J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

meercat wrote:
Unfortunately, the whole site doesn't translate into English, and also it can be hard to find what you're looking for. So, here is a link to where you start to explore the current snow situation in Switzerland (only) - http://www.slf.ch/swiss-snow/rk50a_snow.html - and for the current avalanche risk - http://www.slf.ch/swiss-snow/rb50dc.html - you can translate the legend 1 to 5 as being none, possible, dangerous, high danger, very dangerous.

Looking at these pages however, is no substitute for checking your immediate locaility's situation - which might be higher than depicted.

During the season this mostly is in English, I have links to local information on my site as well.

Can I just ask you to double check that what you're posting is entirely accurate before submitting though ? There's some inaccurate info slipping by, particularly there's no such thing as a "none" level of risk so that's misrepresenting the scale in a fundamental way. This is life and death after all, if you're not sure about something then ask and (when I get time, it's a bit intense now) I'll try and answer. Otherwise, a great idea to raise awareness, well done !

wake up the thread ... I wanted to type something like this in the other one but this english keyboard is a pain

dulcamara wrote:has anyone come across any good deals on transceivers? or any going second hand, preferably double antenna ones??

Telemark Pyrennes have some good deals and sell packs with beep, probe and shovel which work out well.

Meercat wrote:Re. Probes.

I wonder whether or not in the panic of a situation a person with a transceiver and a probe will in their haste to detect a burried person resort to using the probe rather than pinpoint using the transceiver. Sure, a probe for comfirming that you're in the right place to dig is good - but what if the transceiver says 'yes' and the probe is unable to penetrate deep enough or bangs up against some packed snow/ice? Vital seconds could be lost re-probing in the area.

That said, probes are not there for no reason - and it's what the rescue teams use. So they must be the way to go.

Your post had some interesting things in it and some good advice. Your best advice though was to practice. If you do practice with better scenarios like deep burials (use a rucksack) not only will get familiar with a probe but you'll understand it's not possible to find anything other than a near surface burial without one, if you've been practicing with beeps buried near the surface that's a good start but only a start.

As admin pointed out, you need that trinity, beep, probe and shovel. You also need a good shovel and to practice in avalanche debris with it to be sure it's a good shovel and zou can use it effectively.

Meercat wrote:I did not mention probes because vacationers rarely carry them, although as I said - as much equipment as you can.

Yes - ABS - but not the sort you get in your car.....

One thing I forgot to mention - make sure your transceiver is *tightly* strapped to your body. Because ski jackets get ripped off in an avalanche - it's no use - if anything a major hinderence - if it gets put in your jacket pocket.

I must be misreading this, you're not suggesting that probes are anything other than essential surely?

RoseR wrote:
We dont often use lifts or funiculars as part of our holiday is walking/hiking/playing in the snow, so we usually walk/hike up the side of a mountain, when we reach the top, ski/board back down. So we really go at our own speed or pace. I would love to sort it out, its not severe enough for me to see Docs and does not stop me doing every-thing, but would love to feel tip-top for all of my holiday

you're ski touring? if not it sounds like you'd suit it.

Have you tried Acetazolamide (Diamox) at all? If it's a huge problem you can ski at lower altitudes in Austria or Norway with just as good snow. Also avoiding villages over 2000m might be a good idea, stay at 1000-1500m and ski over 2000m should be easier. Other treatments are over the top, additional oxygen or steroid injections, for a holiday really.

What you're describing is classic, those first few days you're going up the slopes and returning to the village each night, in climbers talk, climb high - sleep low, that's increasing production of red blood cells and after a couple of days you've enough red cells to deal with it.

I'm lucky, I spend a lot of time at height and my red blood cell count is high so my ability to get oxygen around my body will be significantly greater than a holidaymaker. I've been spending time with people recently doing acclimatisation protocols with them actually although there's no particular advice I can give other than we're chemical free :D

Trencher wrote:Ise makes a very good point about the jet stream.


In North America, you watch it every day on the weather forecast in autumn, winter and spring. It totally governs what the weather will be and is very unpredictable. It's like a giant syne wave looping around the Northern hemisphere. The oscillations vary in magnitude and position.

Exactly, I should have pointed out that the effect is way more pronounced in the US than over here.

Dave Mac wrote:
Global warming is in evidence. The question is the degree of that which is man-made, and that which is an oscilatory process.

That's right. The term global warming means the whole globe of course and local conditions vary a bit. The mainstream debate's moved so far from this now though, you're one sentence summary nails it precisely. Even the term global warming has been dropped in favour of climate change to avoid just this confusion.

jonG wrote:On the Global Warming/Climate Change debate..i have just returned from Bourg-Saint-Maurice where the glaciers are looking better than they have for years in the area,and during the past week the highest peaks of the region have all had fresh snow.

Global Warming....someone ,somewhere is making a lot of money preaching very biased statistics without giving te full facts and figures.

It's probably more likely they're tearing their hair out in frustration, one of the predicted effects of global warming was a weakening and deflection the jet stream. That's just what's happened since the 1990's, this year and last the jet stream was pushed onto the continent giving one half of Europe the storms you're talking about and the other heat waves, all predicted ahead of time and reported in at least some newspapers.

The glaciers might look pretty in the last week or so but you need to go up on them and look at the actual snow depths. The Glacier du Pissaillas for example, on your doorstep in Bourg, has closed early for skiing as temperatures hit 20'c and the snow melted.