J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

karen72 wrote:

Thanks for all the info though, its been a great help. I take it the beginners slope is for all beginners or do some companies have different slopes? I am just thinking I could ski to the bottom of the lift every so often to check on the kids (lol) take a few aerial pics of them on the way back up? and from the looks of it we look close enough to nip back to the Alpenhof for lunch? or am I being a bit ambitious?

Ok, so all slopes are open to all skiers.

And then, you may not presume that your children will be on that particular beginners slope. There is another one in the village, which I think it is fair to say carries a greater proportion of the beginner classes.

So, if the children are on either of the beginners slopes, you have a mountain run that will bring you into the appropriate slope

If I was taking the children's class, and you popped up every hour, I'd kick your ...!! And so would your kids, they're having fun, and you are embarrassing them. :)


When you drop the children off before ski class, ask where they will be at what time, for lunch. I am not sure, but I don't think the Alpenhof is good for lunch. ... is it?

Wherever you end up at lunchtime there are a lot of eating places. When you drop the children off, ask some of the other parents what their plans are.

Later in the week, at laest one day, take the children up the main Gondola, for a look around, eat and drink. You will of course have to bring them down again!

Aye, all you young folk. :mrgreen:

You never hear of toy girls now, do you.

I'm sorry about this swskier, and of course it doesn't relate to your situation.

I earned my degree at the Open University, quite a difficult route, when bring up two children and holding down a demanding job and wife.

The OU magazine was a quarterly. On the third quarter after summer school, the "personal" columns were drenched with items such as:

PeterboroughBigBoy, need you to get in touch with me urgently. HertsHotGirl.

I don't drink.

pjheystack wrote:

thanks dave,but was enquiring about the new chair lift on photos,any info?

OK, sorry PJ, yes the new 4 seater is finished and was tested in the first week in November.

Mark, I am not totally clear on the reach of the replacement chairlift. I was looking at the foundations in June, and it appeared to be about or slightly above where the single chair reached. There were many of us who believed that the lift should have been taken right up the Roskopf, which would break new ground. It would however have meant that what is now a red run, would have had a black section at the top, so I guess that is a fair reason.

In addition to dropping skiers at the top of the Hochberg, a lovely red run, the lift is directly above the Gseng, an off piste run, through farm fields, and finishing off with a steep shute.

ParalyticSkiCrazie, what a great name. Admin Dave, there should be a prize for this ~ how about £5.00?


Para, 30 miles day is quite respectable. I don't know how to say this with modesty, but on a reasonably good day, I would be looking to ski 90/100km a day, evenly split. On a fast day, with an early start, 140/150 km. :lol: There is lot of scope for us.

Unfortunately, there isn't a post bus to Hopfgarten. A taxi would not cost that much, especially split between a few. I could give you the mobile no of a taxi. If alone, I would hitch, only accepting lifts from young ladies of course. :roll:

The road from Niederau through Grafenweg is normally open, 99.9%. You pass through farm areas, and the tractors alone would keep it open. If there is heavy overnight snow, the road is being scraped at 6.00 am.

Isn't life wonderful.

Absolutely no need for apologies Giles, we got it all understood between us. It's great that you progressed quickly.

It isn't just that people learn at differing rates. Some people are fortunate to experience small amounts of fresh snow every day, so they get really good ski response. Others are unlucky, and catch a week of what they term "icy", perhaps it is marbled or hard pack. At any rate the ski response is not so positive, and it can be a bit scary.

Two years ago, my niece and her husband arrived in Niederau, raedy to conquer all before them. In fact one of them did, but the other was very frightened, and made little progress.

The year before that, I was priveliged to help out a 10 year old lad, who had only 2 days dry slope experience. My ski buddy went with him for the lad's first day. On the second day, I took him up the mountain, and he was astonishing. Everything shown to him was replicated ~ first time. By 11.30 am he was skiing short swings straight down the fall line.

If I tried to get him to repeat anything more than twice, he complained. Over lunch, I thought hard about it, but concluded that he was ready to come down the mountain, and he did. A fair amount of trepidation on the first run. When we arrived at the bottom, he gave a big grin, "Again" says he. And we did ~ 7 complete runs, all red, in the afternoon, on his second day on skis.

He was the bravest learner I ever met. I can tell you that it was quite humbling to be involved with that lad.

Pj, the January snow records for Niederau, for the seven years 2002/2008 are: -

Upper ~ 137/48/125/101/137/37/131, Average ~ 102

Lower ~ 48/19/68/40/81/13/50, Average 46

Providing the ground is cold enough, even on a bad year it is skiable. I have only ever missed two days skiing in the past 15 years, due to bad weather.

The Gondola will be open from somewhere 3rd week December. and close on 29 March. Auffach closes a week later.

Hi Trencher, another great demo.

However, when I examine, it is clear that I have misunderstood your first demo pics/explanation. In the video, you are not downward unweighting, which is what I understood from the first explanation.

This is upward unweighting, pushing the legs away to de-weight, (as per bathroom scales demo), set the edges, and absorb during the turn.

As to the down unweight, which I had interpreted your first pics to be, I mean where you sink rapidly to de-weight, set the edges, and push away during the turn.

You have great leg flex and balance.

Oh and thanks again for the assistance on the "Testing" thread. After the help you gave, I did manage to upload another picture, wrong size, but I will get to that.