J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

A senior moment Rose :lol:. Never mind, that beautiful crisp mountain air will soon be rejuvenating you.

Happy Christmas to one and all and best wishes to all those lucky so and sos off to the mountains over the Christmas period. The only slope I'll be hiting is the slippery slope of the demon drink :wink:

Brucie wrote:This is all getting silly and off topic!!!

Bandit - In answer to your question. Ski-ing is different because it is a sport not a criminal activity. To constutute a crime requires MENS REA -

'actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea'

which means that "the act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty".

Why have we developed into a whining society where there is no such thing as an accident!! :evil:

I think people are getting too deep into this - this is not an appropriate forum for a detailed consideration of the legal implications of "accidents" on the slopes and I see little point in peolle getting all het up about it. Especially, since I am presuming that we do not have too many legal experts and, in particular, experts on the different legal systems of France, Austria, etc.

For me, it comes down to common sense - yes, accidents will happen and people need to accept that this is part of the sport. However, this does not excuse reckless, out of control skiing by anybody :twisted:. Where people engaging in such behaviour injure others, then they should be held to account and to be honest, it is irritating that they so rarely will be :evil:. The same goes for skiing while drunk (and I mean drunk - not just a milligram over some administrative limit because you had a pint at lunchtime or a shot of rum in your hot chocolate :x).

Rant over - now back to the thread!

Hoop: Tony has given some good advice - don't get too worked up about the situation - its your holiday as well and you are entitled to enjoy yourself. A compelling case for lessons has been made repeatedly and you might want to let your mates know the concerns of your J2ski friends.

And, finally, do not underestimate the extreme limitations of people on skis for the first time. We quickly forget how difficult it was to simply stand up on snow without the skis drifting away on their own on even the most modest of slopes or how intimidating even the slowest little baby drag lift was.

More than likely you will not get anything starting on 26th - plan on staying somewhere enroute on 26th and arrive in resort on Saturday 27th. I suspect this may make it slightly easier to find something.

I presume your friend has already checked out tourist office. Otherwise, keep an eye on the TOs for late offerings, usually indicating cancellations - they may be prepared to accept accommodation only bookings rather than leave beds empty.

Another possibility may be the local youth hostel - details at:

http://www.fuaj.org/Tignes

If you are really stuck, you could look at staying in Val D'Isere - at least you could come over the mountain during the day to meet up and even get over for a night of two provided you are prepared to pay €40 or so for a taxi home or one of you is prepared to stay sober!

Good luck in your hunt.

If you travel with a TO, they will generally stick you to a Saturday to Saturday week whereas at Easter, you may be free to travel as early as Thursday and may want to return Wed or Thurs the following week. If you want to do this, you will have to go DIY. I did it a few years ago to St Anton and it worked out quite well - managed to pick up very reasonable flights to Zurich, train down to St Anton and found reasonable accommodation via the tourist office website (very good online facility). St Anton is high and is likely to have decent conditions at that time of year.

Ah, Ryanair - everybody's favourite airline to rant about :!:

I use Ryanair occasionally for a few reasons:

- they are usually, though not always, cheap and here I do mean the all-in price - not the nonsensical starting price;
- they fly to lots of places so they may be the best or even the only option to get where I want to go;

- they sometimes will fly at times that suit better than the alternatives.

As for extra charges, yes they are extremely irritating but hardly unexpected. My attitude is accept this and get on with it - I don't compare flights based on the initial advertised price but on the final end of process price.

Lack of allocated seats: so what? By definition, once you have got you boarding card, there will be a seat for you. I usually sit back until most of the queue has boarded. The worst that can happen is that you end up in a middle seat but I am not sure that I can ever remember that happening. You may get separated from your mates but its not really that big a deal on a relatively short flight.

General attitude: appalling but, again, so what? If the flight/price suits, accept that this is the attitude you will get and move on.

Dependability: this is one area where I think is a real problem. While their punctuality rates are as good as anybody else's at this stage, it is when a problem arises that things can go really wrong. Diverted flights can leave you stranded in a tiny airport with no facilities and often no hotels and they will take no responsibility whatsoever. We are probably all familiar with such stories. However, given the number of flights that they now run, I wonder how often it happens?

Bottom line: if its cheap enough, I would be happy to put up with the rest of the crap :wink:

A number of the responses to this thread (and others) have highlighted the need not to be fobbed off with rubbish skis by ski hire shops. While I agree completely with the sentiment, I struggle with putting this into practice. While the following questions in relation to ski hire will certainly sound very foolish to the more expert out there, perhaps somebody can provide some guidance on:

- How do you know that the skis are rubbish or unsuited to your ability just by looking at them?

- What checks can you make when you are presented with a pair?

- As a once a year intermediate skier with decidely imperfect tecnique, how do you distinguish between problems you are having on the mountain because of crap or unsuitable skis rather than because of poor technique?

Tony_H wrote:the Euro HAS to weaken against the pound, so I'd wait and get it in resort to be honest.

Tony

Can you remind me what the exchange rate was when you wrote those wise words back in October? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I'm so glad that I live in the Eurozone and don't have to face those type of currency fluctuations any more :wink:. Just hoping the Irish economy doesn't implode completely at the moment :twisted:

Here is a link to the Autrian transport Ministry:

http://www.bmvit.gv.at/en/verkehr/roads/tyres.html

It says:

Between 1 November and 15 April of the following year drivers of private cars and goods vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes maximum gross vehicle weight must be suitably equipped for winter conditions. That means that drivers using the roads in wintry conditions during this period must have winter tyres fitted.

While it also mentions the possibility of using chains with Summer tires, I assume that this would only apply outside of the specified winter period. Furthermore, it seems to be the case that it is actually against the law to use chains unless the road is completely covered in snow or ice. (This is to prevent damage to the road surface.)

So to answer your question, snow chains are not compulsory and as Ise has already pointed out, you would probably only need them to get through very extreme conditions.

Unfortunately, the site is silent on the use of Snow Cans :mrgreen: