J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by felthorpe

I don't mind a button lift but my daughter hates them. A bad experience has made her so nervous that she tenses up and as a result falls off.

There is a T bar at the top of the glacier at Deux Alpes, I had a lovely bruise behind my knee and inside my thigh when my husband didn't twist it far enough out of the way when getting off - thanks for that! But the funniest sight I ever saw was two snowboarders riding it up facing each other astride the bar, which frankly looks like two people enjoying a double ended sex toy!!! Needless to say one "arrived" first and then the other fell off.....

I rented a pair of Volkl Estrellas last season. They were the next step up in price to what I usually went for and the difference was amazing. My skiing and confidence improved straight away and I was a strict blue, very nervous red skier before. This season I have bought my own, not too expensive and great for everything I want to do and I know I can ski on them. Reds and a Black this season so far. Maybe your wife wuld like to rent a pair and see how she gets on? You can always change them and try several before she finds what suits her.

Realising that I don't have to do my boots up so tight that the circulation in my feet stops (French method).

Skiing with boot clips undone is possible if you are balanced properly on your skis in the first place! As demonstrated to me by Warren Smith Ski Academy at Hemel Hempstead indoor slope.

Boots now on all day done up comfortably and no pain(looking smugly at all the others who have not had this revelation yet).

I have a soft spot for L2A, have been twice and even if the snow disappears in the town, it is fine up on the glacier. Jandri Express will get you up there pretty fast but skiing back down to town is not so good, only blacks or a very narrow dodgy green (I had the black eyes to prove it one year).

I tried my first deep powder just before Xmas and found the sensation of still moving whilst my skis had disappeared below the snow quite unnerving. I was fine until I slowed down in a slight dip and then, naturally, I fell over, face down with skis crossed behind me. Getting up again was almost impossible, no amount of probing with a ski pole could find the mountain to push against and I thought I may have to lay there until the Spring thaw!

I will try it again, when I have my strength back, but at least it was soft to fall on and I didn't even get soaked, which wasn't bad considering it took me 10 mins thrashing about to get upright again (the powder just evaporated from my clothing).

Always book a glacier, it's a skiing holiday after all. I can pay a lot less for green hills at home.

We had so much snow in La Plagne just before Xmas though that it made life pretty difficult. I'm not complaining (although I was when face down off piste and couldn't get up again cos the powder was sooo deep).

I always wear my skis on the outside :shock:

I have a lovely black scuff mark across my helmet where my own ski hit it once detached and sliding down a slope in my wake. I don't remember the impact but I have the mark to show where it caught me in the head. If I had not been wearing my helmet......... :!: