J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by verbier_ski_bum

I am impressed that they serve a Thai soup in a mountai restaurant. In self-served restaurants here it's usually vegetable or gulash and I suspect both come ready made from a supermarket. proper restaurants are much better of course if you want to spend over an hour for lunch, but they are also more expensive and food although of very good quality is still fairly basic: steak, roestli, fondue, pasta.

Norrona is a very good brand, and most Scandinavian brands prefer bright colours. When you are off-piste it may be a good idea not to be dressed in natural colours as your descent should be watched. A Swedish friend of mine skis in a one-piece like that, but he is one of the better skiers on the mountain. If you are looping blue and red groomers it may look a bit out of place. Jacket is quite OK though and you can tone it down with black pants. Quality matters a lot in case of ski jackets. And you probably won't get a better one. Plus colours mean that you won't be doing silly things to your gear like wearing it during off-season so it will last longer. And you will be easily spotted too if someone has to wait for you or the other way around.

Term "alpine" commonly used to mean high-altitude, above tree line

It snowed from Wednesday and hasn't stopped all weekend and is forecast to snow till Friday. Looks like some weather moved in. Powder on the heavy side, but higher up quite pleasant.The downside is total lack of visibilty. From 3m everything is just white. Skied couple hours on Saturday and had to stop as was feeling dizzy. Didn't go up today. Hoping for clear skies next weekend. Or at least something more manageable. Like when clouds are higher up. Resort is almost empty now, many bars and clubs had closing parties, people are leaving, so the first bluebird day after snow stops will be fantastic!And those who booked for the last week are extremely lucky!

Of course, there is a fashion for skiers too. That's why brands always change colours and their combination. I got a full new kit at PP this season, I used to ski in insulated jacket and pants, but went for GTX shells. I've been planning this purchase for a couple of years though. I really like skiing in shells, much lighter. And I am not planning to replace this new kit any time soon, as I've got what I wanted and I don't need more. I am going to get my money worth out of them. I buy inner and base layers sometimes, always on sales; it's good to have supplies of those and they can be used during off-season. The same goes for ski socks. I used to buy them practically every year, but now I have a good collection that will last me a while. I wish my gloves lasted longer though, I bought mine at the beginning of last season to replace the ones I've lost, but they are already worn out and have holes, so they need replacing really. I can finish the season in them, but once new season starts and it gets cold I don't want holes in my gloves. I used duct tape on one of my pervious pairs but I didn't really work that well.
But in the end how often you replace gear depends on many things including available cash, how often you ski, your actual needs etc. If your ski clothes are fine there are better ways to spend money, like on lessons.

Interesting how your week develops and whether calf pain goes away as you ski more. A day of rest mid-week can be a good idea too. It sounds like it might be somehow related to your injury and you probably could talk to a physio and a bootfitter. I had boots that were a wrong shape for me feet, the way they fit around my ankles blocked ankles movements plus I don't have the best dorsiflexion anyway, but I was getting pain in my achilles tendons, not calves. But this was probably because of compensating that I developed. It was addressed by heel lifts and it worked reasonably well, but I got new boots eventually. Is the buckle that goes around your ankle buckled tightly? In so you can try release it a bit to give your ankle some room to move.

As for skiing I am not expert but something you describe might also indicate that you have a problem shifting your weight. This is often asymmetric too. Have a ski instructor look at this, he should be able to tell and tell you how to correct it if that's the case. It might even be a solution to your calf problem if you are overworking it. Or it can be unrelated or it's imaginary and nothing is wrong with your turn, only seems to you so because of some video effect.

You can get a scheduled bus from Geneva, it runs quite late, and leaves every hour. But it won't be the closest airport I think, but might well be the most convenient.

Well, we had a dry period and it was unusually warm all winter. Cherry blossoms have already fallen and it's only beginning of April, it was less green at this time last year, so spring is definitely here. Despite epic snowfall in December/January many sunny slopes now don't look very different from the same time last year - non-stop sunshine does lot of damage to snow and does it fairly quickly. Many slopes have slid some weeks ago, and will remain such till next season. I would never bet on April skiing being great - this happens and one can always hope. But last year Easter week you couldn't even ski down to the lift, you had to take your skis off and walk down the last slope that turned grassy and muddy to go back up. I ski December-April, but if I was to choose it would be February over April just to be on a safe side.