J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by steverandomno

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/11828586/Six-year-old-girl-sued-over-Austria-skiing-accident.html

A six year old skier who 'allegedly made a sudden turn into the path of' another skier is being sued in Austria.

Dave Mac wrote:Good news about the drones. That should make our Colorado visit more pleasant this winter.

Wow. I haven't seen any north of the border yet. I guess it would be annoying and possibly quite dangerous when there's enough for a 'swarm'. Was it really that bad or was it just one or two making a lot of noise?

LOTA wrote:Without wishing to prolong this discussion too much further, let me tell you a true story.

Back in the late 1970s, I joined a trip from one of the UK's largest dry slopes to an Italian resort, not noted for its 'intimidating' skiing (in fact, it could be best described as terminally intermediate). There were four skiers who had learned on the dry slope over a number of months and were competent parallel skiers on the plastic. On morning one, I found them blundering around half-way down a pretty easy run. They all confessed to being overwhelmed and 'intimidated' by the sheer scale of the mountains, the lift system etc. They booked straight into lessons and by the end of the week were all-mountain heroes, thanks to the grounding they had acquired on the dry slope. It was the mountain not the plastic that they found intimidating.

Yes, real snow is best but sometimes you have to make the best of what's available. :)

Ha ha. That's a good story. I guess it goes to show that people will always find new things intimidating to some extent and it's difficult to predict what aspect it will be.

sometimes you have to make the best of what's available.

Definitely agree with that. Especially after last season in the Rockies. Some of our most 'interesting' skiing days were working out how to get down a patchwork of ice and dirt.

I must admit that I'm quite curious about dry slope skiing. It sounds like you have a lot of experience of them. Did you learn on one? I wonder if there is any aspect of your skiing that you feel is stronger as a result?

LOTA wrote:There are surprisingly few injuries.

That's good to know. I have no idea of the safety stats, and they would probably be a bit meaningless anyway, but my perception was that it is a lot more intimidating than skiing on snow. Intimidation is a big factor when you're a novice, I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from skiing, but I would say that beginning on real snow is a far better introduction.

LOTA wrote:Contrary to what the above poster says, the dry slope lessons are a good idea.

With respect, not sure I agree with that. A snow dome or equivalent place would be OK to get to know the equipment etc.. as you mention, but not a dry slope. Out of curiosity, I tried a dry slope a few years ago. I was more concerned about hurting myself than I would be on most expert runs in most resorts. I have no idea whether the statistics back up my impression of the danger of injury, but it seems to me that when you fall onto a thumb catching, net like, astroturf surface at any speed, you stand a good chance of hurting yourself quite badly.

I don't want to pour too much scorn on dry slopes. I'm sure there are loads of people who got into skiing because of dry slopes who wouldn't have otherwise. However, if you're off for a week on the proper stuff anyway, what's the point? It seems like a risky introduction that might put people off.

andyhull wrote:

Ranchero_1979 wrote:
A guide or instructor does not magically remove the intrinsic danger of skiing offpiste anymore than a pilot being trained. It only guarantees that they will have a predefined level of competence, that has been tested. Something which is impossible to ascertain when you just meet someone off street.

Ski hosting didn't venture onto black runs let alone off piste.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion over what ski hosting is. If ski professionals think they are going to be busy because of the end to ski hosting they are in for disappointment!

Agreed. I joined the Whistler SCGB host with some friends last season. It was the first time I've tried it and I was very impressed. It's in no way akin to the guiding or teaching that you would pay for. It's simply a nice way of joining up with others for a sociable day on the slopes. Having said that, it was obvious that the host had done a lot of training on group management and was putting it to good use. It's a great way to familiarize yourself with a new resort.
I have no experience of the hosting/guiding in Europe but it appears similar. This whole French situation seems totally overblown. If anyone in the ESF thinks they are going to pick up a single new customer as a result of banning what effectively amounts to formalized helpful social meetups, then they are off their rockers.

In Canada, most resorts offer free 'ski hosting' run by volunteers (who usually get a free season pass and some food drink out of the deal), which essentially amounts to the same thing as the guiding given by the tour operators. They see it as good hospitality and added value. There's also a simple safety side benefit of guests becoming familiarized with the slopes from someone who knows the resort well (in the same way that a friend might advise you that whilst a certain run is green, it can get icy and crowded etc...).

What a mess! The only people to come out of this looking bad are the FIS who will be seen as both miserable and clumsy.

Try here:
http://www.j-sekka.com/#!lessons/c1v5s

I think an Australian ex-pat owns the company.