Messages posted by : Dave Mac
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Had a couple of visits to Rendl, pleasant area . Great views from the top, where the off piste run over the back, (Hinteres Rendl) had clear Avalanche warning signs, and yet we were watching four guys bouncing down a pretty steep face. The front unpisted run, Rifflescharte was good, especially in flat light! Was a mix of deepish, chopped and moguls ~ and you couldn't see any of it!
And the run down Rifflescharte: 
and on one of the runs  |
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St Anton. On most days, the light was flat, and the viz was poor. The pistes were very busy. A number of the main runs were not pisted overnight, and so those that remained unpisted, retained the hardpack from the previous day, and those that were pisted were so busy that they were wiped down to hard pack by mid-morning. So the traffic was slow, with a number of bottlenecks.
Compounding this was a high number of bombers, who arrowed through the busy areas. The safest run was the WM downhill. I did notice that the snow machines were running non-stop, taking advantage of the consistent sub-zero temps. Interestingly, during the day, the canons were aimed at roped off areas, and so there were huge whales built up every day. There is just loads of skiing in St Anton, but in the circumstances we all felt that we were not seeing the best side of it. Most enjoyable run was off the back of Schindler Spitze. 
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A better binding of the time was the Marker latch up. Still slightly more efficient than a modern heel binding. Not a step in though so it is out of the game.
Two weeks ago, I assisted with two accidents where the heel binding failed to open. It's still happening. |
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As I say, at these speeds I need two poles, I am not Herr Bell. I like your idea about asking Jan to do it, although he does tend to fall quite a bit! I will run it past him. Bell has a camcorder, with a pistol grip. There just isn't anywhere to hold a digi camera. An interesting thought, though. My main aspiration is to reproduce what I see/feel when having a quickish run down the Merkenwiess. Ian, you are dead right, I have thought a lot about air/snow shots. That would be meaningless. I still conclude that a head camera would be the best solution. As Pablo said. |
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I tried all ways up Tony, to do that. Thats Ok if you just want to ski slowly with two sticks in one hand, and the camera in the other. What I want is an ealy morning, empty mountain, fast run down. I can watch all summer, and dream. For this kind of run, both hands are firmly glued to the sticks! I am open to suggestions though. Previous cameras have had clips on each side that you could put a strap through, but on modern cameras, there is just no room for any kind of bracket attachment. |
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5 stars for strinking a blow for freedom!
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Just tried to do a count back, it is either 42 or 43 years since I first skiied. I think it is 42 years ago, on Cairngorm, lace up boots, cable bindings, Raigmore hospital, plaster cast. I never did return the crutches. A more important question for me is ~ how many more years can I go for. I still work hard on technique, am faster than ever, but nothing goes on forever! |
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Aldi were offering a webcam for about £60 ~ but no stock. -( I can manage video footage from my camera, but would like "a run down the Merkenwiess", so has to have a good fix ~ headband or helmet. OTOH, I'm into toy reduction. Don't think my ipod is going out to Austria, can play everything from itunes on the laptop, and devour J2ski at the same time. -) |
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