J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Ian Wickham wrote:Its all about being aware on the slopes, they do not teach that in ski school.

Hi Ian,
I don't like to contradict you, but I have been taught this subject by some of my ski instructors (the better ones, generally speaking). Like, for example, the good ones get you to line up below each other when they stop the group, so that if someone falls as they come in to line up they don't knock anyone else over. And they teach you to be very careful at piste junctions, crossing drag lift lines, not to stop in the middle of the piste, and they insist on making sure you can control your speed. The super good ones make sure you understand and obey the basic right of way rules on the piste.

And if someone in the group is ski-ing dangerously then it's quite likely that another group member will tell them off, even if the instructor doesn't.

Good group lessons become progressively difficult during the week, and no-one should be ski-ing out of control because if they can't cope with the skill level required any decent instructor will either make the lessons easier or move them to a lower group.

I do think there should be a way of penalizing idiots who keep ski-ing out of control - something like speeding tickets where they get their lift pass taken off them for a day or a week. The slopes would be much safer then for the rest of us and people like Charlie_95's friend wouldn't get hurt.

Ally

Hi Snapzzz,
I can just imagine how annoying that is, having to take a rest in the middle of an expensive ski holiday!

My legs ached once, walking back up the stairs in the chalet, because I hadn't worked hard enough at my ski exercises before I went. And I was really cross with myself for being so lazy and stupid :evil:

Luckily for me it was only a 3 day ski holiday anyway, so I managed the last day okay and then I told myself that I'd never be so unprepared again. But here I am, 4 days from a 7 day ski holiday, and yet again I know I am not fit enough. I am thinking about putting myself in a lower class, so that my legs can cope. I find it less hard on my legs if I ski slower on the easier slopes. Steeper slopes, moguls, and powder, or ice, I find harder on my legs.

So maybe you need to stick to the easier slopes for a couple of days until your legs have adjusted to the extra work load?

And, have you tried a massage? I never have, but I know other people who find it helps a lot with aching muscles.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery and I hope you have a great time :D

Ally

Wanderer,
I am totally rubbish in powder, but the little I know about it is that when you turn you have to move both skis together, with the same weight on both of them. When I tried to turn like normal, in a ski lesson, one ski sank into the snow and I catapulted over the front of my skis and I lay there for a bit wondering if I'd bust a ligament in my knee (fortunately I hadn't).

So now I either turn by very gently pivoting both feet and skis together (for some reason I think of shuffleboard when I'm doing this) and ski with my knees extra bent in that funny duck position (you can see from the chair lift if people are ski-ing in powder because their legs are bent like this), or I jump both feet and skis out of the powder at each turn.

More advanced people manage to carve in powder but so far I have been too frightened to try this. Falling in powder is awful because the few times that it's happened to me the ski that has come off has become buried and even when I've found it I still have a terrible job to get it back on because it keeps sinking back into the snow, so I have to compact the snow around it before I can get it back on.

And if you're not careful, and you have your weight too far back, the front of the skis come up and you accelerate like a rocket, something like planing in a dinghy with the spinnaker up, and you get that nasty feeling where you can't turn or stop.

Oh, and according to the ski instructors, even snow-plough turns don't work in powder :shock:

I would much rather ski on ice than powder, but I think I am in the minority of one here. Maybe if there is lots of powder when I get to Meribel on Saturday I will just turn around and go back home ... :wink:

Ally

Edit
I am talking about deep powder - say a foot or more. I actually find it easier ski-ing in powder up to about 4 inches deep on the piste, because the powder acts as a brake and generally turns a black run into something more like a red one, or even a blue, and I can ski in the same way I normally do.

Another problem I have is ski-ing powder off piste, because of the rocks. I was in a lesson once, and the instructor hit a hidden rock and fell over (just before I hit another rock and also fell over). It's the only time I have ever seen an instructor fall over during a lesson. Luckily we were both okay.

I don't like the really big cable cars much, especially when there are loads of skiers in them, packed in like sardines by the lift people, and I feel slightly wobbly and fragile standing in ski boots holding my skis, and the whole thing makes me feel a bit claustrophobic especially when the cable car starts moving and it sways about. And, just to make things worse, if it's one that climbs a long way very fast, I start feeling a bit sick as well because of the change in altitude.

The only time I've felt a bit scared in a chair lift was when the ski instructor started swinging it, because I thought I was going to be sick, and I had to ask him to stop doing it (in my rubbish French, because he didn't speak English).

Ally

Phew ... what a relief! My cook daughter has finally woken up. I WILL get some Christmas dinner now :lol:


Ally

Yeah, I am the only one awake in our house as well! Both my grown up kids and my husband are still asleep! I will have to wake the kids up soon and tell them to get on with cooking the Christmas dinner (their department now, not mine any longer).

Hope you all get what you wanted from Santa :D

Ally

Tony_H wrote:

AllyG wrote:

Small fluctuations like a few cents don't make much difference anyway, unless you're buying a house or something. e.g. a 4% reduction in the rate we get, on £1000, is only £40.



Ally

Think positive Ally. Thats a coffee where you're going.

I thought Meribel was supposed to be cheaper than Courchevel?
It's just as well I don't like coffee then :lol:

Ally

Courchevel 1550 is very cheap, and it only takes about 5 minutes to ski down to it from 1850, or about 10 mins to get back up in the gondola. e.g. had vegetable stew for 4.50 euros.

Ally