J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by nikifinbow

Hi, we're off skiing again in a few weeks (7 weeks and counting!)and my husband wants to buy himself some ski boots before we go. There's a sale on in our local Decathlon so we're going to have a look this week.

I had thought about getting him some when we are in La Tania as that's where I bought mine a couple of years ago, but with the exchange rate, it's not going to work out much cheaper.

He broke his leg quite badly 4 years ago - the break shattered his tib and fib and he's had it pinned. The break is sort of mid-shin and can be painful. He managed 3 days skiing when we went over New Year and is hoping to do a bit more this time. His leg did swell quite a lot the first day and I think he was paranoid the pain was solely due to the break until he realised the rest of us were all moaning about aching shins too!

Can anyone give some general pointers? He has size 11 feet and has skied about 4/5 times previously. He will ski blues and some reds confidently.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks

i think the ones I have are ones from ellis brigham, cost about £35 and are made by Therm-ic. they're gentle enough to not to distort liners/footbeds apparently and definitely worth the money. the others in my apartment were queuing up to try them!

I got a set of boot dryers for Christmas this year and they were brilliant and didn't take up too much space in my case. Definitely worth buying - they dried my boots out really quickly.

I have an annual policy with Marks & Spencer for me and husband. Went with them as they're one of the few companies who will cover my asthma and not treble the premium. Think we paid £130 for the two of us for a year with winter sports cover and no excess. They were really good and quick when we claimed for a delay.

I'm also a contact lens wearer and tend to take both goggles and sunglasses with me but prefer wearing goggles because, as clairehb0 says, they stop your eyes watering when there's a bitterly cold wind. I got mine as a Christmas present, think they're Scott.

Whilst I wouldn't say I like spending my time queuing, it doesn't particluarly bother me and I would certainly expect queues around New Year and any other particularly busy time. I only mentioned the queues as there have been so many comments about them, especially in Bansko. I was actually expecting it to be worse than it was but maybe it wasn't because I was at the gondola station by 8.30 (except NY Day).

You're being a bit harsh with the "civilisation" comment. Bansko didn't have the infrastructure of an Alpine resort but I knew that was the case and certainly wouldn't call go as far as to call it uncivilised. It was cheap and we got what we paid for but I still had a great time!

Hi, got back from Bulgaria a week ago. I have my own boots and checked them in when we got to the airport, as did the rest of our party with their own boots. We booked with Inghams and flew with Monarch. No-one was charged for the boot bags themselves or excess luggage, even though most people also had another case/bag too. No probs on way back either.

Hi there,

I've just retruned from Bansko this week. We used the Inghams ski rental people as we'd pre-booked passes and hire etc before we went. Equipment was fairly basic and standard but we didn't have any problems.

The main ski school was Ulen. Two of our party had ski school with an English speaking instructor. One day, four of us hired a private Ulen instructor which worked out about £60 between the 4 of us for an hour. Wasn't great cos the guy was really shy and his English wasn't great but I managed to understand him. On the plus side, it meant we got to queue jump on a very busy day!

Up on the slopes, avoid the Goat restaurant as it's horrible and expensive. Best bet is to either ski back down into Bansko or eat at the Shilginarka (not sure if that's spelt right) lift stop/general meeting place. They did really nice pizza slices and chicken kebabs - cost about 10 lev for either and a drink. You have to sit outside but it was really quite nice in the sun and not too cold.

In the evenings, we tended to go to the Hotel Ida for drinks as it was right opposite our apartments (Antilia) - nice cocktails and happy hour. We also went to the Irish Pub a few times. They served good, cheap food in the Irish Bar too. Avoid Angels Steak House. Some nice restaurants the further down Pirin Street you walk and there was a good italian restaurant at the top of Pirin Street opposite the Lion Pub, can't remember the name. Food was good but they seemed to struggle getting 13 meals out at the same time - some people were waiting a while.

We just bought cereal and bread for breakfast as we were self-catering but there was a nice little caravan called the English Kitchen (maybe? not quite sure) where you could get homemade soup and bacon/sausage sandwiches and other food. Always smelled lovely as we were walking past.

Skiing was best in the morning as it got icy in the afternoon and it's definitely worth being at the gondola for 8.30. Mind you, it was New Year when we were there so extra busy.

let me know if you want to know anything else.