J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

That must of been in the mid 1960s (the section joining the Preston and Lancaster bypasses opened in 1965), I was still in short trousers then!

You must have been really keen, 15 hrs in a 1960s coach must have been pretty grim. How many times a season did you manage to put on a trip?

By the time I started going up for weekends, over a decade later the roads had improved enormously.

12 hours from Manchester to Cairngorm! Were you using stage coaches?

When we used to go (a few after years after the internal combustion engine had been invented) the coaches in use then managed to make get us to Aviemore just after the hotel bar closed on Friday night???? The hotel the tour operator used (Red Guide Ski Tours) was a dump, the food was awful and the beer was grim. I think the beer is much improved now.

As that part of the world has a sub arctic climate, the weather is very changeable. As they used to say on Stingray "anything can happen in the next half hour" and frequently does. When the weather's good it's great. I have fantastic memories of skiing and mountaineering in the Scottish Highlands, but when conditions are bad it's desperate.

Save your money for a trip to the Alps, that's what most of the Scots do!

P.S. Red Guide also did 7 day self catering trips to the Alps for 79 quid, happy days!

As well as the one Stevesmoothie found, there is also this one http://www.learnhow2ski.com/en/ On their own I don't think any of these apps are much good, unless you have yourself videoed how do you tell if you're doing the exercises correctly?

Another thing that struck me was how old fashioned and inefficient the teaching methods are. They don't half make a meal of teaching even the most basic manoeuvres, extension and rotation went out with straight skis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEBIAfZ0iW4&index=7&list=PLC502BC8CCA9BB32D

See how much easier it is if you just flex the lower leg a bit and let the edged upper ski turn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_TLz0Bzi_s

Very good skiers don't extend to initiate their turns, so it seems strange that ski instructors the world over still teach this outmoded technique. This is a video of Richard Berger an extremely good Austrian skier http://www.amigos-snowsports.at/node/33 at about 3 min he puts a red jacket on and starts extending to initiate his turns, notice the difference?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRo60OPDuTE

There are regulations concerning the operation of drones in Switzerland. If it weighs more than 500 grams you have to have public liability insurance to the value of CH 1 million and you not allowed to fly them within 100m of 'gatherings of people' so flying one above a piste is probably a no go.
http://www.bazl.admin.ch/dienstleistungen/02658/index.html?lang=fr

I think it still takes place

Get in touch with the Kandahar Ski Club or PM Chris Brookes

If her calves are really that big

then the only solution I can think of is a pair of BootDoc compression socks.
I order to determine the right size she will have to have her calves measured
If you don't want to shell out €39.95 a pair http://shop.sport65.de/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=2189 she could just wear pop socks.

If the circumference of her calves is greater than 17" when measured at approx 11" from the floor she will have major boot fit / function issues. Ski boots are designed to fit people whose calves are 13-14" in circumference.

J2SkiNews wrote:
Saas Fee is making the most excited claims, saying that they have had 1.5m (five feet) of fresh snow in the last few days.

In all the years I've lived here I can't ever remember anyone from Saas Fee getting excited!

Some parts of the resort have had more than 1.5m

and other parts less


The snow depths above 2000m in upper Valais are very impressive for this time of year, especially when you take into account that this is one of the driest regions in the alps.

http://www.slf.ch/schneeinfo/messwerte/stationsdaten/rk42_sd_c_EN
The situation in lower Valais isn't so good, only about 50cm at Les Attelas above Verbier.
http://www.slf.ch/schneeinfo/messwerte/stationsdaten/rk82_sd_c_EN

The snow depths on the Italian side are also pretty impressive, this is today's trace from the weather station at Lago Goillet (2541m) above Valtournenche

The midday temperatures have come down a bit, last week they were at 7-8°C, hopefully it will now start to get colder.

Not really surprising in light of events in France. According to article 18 of Italian law no. 81 "Legge-quadro per la professione di maestro di sci e ulteriori disposizioni in materia di ordinamento della professione di guida alpine", only qualified ski instructors or mountain guides are allowed to provide this service. As in France ski instruction / mountain guiding is defined as paid accompaniment ("l'accompagnamento retribuito di clienti"), as these are regulated professions abusive practice is subject to criminal sanctions. If the authorities catch someone working illegaly they are prosecuted under article 348 of the penal code "Abusivo esercizio di una professione", in April the Senate voted to dramatically increase the penalties for this offence (I don't know if they have come into force yet). Anyone found guilty can be issued with a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 Euros and be imprisoned for up to 18 months, anyone employing an unqualified person can be fined the same amount and imprisoned for up to 2 years. If someone is killed or injured whilst being accompanied by an unqualified person the terms of imprisonment are up to 18 years in case of death and 3-12 years in case of injury.

If that wasn't bad enough, under article 2048 of the Italian Civil Code ski instructors / guides are responsible for any damage caused to third parties by their clients. If it was found that they were working illegally their insurance would most likely be void.

It will be interesting to see what the SCGB do about their Leader service, I think continuing it would be very risky.