J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

I also have skinny legs. I tried cut off socks but they didn't make much difference, the Shintronic things look far too bulky and come down too low, my boots fit fine around the ankle bones. A cut off wet suit bootee might work and would be a lot cheaper.

I found the best way to fix this was to apply padding to take up the excess space. Boot fitters use self adhesive high density EVA foam, which they heat with a heat gun and mold to the required shape. I used 3mm thick veg tanned leather (eBay) softened in hot water, molded to shape and stuck to the boot with double sided carpet tape. In my case the inner boot 'cheeks' met so the tongue wasn't a snug fit around my leg, so I had to apply padding to the tongue as well as between the back of the inner boot and the cuff.

An Eliminator tongue shim might also work. Some people get away with adding a spoiler between the inner boot and the cuff, the ones that came with my boots are tapered so they pushed me too far forward.

I also swapped the stock power strap for a Booster strap, which I fasten half over the inner boot and half over the cuff to snug the tongue against my shin. IMO the Velcro fastened ones that are fitted as standard are a waste of time, the Velcro creeps as you flex the boot so they work loose after a short time.

The flex of Fischer's Progressor boots ranges from 100-120, these days 100 is pretty soft for a performance boot. Skiing them lightly buckled makes them even softer as the flex is usually measured with the buckles on their mid setting. There is no standard for flex measurement, so flex indexes vary from brand to brand. If ski boots are too soft they will not protect the ankle from damage in a forward fall. If you fall A over T very soft boot could flex past the limit that your ankles can flex without being damaged, before the bindings release. There were lots of ankle injuries when people skied in leather boots, these days they are very rare.

Dorsiflexion is the range of movement in your ankle joint, if you don't have enough you won't be able to flex the boots. Tightening a ski boot around a skinny leg makes it stiffer and reduces the range of flex as the cuff impacts the shell higher up on the curved bit just below the cuff. Before doing anything else read this article on ankle flex by Colin Martin http://www.solutions4feet.co.uk/cp6.php Don't discount that the boot might be too big, it may be the right length and width but if it's too big around your ankle your shin might not be in proper contact with the tongue, which makes the boots harder to flex. Unless you had to have extensive work done on them 4 hours is an awfully long time for a recreational ski boot fitting, did you by any chance get them from S&R or EB?

If this is the boot http://sportconcept.com/backend_nou/content/images/clapari-progressor-100-20121216095901.jpg you can't adjust the flex. They can be softened, but it should be done by a boot fitter as it involves removing material from the shell.

This is relatively soft boot, so there might be other issues. Did the boot fitter check your dorsiflexion? Are your legs very skinny, do you have to really crank the buckles down to get a good fit around your leg?

That's a top of the range model with a curved front, the more basic models are rectangular. They extend through the wall and are loaded from outside the room. The inside is spit in two horizontally with a stone, the fire box is at the bottom, the smoke goes forward then upwards and back exiting via a flue above the fire door. They also often benches down the sides so you can warm your back like you can against that very fine Kachelofen in the Bichlwirt.

Hi Roberto

Amazing, a ski resort near Naples who would have guessed. There are some really cheap flights from Geneva to Naples, but I don't think Mrs SB would go for it.

I don't think you will find anywhere that hires ski clothing, there are a couple of ski shops that hire skis and boots, but they don't seem to have much in the way of clothing http://www.nolosci.org/ http://www.vrsport.it/

You could try contacting the local ski club http://www.sciclubcampitellomatese.it/ someone might be prepared to lend you some. We have several outfits that the kids have grown out of that we lend to visiting friends and relatives.

If you end up having to buy clothing there are 4 Decathlon shops in Naples http://www.decathlon.it/ prices there are much lower than in ski shops.

According to their Facebook they already have enough snow to open on the 7th Dec
https://www.facebook.com/campitello.matese.hotel

It is isn't it; I think the differences in the way things are done are largely due to the differing terrain and climate.

Regarding the use of snowmaking additives, I double checked before posting. In Austria, unless the law has changed very recently they are defiantly prohibited. There are even regulations regarding the quality of water that can be used for snowmaking. In most of the states bathing water quality is acceptable, but in Tirol it must be drinking water quality and there are limits on mineral content.

The price I gave is the average price; it ranges from 3 - 5 Euros depending on the type of machine, propeller machines are more expensive to operate than lances and the temperature and humidity. I think wherever possible they try to avoid pumping the water uphill as it's very costly. The Swiss have recently developed a lance that doesn't require any electricity it just needs a 200 metre height difference between the lance and the reservoir http://www.slf.ch/ueber/organisation/schnee_permafrost/projekte/Nessy2/index_EN if adopted should bring costs down considerably.

In Tirol alone they make 40 million cubic metres of artificial snow each winter, with which they cover 4500 hectares of piste. To produce it requires 16 million cubic metres of water and 90 gigawatt hours of electricity. In total it costs between 120 and 160 million Euros, staggering oder.

The traditional heating stove here is the 'Giltsteinofen' they are made out of soapstone and usually have the family crest carved on the front. All the ones I have seen were roughly the same size which presumably accounts for the standard size of firewood.

The procedure is more or less the same here.

The first animals come down from the high alpine pastures at the end of August.



Building work usually stops before the middle of December as concrete doesn't cure properly without additives if the air temperature falls below 5 degrees. Many of the construction workers then go and work in the ski resorts, one of my friend's works as bricklayer in the summer and a ski instructor in the winter. Some of the idle plant is use for snow clearance.

The lift companies carry out lift maintenance over the summer. If temperatures are low enough snow making starts in November, although the use of additives is not prohibited here (I'm pretty sure there're banned in Austria) in practice they are only used in exceptional circumstances due to cost. Artificial snow is very expensive; it costs about 4 Euros per cubic metre.

If there is enough snow the large resorts will open what they can operate with their full time staff. Zermatt managed to increase the open runs to 100km this weekend, they could have opened some more runs in the Gornergrat sector, but they haven't got enough staff. The smaller resorts will often try and open a few runs at weekends from the beginning of December, but the season doesn't start properly until about the middle of December. The end of the season is determined by when Easter falls if it's early we get a shorter season if it's late a longer one

The A&E departments at the local hospitals are larger than the local population requires, out of season there are no queues. During the season they can get quite busy, especially on Sundays if the weather's nice and it hasn't snowed for a bit. To cope with the extra work load they employ extra staff for the season, usually from Germany.

Firewood is supplied by the forest service, they are the only people allowed to cut down trees in the forests. Full logs cost from 40 Francs a cubic metre, sawn and split to fire ready size 80 Francs transport is extra. All we have to do is download a form fill it out, email it back and they deliver it a few days later.

The Lauberhorn and Wixi chairlifts will run tomorrow and Sunday http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/tourism/travel-information/operating-information/winter-sports-installations/