J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andymol2

Essentially they can't force you to use the return leg of a return ticket.

The only issue might be is if you tried to use the return leg of a ticket if you hadn't used the outbound portion. Even then you could argue you missed the train & got the ferry.

Don't spend a fortune. Stores like Aldi do decent quality stuff in the winter (people thumb their noses at the mention of it but it's cheap & durable). Skiwear4less is another option.

What do you need salopettes & ski jacket. 3 pairs of ski socks & two pairs of gloves - they get snow in them & sweaty & the kids will lose one!

What to wear underneath - synthetic t-shirt and a fleece (not too thick) If it's cold long johns - probably the kids may want them more than adults (personally never worn them).
Obviously you'll need at least 3 t-shirts (base layers in tech speak) unless you wish to stink by day 6! The fleeces shouldn't be thick - you can wear 2 if you are cold.

Goggles are useful but I prefer sunnies unless it's snowing. Don't get ones that are too dark - amber lenses for the goggles. As for the sunglasses again don't go too dark or you'll struggle if it's cloudy particularly late in the day when the light (described as flat) makes it hard to pick out the contours of the snow.
The kids will have less trouble as their eyes adapt better to low light.
One option is sunnies with inter-changable lenses dark for the day & amber/yellow for poor light. They are sold by the likes of Argos for cyclists.

Given the cost of ski lessons these days in Europe expecting a tip on top of that is perhaps fanciful! I'm not sure I'd want an instructor who needed the additional motivation of a tip to do his job. There again I'm not sure a lot of instructors in some resorts are motivated instructors. Good skiers yes, but that doesn't directly equate to a good teacher. Similarly not all pupils are best suited to the follow in my tracks teaching.

I'm not sure that asking your guide is always the better option regarding the best eateries - you may well find that their advice is skewed towards the ones owned by friends, family or those that feed them for free. Sometimes they may well know but perhaps asking those who've visited the resort many times before can be better than a local who's advice may be coloured by many things.

Not sure if if I were the Bulgarian Government I'd be too willing to consider the views of UNESCO on this one. A well managed ski resort should have limited environmental impact, bring well needed income to a poor country and hopefully enhance and improve the appreciation of the contryside for those that use it in the winter months.

I've had to mention the S word as we've got to renew our travel insurance & the alternative policy is a bit cheaper but doesn't cover off piste skiing (without a guide). Not big into off piste but we all take the odd foray off to the side and my ski-instructor mate who overwinters in Montriond will drag me off into the lumpy bits (to see if I've improved!) occasionally. He's technically not an official guide so may end up arguing the case for more expensive insurance.

I'm trying to find other bits in the policy to avoid mentioning the S word!

You didn't say when you were going!

I guess that common sense plays a part. Skiing backwards at high speed on a busy slope is dangerous and I doubt many would disagree with that.

Similarly you wouldn't say skiing backwards to help talk a novice down when they were struggling was intrinsically dangerous providing you kept looking backwards.

Moderate speeds on a quiet slope is also fine provided you keep your eyes open.

The real problem is those that see any piste as fair game for tricks regardless of how busy it is.
There is a certain satisfaction is seeing them wipe out (assuming they don't affect anyone else)

Accessible seems to have crept in, perhap from wine tasting, where perhaps a literal translation of a word which perhaps has multiple meanings in one language yet the same word doesn't share all of the meanings in another.

Think of the example - "The black run is easily accessible by a chair lift number 3 as is the blue."

Accessible means it's easy to get to and not a term that most native English speakers would describle how easy it is to ski.

If you want to describe the difficulty of a piste then stick with simple terms like easy, moderate or hard or describe the skier that would be expected to have the ability to ski it enjoyably so beginner, intemediate or advanced.