak pockets by the time I did manage to 'swim' towards a clump of snow to stop myself :x

The top of Nordkette is demanding for a learner and marked on the plan with red diamond+black border. However, many local skiers and boarders find it OK provided it the snow is good and not icy, yesterday gf even offered to ski it once alone to check snow conditions for me before I tried. But before I try it, I feel I should know how to fall safely, but more especially how to recover from a fall when you are sliding down a piste which is steep and LONG.

Any tips plese :D

GF watched it and said 'this is the carving style, I do this when carving (??), not for wedeln, you should practice skiing on one ski, it is a good exercise.' Oh well, more work...

Interesting video. And no doubt a good exercise.

BUT I struggle to do this slowly on a gentle slope, as an advanced beginner (I can usually get down blacks without a fall, today, one large beer later, was an exception....). This guy looks to me like a good skier, I cannot really judge but he is significantly better than I am, and he is not going fast, and mostly it is not that steep.

So the video proves it can be done on a groomed piste, and it proves some good skiers would want to try it. It does not, however back up the claim in the linked article by the thread starter 'alpinski aka Nonproexpert', that the technique makes skiing easier for beginners who are nervous about crossing their skis.

It would be interesting if the thread starter comes back and comments on this, or puts up a defence, as I am open to giving it another go.

I tried turning on the inside leg, at the first opportunity (two days ago). On a gentle slope not too fast it works, and it is possibly harder to cross the skis, the penalty seems to be it works the legs harder. On a red piste at slow to moderate speed I could not do it. Now that may because I am not a great skiier. OTH the technique is supposed to be good for relative beginners. It is just possible my problem was it goes against habit, but at any kind of speed and steepness it felt dangerous, in spite of the fact ski cross is maybe less likely.

Thanks. It must be interesting to try out these skis.

Today I watched some of the giant slalom, also there skis look fairly straight.