J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

Ian Wickham wrote:

Tony has my vote.

Achtung! Gyppo vote warning!

For American names, ~ Arapahoe Basin. I don't recall anything basin about it. I do remember getting off a chairlift at a rarified height, and seeing the west cliff face arising beside the lift. One could imagine the Arapahoe sat on their palamonos, looking over the edge at the paleface.

On the east side was a series of dotted black lines down a steep series of faces, depicting possible routes down the Pallavicini, skiied with great respect.

I recall this as one of my more, ermm, interesting ski days.

It gets worse than this. Once you have skiied it, you don't refer to it as Arapahoe any more, just A-basin.

ldavies

yes, phil's shop is the old bank (which i remember as an old bank!).

Prior to this being a bank, it was a ski hire shop, and in my early ski-bum days, I worked there, fitting boots.

"What size shoe are you? Five and a half? That will be a size seven then. Got your thick socks with you?"

When the single chairlift was replaced by a Gondola, the ski shop moved to the other end of the Brunner, and the bank took the building on.

For those outside of the world of Niederau, Krautinger is a schapps brewed only in the valley. The word is, don't sniff, only taste.

I prefer Hazelnusse schnapps, availaible only at Rudis, and my house. :mrgreen:

RossF wrote:

Dave Mac-(rest and be thankful closed tonight due to snow!!!!!!!!!!)

Entschuldigung bitte?

OK, so at Niederau New Year, we have:

Dave Mac, frau & friends
ParalyticSkiCrazie & family
cornishmaid and family
Someone in Oberau
Jan Stenmark and family

The only bobo's for me will be a cup of cocoa and early bed. :mrgreen: Well, it's just the wrong end of the village for me.

Rudi's is the place for us at lunchtime, although at weekend, I sometimes pick up the gitar with Louis von Kufstein at the Rubezahl. I do like the 4.00 pm gluhwein, looking at the Kitzbuhleraps, followed by a leisurely run down the empty and darkened Tennladen.

Karen, re ski hire. Since this is a hardware issue, there is less flex than ski school.

The three hire places in Niederau are:

Blachfelders, by the side of the hotel Austria, opposite end. Good gear, good knowledge, good range of gear. Probably slightly the most expensive, although once you are on their computer system, next time in, you will expect to be offered a discount.

Margreiter, opposite Blachfelders, 20m nearer the gondola. Good gear, quite good knowledge, if they run short of equipment, they put an emergency call in to Oberau. On one occasion, ths method failed a friend of mine. From what I recently hear, they will have lost one/two of their good fitters, although this has yet to be confirmed. Skiset use these. I have used them for services, and they were OK.

Thaler. I do not wish to comment on this outlet.

The other possibility is that another location may have opened up, in the same area. It was reported that an English instructor, Phil, and his lady, have opened up an operation in the old bank. I can only imagine that this is ski hire, but I do not know that. Jan??

Long time back, when my keenness quotient was much higher than my IQ, skiing with a mate, off the side of a road in Derbyshire. Ski to the bottom of a field, skis off, then carrying them back up.

Just reaching the roadside, a car roars to a stop, guy jumps out, runs over, shouting "Can I have a go, please?"

I obligingly hands over my skis, he jambs his suede shoes into the bindings, grabs the sticks, and sets of down the hill, near perfect turns.

5 minutes later, he is back at the top, "Thanks" he says, "Gotta go, had to do that"

That, my friends, is a keen skier.

Hi Karen
Just re-inforcing Jan's message, I just received an email back from the ski school saying the same.

There are a number of travelling instructors, who just come in for the peak season, a guy called Mike T. is one, he was working there the same time as me, but has remained working for the ski school to help at Peak times.

There are also a number of local instructors that only work at the peak season.

So be re-assured, as Jan says, Sepp Schellhorn has the situation covered.