J2Ski logo J2Ski logo
Login Forum Search Recent Forums

J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

Messages posted by : ise

Skiing in April
Started by User in Ski Chatter, 19 Replies
Geoff Smith wrote: Ise wrote,

But, of the 5 you short-listed I'd drop Tignes and Alpe d'Huez immediately if it's your honeymoon unless Bracknell and Basingstoke were also on you honeymoon short-list of course. From a ski point of view they're good bets for snow in April but not very special places to stay.

Dear Marv,
I agree with Ise's comments about Alpe d'Huez as a place to stay. However you can get the best of both worlds by staying at Oz- en- Oisans, Vaujany or Villard Reculas. They are all attractive small resorts within the Massif des Grandes Rousses ski area which is also served by Alpe d'Huez. The snow conditions have been reliable in April in the last few years.

Ryanair fly round the year to Grenoble. It is certainly possible to get buses from there to Vaujany and Oz-en Oisans.

Geoff smith


Good point, I'd heard reports that the satellite villages were quite nice but couldn't dredge the names from memory. Likewise Grandes Rouses.

Mind you, it's still not Switzerland and the Matterhorn :D
The 5 Ski Mistakes 90% skiers do!
Started by User in Ski Technique, 19 Replies
pavelski wrote:
Here are 5 of the most common.

1. Looking at skis while skiing.

2. Trailing arm

3. Leaning back.




that's true but you could reduce this three things not five. Really these three are the same thing in nearly every case. Looking at the skis nearly always triggers an instinctive vertigo and forces people back, the trailing arm has the same effect in shifting the centre of balance back as well.

OTOH, so important to be worth mentioning twice :D Or the top 10 mistakes where 9 of them are leaning back :D
Skiing in April
Started by User in Ski Chatter, 19 Replies
Marv wrote:Thank you very much for all your kind input, have not responded until now as you have given us a lot to think about. I think the top resorts in the running are Obergurgl, Zermatt, Saas Fee, Alpe d'Huez and Tignes, so as you can probably tell still quite a way off making a decision!

It will deffinately be the 13th April we will be going but we have come across another problem, of the major package holiday companies we have checked so far don?t cater for that week in April (which has concerned us further about the snow cover prospect) when flying from Manchester. Would anyone be kind enough to suggest a holiday company that would arrange a package at that time of year, as we don?t relish the prospect of arranging all the transfers ourselves on this particular holiday!


The general suggestion of Austria is excellent, pretty much always scenic.

But, of the 5 you short-listed I'd drop Tignes and Alpe d'Huez immediately if it's your honeymoon unless Bracknell and Basingstoke were also on you honeymoon short-list of course. From a ski point of view they're good bets for snow in April but not very special places to stay.

Obergurgl will be a good bet for snow and has a really, really long season, I don't know the village well, I've stayed up at Hochgurgl which isn't too special.

However, Zermatt and Saas Fee are something else, Saas Fee has the disadvantage that some of the slopes lack sunlight for some parts of the day as does the village although the snow record is excellent.

But, of that list, there's only one answer for me and that's Zermatt. People come from all over the planet to Zermatt, to ski, to climb or just be impressed with the views. The town is pretty nice, although they're are slightly nicer, but the mountains are something else.

As for the conditions, it's end of season but they'll be some skiing, I was last there back on the 22 April this year (photos) and I think the pistes were fine at least in the morning. Without a crystal ball it's hard to know but it's a safe bet as far as it can be.

The UK mass market has pretty much stopped after Easter which is March next year so I'm not surprised you don't see too many options in the mainstream brochures. You can always just book direct, the tourist office would be delighted to help if you called them and told them you were looking to go for a honeymoon. It's very accessible via air and rail, the train will take you right into Zermatt after (I think) one change from Geneva.

German speaking of course, apart from the hotel staff who'll speak Portuguese.
Best Ways to get Ski Fit
Started by User in Ski Chatter, 58 Replies
Trencher wrote:Freezy

I don't think ise was sugesting you omit warming up, just the stretching.


Absolutely, warming up is really, really good especially for skiers and especially for people not used to spending time at altitude.

freezywater wrote:
It would seem(from the research) that the best form of warm up(in the case of skiing) is 10 mins or so of less intense skiing to get the body temperature up. So in other words when I go to Hintertux this coming January it might not be the best idea in the world to head straight for the hari kiri downhill run!!!


absolutely, sometimes it's not practical to warmup by doing a run, for example if you ride up the lifts on the Schilthorn it's an awkward black straight out the lift so you want to be warmed up first.

as an aside, if your instructor asks you if you're cold before skiing it's OK to say yes or no, if they ask after say "yes" otherwise you're being their straight man while they deliver the punchline "well, you looked frozen coming down there" :D

freezywater wrote: Can anyone explain the correlation between upper body muscular injury/pain and a weeks hard skiing And no, before anyone asks I am not trying to turn with my body rather than knees.


not quickly :D turning your body is OK, obviously wrenching your shoulders round alone to turn is bad but you're trying to use your whole body. For example, upper body pre-rotation is a useful technique on steep ground and carving would be hard without some upper body involvement.

Anyone skied Hintertux in the summer?
Started by User in Austria, 3 Replies
I've been there for summer training a few times, my overriding memory is of poor visibilty in fact I can't bring a clear image of the place to my mind :D Just bad luck with my timing I suppose.

I must have stayed somewhere but I can't recall where, but, I'll have made a note of it some place I think, I'll see if I can find it. I find just calling up the tourist office is generally OK, I've a huge faith in Austrian accommodation.

Glacier skiing's getting a bit of a marginal thing, there's been a couple of years of really poor conditions. Apparently some race training has had a really hard time, the snow's been so soft that they can't even drill in to get gates up. It's always been the case that you need to be riding the first lift at 0700 or earlier but it's getting unskiable even by 1000 nowadays.
Best Ways to get Ski Fit
Started by User in Ski Chatter, 58 Replies
Max Cottle wrote:
There has been no conflicting research on this to my knowledge. In the absence of evidence to the contrary we'll take it as being true.


Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it isn't there dude.

Absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence....

I can only shake my head, there is no point argueing


don't call me dude please.

There's been several studies seeking to confirm or refute the original findings which have only confirmed the original research. These are published in several journals of sports medicine and picked up by professional bodies and various sporting organisations.So, there's no absence of evidence here, there's been multiple studies carried out all over the world using hugely diverse subjects. I can't quite understand why you're arguing about something you've not read on the basis of something that doesn't exist but endeavouring to suggest might or might sometime in the future.

I also think you're being more than a little rude about the researchers involved. If you choose not to believe something that's no concern of mine but unless you've some evidence to the contrary you really shouldn't rubbish the expert research in the field.

I don't care whether people stretch or not, it's a matter of total indifference to me. The current thinking is that we shouldn't be advising people to stretch before exercise, this is reflected in training for PSIA and BASI candidates who are the sort of people you've already had one pop at in suggesting no one reads this type of research.

Not doing stretching was certainly the recommendation when I did my ski instructor training, I'm simply sharing that good practice and I didn't really expect to be contradicted at every turn without a single shred of contrary evidence. I'm not dogmatic in any way at all about this, I have absolutely no opinion whatsoever on the subject, if the research community start providing research that alters then I'd happily accept that as I would accept the word of anyone better qualified and more experienced than I am.
Best Ways to get Ski Fit
Started by User in Ski Chatter, 58 Replies
bandit wrote:
IMHO, a serious skier would not contemplate setting off without a decent breakfast :wink:
It takes 5 minutes to prepare and eat a bowl of cereal, which would provide hours of carb energy. You must have a very busy life :D

Hmmm Isostar, carb based, works well for exercise rehydration and supplemental energy, but I'm not sure how well it would work for relieving the dehydration headache caused by alcohol consumption :lol:


Well, I'm notoriously not a very serious skier of course :D I don't find cereals work for me, I'm not sure why, porridge does but nearly anything else doesn't and I find a benefit from some sugar, like a donut :D It's probably a ritual though as much as anything. Obviously I get a few days skiing in a year mostly and I noticed last season a bit a few days I felt a bit drained mid-morning and initially switched from having a quick coffee to hot chocolate or lemonade and thought I could feel a difference.

Isostar is carb' and some salts of course, again it's hard to know if it's a ritual or really beneficial. If I have it right the effects of dehydration set in before you actually feel thirsty as well which makes it doubly important to keep drinking stuff.

How much benefit the isostar drink and one of their energy bars has compared to water and a digestive biscuit is anyone's guess :D But digestive biscuits are hard to come by here anyway.

I would say to be careful of some of the flavours though, I bought some other brand recently and when last out touring we stopped and I nearly choked on the stuff, about as pleasant as dental mouth wash :D
Best Ways to get Ski Fit
Started by User in Ski Chatter, 58 Replies
Max Cottle wrote:
And if you read the studies you'll see they include professional athletes across a number of disciplines and in all cases covered supervised regimes. The research proves increased injury risk and decreased performance in all cases, the suggestion this might only affect the general public is entirely unsupported by the data.

Talking with my physio' they question at what time this was ever any different, the recent research might contradict some folklore but it doesn't really say anything that wasn't known all along.

People like their little rituals and skiers are no exception, in fact they're rather worse than many. The desire to pose around at the top of lift proving how hardcore they are explains much of the desire to stretch in my opinion


Dude I have not read the research and wouldn't care to, I doubt many people other than you have, but I'll tell you something about studies and research for every on who says one thing there will be others who disagree. You can't always be right...




There has been no conflicting research on this to my knowledge. In the absence of evidence to the contrary we'll take it as being true.