J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

If you enter the name of your favourite supermarket chain and the location of the airport into Google Maps i.e. Carrefour 69125 Colombier-Saugnieu, France a map will be displayed with all the nearby Carrefour supermarkets marked on it. Click on one of the flags and a box will open with a link to a page on the Carrefour website which gives the opening hours.

msej449 wrote: It's £51 for an adult return from Geneva Airport to La Tzoumaz (Verbier) using train and bus.

I thought that sounded cheap so I checked. According to the Swiss Railways website a full price 2nd class adult return from GVA to Riddes costs CHF 94, it can't quote the cost of the journey from Riddes to La Tzoumaz. A 1 year 1/2 fare card costs CHF 165, 2 years costs CHF 300.

Tony_H wrote: Will someone please explain to me when it suddenly became much more dangerous to ski?

It's difficult to give a precise date. Carving skis, improved piste preparation, high speed lifts and the widespread use of artificial snow (artificial snow is denser than natural snow) have lead to an increase in the number of people on the slopes travelling at higher speeds than before. In bygone days skiing was a much more relaxed affair.



Even the top athletes didn't seem to go that fast in the straight ski era.



Around 2000 the hospitals here noticed an increase in the number of skiers /snowboarders being admitted with severe head injuries. In order to quantify the risk the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention commissioned research using crash dummies, one of their findings was that if you are knocked over and the back of your head hits the ground, it is possible for the head to be subject to an impact force large enough to cause a severe head injury (one with a head injury criterion of over 1000). In the same tests the head of the dummy wearing a helmet sustained a much lower impact force resulting in a HIC of about 200

http://www.eurailsafe.net/subsites/operas/HTML/Section3/Page3.3.1.4.htm

The article greatly under estimates the cost of a helicopter rescue, in Austria it's between 3000 and 5000 euro and in Switzerland between 3000 and 10,000 francs depending on whether a doctor has to attend. If they have to search for you then costs can rise to 50,000 francs. Manually searching an avalanche using probes and dogs, for someone without a transceiver costs up to 10,000 francs an hour.

Its always had the same dangers, in fact probably more so in the past with archaic lift systems, pistes in worse condition, and antiquated bindings and equipment.

Archaic lifts = more people queuing and riding the lifts and less people on the slopes. Pistes in worse condition = slower speeds especially on straight skis. Antiquated bindings, the basic mechanisms in ski bindings haven't changed in decades. Over 30% of all skiing injuries are knee injuries whereas only 9% of snowboarding injuries are knee injuries. IMO the real safety issue in skiing today is the inadequate protection afforded by current alpine release bindings against knee injuries.

There's been a bit more action since my last post. Yesterday Tom Wilson-North skinned up the Pierre à Ric to check things out http://www.chamonixsnowreport.com/view/classic Since then a fair bit more snow has fallen, the road over the col des Montets is closed, there's now 50cm in Argentière village and a metre at Lognan. The Aiguilles Rouges weather station recorded 45cm at 10pm last night. Things are looking a lot better now, but it is still very windy high up and it's still too warm. Hopefully it will get colder at the weekend.

If this was it, then it's probably a pre-production version of a new Head/Tyrolia freeride/touring binding to compete with the Marker Duke series and the forthcoming Atomic Tracker / Salomon Bandit. It will be probably be launched at ISPO in January. It looks like you won't have to step out of it to swap modes which is a plus.

I don't think there is any need to think about cancelling just yet, it's only the 5th and you're not due to fly out until the 17th, a lot can and frequently does happen between now and then. Apart from the recent higher than usual temperatures there is nothing abnormal about the start of this season. I've known much worse, in 1989/90 and in 2000/01 it didn't snow until January. Before you even think about cancelling talk to somebody in Chamonix preferably at the lift company, they should be able to tell you what the situation regarding opening is. You might also get some comfort from looking at the snow history http://www.fasttrackski.co.uk/snow-report-history.php?resort_id=36 and bear in mind that the lift company employs nearly 400 people so they don't need much time to get ready for opening.

It's the top station of the Grand Montets cable car (they don't open it until January), the steps lead down to the glacier, don't forget to take your good legs! It looks a lot different in winter http://downandout.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/landscape-skiing-the-grand-montets/

Sorry to read you had to cancel LOTA, hope you'll be fully recovered by March. Glad that the resulting financial pain wasn't too severe!