J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

OldAndy wrote:

AllyG wrote:
We seem to be rather short on scary photos so far on this thread .......

Well, probably because a real scary moment would result in blured photos due to the hands shaking.
:mrgreen:

Perhaps the first time on skis is the most scary moment of the lot :?: :lol:

Thanks Dave Mac, for those scary stories :D

I suppose it's partly about learning not to panic, however bad the situation is (or you think it is!).

We seem to be rather short on scary photos so far on this thread, so I've swiped AndyHull's very scary photo from where he originally posted it (in 'the amusing ski photo thread'), I hope he doesn't mind:

andyhull wrote:I can laugh about this now! If you look carefully you see I only have one ski on, the other is about 100 meters below. And yes it is that steep...

AllyG wrote:
This is a quick summary of the situation at the moment:

Ian W - wants January or maybe March
Nelly - can't do January but OK for Feb and March
Me - March a bit doubtful about whether I can manage it or not
Snapzzz - prefers last week in Jan or early Feb but could probably manage Jan, Feb or March (as long as we hurry up and organize it before he books his family holidays)
Icy - wants March
Tony H - Thinks it's too early to consider 2014
Old Andy - said he'd love to come if he could manage it
Bandit - possibly might be considering it - I don't really know
Dids - would like to come 'one day'
Old Boarder - wants Feb or March
Felthorpe - doesn't seem to mind which month
Daved - wants last 2 weeks of Jan or 1st week of Feb
Far Queue - wants January or March
Bedrock Barney + 1 - wants late Feb or early March
Tonypants - not March
Joe Colin - wants January or February
Brooksy - doesn't want school holidays and prefers the cheaper holiday dates if possible
Randyrat - has a group of 4 people, and prefers the last week in January and somewhere not too expensive.
Catp - is interested in coming and hasn't got any preferences for the date

Have I left anyone out, or accidentally included anyone I shouldn't have?

Here are the places suggested so far for 2014:

Snapzzz - Zermatt, Sella Ronda, Les Portes du Soleil
Crispyapplepie - Morzine, St Anton, Alpe d'Huez
Daved - Milky Way, La Plagne (Montchavin and Champery), La Clusaz, Verchaix/Grand Massif
Old Boarder - Les Deux Alpes
Dids - Samoens/Grand Massif
Andyhull - chalet The Lodge in Val d'Isere with Skiworld (around £700-£750 all inclusive except ski hire, January prices)
Tony H - Niederau and St Moritz
AllyG - 3 Valleys
Ian W - Livigno
Icy - Chamonix
Ranchero_1979 - Engelberg
Bandit - Les Arcs
Ranchero_1979 - Cervinia

Any more places/ski areas anyone would like us to consider? Would anyone else like to go on the list of those potentially interested for 2014?

Ranchero - I like the look of Cervinia, so I've added it to the list, thanks for the suggestion :D

And there are some lovely photos of Cervinia here, that Mattski_score took on his holiday:
http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/11604.page

Thanks Verbier_ski_bum, Ranchero_1979, Tony H and Old Andy :D

Has anyone got any photos of really scary stuff :?:

I find it's very difficult to get the adrenaline levels just right - I like to be a tiny bit scared but not totally petrified, because otherwise of course I find I can't move (like Andy on The Face!) :lol:

I have edited my post (on the previous page) with the photo in it, to describe where I think we were when my daughter took the photo. Here is a smaller version of the same photo.



And, since we are now on a new page, I would like to remind everyone that there is still room in this chalet if anyone else wants to come with us (details on the first page) :D.

Hi Verbier_ski_bum,
Your sort of ski-ing sounds seriously scary to me :shock:

I guess you must count as one of the 'elite' now, if you can survive that sort of ski-ing :D

I had a look on http://www.verbierswitzerland.com/english/engedx.htm

to see what they said about Mont Fort:

Mont Fort, The Face
Some skiers prefer to ski the face of Mt. Fort. This Challenging bump run is one of the steepest in the Alps; and, as such, it attracts some of the best skiers in Europe. Unfortunately, on the same runs, you will also frequently see skiers that are totally out of their depth; either tumbling down the slopes or standing still, paralyzed by fear. Very often well meaning friends can be blamed for this predicament. Overconfidence is also another reason. Far, far better to join those in the cable car who know their limits and have wisely left their skis at the base. Come on up and enjoy the ride and the staggering view that takes in every mountain from The Matterhorn to Mont Blanc.

I am quite sure, if I ever ski Verbier, I will be taking the cable car back down :lol:

I was reading Dids' report on Chamonix and it made me start thinking about how we all have different standards when it comes to judging pistes/off-piste areas, for how difficult and scary they are.

What do you reckon is the scariest piste/off-piste you've even been down? This is mine:

A year ago I was ski-ing at Courchevel with my daughter, my friend, and her son, and all of us (except my friend) were in a group ski lesson together.

During the morning of the last day our instructor nearly scared me to death by taking us off piste and down what felt (to me) like a precipice. He took us up the Creux Noirs chairlift to the top (at 2700m) and then proceeded to take us down the beginning of the red towards Meribel, and I was worrying about this because we only had lift passes for Courchevel (and our instructor knew this).

There was, however, something much worse in store for me because all of a sudden he just leaped down the side of this piste onto what appeared to me to be a 'precipice', clearly expecting the rest of us to follow :shock:

So, over we went, like a bunch of lemmings, and I don't know about everyone else but I was praying that I'd survive :lol:

It was the hardest, and scariest, bit of ski-ing I have ever done. It was very steep, with rocks, and pockets of deep powder, and I can remember at one point jumping as high as I could so that I could pivot my skis around without hitting a rock (whilst still following everyone else in the same line).

And at one point I misjudged one of my bouncy powder turns and catapulted forwards (luckily not hitting a rock) and landed flat on my face in a pile of powder and everyone had to wait whilst I cleaned my glasses.

And when we eventually got back onto a piste I was so relieved, until I started laughing at myself because I realized that we were on a black mogully piste, but even that was a relief. Surprisingly enough, I managed to ski down this okay, although one member of our class found it so difficult that he was about to take off his skis and walk until our instructor stopped him.

And afterwards, back in the apartment, I was telling my friend all about our morning exploits and how we'd skied down a precipice, and my daughter said I was talking total nonsense and it hadn't been at all difficult.

So, during the afternoon, whilst I stuck to blue runs in 1650 with my friend, her son and my daughter went back to the Creux Noirs and took these photos (to prove to me how flat and easy it had been). They didn't do the off-piste section at the beginning of course (because they knew I wouldn't allow them off-piste on their own) but they went down the piste and took a photo of the side of the piste (which was all tracked out by then because a load of people saw where our instructor had taken us off the piste and had followed us).

I have to admit that the photos do make it look a lot easier than I remember it, and the 'precipice' seems to have disappeared :lol:

Here are the photos:

Hi Dids,
I'm glad your daughter was okay, and didn't miss any ski time :D

I think maybe I don't count being in a bus as part of my actual ski-ing time, because there are no views, whereas when I'm in a gondola I can usually see out and admire the mountains etc.

I'm usually only ski-ing for 6 or 7 days (or sometimes even only 3 days), and I costed it out once and I reckon a ski holiday costs me about £25 per hour of actual ski-ing time, so if there are 2 of us it's costing me £50 per hour :shock:

So I do resent time stuck in lift queues, in buses, or on long boring drag lifts. If the view is good from the drag lift I don't mind it so much. And most particularly I hate it when they shut all the lifts in the resort (because of the wind or the risk of avalanche) and I can't ski at all :evil:

If I lived out there, like Ranchero_1979, I'm sure I'd be able to take things at an easier pace and appreciate places like Chamonix.