J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by OldAndy

TKMax always worth a look and go online to look for Dare2Be - quite decent stuff quality wise and low prices.
Also the sports HQ (search online) often has quite reasonable stuff at good prices.

AllyG wrote:
Just noticed you said 2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wondered how long that would take.
:lol:

Stick me on the list please Ally ......
:mrgreen:
Courchevel Saturday March 15th 2014

TVM
:thumbup:

Wonderful Wickers - woop woop for Little W beating the old man !

Half term !!
If it were me I would book in advance, classes will be full.
No knowledge of Chatel though, sorry, are you with a tour operator and do they suggest anyone particular?

There may be a knowledgeable person along soon about Chatel specifically.

Piccie of all the less shy J2Skiers on tour - Grande Motte in the background from the Panoramique Restaurant.
:mrgreen:

Snapzzz wrote:Gotta say that blanking out the faces makes the pics look a little daft. Sorry.

Whats to be shy about?

Snapzzz - this was a large group, some confirmed J2Skiers many not.
Friends of friends and spouses etc.
Just courtesy dictates permission being sought before posting a pic on such a public forum and this would prove completely impossible.
Well hidden in ski gear and then identified by nic name is fine, but pics in the chalet and/or real names isn't so much shyness as the reason to hide but, in my view, common sense.

OK - here is the first of my two penn'orth ......

Travel - I went by train!! Norfolk to London to Paris to Bourg St Maurice and then a bus up to resort. And back the same way, an hours delay on the return due to snow in France. Overnight sleeper train from Paris down.

This gave me 8 days skiing. Fair bit of hanging around at various stations as I was pessimistic on timings and transfers and a good job too. People in my coach on the return missed their Eurostar as the train was 20 mins late up from Bourg St Maurice.

I would go by train again if I wanted to gain the extra skiing time but would travel first on Eurostar as I found the normal seats small and the carriages were really tatty. Similarly on the overnight - upgrade to a four person sleeper unit, six in a unit was claustrophobic!

Anyway .........
I arrived in Bourg St Maurice, grabbed a double espresso and waited...........
AllyG and CatP eventually turned up and up the hill on the bus we went :mrgreen:

Got to the chalet, bit of brekie, ski pass, ski hire and on the slopes by 11.00 (could have been sooner but didn't rush). First Sunday was the warmest day and glorious sunshine. By the time we got back most of the gang had arrived from various places and in various ways...

I really enjoyed a week spent with a whole variety of skiers; some obvious obsessives from J2Ski and others who just happened to be there as friends and even one bloke who found the holiday after searching the internet!! Everyone was so relaxed, no falling outs, no problem people, just a lovely crowd to ski with, jacuzzi with, eat with, wibble with, have deep and meaningful conversations with etc etc etc.

Some of you may remember that I tweaked my knee last spring digging the potato bed :cry: and so had a brace on my left knee. After the first day my right knee was complaining that it had had 9 months off and didn't appreciate the work expected !!
:oops:
So I skied the rest of the week with a brace on both knees which worked well!!

I skied well within myself most of the week as I am not as fit as I could be at the moment and didn't want to risk any problems, but it didn't bother me when I ducked out of doing a run now and again. I also had the pleasure to ski with different groupings during the week.

We skied La Face one morning of lovely sunshine in conditions that would be hard to beat, skied 15/18 inches of powder on piste one morning, continued in total whiteouts, and I dragged everyone to an extra coffee stop one afternoon in conditions that were the coldest I can remember - I was shivering when I got into the restaurant!!

My commitment to taking care of myself went completely out of the window, though, when the ski host decided to get on the bordercross course........
:oops:

I was just going to potter down and save my knees but - as soon as the gate appeared the brain logged out, winning became important and......
I took the ski host on the second corner, the boarder on the third and was just about to pass the other two when we got to the end - even though they had all started ahead of me.
:roll:

Of course I am not competitive but ....
:twisted:

I really got a lot out of the holiday being with all the others from here - no real surprises, one or two were quieter than I imagined they would be from their online presence and one or two were noisier but, without exception, I would gladly ski with any of the group again - and hope to!

Sadly not next year, though, as MrsOA and I have a big trip planned which would clash with the 2014 dates.
:cry:

Enough for now - more to follow I am sure.
Oh - sorry, having too much fun to take the camera out and only used my headcam once, I'll try to cobble something together from this footage soon.