J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Innsbrucker

PS having started the thread, just to report:

I tried my relatively newer (2003) skis, 170cm 1.6 radius, and the problem has largely cleared up. It was a combination of following advice from here, practice, and different skis. They turn so much easier than my mid-1990s staightish 180cm 'carvers.' Yesterday at Seefeld I found I could wedeln, as slow as you like, down the blues and reds, albeit without great style, and even managed the same in parts of a somewhat icy black I entered by mistake (and got down it without falling, which is just as well as a guy who did fall slid all the way down...).

I must have looked safer, too, as it was the first time my GF led me on some simple exercises in powder and between trees alongside the piste. It was a great day.

The one thing the older skis do better, to the limited extent I can judge, is they feel more stable when schussing. Not sure yet whether I can transfer this progress back to the straighter skis.

Thanks everyone! :-)

That Post Office rate is pretty good, the rates at the airport are outrageous.

I travel to the continent a lot, I think the best is to use an ATM when abroad. And as they charge a one off fee as well for the ATM, get out all you need at once.

Or better still, find a continental friend who needs ££ or needs something bought in £ and do a private deal, to cut out the banks, who make a big profit on changing both ways.

For anoraks there is a detailed wikipedia article about emergency numbers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_telephone_number

The question arises whether the international 112 gets answered as quickly as the numbers used by locals, eg. in Austria police 133, ambulance 144. If they have to use English-speaking operators, maybe not?

More relevant;y, according to Wikipedia Austria has a distnict number for Alpine rescue 140. I'll remember that....

Austria has loads of B&B, prices can be reasonable at smaller ones, who often offer buffet breakfast but do not offer dinner. I am guessing they are much dearer in smart resorts unless you are prepared to go a few km outside the centre.

Probably qutie a few do not even have websites. They call them pensions, so to find them, google 'Pension' (plural 'Pensionen') or contact the tourist office. Pub-type accommodation would be called 'Gasthaus' or maybe 'Wirthaus', where dinner (not necessarily included) tends to be be traditional local home cooking. Every little town seems to have a government-run tourist co-ordinator, sometimes called 'Fremdenverkehr,' supervising and promoting local tourism businesses.

I have no experience of self-catering in Austria. You find blocks of comfortable student-like rooms in German towns, with a couple of electric rings and maybe a microwave and some pans and plates. I found a nice place in Berlin which, oddly, included both breakfast and self-catering facilites. They have a website (fairly invisible to Google) but I got the contact by walking in to a government tourist office, who charged Euro2 for the booking.

Dorset Boy wrote:
Innsbrucker - sounds like you either need more practice at letting your skis run flat or check the canting on your boots.

Bit of both, probably. Though as an inexperienced, occasional social skier, finely adjusted boots (or skis) would be wasted on me. Anyway, I can schuss in a reaonably straight line, though it has a kind of kamikaze feel I don't much like.

Actually I rarely use schlep lifts, tend to use the little trains that go up as they seem quicker. The one drag lift I know, called Kaltwasserlift at Seefeld, has a narrow, sometimes steep, and wildly uneven bed. No running flat there.

I find it is possible to use a T-bar alone. It is not easy with a badly matched person. On the lower slope at Seefeld you sometimes see an adult with a child on the other side. That must take extra skill on the adult's part.

I should add that by Euro-zone standards, in southern Spain alcoholic refreshment is very reasonably priced :) In bars aimed at locals, and some more touristy bars, tapas is normally free and good, and with each round you buy, by convention, they offer a better tapas.

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Notwithstanding some negative points I made, Granada is one of the most gorgeous cities you could visit. Nothing if you are looking for 'authentic' apres ski, I suppose, I mean no fondues, gluhwein, holiday clubbing scene, or guys in lederhosen singing folk songs and making you link arms and sway along with the family sitting next. Maybe there is skiers' flamenco near the resort. But stunning architecture & scenery, you can fall in love with it easily.

The Ryanair flights are dire, but cheap and direct. Either very early or very late. Once I was on the flight, the capatain said, 'we were due to leave at 10pm, if we don't get off the ground by 10.30, when the airpot closes by law, we will be here a long time.' We took off at 10.25. The whole thing had an air of chaos. But then London-Salzburg schduled is also a Ryanair monopoly.

4 seconds of fun: