J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andymol2

Hardly a shocking revelation that acute cardiac conditions are a common cause of sudden death!
Whilst trauma and avalanches may take a few on the slopes there are not too many rapidly fatal conditions that are likely to cause sudden death.

I'm surprised it's not a higher percentage - after all relatively few people with other terminal or potentially fatal illnesses are able to ski.

I doubt fear of failure is a big issue for relative beginners - I suspect more experienced skiiers have a tendancy to equate falling with failure but as someone who learned to ski relatively recently along with my wife & teenage daughters "parking it" was viewed as part of skiing rather than failure.
Only being made to feel falling as failure (by others) might this be perceived as failing.

Your mother is going to be older than many new skiiers and will probably progress slower than you and probably hasn't learned new physical skills in a long time and probably has a more acute appreciation of the danger involve in sliding on ice at speed and doesn't yet appreciate that she has the skills to reduce that risk.
Your wife although younger may well not have learned new sports either.

As your technique improves they will become less intimidated by speed, bumps or speed but for some that progression is slow. Technique can be worked upon and practiced. Confidence takes time to gain and can be dented easily.

My wife had a slow speed fall at the end of her first week's skiing & ruptured her ACL (tough cookie - still managed to ski down the mountain) - when she returned to skiing it took her a good 2 weeks before she overcame her fear of Reds - it just took time & work with a good instructor to get her to accept that her technique was good enough and that she had come down steeper & more difficult sections on Blues.

Another factor is that your wife & mother are skiing together and perhaps reinforcing each other's fears & apprehensions. Not sure how you deal with that! Perhaps individual private lessons for both of them may be the way to move on - the skills and reassurance of a good instructor alone who will focus on what they can do as much as what they can't will help.

They won't feed on each other's apprehension or feel pushed by you (even if you were Franz Klammer your wife and mother are the two people who would the least likely to take your advice!)
Whilst they do their lessons you get to play too.

You could buy a vignette on ebay.

In theory you are supposed to stick them to the screen (so you can't re-use them) but many don't & then sell them on ebay.
I think I paid £7 for my last one & got the same back!

Andy

There were fewer late bargains last season compared to the year before.
A lot of the apparent bargains were gone when you rang up or tried to book on line - the web sites were slow to update - or they left them deliberately so that people would enquire and give them an opportunity to sell the holidays they had got.
A lot of the time accomodation was available but no flight seats remained. Gave up on the boys week - sob sob.

The previous year the capacity was greater & we got a bargain week in Les Arcs - good 4 star hotel on the slopes, half board for £250 a head. Someone else booked a day later & got the same a £900 holiday for £200! We were gutted!

We booked the family holiday to Cormayeur early & got a better deal than we would had we left it later - the prices went up significantly.

I would suggest you do have some lessons before you go - why waste your first few days on the mountain doing the very basics. Your precious holiday time shouldn't be spent learning how to do your boots up, putting on skis, side stepping and the like.

Some posters have commented on the cost of lessons at the various snowdomes - one option might be to have your first few lessons on a dry slope - significantly cheaper. When you've got the hang of it have a try at a snowdome just to appreciate the difference between carpet & snow.

However the snowdome experience is not the same as a real mountain with lumps bumps slush and the like but it much closer than a dry slope. Indeed after your first skiing holiday you probably wouldn't ever want to go back to a dry slope but they do provide you with a useful progression at a better price than artificial snow in the UK.

Why have lessons before you go? Unless you spend the entire day in ski school you won't get to do much skiing on the first few days on the slopes when the lesson has finished.
Should you book lessons when you book your package - probably - it often works out cheaper as part of the package & the ski schools can be busy at peak times in some resorts. This may be influenced by other factors such as who you are going with - my first week was with a mate who used to work as a ski instructor so the lessons gave hime a break! (literally - he skiid into a river bed & broke his thumb!). If you are on your own or with other inexperienced skiers it can be quite daunting without the knowlege that you have got lessons - the instructors usually give you tips on what to practice outside of lessons & which slopes are suitable for your ability.

Part of the milky way so linked easily with Sauze D'Oulx & Sansicario and technically with Montegenevre over in France - pleanty of skiing - good mountain food (as you'd expect of Italy).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sestriere

Dave Mac wrote:6kg for skis, 1kg for bag, leaves 16kg for other luggage. Hand baggage, typically 10kg.

It's a good question, all my gear is weighed and recorded. My ambition is to go easyjet, just with hand baggage, (hire skis, or somewhere where I keep a set). For that to happen, Easyjet would need to give assurances they would accept the wearing of boots for going through security.

I don't think the wearing of boots is an issue that's airline specific- whenever I've worn boots airport security tend to make you take them off & put them through the XRay machine. I've not tried it with my ski boots on yet but can't see them being treated differently.

All kids are different however she will learn very quickly once she gets the hang of it.

In some ways a few private lessons when you are away will teach her far more that she would get in the Snowdome.
Group lessons haven't worked for her- and her confidence may be better boosted by one to one instruction rather than going is a snake with an instructor giving instructions to address the groups' needs rather than her specific needs.

Once she has gained in confidence group lessons may become fun rather than intimidating.