J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andyhull

Horrible stuff when you come off natural snow onto machine made stuff, it's grippy and doesn't feel right. However as past of a good base it's fantastic as it allows resort runs to stand up to the heavy traffic they have to carry. If it's just on the bottom runs to keep them covered then that's fine.
Having said that, snow making has come a long way in a short time. I can see a time in the next decade or so when they'll be producing machine made champagne powder...

Fantastic area, just back from a superb week there.
Conditions are currently superb from top to bottom, just extremely cold at the moment. -11c to -21c

I hope you all got out, there are great conditions out there. We flew into Gatwick last night with Monarch, 5 hour delay but least they didn't cancel any flights.

No sleeps left! Heading off shortly. Hopefully I'll be able to log-on in resort and post a few photos.

Bottom line is accidents do happen, I'd rather be wearing a helmet than not.
I've seen a couple of high velocity collisions where people have been really lucky to have got away with minor injury.
Totally agree that the changing techniques have increased the likelihood of collisions happening, most of the near misses you see are people travelling at similar speed who accelerate out of a turn and their turns intersect.
Add to all of this that fact that mountain etiquette is rarely taught these days and the problem just gets worse.

What flight are you on?

AllyG wrote:

andyhull wrote:Funny you should say that. I've had a little trip to the passport office in Peterborough today...
All sorted now.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Yes, that's exactly the sort of 'little thing' people tend to forget. Glad you managed to get it sorted in time.

Have fun Tonypants, and anyone else heading out :D

Ally

I've spent so much time in the last few weeks sorting out everybody else's holidays to St Anton and Val Thorens I've not spent enough time getting myself ready! Final balances were due from 38 people this week so it's been a bit hectic, not to mention actually doing my job!

Just watching the Giant Slalom on Eurosport, from Val D'Isere on La Face. Snow coverage looks good, which on a steep slope like that is a very good sign. Be skiing that very soon. :-)

We've always been quite up front when we market a trip to St Anton, it not the resort for those that prefer 'cruisy blues'. Having said that we've had several beginners on those trips and they've got on just fine.
Resort runs anywhere can be a bit dodgy, so you just take your time and be careful. It's only 1% of your skiing, so no need to let it put you off.