J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AB

Have not ever used Rocket ski for a deal.
They do support skiing in GB well though as they have donated a ski Holiday every year since they set up about 6 years ago to the British Children's Ski Team annual raffle which raises funds for the very under funded team.
They have always produced the goods and gone out of their way to taylor make the package to suit the ability of the winner.
It's helped to raise probaly over £10,000 in that time.
Seem pretty trustwothy and reliable to me.

Maria Alm is a great litle resort. Very pretty lots of tree skiing and loads of blues and reds.
Its about 1hr max drive from Salzburg.Just get to Saalfelden and turn left at the main roundabout and go up the hill for about 10 mins.
Apres ski ok, but nothing riotous!
Snow is normally really good.
They are expecting about another 1m in the next few days.(reliable info from Lofer, about 25 kms away.)
Enjoy!!

My eldest boy started at 8 and my middle son at 6, both on dry slope. My daughter was 5 and started on snow. Both sons did not ski on snow until they were 16 & 10 respectively.
You don't have to start really young to become a good skier. My son who did not touch snow until 10 is now 18 and ranked top 15 in the world for his age in Downhill & Super G. My daughter is now 14 is ranked top 10 in GB for her age in GS & Super G.
We live in that well know alpine region of Norfolk!!!!
We were actually advised not to let them ski until at least 5 as their bones and joints would suffer at a later date as any younger their joints would not be strong enough.

Hertz car hire from Salzburg airport for the Christmas week is about £225 for a 5 seater with room for cases. Plus your petrol of course. Could work out to at least £500 for the week for the 10 of you, still thats only £50 each with the convenience of having them in resort to travel about instead of taxis or local buses/trains.
When you are there, if you ski in Zell Am See use the Arietbahn lift in Schuttdorf not he main ones in Zell. They have long queues and you have to change to get to the top. The Arietbahn goes directly to the top and is not as busy.
Zell has really good apres ski and is very pretty. I shall be there for a long weekend from 18-22 Dec.

NoHelmet - I went to Bursa (Uludag) about 14 years ago in April. Still plenty of snow but all the lifts had shut because they were all owned by the different hotels which had also shut for the end of season as everyone goes to the beach after Easter!
Its a great drive up there through the National park.
My son TJ went there in 2002 and raced for the British Children's team coming 2nd in the International Slalom event.
The British Children's team send a group there every year to race in the Uludag cup against about another 6-8 nations.
If you visit www.gbjuniorski.com you can see the last few years results from Turkey on there.
It maybe worthwhile contacting Jenny Shute (team manager) via that web site. She will be able to tell you all about Turkey and possible companies that go there.
Hope that helps?
AB

Readie,

There are a number of artificial ski slopes in the UK.
despite what some people think there are a number of advantages using them.

There is a massive race scene in the UK on the 'Drastic plastic' with races every weekend throughout the summer months with the English, Scottish, Irish, British & European champs held in Sept/Oct.
Most of the current British & English Junior ski team started on the dry slope and then went onto snow.
Some of the Seniors started that way too.
If you log onto www.britski.com you will see all the results and there are links to all the dry slope clubs in the UK.

Believe it or not there are hundreds of kids that learnt on the dry slope that have never been on snow. they love skiing and go every week to have fun, train to race etc. When they do eventually get out to the alps they are normally very proficient and can show up the kids who have only ever been on their weeks family holiday once a year.

If it hadn't have been for the dry slope in Norwich then my son would probably not be skiing to the level he is at. He learnt at 6, started racing at 9 and is now the best ever 17 year old that GB has produced ranked 13 in the world for U18 in Super G & 14 in Downhill.

Yes if you fall they are unforgiving and can cause nasty grazes etc, but nothing any worse than falling hard on sheet ice.

There are many things that you can learn on dry slopes including the technique required to powder ski. some clubs even run courses for it.

AB

Yep, really proud. It's all his hard work and determination thats got him there though. Plus bags of natural talent!

Here's one of my 13-year-old daughter winning the Les Houches Kids Big Air comp in March.


Picture by Racer Ready

AB )

Thanks for the good wishes IceGhost,
TJ will be doing a fitness camp in Graz with GB team in August. Maybe you will see them about?

Here are a couple more pics of him in action in GS races.




Picture by Racer ready.

Just thought I'd mention that he is looking for more sponsorship to help pay for next season's training and racing with the GB team. Anyone interested?
AB. )