J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by EmmaEvs

Glad you're having a ball Bandit. Nice photos too. Does MrBandit know you've put that one up of him :lol:

andymol2 wrote:It can be worse when you are skiing in a group - when one of the more able skiers stops at the top a steep bit - then the nervous then skier stops too & thinks about the steepness rather than continuing over the hump when they are in a rhythm. It's so much harder when fear sets in & you have to start again

I so agree with this. Thinking back to my nightmare hol at the beginning of last year, I'm sure this contributed a lot to knocking my confidence. The group I was with would stop at the top of the next decline, look around, talk, faff with gloves, look at the map etc etc. By the time we set off I'd had far too long to stare down the slope and let the anxiety build up.

Now I still stop at the top of the decline, mainly to quickly scan the section, its condition, any hazards, slower skiers etc. If I can't set off straight away due to traffic I deliberately look back up the hill for the majority of the time, until I'm able to set off. I find it's helped loads.

:lol: :lol: love it. I reckon all J2skiers should turn up at the airport in their boots and report back on the chaos! It would so be worth the discomfort, although perhaps some sort of grippy stuff stuck on the soles would probably help avoid it all ending in tears! Smooth plastic boots + smooth hard flooring = disaster!

andymol2 wrote:I suppose the work around is to put your ordinary shoes in as hand luggage and wear the ski boots until you have gone through security and swap over after that.

I love this suggestion! :lol:

Trencher wrote:Normally if you see a dog on the mountain, it's a search, and rescue dog. Not all the handlers may wear uniform.

Do you know that didn't even occur to me. I've seen a number of dogs pulling skiers down the mountains in Austria. They seem really well behaved, surprisingly focused and their owners are clearly very competent skiers. That makes a lot of sense.

Dids1 wrote:I too have been reading the comments about Neiderau and I am interested in the place.

It sounds like a small resort, with not a massive ski area and isn't one of the more well known small, exclusive resorts. But, there's no doubt more forum space appears to be given to it than any other resort.

I see lots of late deals there and I think one day I would love to give it a try. I am always surprised at the amount of late deals when I see how many have been, are there or are about to go!

This is based on all the positives I've read - the night life sounds fun, lots of regulars who return time after time and the skiing does sound good.

Obviously I appreciate not everyone wants the same from a ski holiday and I've been to some of the larger resorts where you barely need to do the same run twice and had a ball. But I've also been to places full of charm that draw you back - it seems N is one of those.

:lol: Dids it seems that N is a little like the proverbial (?) Marmite :lol:

I love travelling, been to a few different places although not as many as I'd like :D As I've said before I've no doubt that the charms of N can also be found elsewhere. However, the attraction for me is the small size of the villiage, which not only means that it's easy to get around, you also get the opportunity to bump into loads of different people. On my last hol I spent a fab few hours in the Bichlwirt, the oldest pub in N. The bar is really small, but it kind of throws everyone together and we met some lovely people that we would otherwise probably not have interacted with. At the same time the head instructor of the ski school was there, one of the instructors, a number of pupils etc. The locals really are genuinely nice, which is so refreshing in today's world. I've found them keen to help if they can, and if e.g. you ask a random instructor the condition of a specific piste for example, they are happy to give you any info they can even if they don't know you from Adam. There are of course a few eccentricities around - probably the most famous being Herbert Thaler, but for us this is simply amusing as opposed to irritating.

I should shut up now. Sorry for banging on guys. Am quite happy to give more info by PM though.

Thanks for starting this post Snapzz, it's very interesting.

Couple of personal viewpoints...

Bandit you mention that the runs are graded by way of an average. Personally (for what it's worth) I'm not convinced that this is the best method. Bearing in mind that the gradings are supposed to be used by individuals to assess a route which is within their own abilities, any short steep sections could be outside of that ability causing unecessary difficulty and safety concerns. Personally (again) I think perhaps that the steepest section could be considered as the indicator. Or even (and I know it gets complicated now), some indicator of how much of the run is above a certain threshold, so I suppose a sub-grading system. Maybe a run being classed as blue overall with 10% above XX gradient.

For those who support extra lessons to improve skill levels I completely agree from a wider perspective. However, for me the point here is that at any given time someone should be able to make reasonably accurate decisions on their route based on their current skill level, whatever that may be.

Snow conditions - absolutely play a part in difficulty of a run. Although it would be incredibly difficult to take this into account when grading as it's such a big variable. For me it needs to be the responsibility of the individual to assess the temperatures etc that day and the likelihood of pistes changing condition during the day. When in doubt select an easier one unless earlier indications are that you'd feel confident and capable of skiing it under more difficult circumstances. FWIW I believe that the run should be graded as though conditions are good and the piste is in good condition, and only take into account fixed issues e.g. width, gradient etc.

EDIT - I knew there was something else that caught my attention. I can see that some have suggested traversing, side slipping etc for getting past the tough bits. I think these methods definitely have their place however, they are really difficult on the legs to keep going for any length of time. Fatigued muscles lead to a greater risk of falling. Plus there's the mental issues i.e. the loss of confidence associated with someone standing at the top of a slope which freaks them out. In my own experience and from witnessing others, I reckon that this factor reduces a persons skill levels (sometimes considerably) when they are needed the most. Thankfully I've not experienced this for some time, but I do recall that the simplest 'must do's' can be forgotten when feeling overwhelmed. This can lead to a slip, which exacerbates the vicious cycle.

OldAndy wrote:OK - for those of you/us who like to pack boots in hand luggage, is this purely for weight distribution issues?

Sorry Andy I'm feeling a bit dim this morning. Are you asking what the reason is for choosing to take boots on as hand luggage?

If so, then yes weight distribution is a biggy for me. As they do weigh so much (as in an earlier post) your single hold luggage allowance can be decimated as soon as they go in. Although there is a 5k limit on hand luggage, they seem to forgive a kg or so. My boots were just about ok and MrEvs were over. Saying that, on our last holiday our hold luggage was over by about 7-8k anyway, but the check in guy said that the TO had just told him not to charge for excess otherwise we would have had to pay £10 per kg. He then allowed us to be even more cheeky and check in our boot bags too! All in, our hold luggage must have been at least 15 - 20kg over.

In short, it seems to be all about what the TO feels like doing on the day, except for the specific airline's standard conditions.

I'm now considering how workable it is to put our boots into the cases, and ramming the boot bags full of socks, knickers, pants etc etc to take on as hand luggage :roll: