Messages posted by : AllyG
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Innsbrucker,
It is perfectly possible to ski slowly with parallel turns down a steep run (one of your earlier questions I believe). I know most skiers don't, because they enjoy the feeling of speed, but you don't actually have to go fast in order to do skidding parallel turns. And I don't see why you are trying to avoid skidding, unless it is because you are trying to perform pure carving turns, which in my case anyway, need a much wider area and a gentler slope. Most of the instructors I have had want us to go slowly, and practice our technique, until we get to a comparatively easy bit when we can go as fast as we like. You shouldn't feel that you are going so fast that you are losing control. You need to ski more slowly until you have regained control (by practising hockey stops etc. as already described). This is a video of me trying to ski slowly with parallel skidding turns where I finish my turns, down what is actually a black slope (although that section is more like a red one) in very icy conditions. I am trying to remember to angle my skis so they dig into the slope at the same time as I am trying to get my body to lean in the opposite direction down the slope (so that I am putting extra weight on my downhill ski to stop it from sliding down the slope), as I was instructed to do in my morning lesson. Sorry to everyone who's already seen it. It is certainly not meant to be a video demonstrating correct ski-ing methods, because I am making lots of mistakes, but it does demonstrate ski-ing down a steep, icy slope, while staying in complete control. I could have stopped or turned at any moment and I felt quite safe all the time (apart from when the guy from behind shot past me and startled me a bit - although he did really give me a very wide clearance). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psN6WMzDaL0 Ally |
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They should have a warning really, in the gondola, saying something like 'Danger of talking bilge, giggling, and falling over when exiting from gondola' :lol: Ally |
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My brain doesn't work very well at the best of times, and it's decidedly 'off key' at altitude.
Ise, What you said about the tent poles reminded me of that scene in 'An officer and a gentleman' where they're doing the altitude test (while training to be pilots) and trying to play cards and clap hands together :D Ally |
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Kate, I'm glad it's not just me :D What particular madness did you experience? I did some exceptionally stupid things - a drop in'mental alertness' as Ise says, like for example when I was in Val Thorens I used the wrong end of those double ended lip and suncream sticks and put lipsalve all over my face, and I tried to get in to my room using my lift pass! I also find I wake up in the middle of the night, around 3 a.m., get very thirsty all day (which is handy because I don't have to pee so often) and of course I get very out of breath running up stairs etc. I put all of these down to the altitude. Ally |
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Ise,
I should have explained - the gondola sickness was caused at Val Thorens, going up to the highest point there, which I think is the Cime de Caron, at 3200 metres. I also suffered altitude sickness at Kaprun, going straight up in that gondola to the top. I got all silly and giggly (like I was tipsy) and then when I was sitting down in the restaurant at the top everything started moving up and down (or at least I thought it did). I guess I must be very sensitive to altitude. Ally |
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Thanks for the update, Badbark. Congratulations to both your parents for trying out ski-ing, and I'm very pleased to hear they'd like another go at it :D
Ally |
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Sm4sh,
I don't think it was a silly question either. I have also felt slightly sick in a long and fast gondola ride up the mountain, but I put that down to altitude sickness. The next time I went up it I took a bottle of water and a mars bar and I found eating and drinking stopped the nausea, whatever the cause was :D And drinking plenty of water is supposed to help with altitude sickness. I'm sure Ise is right and people do sometimes feel a bit sick in chair lifts. My instructor didn't seem at all surprised when I explained that the rocking was making me feel sick (in case he didn't understand my very limited French I did a good imitation of someone vomiting over the side of the chairlift). But as soon as he stopped the rocking I felt okay again, which was a very good thing because that chair ride back up from the Italian to the French side of La Rosiere is very long and slow. Ally |
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I think it depends which bank you are with. Lloyds TSB charge a minimum of £2-00 for cash withdrawals abroad, plus the 2.99% currency conversion fee. So if one was foolish enough to withdraw only £10 worth of euros it would cost £2-30, or 23%. The best thing to do with a Lloyds debit card, if one needs more cash abroad, is to take it out in a lump sum, because then they only charge 1.5% plus the 2.99%, i.e. a total of 4.49% Because I book our holidays myself, the change in the euro makes a big difference to me, as I'm paying for everything except the eurostar train journey in euros. Between the 3 of us we will probably pay about £3000 in euros, so a 10% improvement in the euro (which it has achieved) means a saving of £300 :D Ally |
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