J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

Hi Suze,

I would caution against Oberau for a beginner. It does have beginner slopes, but I would not rate it for improving from there. Should you wish to choose the Wildschoenau, my view is that Niederau would give you a more progressive possibility than Oberau or Auffach.

Remember that the cost of your skiing includes tuition, probably ski/boot hire, and some lift pass element after the first couple of days.

You also have your day costs, lunch and drinks. So maybe you might want to spreadsheet in everything. You may get a good TO deal, but find out that your on cost is an extra 150%.

Apart from the cost issue, when you are a beginner, skis weigh twice as much. Boots are clumsy. You do not want to be getting on & off ski buses, if you can avoid it.

Hence, if you can choose an appropriate resort, where the accomodation is close to the beginner skiing, then it is worth paying £20 more.

You are on a tight budget. I have been there, and there is a lot to think about. Austria and Italy are half of the costs of France for day costs.

Don't know a great deal about Italy for beginner skiing. In Austria, Niederau and Filzmoos would be good. But, try to stay in accomodation in the village centre, close to the beginner slopes. If you are not sure, ask the local tourist office.

Remember, when you are a beginner, you do not need a big resort. In fact there is a significant advantage in a smaller resort, you don't have as many people bombing, and it is easier to get around.

Forget the nightlife, you will be too knackered.

Suze, I take my hat off to you, a single beginner lady presents a challenge. Good on you. And if you have more questions, fire away.

RoseR wrote:

the premium may be a bit higher but they can not discriminate and not insure you.

Rose, that is very good info, I didn't know that. It does highlight the needfor being open about your ailments.

I have found that I no longer have to declare the knee orthroscopy, since the questions relate to treatment within the past 5 years.

Rose, I don't want to lose you to J2ski, but you wouldn't like a transfer to Dr Lanners in Niederau for the winter? :-)

It's actually very easy.

You look up your resort report on J2ski, and then cross check with the local tourist office web site forecast. They are never the same so add them and divide by two to get the mean.

Then Multiply by two, and separately divide by two. Write both results down.

Also, timeshift by two days in each direction.

And there you have it.

Can I have my £5.00 now?

Shazzo wrote:

(no umlauts on this keyboard!)

If you really want to be correct, you can add an e after the o, so Soell is correct. Soll being a recognised place name would be pretty well acceptable either way. You can actually get umlauts in Word, it's just easier to add the e. Word/Insert/symbol. Söll.


As a slight caution on using Westendorf as a snow condition guide. Hopfgarten slopes face SW, whereas those of Westendorf face north. Since you are going at New Year, and assuming it meets the seasonal average temp, this ought not to be an issue. In March, it certainly can be an issue.

Having said that, Hopfgarten is a good gateway into the Schi-welt. We are in Niederau that week, and plan to take the ten minute journey over to Hopfgarten for a day on the Schi-welt.

Hope your weather is really good that week... :wink:

Trencher, this is a superb piece of pictorial tution. the technique was referred to as avalamont, by the French, and Grundschwung by the Austrians.

I rarely use it on piste, mainly because I just use upward unweighting, (ie just going into the turn) Where I find the downward unweight technique useful is off piste, because it helps avoid being thrown, on uncertain terrain.

After looking at these pics, and your videos, I have to conclude that your technique produces more even arcs. At least when you do it.

You could have complted the triangle of forces on each of the pictures, with the vertical arrow changing direction, just as you have shown. The arrow would start somewhere about the solar plexus, maybe.

Another two pictures either before the first or after the last would have shown the crossover.

Fabulous. You have just ruined my winter. I had a mental map of this years improvements, and now I'm gonna have to change it. :-)

Join the club. There are several people here, who I am sure post after imbibing, including myself (on occasion)

Mandetory :!:

Dom, apart from the obvious benefits, one of the good ones is the number of friends and contacts you make if you are there for a season.

By the time you have been there a few weeks, you may well have discovered many different sources of skis. So why not try and strike a deal to rent skis for 2/3 weeks. This will allow you to try lots of different skis. And then, if there are a pair that you like, see if you can come to a deal.

This way, you have a much better chance of getting a ski that you like, and that are suitable for your style of skiing. Also, I would bet there isn't that much difference in cost.

Make friends with the ski techos, and shop staff, they are there for the season.

And if you aren't working, or only doing bits of work, of course you are a ski bum. :-)

mystyc wrote:

I'm going to concentrate on austria as it seems to have the largest amount of twin room type acc

Point of information, you understand that an Austrian twin is not the same as twin beds? An Austrian twin is one large bed with two matresses and duvets.

Most people cope with it, and we don't know how your party is made up, but sometimes guys together are not keen. Dunno about the gals. :roll: