Messages posted by : SwingBeep
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You would benefit from using custom insoles, http://www.profeet.co.uk/sports/ski-boots/custom-ski-insoles but most beginners / intermediates don't use them. The ones used for skiing are designed to support the whole foot and are trimmed to precisely match the shape of the inner boot after molding so that they can't move about. The ones used by runners only support part of the foot and will probably be too wide to fit in a well fitting ski boot. If I were you I would take them anyway as rental boots are usually pretty wide and voluminous. There are also off the shelf footbeds which are an improvement on the ones that come with the boots, the green ones from Superfeet are often used by skiers.
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It's not advisable to wear more than one pair of socks. In order to have effective control of your skis the boots should fit quite closely. If you can get them on wearing two pairs of socks they're too big. I would follow Trencher's advice, he skis in Minnesota so he knows all about skiing when it's very very cold. I have a pair of the boot gloves he mentions but I seldom need them. The electric heaters do work but are easily damaged.
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If it's any consolation other European countries have similar laws that make it almost impossible to obtain authorised absence from school for family holidays. The fines for unauthorised absence are usually much higher than those that have been recently introduced in the UK, in Germany parents can be fined up to €1000 for taking a child out of school without authorisation.
I doubt if this will have a measurable effect on the European ski tourism business as the number of people affected compared to the overall number of people taking skiing holidays in Europe is negligible. The UK is thought to have about a million skiers whereas France is reported to have 12 million and Germany 11 million. It may however affect the TOs that specialise in family holidays. |
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If you ski mainly on piste I would go for something between 70 and 80mm underfoot with a wood core and sidewalls, don't buy a cap ski. If possible test a few pairs and pick the one that feels the best. There is a ski manufacturer in Bologna that makes very nice skis http://www.carpanisci.com/ it looks like he could do with a hand translating his web site into English, maybe you could do a deal. It's no problem to buy skis online you just need to tell the shop your boot sole length which is moulded into the boot (usually on one side above the heel) and the DIN setting that you want the bindings set to. A couple of shops worth looking at are; Catti Sport in Traversetolo http://www.cattisport.com/index.php and Bottero Ski in Limone http://www.botteroski.com/Negozio/Scripts/default.asp some of their own brand skis are made by Blossom skis another good Italian manufacturer.
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The Belle Epoque Hotel Victoria has a pub style ski bar complete with dart board, but I wouldn't expect it to be very lively. The Berner Oberländers don't normally do liveliness. There usually isn't a lot going on in Kandersteg and alpine skiing there is very limited.
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Have you thought about posting on the Appennino Bianco forum or one of the other Italian skiing forums or perhaps one of the expat forums? There are a lot more English speakers in the area than you might expect, as a lot of people from around there emigrated to Scotland. Barga down in the Garfagnana has a shop selling British food an English newspaper; the Barganews and a Celtic Supporters club.
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For Italy do a search with Google using the string; affitto stagione invernale and the name of the place your interested in. This link http://goo.gl/eG4BJ1 will give you an idea of the seasonal lets available around Gressoney in the Monterosa ski area.
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The one on Facebook is either a Maxxtracks http://www.maxxtracks.com/index.html or an Alpine Engineering http://www.alpine-engineering.nl/en/ indoor ski slope simulator, both of which are made in Holland. The speed is variable and the angle of the slope is adjustable. The surface is probably Snowflex a Dendix alternative used on dry slopes.
The main problem is that it's not possible carve turns on them. In order to carve turns effectively the skiers centre of mass must be outside of the area covered by the skis. 
Skiers skiing on these simulators always ski with their COM between their skis (no matter how good they are) so there will always be some skidding. If they tried to move their COM to the outside they would fall over. 
To get round this problem races who train on them use a harness and a support bar. 
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