J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

I prefer the weather forecasts issued by the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research http://www.slf.ch/lawinenbulletin/schneedecke_wetter/index_EN and for snow depth I look at the data from the SLF measuring stations http://www.slf.ch/schneeinfo/messwerte/stationsdaten/index_EN The ski resorts often site their snow depth measuring stations in very favourable locations.

Most of the alpine countries make this type of information available, unfortunately elsewhere it's usually only available in the local language.

Considering all the microclimates in the alps, and that they are based on computer models I think the J2Ski and other skiing website forecasts are OK, but they do tend to overestimate the amount of snow that is likely fall, especially the long range forecasts. Today's J2Ski forecast for Zermatt accurately forecasted the amount of snow at altitude, but overestimated the amounts lower down and it rained in the village.



Interestingly it also forecast a thunder snowstorm. Thundersnow is a very rare phenomena http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow

The up motion (extension) that the Austrian instructor was teaching you will not give you a solid foundation, as it disconnects you from the snow. Things soon start to go wrong https://vimeo.com/88334672 The Japanese / Korean techniques will keep you connected to the snow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSmYDlCW9yU lessening the chances of things going wrong.

Rock falls like that are a frequent occurrence in the alps http://goo.gl/l2DrEr fortunately most of the time nobody gets hurt.

The incident at Val Gardena could have been pretty nasty if the tree had knocked the gondola off the cable.



The tree doesn't look big enough to have damaged the cable, they will have probably removed the gondola from the cable to check the clamping mechanising once they got it back to the garage.

The poor woman almost had her hand chopped off by one of the propeller blades. Before landing on a blue piste it flew under a chairlift cable, narrowly missed some trees and a group of children. This could very easily have been a catastrophe.

There are big differences between the methods used by the Austrians and the Japanese (and Koreans) to teach skiing, a Canadian coach compared some of the national skiing styles at the last Interski in 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rtzwqDeSGg
One of the Korean coaches explained what they do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHERrKCTq5g
It's very different from the Austrian system https://vimeo.com/62331544
Which lessons did you enjoy the most and which method did you find to be most effective?

It's actually an 8 seater, it may be capable of running at 6m/s but they won't run it at that speed. I don't think there is anything new technically, previously the operating regulations limited the top speed to 5m/s my guess is that they have just relaxed the regulations. Theoretically they could run them even faster, Fatzer ropes has recently built a lift for testing ropes that runs at 18m/s.

Whoops, didn't notice that :oops: Sorry Iamthemrs.

In that case the boots even more likely to be too big, lots of women nearly seem to have boots that are too big, if I remember correctly AllyG said she had 25mm of space between her heel and the back of the shell and she went to a boot fitter! If she's got bunions (over 50% of women have) the boots will most likely be massive. One of my friends who has bunions bought new boots at the end of last season, in spite of my best efforts to convince her to go to a boot fitter she went to the village sports shop, when I did a shell check after she complained that they were a bit sloppy I found that there was 30mm between her heel and the back of the shell, they just upsized her until they felt comfortable, 450 Francs down the drain! If the boots are too big the skier will be standing further back on the skis than the manufacturer intended, this can also result in less control of the front of the ski

Dave Mac, the reason things were OK before is that initially the liners give enough support, but this diminishes as the foam compresses and gets to a point where they offer too little support, this can occur over a very short period of time. All stock liners 'pack out' with use, on average I manage to get 2 seasons out of a pair. If you ski in an oversized intermediate boot with a soft liner this can happen in a few weeks.

The insoles Iamthemrs had in her boots were off the shelf gel insoles, probably something like these

If they are the same size as her shoes the boots will be too big, the wrinkling will have most likely occurred when they rucked up in the front of the boot.

Orthotics like the ones you have are usually posted to put the subtalar joint in three degrees of varus and allow for up to four degrees of pronation, this is too much for a ski boot, when the amount of varus built into the ski boot is added to the varus built into the orthotics it puts the skiers weight on the outside edges. Bear in mind that all this applies to 4 clip boots the angles built into rear entry boots may be different.

Verbier_ski_bum, the insoles in my running shoes are also bigger than those my shoes, even the blanks they make them out of are bigger http://www.profeet.co.uk/profeet-custom-insoles

Ranchero_1979, if "your ankle is completely locked in place" you probably won't be able to flex it sufficiently, ankle flex is very important if you can't flex your ankles you're in really big trouble.
http://www.solutions4feet.com/files/ankle_flex_article.pdf
The fit around the ankle and mid-foot is critical, it has to be precise but not throttling.

DaveMac, it's nearly always a problem with the boots. The way ski boots are designed, sized and marketed almost guarantees that they won't fit properly unless a shell check is carried out by a competent boot fitter. The OP gave us very little to go on, but two things he mentioned give cause for concern. Tightening the lower clips indicates that the boots are too wide and using insoles that are designed for use in normal shoes that are likely to be the same size as his shoe size in ski boots indicates that the boots are also too long.

The insole on the left in the photo below is a stock insole from one of my shoes, the one on the right is from my ski boots, notice the difference in length width and shape. My shoes don't fall off when I walk and my ski boots don't hurt. As I mentioned earlier skiing is a mid stance activity, we don't need the extra space in ski boots that footwear designed for a full gait cycle activity like walking requires.



In his subsequent posts he didn't mention that a shell check had been carried out when he bought the boots. My guess is that the OP bought boots that were too big, the liner has now 'packed out' and he is no longer able to control the skis as well as before.

A shell check is easy to carry out and doesn't cost anything. If it indicates that the boots are the right size we can then address other issues, but if the boots are too big then that is the root cause of the problem. Taking lessons at anything other than beginner level is a waste of money unless your boots fit properly. Taking the skis and boots to a ski shop and asking for advice will more than likely only result in a severe dose of wallet relief!