J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Eggman,
I'm sorry to hear about your poor feet. They sound really painful. I hope you get them sorted okay. And you did very well to find some boots you could wear comfortably, and I expect they were cheap as well if they were ex-hire.

Bandit - that's okay, these little misunderstandings happen all the time when communicating via typed messages, especially when I'm not very good with my smileys. Thanks for the apology :-)

Ally

Hi Zwee,
Thanks very much for that excellent report. And if you can't work out how to put the photos up, just ask your kids :lol: My daughter very kindly put up her Tignes facebook album for me - but the only problem with that, is that I think you can only see the photos if you're registered with facebook.

So, if you do finally work out how to put photos up, perhaps you'd let me know.

It is interesting to know that, as I'd suspected, too much snow can be just as much of a problem as not enough snow. It sounds as though you coped very well with it, in spite of everything. I'm glad your less experienced friend found an instructor and managed some ski-ing, and I agree with you - the lessons were a real bargain.

We had a problem with that chairlift being chained off, as well. I came to the conclusion that they were doing that when they didn't have anyone there to supervise people getting on, as there were still people getting off it. Sometimes it was open, and sometimes it wasn't, but it didn't matter if you could cope with going all the way up using the gondola.

I e-mailed the link of the video my daughter took of me ski-ing, after my lesson, to my instructor, Ben Harris of the TDC, to ask him if I'd improved. I couldn't really tell, looking at the video, because I didn't know how bad I looked in the first place since I've never been videod before. I know it felt better though.

Anyway, he was kind enough to reply, and this is what he said (video link is on page 3 of this thread, for anyone interested). It is very nice to have his comments in writing, because I always find it very difficult to remember what instructors say. I think, all in all, I had quite good value for 45 euros (my half of the total 90 euros).

Hi Alison,

I you had a good trip back and all is well. I'm glad you understood the points we were making in your session and you were thinking about what to do after the session!

We were trying to get you to stand more on the outside leg and lean down the hill more, it is worth pointing out that it is allot harder to do on steeper slopes but you seem to attempting it well.

Having watched the video you do well but we can always do more! If you pause the video on 7 secs you should be able to see that your body is aligned and leaning into the hill. On 13sec, you can see your outside leg seems to be getting away from you because your weight has fallen onto the inside. This is where you need to be leaning down the hill to help you keep your outside foot under your body.

The slope you have tried this on is steep and you do ski it very nicely in control. When you work on things it is best if you practise on shallower slopes then move it on to something a bit steeper.

I hope this is of use to you, and I wish you luck with your skiing career and hopefully see you back in Tignes at some point in the future.

Regards,

Ben Harris
the development centre
Tignes and Val d'Isere

top quality ski coaching
www.tdcski.com

When we were at Tignes, a couple of weeks ago, they were spraying the mountain with water at night (even though it was totally brown and no snow anywhere apart from on the piste), and I wondered what they were doing. I asked someone, and they said it was to build up a layer of ice, to cool the ground down, and encourage the snow to stay there, because it was freezing at night.

Ally

Ian,
I was thinking more about the danger I'd be in, if I'm now a toblerone (re cannabilistic tendencies) if I ski with any of these other avid chocolate eaters on here.

Maybe I should change my avatar to a toblerone?

Ally

Oh good, Ian,
I should be safe enough then, if we ever go ski-ing together :lol:

Ally

Ettie77,
I had a look on the international RAC route finder, to see how far it was. Apparently it's a round trip of 26 miles, taking an hour, so I would think a taxi would be very expensive, especially if you were coming back late.

Maybe you should ski over, and have lunch together, and then ski back?

Ally

Ian,
Congratulations on losing the weight and keeping it off.

Ally

Bandit,
It was actually meant to be a joke (wrong smiley perhaps?).

I'm sure I'm much more careful with my hired boots and skis than the average user. But in any case, the places we hire our stuff from seem to buy all new every year. It is, though, perhaps a warning against buying second hand ex hire boots (should anyone ever consider doing this).

Ally