Messages posted by : AllyG
|
I think maybe it depends on the sort of ski-ing you're doing, as well as how fit/healthy you are.
I mean, I'm usually in a lesson pushing myself to keep up with the group/not get lost/not look like a total idiot etc. or else I'm ski-ing with my younger daughter who goes like a rocket and having to put up with her slagging me off for ski-ing too slowly. Probably if I was allowed to ski at my own pace I could ski all day with a few breaks for hot chocolate and lunch etc. Like, for example, the instructor told us to ski down in short tight turns and after I'd done what I thought wasn't a bad job he asked me to tighten them up even more and do it again and I went smash and lost a ski, which is pretty exhausting. I have noticed that instructors always try to push you out of your comfort zone. Another woman who was in my morning ski lesson last week confessed that she has to spend the rest of the day in bed resting after our lesson!! :lol: And yet another woman was dragged practically screaming out of a lower class into ours (although she was a better skier than me) but by the next day she'd managed to sneak back into the lower one. Ally |
|
|
Hi Tspill,
I am reasonably fit but I can't ski for more than about 5 hours per day, broken into two 2 1/2 hour sessions with a long lunch break in the middle. It's not just the physical activity - I get mentally tired as well with the concentration involved in learning new tasks during my ski lessons, constantly adjusting my balance, trying to remember what the instructor said, and studying the landscape and working out where to turn etc. So, if you started early, at say 9 O'clock, and only had a one hour lunch break, at say 12 O'clock, then I think it would be perfectly normal to be tired by, say, 3 O'clock. But I do agree that a good breakfast, a sensible lunch, and drinking plenty of water is very important. It's okay for Dave Mac to say it's not normal to get tired mid-afternoon, but that's because he keeps himself super fit all year round :D Ally |
|
|
Hi Tima,
I keep myself sane by reading things on-line about the resort I'm going to, and memorizing the piste map etc. So that when I get there I know exactly whether they supply towels or not in the apartment, where the tourist information office/ski hire shop/grocery store/lift office etc. are. And I practise my French so that I can ask for what I want (had to use this skill last week telling the maintenance man in French that the toilet was leaking, the electric power socket was broken in half, and the lead for the vacuum cleaner kept whooshing back in so that I had to hoover with my foot on the cable!). Plus, in the weeks before the ski holiday I occupy myself getting fit and trying to slim down so that I can get my ski trousers on :lol: Ally |
|
|
I went out ski-ing again after my enforced early lunch, and I have to say that I think Admin was right - they were trying to protect us skiers from getting hurt.
They'd opened 4 of the low lifts in Meribel - the bottom part of Rhodos, the Plan de L'Homme, Tougnete 1, and the Roc de Fer. But they had a notice up to say that the blue Perdrix run down from the top of Tougnete 1 to Mottaret was shut because of the danger of avalanche, so there was no link open to Mottaret which meant that anyone who'd skied down from Mottaret to Meribel had to get the bus back. And they had 2 guys actually standing in the Perdrix opening as well as the tape saying the run was closed, to make sure no-one went down it. There were also lots of bangs going on where they were setting off the avalanche guns. So, as Admin said I should think everyone involved in maintaining the lifts and the pistes had a pretty tough time today. Apparently the bus to Moutiers was running, but late because of all the snow on the road. Anyway, I managed fine ski-ing down the blue Lievre because there were loads of moguls and masses of powder to make it quite challenging (but safe!). Ally |
|
|
As far as I can see the weather here is fine today, there's only a gentle wind down in the resort and we had another 40 cm of snow last night.
Our ski lesson started at 9-15 this morning, and all the lifts were shut. Then they opened the drag lift that goes from the Chaudanne in Meribel Centre past the slalom course. And after that we queued for ages before they got Rhodos open but only up to the first stage, from which it's only a short blue run back to the resort, so we practised ski-ing backwards in a snow-plough and doing 360's and step turns etc. Then we queued for ages again for them to open Tougnette 1 which was supposed to open at 11 a.m. We gave up at 11-10, said bye to our instructor (the lesson was supposed to finish at 11-45 anyway) and went back for lunch. I've just been to the Tourist Office and they said Tougnette 1 opened a few minutes ago (about 12-30 French time) but the other lifts are still not working. Anyway, we had a great day yesterday - I fell over about 5 times in all that powder, including 3 times going down a black run with about 8 inches of powder on it and no-one else on the slope except a 5 year old and his dad. The Plan de L'Homme chair lift goes over it and I was really hoping my instructor wasn't on it looking at me falling over!!! He'd spent the day before teaching us to do those perfect very short bounce turns through the powder whilst facing down the slope on a red run and I had to resort to long traverses with the minimum number of scary turns to get down that black slope. This has happened to us before. We were in Val Thorens a few years ago and they shut all the lifts because of the wind. But then it was extremely windy. At the moment it doesn't really seem that windy. Ally |
|
|
I am in Meribel now and they shut all the lifts this morning, supposedly because the electricity supply had been interrupted by the wind. They then opened a couple of small lifts, and they were due to open another one but we gave up waiting and and are now back at the apartment having an early lunch.
We have had a tremendous amount of snow and the avalanche guns have been going off this morning. The road was pretty snowy this morning but the free bus is going okay. I am very glad we are not in Val Thorens or somewhere like that. Ally |
|
|
Hi Snapzzz,
I'm sorry to say it, but I've been enjoying your diary of shame as well :oops: I expect most people do the same things as you - like get sore legs because they haven't done enough exercise, and get slaughtered on a run that's too difficult for their skill level, but most people don't admit to it. I find your honesty most refreshing. Thank you :D Best of luck tomorrow, and I will look forward to your update! Ally |
|
I'm very sorry Charlie_95, but I am scared to death of mentioning the 'H' word on this forum, and I'm going to get off this thread now as fast as possible :wink: :lol: Ally |
|