J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Ranchero_1979

The original post and use of word 'guide' is reason for the whole mess in first place, that is an international qualification. Brits love to throw the dummy but ski instructor qualifications, Mountain Leader, Mountain Guide is no different to a driving licence and various levels of this. Grades of professional qualification which people have invested time and money into and should not be devalued. If you are looking for a ski companion make an APP, worked for non professional drivers who wanted to make some money.

I think that is called ski lessons. Good value for money, improve you skiing and easiest way to meet new people in resort. If you want to do some offpiste skiing join many of the ski mountaineering courses e.g BASS Chamonix, High Mounatin Guides etc etc. Am sure most resorts will have something similar.

Yep, please give it a go with a buff. Interested to see if this causes it to fog up.

Typically a guide charges a price for a day. Unlike a ski lesson this is minimum amount required to give you a proper experience. Normally if is the first time with a group they will want to do a piste run and go through some basics on decision making, transceiver work etc. I would search internet for an IFMGA, there must be lots as plenty of Heli Skiing from La Thuile. I see Mountain Tracks ha people based out there, so might be worthwhile just dropping them a line (never used them myself). Post us some photos of what am sure will be a great experience.

Not sure people are trying to place blame. Anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time in the mountains be it climbing or skiing will eventually have an incident. Only last week on here openly stated that I caused a small slide, 5m x 5m x 0.2m (about 1500kg of snow), so plenty enough to give you a bad day. What is pointless is not learning from these events. Even the most famous of 'accidents' such as the Challenger disaster had a simple root cause. Life is not about eliminating hazards but rather learning to better manage these situations. Nobody and no process is infallible. Mankind's greatest asset is also our greatest weakness, to explore our limits is to test our physical and mental boundaries, sometimes with tragic consequence.

Firstly this is obviously a tragic accident, where 2 undoubtedly talented skiers have been killed. It is not appropriate to judge and there has been very little information released on the event itself. However I wonder if the following came into play (observations are from N Alps so may not even be relevant):
European resorts only secure their pistes which is a different philosophy to North America where typically all 'inbound' areas are secured.
Heavy high altitude rain the day before, with upto 30cm of snow above the rain/snow limit (no idea altitude or aspect of event)
The temperature change had been really dramatic, dropping upto 10 degC over only a few hrs as we transitioned from rain to snow.
Only the second powder day of the season for many resorts, with the previous significant snowfall being on the 27th.
4 of 6 were not buried which should have formed a decent rescue party if they were adequately prepared. Would be interesting to know how many were on the slope at once. Very difficult to retain good group discipline if everything 'appears safe', plus I would assume they were all top level skiers, so no need for a sweeper system. Again no details but I would add that people offpiste should always consider having skins. Pointless being 100m below someone in powder with no way to get uphill (think how painful it can be to go 5m to retrieve a ski).

Undoubtedly there will be something from all of us to learn from this one. Following snow on the 27th there were many positive indicators or instability with lots on natural slides especially on steeper N facing slopes. Without this obvious feedback deciding where to ski or not is undoubtedly tricky, with a blanket approach on aspect and angle being the only option. Definitely not easy to stick with this on what has been a lean season. Looking at facebook/webcams seems everyone in Chamonix has been having great fun in L'Avanche Bowl (N facing and plenty of roll overs to trigger small slides) with no problems. As ever wrong time wrong place at least they were undoubtedly doing something they loved.

Will be interesting to see how you get on with a visor helmet.

To be honest you are much better just having a waterproof hard shell vs some form of padded ski jacket. Much more versatile and can be used summer and winter.
Normally I would wear the following upon leaving house and carry a backpack to strip off. If no wind, powder or chance or rain I would not carry any waterproof jacket unless was going touring vs piste skiing.
2 x thermal base layers (make sure the lowest one has sleeves that you poke your thumb through. Exposed or cold wrists are one major cause of cold hands)
Down jacket (sleeveless but I would buy a full armed one if was again)
Soft shell
Waterproof hard shell (only worn if wet and or windy)

I guess in ideal world I would have a down type jacket that would fit over everything.