J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by catp

re: So its Ally, CatP and Snapzz going to Chamonix in March.
Is that right?
-- Yup; looks like it, at least for the time being.
Now, heading back to my yard work before the expected rain will start coming down :(.

Hi AllyG,



Thanks for the welcoming remark!

Hmm, it did not even dawn on me that the first question was kind of gratis :) :)



RE/Transfers: I agree. Once there would be enough people who firmly decided on a place and exact dates, then I we can discuss what fares can everybody book and see if we can all arrive within a reasonable time of each other (at the same airport for those who'd fly in), so that we can book some group transfer. I've never been to any of the resorts on your list, so I have no idea how much of a problem would the transfers be for any of them. I was concerned about it just in case it might be similar to my experience going to Hintertux/Austria, where after landing in Muenchen it can be quite a quest to get from there to the resort, so I'd much rather prefer a group-transfer in such scenario.

As for acccommodations, unless it was the unanimous choice, I would not be a great fan of the self-catering [enough self-catering during most of the year, so during vacations I'd prefer not to worry about any catering ;)].

Well, sounds good for now: let's hope enough people will show interest and sign up! I don't have any ideas for other useful Q to add to the survey. I'll write later if I think of anything. Otherwise, just give a signal whenever the survey is official, and I'll add my entries.

Cheers,
Cat.

Many years back (70's 80's) in Romania [Sinaia, Poiana Brasov, Predeal). Since I moved in the US in 1991, only in our local NE areas. Then I went only once last year in late March in Hintertux/Austria

Hi Andy,

Thanks. Yes, I know, same here :(: we already have Spring temps. ...That's why I was glad to hear about the possible plan for a J2Ski group ski trip next season.

Hi, I'm new to this forum (and I guess I also feel a bit off posting here: as an outsider, since I live in the US).

I subscribed to the j2ski emails last year for the snow reports. Don't even remember how the heck I got to find it, but anyway, fact is that I signed up, selecting my local Northeast/US areas, and kept getting the weekly reports steadily landing in my emailbox, letting me know once in while that --hooray!-- we have a whopping 1-2" of new snow somewhere in Vermont or NH, while reading further down the message how much better conditions were on the European slopes...

Then, I realized only a few days ago that j2ski also has this forum!! ...which BTW: resulted in quite a few long hours spent browsing randomly through your old threads... really enjoyed reading all the ski-talk, sprinkled here and there with witty, fun comments, but also full of lots of useful info (for example, the two threads "Skiing dead dead fast!!!" that came up among my search results for "inside edges").

And now that I noticed this current thread with thoughts about organising a big j2ski-ers group trip in 2013, I was thrilled to see it, because just the other day I've been pondering if I could join such a group; I'll be turning 50 this year and I've come to find it apparently impossible to convince any of my old friends (with whom I used to go skiing back in the 80's) to meet up for a 'real' ski vacation, be it for various family/work/finances constraints, or just because some of them simply "slowed down"; so finding a group of ski enthusiasts around my age bracket sounded like a great idea. A while back I've searched for any such groups in my area, but the only ones showing up in my searches seemed to be in a way much younger range, so I did not attempt any contact.

I actually just posted a reply the other day on an older thread started by another j2ski member (Bev Springham) on the subject of group-ski-trip. She seems to have previously organized some ski vacations with other j2ski-ers. It's not quite clear from those few posts if they actually succeeded, but I'd say they might've, since I saw similar posts from her in three consecutive years (all three were for Meribel). In my post I asked if it would be doable for somebody from the US to join such group, my main concern being airfare and transfers from airport to resort...

So since you guys seem to think about organizing just group accommodations and transfers (excluding airfare), then maybe flying from the US (instead of from the UK) would not be such a problem, as long as I could find a flight to match the other group members' arrival, and I could join a group-transfer; therefore, if nobody in the group would intend to restrict the enrollment strictly for people from the UK, then I would gladly join! (please let me know of any thoughts)

And finally, after this long intro (sorry for the wibble!!!), I'll contribute some suggestions for the survey:

== For question #2 (school holidays): besides the yes/no, I'd add a 3rd choice: "no-preference", because if some people would go regardless if it is or not during school holidays, then having to choose just between yes/no can be misleading the survey results.

== For question #3 (resort choices): Some people might not care too much which resort is chosen as long as all of them are good choices. So, maybe add an extra choice to say "any-of-the-above". But that has the disadvantage of not showing what would be the preferences of the ones who are flexible. So maybe for each of the choices add one extra choice to say "Flexible, with preference for resort-'X'). Or, since adding one extra choice for each of the 10 listed resorts means would create 20 choices (and in case SurveyMonkey has a limit on the number of choices per question) then we could toss the current #10 question (equipment) and add a new question saying "Are you flexible in your choice of resort made in question #3".

== For question #4 (accommodations choices): Similarly to the reasoning above, for each of the three choices add one extra choice saying "Flexible, with preference for choice-'X'".

== For question #5 (ways to get there - drive/train/fly): Since you are not thinking to include the airfare in the group deal, then maybe gear this question towards transfers; something like "Would you be interested in group-organized airport-resort transfers?". I'd guess that whoever would be willing take on the daunting task of organizing this trip could inquire with the travel-agency/accommodations-management if they offer any group discounts for bus transfers...

== For question #6 (month choice: dec/jan/feb/mar/apr): This one is a tricky one, because some people might indeed have a very strict window of time in which they can go, while others may be more flexible; hence, the survey might end up showing a wide scatter of choices, w/o giving an idea of possible compromises. But I am not sure what would be a better way of presenting multiple choices with some kind of preference ranking. It would be great if SurveyMonkey would allow a "write-in", so people could write their choices specifying if they are flexible, and if yes then what are their #1 and #2 choices. Or if not, then maybe we could double the number of choices and name them "December-choice-rank-1", "December-choice-rank-2", etc.

Best regards,
Cat.

Hi Bev,
I signed for the j2ski emails a while back sometime last year, just for the snow reports (tailored for my Northeast/USA local area); never even noticed the forums till now.
So now that I browsed through some of them --and found this thread interesting-- I'm curios if you guys had anybody from the US joining in any of your ski trips! ...You mentioned that your deal would include flight, transfers, etc, but since I'd have to fly in from Boston/USA, not sure if/how that would work out... Now of course it's too late for this season, but if it would be doable, then I'd be interested to join you guys next season. If so, then let me know.
--Thanks,
Cat.