J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

terrible wrote:They aare all right ! Get a late ski bargain pick a resort that has lots of boot shops ...Try they before you buy them
If you have wide feet or high insteps hunt for bargains in Easy-fit Rear-entry avoid any boot that is offered as racing or performance (this just means they will be uncomfortable....Buying ski-boots is like buying new shoes if they hurt when you try they on they will be hell after a week.

At last! Someone who knows about life!

Oh, should have mentioned, we enjoyed a traditional Scottish New Year. My OH, plus four ski friends, and maybe twenty or so others, in a hotel lounge, doing reels, flings, Strip the Willow. Followed by a banjo & guitar session, just the six of us, back in our chalet til 3.00am.

Up at 7.00am to feed and walk the dog. :shock:

Rather late with this folks, been up to Braemar/Glenshee for a week, with no internet access, but, to every J2skier, and all theirs, a Guid New Year, and lang may your lumb reek.

Good wishes for health, injury avoidance, snow conditions. For those who had a bad 2009, a better 2010.

Ski well, but ski carefully.

May your 2010s all be long, white and ski-ish!

Shouldn't that read 210s?
In which case, they would be long, but not unduly so. :mrgreen:

Trencher wrote:Next Christmas Dave Mac, ask for half a dozen wall hangers (for the instruments, not the pictures).

Trencher

That won't be enough. There are two more guitars, a violin and a mandolin.

I rarely get nervous, although I still get excited. Having said that, I have been researching some of the more challenging runs in the Arlberg, and found that after going through some of the detail, I was just about hyper ventilating! I searched for a run that Bandit had mentioned, and then found Schindler. My frau has already said "NO". We will see.

Skiing is about risk, but also about one's ability to measure or assess the risk, and then make a decision. If I think a run is too icy & steep, I am happy to go somewhere else.

Caron, having seen how you overcame your fears, in going from beginner slope to conquering Tennladen, I think you have a great attitude to skiing. Be nervous, but also, be excited!

Have a great week in Obergurgl.

bandit wrote:

andyhull wrote:A flapping ski simply means that part of the ski is unweighted. As pavelski has suggested that's where more of your weight should be.

Since it's a soft ski that is more likely to be found flapping on piste, exceeding it's performance window and struggling to hold an edge at speed, I can't agree :D

I was about to write the Bandit conclusion myself. If the issue was one of "weight back", the front of the ski would not be pressured, hence would not be in turning mode. The ski would just be running straight. (Unless you were deliberately doing "downward unweighting" technique)

With a soft ski, even if your weight is forwards, the ski tip can begin to bite, slip, bite, slip. This is particularly noticable on hard pack. Here the tip edge grips until the weaker torsional ski stiffness, (ski twist), allows the front of the ski to twist, thereby, releasing the edge. The ski relaxes, then bites again.

I keep a soft pair in Niederau, when the piste is soft, you can work them quite hard, because they don't bite and slip. They take an edge, and if you go "outside of the performance window", they slide through the snow, rather than twisting. This reduces the turn radius, but when you are used to a ski behavior, you adjust. It's just like a woman.

There is another occasion for tip slapping, again with a soft ski. That is when you are going at speed in a straight line. Here the weak longtitudinal stiffness is displayed. Undulations on the piste cause an upforce, then there is springback. Then the ski is thrown up again, and so on.