J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Thank you Ian.
My daughter actually videoed me, and put it up for me, because I'm useless at that sort of thing.

I can see why people burst into tears and totally freak out when they're videod at some of these coaching sessions now. I was actually ski-ing down a black run, and I thought I was moving fairly fast, and I was concentrating very hard on remembering to lean downhill and finish my turns and make it look very smooth, and it looks like I'm a total beginner on a green run!

But I have to admit that must be what I actually look like when I'm ski-ing, because that was definitely me, (the very slow one) being overtaken by one of these super zippy international level skiers.

My daughter also has some photos of some of the international skiers if anyone wants to see them. The French team moved their pitch on the last day, because of the ice, and they were actually racing down at the side of the black slope where we were, through their slalom course. I did get quite a kick out of trying to ski past them using my best carving techniques in case any of them were looking.

The Japanese team were also there, plus Andorra, Monaco, and loads of others, and it was fun trying to recognize their colours and read the labels on their backs and work out who was who.

Ally

Bandit,
The ski coach was called Ben Harris, according to the website you put up (thanks very much). I did think he was good, because he wasn't too rude about our ski-ing and he concentrated on one aspect of it for both of us. If he'd said something like my ski-ing was total rubbish and started me off back at the beginning I'd have felt totally smashed to bits. And he didn't laugh at me too much for having to stop for a tea-break. I fell over on an easy bit and I told him it was because I was tired and hungry.

We found it took us about half an hour to do the complete circuit - up the gondola, down the black, up the chairlift and back to the gondola (which involved some walking sideways uphill because of the lack of snow). So, I could only manage 2 circuits of this without a tea-break. Actually, it was very pleasant on the last day, because the restaurant is on a level decking between the top of the funicular and the bottom of the gondola, and it meant we could start ski-ing at 9 a.m. do 2 runs, stop for a tea-break, do another 2 runs and stop for a long lunch, do another 2 runs and then go home down the funicular at 2-15 in order to catch the chalet minibus back and then get the minibus back to the airport at 4 p.m..

Ally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psN6WMzDaL0 A rather dodgy quality video of me skiing in Tignes.

Hi Zwee,
The chalet has an arrangement with some people called TDC for lessons. I think they have 3 teachers, although I'm not sure. We had lessons from someone called Ben. He charged 90 euros for the two of us for 3 hours, although as I said I couldn't stick 3 hours of lessons and paid him while I had a 20 minute tea break (tea, water, crisps and chocolate - very healthy!) after 2 hours before continuing.

I think it's meant to be a 'clinic' rather than ordinary lessons. They ask if there's anything you particularly want coaching on, and when we said 'no' he just picked up on the worst aspect of our ski-ing and showed us how to improve on it. He told my daughter to move more and me to lean downhill, and his tips seemed to work for both of us. I stopped sliding downhill and she looked most professional - he seemed very pleased with how much better she was ski-ing.

We had our lesson on the second day, which I think worked out very well. It meant we had a day to find our feet in a strange resort, and then a day and an afternoon to practise it.

The chalet is in the middle of nowhere. Les Boisses seems to be an outpost of Tignes and at the moment it doesn't have a shop or anything and it would be a very long walk to the main resort. So you need to make sure you bring everything you need, or buy it in Geneva airport. Some other poor guests needed batteries and they had to pay 10 euros for the chalet staff to go and buy them. There might be a few shops open in the bit where the ski-ing is, I don't know because I didn't look, but unless you brought ordinary shoes with you it would be pretty difficult walking around in ski boots.

The red slope isn't actually difficult in itself, it was only because of the ice. I'm sure if it snows before your holiday it will be fine. There was a family out there with us who had only done one week's ski-ing. I told them about the ice and the parents decided to give ski-ing a miss and went biking instead, but their teenage kids gave it a go, and I saw them at the bottom of the black run so they'd obviously managed to survive to the bottom! There was also a snowboarder who'd only been in a snow dome before, and he managed by sliding down the ice on his bottom on his board and rode standing up when he found a bit of snow that wasn't too steep.

The good thing about it was that practically everyone other than the people from the chalet were national/international level skiers and were very good at avoiding my wobbly erratic ski-ing movements - they just whizzed straight past me at about one million miles an hour.

Have a good time,

Ally

Bandit,
You mean, if you buy boots, they are supposed to feel too tight for the first 5 weeks of ski-ing until they settle? In that case, if I only ski for one week per year, they'd hurt for five years :shock:

I think it's probably just as well I only hire boots each time, it seems to be a very complex issue, and totally beyond me.

Ally

I have never bought a pair of boots, I always hire them.

The only pair I've hired that actually made my calves hurt were the first pair of beginner boots I got in Zell am See. And I think I just didn't know enough to realize it was the boots and not me, and take them back.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but since then I've been fine. I know now what they should feel like in the shop and if they're a bit tight or a bit slack I ask them to change the size. I've discovered that ski boots are like shoes and you need a different size for a different type of boot, even though your feet haven't changed size.

Like last week for example, at the Edge to Edge ski and board camp, they carefully measured my feet and they were both about size 26 with ordinary socks on, so they gave me boots of 26 1/2 to try. They were much too tight and I eventually persuaded them to give me boots which were 27 1/2, and they were perfect. And the same thing happened with my daughter's boots - she ended up with the same type of boots a size bigger than her feet.

I have also discovered that it really matters how you treat the boots when you're using them. You need to put them on slack in the morning, for getting up and down stairs and buses etc. and tighten them a bit for the first run, and then make them tighter again for the second run, and then undo them for lunch and wriggle your toes about, slacken them for long gondola rides etc. And finally, at the end of the day, you need to do them up at night so that they keep their shape.

However, I do realize I am probably just lucky that I have feet that don't need wedges etc. in my ski boots.

Ally

Sorry I'm a bit left behind with this,
Rose - that's awful about your son and his teeth. Many years ago I had one wisdom tooth where the bone had grown over it - is this what impacted means? I had to have the bone burnt off before they could pull the tooth out, and what a horrible smell of burning bone. And afterwards I was totally shattered and in agony for a couple of days. I hope your son has an easier time.

Tony - I think the subject of dogs fits in very well with getting fit for ski-ing. All I did before my 3 day ski-ing holiday was walk the dog 3 times a day, up and down steep hills around my house for a mile each time, and my legs were fine ski-ing. My arms were a bit achy though, carrying skis and sticks up and down gondola steps etc.


DaveMac - I'm surprised you ever took another guide dog puppy after the first one ate all your most prized possessions (except your skis!).

Ally

Nelly,
It would have been nice to have been with some people I 'know'. The chalet is mostly full of people in large groups of 8 or so, and I do feel a bit lonely (although people have been talking to me), so you would all have been very welcome to have been here with us.

Tony, I'm sorry I can't be bothered with trying out different skis. I have enough to cope with just trying to ski to the bottom without falling over. I fell over twice today (maybe I have the 'wrong' skis?).

And yet again I have been having trouble with French toilets. It's totally unbelievable, but the mountain cafe has toilets and they've shut the womens' ones to save cleaning them (I think) so all the women have to go into the men's and it's really embarassing seeing all these men with their private bits hanging out while I'm trying to wash my hands. And the men of course can't understand what the women are doing in their toilets. I have managed to ski on this really hard, green glacier ice without hurting myself but I have injured my head while squatting over the mens toilets without seats when I was trying to stand up afterwards and I hit my head on the door lock.

They still have a few vacancies for the weeks ahead if anyone else wants to come here. It is very good value - the food is great and the staff are very hard working and friendly. And it's bound to snow soon so the problems with ski-ing on the glacier ice will end.

I will never complain about ice again. This green stuff is something entirely different. It's rock hard - something like marble - and you can't even get a ski pole in it, and I can hardly traverse across it and I certainly can't turn on it. The only thing I can do is look desperately for a patch of snow to turn on and then try to cross the ice without falling over.

I meant Nordic ski-ing on that strange circuit. They have very odd looking skis which look like ski poles with tips and boots which look like trainers and they seem to be walking down to the circuit.

And the national ski teams all wear the most peculiar looking ski gear and the kids look like reptiles with rubber spikes, and they all seem to use the funicular as a mobile changing room and strip off during the journey down.

Apparently there is a 150 yard beginner's run somewhere at the top to replace the one they had to close at the bottom when the pylons fell over. I will have a look tomorrow, and I will also have a look at the snow park and see the English kids mogul team in action on the jumps (there are no moguls because there isn't enough snow).

It is certainly a new experience for me, and I think my ski-ing has improved.

How did the meet-up go (or is a report somewhere on another thread?).

The glacial ice beside the black run at Tignes.



Ally