J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

The conditions on Cairngorm are really good, but ~ it is a sandwich ~ rain at car park level, and snow doing 50mph at the tops.
There is good playing in the park, as the pic shows, and there have been BASI courses operating for the past few weeks.
Those four snow cannons have paid off in setting up the base, and three weeks ago there were cairngorm men out in Austria looking to get some more for next season.

I wore corderoys or skin-tights racing trews for my first four seasons ~ Sallos hadn't been invented!

Yes, have seen this earlier.
I feel the need to make it clear there is absolutely no truth in the rumour that Admin was at the side of the slope watching, when the guy on the end grabbed his hand, and together, they ......

Hi Nick,
Over three years ago I introduced the thread below. It didn't refer to risk, but it will give a lot of answers on why people ski/board. Many of the answers include reflections of winter.
http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/6647.page

Brilliant Brucie. You managed to pass some of the good vibes onto J2ski!
I take it you were fully recovered from the injury?
Photos, please.

Very good videos, Mackar. The first is Red 3/Black 9, good run.
I really enjoyed night skiing, one of the few occasions I escaped the group. Easy non-stop, but quite special because of the flood lights, and dark mountain backdrop. It is the one run I really regretted not bringing one of my helmet cameras.
Love Obergurgl.

brooksy wrote:
As Dave brought up the drag lift in Hochgurgl a word of warning to any that might go there.

This is the only way back up if you do the Black 33 & only serves this run, its a T bar & I would you advise not to use it but if you do make sure there are 2 of you on the one bar.

Its the worse lift I have ever encountered & the group I was with all agreed, one had to cab back as he couldn't stay on it.

If you ride it alone the bar lays at a 45 degree angle & is pulling away from you constantly, the T section is not long enough to get a grip on & the larger your backside the worse for you.

Perhaps Dave would know the distance this thing travels all I know is it goes on forever & longer than the chair lift, falling off this drag will put you in unpisted areas in the middle of nowhere & would IMO mean you will have to walk some distance to get back to civilisation.

Brooksy, this is a different T bar from the American run, but yes, I rode the T bar serving the Black 33, Vorderer Wurmkogl.
Of course I have the daintiest of little bottoms, so I didn't experience any difficulties. I prefer to ride drag lifts alone, and if the hill is steep, I stick the T bar under the crotch ~ not to be advised if one is suffering from pil....oh, well we won't go there. :-0

My OH rode up sharing with one of the group, and if there would have been an issue, you can be sure she would have let me know....

The lift is a 2 stage, and there is a blue run joins into the middle stage.

Maybe you caught the liftie on a bad day??? -)

I returned today from Obergurgl, and it was even better than last year. They had made some additions, such as adding a "ski route", the snow conditions were fantastic, both on and off piste, and the pisten bully crews did a top class job.

I do not know how anyone could tire of this area in 2 days! I could have spent that long just exploring Hochgurgl's American Run. I was chatting to one of the lift managers, and I asked why they had not installed a chairlift on the run, (it is a long steep T bar) He said it would change the nature of the slope, and I agreed with him. It is so named because the USA team train there, and I guess they get exclusive use.

Probably the best ski show I have seen. On the Tuesday, I skied from 9.00am until the lift closed, had an early dinner, then went night skiing from 7.00pm until 10.00pm.

The area is good for all standards, there is heaps of lengthy off piste ~ importantly, of differing steepness. It is terrific for ski touring, and we could witness parties doing some great limbs, followed by serious steep and deep.

I found the run marking to be adequate, (as someone who skis the skiwelt every year, I have become expert at getting lost in an area I know well!) However, I would agree that the ski post distances are too great, particularly for a high level, mainly treeless resort. This contributed to me having one of my worst ever ski accidents on the first days skiing, and one which I feel very lucky to have survived.

For an additional 10 Eu on to the lift pass price, you can ski for one day at Sölden, adding a possible 150km. All of our party did this, although my season pass covered it.

My personal disappointment was the lack of old buildings to use as painting subjects, so I did the same as last year and did some rock/snow studies.