J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Thanks for the info. Bandit :D

Is there maybe a resort near Engelberg that would be okay for the rest of us (who probably want ski in/ski out and a larger ski area than 80 Km of pisted runs that J2Ski says Engelberg has), so that the advanced/expert J2Skiers could disappear off to the delights of the off-piste at Engelberg during the day and rejoin us in the evening?

That's very sad, poor Icy :cry:

I suppose that's another potential downside to owning a dog. My brother 'lost' his dog the same way :(

Another bad thing about owning a dog is that they do make an awful lot of mess in the house - with dog hair and mud etc.

Practically every week I have to de-dog both our cottages for the next visitors and it's amazing how much dog hair there is and where it gets to - like in the fridge, stuck IN the mattress (through the sheet and 2 mattress protectors), in the chests of drawers, stuck to the cushions etc. and I wash all the throws every week which cover the sofas and armchairs and after we've had a dog there's always loads of dog hair in the filter in the tumble drier.

I think myself the best dog to have would be one that didn't lose it's hair, although then of course you'd have to either trim it yourself or have it done professionally. When I was a child we used to trim our poodles ourselves, and once I started farming the farm sheepdog wasn't allowed in the house so mess wasn't a problem.

Snapzzz - have you made your mind up yet? I think what Dids said was very sensible and perhaps you should only get your daughter a dog if you want one yourself, in case it ends up being your dog and not hers because she loses interest in it.

My younger daughter has just asked me for a car - now that is even more expensive than a dog, but at least I won't have to take it for walks in the rain :lol:

Thanks Ranchero,
Tignes is where I need them, for our J2Ski group ski holiday in Les Brevieres on 13th January. How funny that they are in Chamonix - that resort was second favourite when we were deciding where to go :lol:

I will send you a pm, thanks :D

Hi Ranchero_1979,
I hired those skis in Meribel in January this year, and they were the best skis I've ever been on (once I got over complaining about how much they weighed, that is!).

Where have you got them? You wouldn't happen to have them in Tignes would you?

I should think 167 would be okay for me - I am 5 foot 10 inches. And I know I am female and these are male skis, but I nearly always seem to end up with male skis when I'm hiring them :lol:

The main reason I haven't bought any skis of my own is that I wouldn't be able to carry them to wherever I'm ski-ing. But there seem to be several companies now who will deliver them and bring them back to the U.K. for about the same price as ski carriage on most airlines.

Here is a photo we took of ski-ing on the Grande Motte glacier at Tignes in October half-term '09. At that time only the red and black runs down were open to us, and the area inbetween was reserved for slalom training by various ski teams - local and national.

It was rather like ski-ing in a large outdoor snow-dome, but we had a great time. The second year we were there, at around the same time, it snowed loads just as we got there but only the same ski area was open.



And here is a photo of one of the skiers in training (from the French national team I think):

Snapzzz,
There are some more negative things about having a dog, that no-one has mentioned so far.

It's awful when the dog becomes ill, and even worse when it dies :cry:

We've had 3 dogs that have died since we've had kids and each time it's been totally heartbreaking. The last one had to be put down and my older daughter was so upset that she came home especially to say goodbye to the dog, even though she was at Uni and about to do her Finals.

And when I was a child we had a dog that became diabetic and had to be injected every day and then went blind and eventually had to be put down.

When I eventually agreed to let my younger daughter have a dog of her own it's leg got broken after we'd only had it for one week, and then it died in a terrible accident when it was only 6 months old.

You could say, of course, that these were all valuable learning experiences for me and my family - learning to deal with grief and death and nursing a sick animal, but quite honestly I still feel traumatized by the whole experience. And I've said we're never going to have another dog because I couldn't bear to go through all that again :cry:

Hugh,
Here are a couple of photos I took of Obergurgl. They're not very good photos because I took them with a disposable camera, but it does give you a general idea of the place. It is very open, high, and windswept and there is very little tree-lined ski-ing in Obergurgl itself, but I think there's a bit more in Hochgurgl next door (which is linked).

We were there the first week in January - generally the cheapest week, after the schools have gone back, and it was the year there was very little snow anywhere ('06/'07?).

This is the blue run down from the gondola. We took this route every morning on the way to ski school as our hotel was opposite the gondola. It is a very long blue run and quite difficult for a blue (the first morning I fell flat going down it).




This is the single man chairlift (which I think has now been replaced) going up the Hohe Mutt. Incredibly, apparently it was the same lift that was there when my Mum skied at Obergurgl in the '50's :shock:

I suppose I get rather annoyed at people that ignore safety warnings when they're ski-ing/boarding.

When we were ski-ing on the Grande Motte glacier in Tignes in October there were loads of warnings about not going off piste and the dangers of falling into a crevasse. And the very day we were ski-ing there (on the piste of course) somone fell into a crevasse off-piste :shock:

Luckily for them it wasn't one of those 'bottomless' ones and the rescue team got them out okay.