Messages posted by : admin
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Was witness to a nasty looking fall yesterday that really looked like there wasn't going to be a happy outcome.
With a group of half a dozen in the Grand Couloir in Les Deux Alpes, in the steepest section that passes under the chair; steep and narrow but the snow was nice and grippy and not too bumped-up. Three of us had finished our runs and were near the bottom; I'd gone high to the left of the exit, G was pausing for breath slightly higher but still in the gully, and A was at the bottom of the gully just before where it switches left into a much gentler path down to the chair. I was looking up the couloir for the rest of the group when there was an explosion of snow right at the top, out of which emerged a body and various debris including skis heading in different directions. Already travelling fast, the skier was on his back accelerating down the gully head-first. I shouted to G to move and watched as the faller hurtled past, bouncing from bump to bump. Horrible. G realised the faller was heading straight for A who was looking the other way, but shouted too late and the faller smacked into A throwing him out of his skis and into the air. The faller careered on and disappeared from view as he fell over the edge of the run at the corner. After a moment of shock G and I shot down to A, collecting glasses and a pole or two as we went. Breathed a sigh of relief as A was quickly on his feet but somewhat stunned - rear bindings on both skis had been ripped out of the skis by the impact! Peered over the edge and, to some surprise and huge relief, saw the faller struggling to his feet about 50 feet below in deep snow that had arrested his fall. So, two totalled skis and a free ski-doo ride for A courtesy of the lifties. The faller, a big French chap, had fallen the entire length of the couloir, and walked away. Let's not try that again. Lessons for the day? 1. Don't linger in couloirs / gullies - you never know what (or who) is coming down next. 2. Don't stop in the fall line! Stay safe out there folks, |
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Wickham, H to the headmasters office.
You are very naughty boys... :evil: :wink: |
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No. :D To grossly generalize (as both are big ski areas with a wide variety)... La Plagne may have the edge for intermediates and mileage hounds - with a high number of long and wide pistes - whilst Les Arcs (IMO) has the edge for higher intermediates and above. But only one of them has the Aiguille Rouge. And only one of them has the Malgovert. :lol: To each their own, of course, but for my two-pennorth; I've done two trips to La Plagne and that's probably enough, but I keep going back to Les Arcs. I think we did "choose your last ski run" a while back - and I'll take 2,200 metres of vertical down the Aiguille Rouge and join JonG (I think?) and bandit for that beer at La Ferme... 8) |
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Hey hey, been there, done that, went back to skiing...
I mixed boarding and skiing for a couple of seasons way back whenever. Started off with something called a "Hot 160" that was shaped like a fish, ludicrously bendy in the middle, and had the un-nerving habit of pitching you into a cartwheel if you went more than 5mph. Remember a few great days in powder on an early swallow-tail and I did enjoy it hugely at times, but I just found that skiing gave me a wider variety of experiences and I only ski now. I think I just prefer facing in the direction that I'm travelling in! I think everyone should try it at least once, but KevinC's right to point out; if you're going to try it then you need to give it enough time to get over the painful bit. |
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Brilliant!
Just brilliant. Although I don't think J2Ski had anything to do with it; I believe Mr Ellistine had snared the prospective Mrs E some time ago. Oh wait a minute, I do have a form here that got rejected by The Snow God; afraid the "bucket of snow" was out of stock at the time of ordering... 8) Congrats and a big cheer from J2Ski and all who post here! :D :D :D :D :D |
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Hi, I work for J2Ski and we're already very interesting.
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There's no excuse really; the skier's code is often included on piste maps and many resorts have posters reminding people of their responsibilities.
My insurance explicitly states that cover is subject to my abiding by the "Ski Federation Code". Would be interesting to see how that panned out if you were involved in an accident that was later deemed to have been your fault (thought you were covered for that helicopter rescue and being sued by your victims family? Think again... ouch). |
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Oi you cheeky buggers, you've broken our ever-so-clever resorty-auto-linky-thingy. Now I have to fix that before I can go skiing...
Trains? Ha. Can't you just fly to Geneva like everyone else? Wanders off muttering.... :wink: |
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