J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

TheSkiingGolfer wrote:I´m having a blast Tony! :-)

gotta shoot now for ski school presentation night down at the harfenwirt......here´s hoping for a gold!!

will report tomorrow sometime


i can however already see that N could be quite limiting for the very profficient skiier....but it´s enough for me and the wife this week for certain...and next year hopefully too!!!

I was there that evening TSG, was that you doing a schoeplatter dance? -) Who was your instructor?

goppy wrote:Dave,were you in herberts pub on friday night with mel?herbert had being playing his harp and i was sat talking to a gent called mel.He then introduced me to a scot going by the name of dave!!!!!!

Hi Goppy, not Friday night, Mel left on Friday morning. He is my long term ski buddy, is quite ill, but always perks up in Niederau.

Was your meet up in the Harfenwirt or the Bichlwirt? I usually go to both most nights. There was at least one other J2skier, staying at the Harfenwirt, her and her friends were doing their best to lead me astray, and I did half carry her up the Kropfraderjoch T-Bar.

Was this your first time in Niederau?

Trencher wrote:
Just get them sharpened again after a weeks skiing.

Had my new Volkls edge sharpened after two weeks of Scottish and St Anton stones, and a couple of days of Niederau hard pack. It made a huge difference to the edge grip.

How do you normally define an edge sharpen, Trencher? My skis received two sand belt passes on the base, and two edge passes.

bandit wrote:
I have had some recent dialogue with this company, and I'm sorry to report that they (and their underwriters) don't seem to have much idea about what skiers do. They are under new ownership.

Sadly, I think that is true, Bandit. I bet they know a lot about statistics and charts though.

I have used DT annual insurance for 4/5 years. I made one claim, and they paid without asking for any proof.

In Tirol, any head or back injury, or heart condition, and they call in the hubschrauber. In our area, all such injuries are taken to Kufstein.

One such incident that involved a friend's wife, off piste in Niederau, and out of the designated ski area The claim did take some time to resolve, but the insurers paid.

In another case, last week, also in Niederau, the helicopter was trying to access a deep gorge, surrounded by trees. After tryiing to fly down between the trees, the H/C aborted, flew to worgl to get a rope extension, and back again. As you can imagine, the cost for this may be high, and reasonable.

I think that the use of the term "reasonable" is there to protect the insurers from abuse.

Although St Anton is in Tirol, but packaged with the high cost Arlberg, I would guess that H/C rescue costs would be controlled from Innsbruck.

Well the ski conditions are just fantastic. The first run of the day clears away all semblances of the previous evening. The piste is hard pack, (what my frau inaccurately refers to as "sheet ice"), as it is in many places in the Kitzbuhler Alpen, but there is the advantage that many people head for the top runs, and leave the mountain empty.

If you are experiencing these conditions, may I suggest that you put your skis in for an edge sharpen ~ but do check that the tips have been detuned. It makes all the difference to your edge grip. Niederau charge is just 11 euros. In these conditions, the edges can get burred in just a few days.

Most of Tirol now seems to have the snow canons turned on at lower resorts, taking advantage of the low temperatures. This is particularly true of those places with north facing slopes.

Met briefly with Jan today, but I had shot past him before I could stop, so we had a 50 metre conversation. He was waiting for someone, and I wasn't in waiting mode.

I had planned to try and get the Lumix camera to take a video of a three minute run down the Merkenwiesl, but it seems that you have to hold the button down. At these speeds I need a firm grip of the sticks with both hands, so I cannot work out a solution.

TheSkiingGolfer wrote:.....but are off to Niederau, Austria instead! (dont ask!)

!

That's short notice TSG, if you get online where are you staying?

The conditions here are fantastic just now.

What a day. This was to be my rest day, no more than 30km. Then a young Danish girl skied off the side of the lower Merkenwieser piste, cleared the side, through several close trees, and dropped down into a deep gorge. The helicopter made a dozen attempts to get in, but failed. It ended up as a fair manpower operation to get the lassie out, but thankfully she was alive. It was a pretty unconventional situation, more like a mountain rescue. So I lost a couple of hours, but as I said, there was a better than expected result.

Then on my last run of the day, there was a broken leg on Tennladen, and I worked with the Bergrittung to sort that out. Then, as with many of these incidents, there is a chunk of aftermath, getting the two young relatives down, and back to their hotel, cross referencing between the ambulance/medical destination and the person's relatives, and ski repatriation.

Ski edges getting sharpened, awaiting tomorrow.