J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Caron,
I think taking boots as well is a good idea. It's great than now you can ski and board, so you can choose which you do. I had a look at Arabba on the internet and the Sella Ronda circuit looks really good and Arabba is very well positioned for it.

Don't forget to let us know how you got on, when you're back :D

Ally

Thanks Tony :D

It is definitely me. If you look very carefully, and get the light right, you can see my white Salomon Khiana kids helmet, my blue jacket, and my cheap black Chamonix TK Maxx salopettes.

Plus, of course, if you were really worried that it was an imposter :shock: you could compare it with my Tignes video. As you say, we all have our own ski-ing style, and mine is pretty distinctive :D
Mind you, if I was going to use an imposter, I'd have found one that was better at ski-ing slalom :D

I'm sorry I don't have a video of me falling. I was going very carefully so that there wouldn't be one :lol:

I would SO like to have another go, but I'll have to wait until next year now, unless maybe one of the snow domes do slalom.

Also, I forgot to say that the instructor took us all down it first, as a group in a line, and it was much easier like that because you could concentrate on getting the ski-ing right and not have to think about the gates and where to turn.

Ally

Karen,
As regards kitchens in French self-catering apartments, we've stayed in 5 different apartments (2 of them with P&V) and never had a kettle yet. I don't think the French drink tea much or 'do' kettles :lol:

We've had several coffee makers in the various apartments. I use a saucepan to boil the water for my tea. And another thing, the French seem to have tiny cups, like egg cups, that they use for their coffee. I rather think those bowl things you were describing, are actually bowls, but I used them as cups as well :D

They also seem very keen on dishwashers. Last holiday we had a dishwasher, but (like you) no oven, only 2 rings and a microwave. However, we have had ovens in the other apartments.

And all the apartments we've been in have had tiny, but functional, kitchens. We've always managed to cook in them, but then, I have a pretty small kitchen here at home so I'm used to it :D

Anyway, the size of the kitchen, or the apartments in general, haven't put us off staying in them. We like them.

Ally

Thanks Trencher,
It's very kind of you to be so nice about it. I was in two minds whether or not to put the video up, in case everybody killed themselves laughing at me, and how slow I was.

As you know, it's much harder than it looks, because you have to guess where to start turning to get through the gate. Some markers would have been a great help.

My daughter, who was there of course also doing it, said I snow-ploughed through it, I was that slow (at least the video shows I was definitely not snow-ploughing). I was about the third one to go down it, and I was feeling too anxious to notice how the others got on, but I do know the guy behind me crashed going through the second course, because it was ages before he turned up.

It was fun, really great fun, and I'd very much like another go at it. I don't know why they teach the kids slalom, as part of the basic ESF training, but not the adults. I'd been through all the adult lessons, including the Upper Intermediate ones, without getting anywhere near a slalom course, until I did the most recent lessons in Courchevel, which were supposed to be Advanced Performance lessons.

Ally

My morning ski instructor (the one who's the manager of the Courchevel ESF 1550).

I don't know why it's so wobbly - I wasn't looking at the instructor - I was too busy thinking about which side of which gate I was supposed to be (complicated things like that confuse me very easily) :lol:

Ally

Hi Everyone,
This is me, on my first and only go at ski-ing slalom in the World Cup Slalom course in Courchevel in my ski lesson.

We were told which side of the gates to go, and to start our turns well before the next gate, and to carve, and that was about it.

So I went down very slowly and carefully, concentrating on not missing a gate, crashing into one, or falling over. I nearly lost it just before the end of the video, and skidded a bit, and then went much too wide around the next gate. And it was actually a lot longer than the video. I got down both courses, one after the other, without any dreadful catastrophes, so I was quite pleased.

Of course, it may well be the slowest anyone's ever been down it :lol:

One of the people in our group lesson very kindly lent his camera (and then posted it up on You Tube for me), and the instructor videod me. All the instructor said afterwards was that I went too wide around the gates, and I said I would have liked at least 5 goes at it, so that I could have gone a bit faster each time. Before this, the last time I'd been through a slalom course was when I was 11 years old and doing a snow-plough in Saalbach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl_SnMHhi7Y

Ally

I didn't know you could speak fluent French Ian?

Hi Caron/Betty,
I hope you have a good time :D

I reckon you're a natural on the snowboard, so you shouldn't have any problems. Where are you going again? I'm afraid I've totally forgotten.

Ally