J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

iLoveSkiing wrote:Ise, I'll keep your recommendations in mind if I ever consider snow shoeing. So far I've unfortunately only been on two 1 week ski holidays so I'm reluctant to try anything else that eats into precious ski time.

I can see that :D You might find there's a possibility to try this in an evening, some restaurants are reachable in the evening with snow shoes which could be quite nice. I've seen posters around for various restaurants offering this.

iLoveSkiing wrote:

ise wrote:

I wouldn't personally, ski trousers are a bit warm for snow shoes for me but it might be that my snow show trips are more vigorous :D

http://snowslider.net/2006/12/30/zinal-cabane-du-petit-mountet/

but you're right, ski trousers are much more practical than ordinary trousers.

I'd wear salopettes and unzip my jacket to cool down. Out of interest ise what do you wear when snow shoeing? Waterproof hiking trousers?

mountaineering trousers personally. Any "normal" skiing clothing isn't much use when you start doing real work, in that case layers work out better and I carry a pair of ARC?TERYX paclite goretex trousers as well.

Depends how serious you are really, for a couple of snow shoe trips or climbs then ski trousers/jackets are fine but if you start to do a lot then you need some more specialist clothing.

bandit wrote:The train will take about 3.5 hours depending on which service. 2/3 changes en-route.
If travelling from the UK, these folks are offering the Swiss Transfer Ticket which will get you to/from your resort for £51.

http://www.swissrailways.co.uk/

You must get it before you travel though!

Of course I've never heard of that :D that's 120.- chf which sounds a good deal to me. I have a demi-tariff and Mrs Ise has a General Abonnement so we're paying, or not paying, less than that anyway.

I'll suggest that next time we've some visitors.

john101 wrote:hittin the slopes in grindelwald but ne ideas how to get there from geneva?
transfers seem to be like £700 per person. better to hire a car or take the train? hotel have offered to pick me up off the train.
help much appreciated :)

The train should be fine, try

http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

I'd expect you can get from GVA to Bern direct, Bern->Interlaken, Interlaken->Grindelwald, 3.5 hrs maybe? You can book and pay for the tickets online and print them out. It'll take that long to drive I think so unless it's a big group the train seems a better bet.

I think powder traces are cheap enough to buy so you might want to experiment with them, maybe they work for you. Leashes though I'd say are dangerous and best avoided unless your skis have no brakes.

iLoveSkiing wrote:

ise wrote:
For snow shoeing you can rent the kit of course. The thing to bear in mind is that the shoes will throw bits of snow up onto the calf area and will soak your trousers which will be very unpleasant.

won't AndyB & family be wearing salopettes for show shoeing? I would but would it look odd, ise?

I wouldn't personally, ski trousers are a bit warm for snow shoes for me but it might be that my snow show trips are more vigorous :D

http://snowslider.net/2006/12/30/zinal-cabane-du-petit-mountet/

but you're right, ski trousers are much more practical than ordinary trousers.

AndyB wrote:The trouble for us is our location- the Isle of Wight!!! It means we have to add ferry fares getting to and from a dry ski slope which all adds extra expense for what will add up to be a fairly pricey holiday anyway. Also, this isn't supposed to be a skiing trip as such. We want to snowshoe, tabogan etc as well. My 10 yr old daughter is desperate to play snowballs and build a snowman having never seen snow. We may have a couple of private lessons just to say we've tried it but not envisaging doing much more skiing than that really.

You're coming to the right country for that, the rest of Europe don't really take tobogganing seriously but there's some serious runs here. Grindelwald actually has the longest, the Big Pintenfritz which is from the Faulhorn and 12.5km or 15km long (depending where you read it).

If you're going sightseeing and riding up the lifts to places like the Schilthorn or the Jungfrau you should brace yourself for the prices which are eye-watering.

For snow shoeing you can rent the kit of course. The thing to bear in mind is that the shoes will throw bits of snow up onto the calf area and will soak your trousers which will be very unpleasant. If you have gaiters it makes all the difference but they need to be goretex otherwise you sweat so much it doesn't make a difference.

I'm sure there are skiers out there using leashes but they're actually intended for snowboarders or ski-tourers using bindings without brakes. Even then a lot of ski tourers won't use leashes as they're reckoned to be dangerous in an avalanche situation where you want to separate from your kit if possible.

That leaves powder trails or traces, I personally don't use them either. They're a total hassle to use and I don't know if they really work. I've never either lost a ski using them or skied with someone who has so I've never seen them work first-hand.

There's an art to finding a ski, partly from being able to gauge on any surface where it might have gone but also being disciplined in looking for it. The first thing I do is mark the point where I parted company from the ski using a pole, the other ski or an avalanche probe. Then I use either a probe or the other ski to probe the snow for the ski. I generally don't get split very far from skis though and I try to avoid falling at all on steep/deep slopes.

The other thing to do is make the DIN is set right, there's three basic settings. 1. So high the ski never comes off, 2. just right and 3. the self-righteous git level where the ski will fly off and hit someone else :D