J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Trencher wrote:

pippak wrote:As I said, I was tired and fed up when looking through the sites so didn't even look at it properly and yes, that was stupid. Thanks again to to those of you who have provided constructive advice and for the person who has found it funny, I am glad that you have been able to gain something from my situation even if it has just been a laugh at my expense!!!

I'm sorry, my remarks weren't intended to be personal. It's like watching those dumbest crooks shows. It is still crime, even though it's funny. I've made a few internet purchasing blunders myself.

Trencher

When my younger daughter was still quite young (11 I think) I left her in the house with one of her friends and her Dad while I was busy doing something. They decided it would be fun to order some crisps from Tesco and get them delivered, and managed to persuade my husband to give them his debit card.

Anyway, the next day the Tesco delivery man turned up with 90 packets of crisps! :shock: :lol:

Now, that was funny :lol:

I think my daughter had clicked the wrong box or something. She made a profit out of it by selling the surplus crisps at school, so I didn't actually lose out financially. But every time she gets a bit too clever, I remind her of this episode.

Pippak,
I hope you either get your money back, or the stuff turns out not to be so bad. When we were in Bulgaria a lot of the stuff they were selling were fakes, and the cds were illegal copies, but the quality was actually okay.

Ally

sm4sh wrote:god thats quite scary init. dont think ill be getting on a chair lift an hour before they close lol.

Sm4sh,
I rather think Trencher meant they shut the lift early because of the cold weather and there was no-one using it (they thought ...). When I was in Val Thorens they shut one of the chair lifts in the morning because they said it was too cold to go up in it, but I can't remember what temperature they said it was.

I guess a mobile phone, or a CB radio would come in handy in these circumstances.

Ally

bandit wrote:

Innsbrucker wrote:

The other thing you sometimes hear about is the chair lift being switched off at night with someone still on it. The only case I can remember now is in the old cult Austria TV drama, Piefke Saga. But I am told it happens in real life sometimes.

This happened for real on lift 45 in Les Arcs. It was many years ago now, but at the end of the operating time, typically the staff take the chair number, watch that chair round the circuit twice, then switch off the lift. No-one saw someone get on the lift. It's a very exposed lift at Arc 2000, and the passenger was found dead next morning when the lift was switched on, still in the chair. The lift staff there, were very strict about folks getting late lifts after that.

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Manda10,
I have skied in Val Thorens twice now, and it's definitely ski to the door from pretty much anywhere in the resort. It depends what you are looking for. VT isn't particularly pretty, although I couldn't see anything wrong with it, and it does have a bit of a reputation for noisy drunks in the middle of the night in the centre of the resort, but we didn't hear anything. It is high altitude so you're pretty much guaranteed snow, and of course it connects up with the whole 3 valleys area so there is a huge area to ski.

I would think it was okay for young children - I saw plenty of them when we were there.

What sort of resort are you looking for, and for what price, and what time of year?

Ally

I found this just now, about Bulgaria. According to this the rescue services don't have the use of a helicopter.

http://www.bulgariaski.com/mountainsafety.shtml

Ally

Sm4sh,
I don't know what the situation is in Bulgaria - in fact I don't know if they've even got a helicopter! I daresay there's not one in resort but maybe they get one from somewhere else, when it's necessary.

When we were ski-ing in Obergurgl the conditions were quite icy, and we'd just gone down a very icy steep bit on a bend (very carefully I may add - I side-slipped down it) but I think it was only supposed to be a blue run, and at the bottom of that section was a helicopter just loading a casualty in on a stretcher :shock:. I can tell you, we all skied even more carefully after seeing that!

I found this article about what happens/can happen in France:

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Articles/Search-And-Rescue-Costs

It's a few years old, and they say that at the time it was written it cost 300 euros for a stretcher and up to 2000 euros for a helicopter. They also describe the shocking case where 2 British snowboarders died in an avalanche at Tignes and their insurers refused to pay the rescue fees of £9000 for the helicopter and £1200 for the dog handlers and the estates of the deceased were expected to pay. Apparently the insurers refused to pay because the snowboarders had ignored boundary ropes and warning signs.

As long as you make sure you do have ski insurance, you should be fine :D

Ally

Katie,
I haven't been to Zell am See for a while, six years I think, but when we were there we went up the main gondola every day and the ski slopes, lifts, and ski school meeting point were only a few yards from the top of the gondola.

I think the idea of this is that when the snow is poor the lower pistes aren't open, so it's sort of like the top of the gondola is a launching platform for everything. It was a bit annoying having to go up it every morning, and the queue was quite long, but it did at least move quite fast.

We had to cross a very busy main road to get to the gondola each morning, but I don't know if that is still the case, or whether they have now diverted some of the traffic.

Ally

Have a great time, and I look forward to hearing all about it when you get back :D

Ally