J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

I have had a response from BASI, from a lady Adaptive Instructor. I will PM you the contact, although I guess you may have made a location commitment by now.

For my regular trip of the year, I need to choose between train from Munich to Woergl, or car hire at Munich flughaven.
So, I guess I have hired for most of the past 15 years or so.
Winterisation in Germany became mandatory several years back. This means that your tyres will meet the winter regs. Yes the chain demand may be brought into action on my local mountain road, but in over 45 years of driving there, it has never been acted upon. That may be different for others.

Please be aware there is a scam emerging from some operators. Mostly buried in small print is an item that if you are planning to travel outside of the country of hire, there wil be a charge, (€6~€10 per day) for traveling outside the country of hire. Last year, I point blank refused. This year, I read through the small print of each car hire company. It took four tries to avoid this clear scam. and accept the T&Cs of the company I chose.

It is certainly much more complicated than it used to be.

Yes, I agree with a physio check. SOON!

However, Patient.info/health/tens-machines states not to use when "When the cause of the pain is not known or is not diagnosed."

So caw canny, my friend.

A warm bath, but this may be difficult getting in and out.

Some GENTLE stretches, stop if pain increases.

Sit in a high straight backed chair.

You have a man to carry bags, same as I have a woman for the same. Tip a porter a fiver to get you settled. Upgrade to first class. (assuming you are not already there....)

If it is still the same when you arrive, don't ski, go for a swim, (not for a walk). If you feel up to skiing, go on to a gentle blue, and do some easy, easy skiing. Sit in the sun, there will be more ski holidays.

If the gentle slopes are at the top, go down on the gondela. Get your man to go with you and carry your skis, tell him the views will be great.

Probably Ibruprofen will not help, but if so, the cream may be better. Paracetamal for pain.

Hopefully, this is a tension, or muscle pull, and it will recover quickly. This is really bad luck, go gentle ~ I want to see you back in Austria.

Fair comment BB. However, in terms of safety, all helmets must meet exactly the same safety standards, drop test,strap strength, etc. They have to be independently tested.

In terms of features, comfort, warmth, colour, branding, etc, these are different.

I have done a lot of skiing in many places, including Canada and Tirol. A key downside of Whistler and Blackcomb is the coastal proximity. Hence there are frequent white-outs or bad visability. The skiing is good, particularly on the glacier. There is little in the way of tradition.

Tirol has a range of varied skiing, but also has varied life style offers, from traditional, (over 1000 years old) buildings and churches, to modern.

Yes, the skiing is important, but many set this into the context of total lifestyle.

The following will affect few people, ~ apart from being a long time skier, I am something of an alpine artist. In Canada, the age of mountain buildings painted are about 40 years. In Tirol, it lies between 500 and 1000 years old. This is reflected in the paintings, but also in our vision of real life.

In Europe, ski helmets must meet the stand of EN 1077. You should be able to read the standard on a label inside the ski helmet. This standard ensures that regardless of the manufacturer, there is a design and manufacturing standard that the helmet must be tested against.

Within that standard there are two levels, Class And Class B. Class A helmets provide specifically greater protection than Class B, although most people buy Class B. The differences include both head coverage and impact.

Given that most helmets purchased are Class B, prices range from £19/£20 from Lidl/Aldi, upwards. I and most of my family use this standard of helmet. The family exception is my d-i-l, who, as mother of my grandchildren, I bought her a Class A!

Wearing helmets is a choice. For over 40 years my protection was a woolly hat. Then, one day, I decided to wear the helmet, simply because it looked like a white out day. Most of our party went back down on the gondela, (all very experienced skiers). I carried on down, and suffered a life-threatening head hit against the piste. Since then, I have worn the helmet.

We have a few things that might be considered to normally put up costs. I have switched a couple of years back to MPI. Michael Pettifer is a serious skier himself, and unusually for an insurance agent has set up an operation that looks at the world through the eyes of a skier.

Off Piste. Covered without a guide or instructor. You just have to show you were using common sense. Given that I have been an instructor, and Frau Mac has also instructed, I have you tube videos that show competence, it would be hard to refute an OP claim.

Age, they will provide cover until your 80th, then you have to make special application. Not an issue for me, I have loads of years before that cuts in.

Medical. What ever else, and whoever you insure with, always declare any conditions honestly. Normally the questions take the form of any visits to a specialist in the past year, any conditions to declare, taking any medication. In the case of MPI, Frau Mac and I both declared issues, and they just covered us at the standard price, with no additions, and no additional excess.

This year, I certainly have had to take a biggish cost hit, because in addition to our European trips, we are having to cover skiing in Colorado, and another possible world journey later in the year. However, we still paid the same as anyone else.

I don't subscribe to the view that insurers are out to "get you". They must come across a lot of people who do not answer honestly. In the case of MPI, I found it was totally straightforward.

I think it was less safe later in the race. I watched it on TV at the top of a mountain about 10km from Kitz. The early starters would have have no/little new snow, as it only started to snow after the race had started. (That could have been slightly different in Kitz. The later snow was not too heavy, but the visabilty was bad anyway.

The numbers of accidents was not particularly high from my recollection of previous years, but it was unfortunate that the injuries were season ending. Most racers just clatter into the safety nets and swear a lot.

The racers know how important Kitz is to both the sport and to the individuals, so just get on with it.

I rarely experience fear when skiing, but my stomach still knots up when I recall skiing across the steepest elements of the Streif, just after the completion of a race. It was very, very steep, sheet ice, and if you had fallen, you would have hit Kitzbuhel at 90 mph. Can't remember how I got out of it, but I learned a lot about skiing that day....