J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

And the prize for "Most Tangents off a Single Thread goes to ..........

.......... Tony_H :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

If its early March, you will probably find good conditions in most of the bigger resorts in France and, indeed, most in Austria. As a general rule, the later in the month you go, the higher you should be looking - typically a resort height of 1,500m+ with plenty of runs above 2,000m. Tignes, Val Thoren, Les Arcs, La Plagne, etc should all be fine while the Arlberg area (e.g. St Anton/Lech) in Austria should also still be pretty good.

As always, it is a bit of a lottery. I can remember one time in Courmeyour in March when we had day-time temperatures of 18C :shock:. Fine in the morning but by mid-afternoon, we were shin deep in porridge. It got to the point where it was pointless skiing below mid-station. On another occasion, we got fresh snow in St Anton at Easter in April :mrgreen:.

I hear Ryanair have refused to fly there until the Martians agree to give them free landing rights for 200 years :lol:

Like most people, the first time I went skiing, I didn't want to spend a fortune buying gear that I might never use again (little did I know the obsession that was about to grip me :lol:). So I went out and bought the cheapest ski suit I could find. It was an ugly green one piece and very poor quality. However, it go me through that holiday so the following year, off I went with it again. Unfortunately, the 2nd year, I was put into a class that was, in hindsight, above my level and I ended up falling quite a bit. Towards the end of the 1st day on yet another fall, I heard something give and realised that the backside had split much to the amusement of the rest of my ski class :oops: :oops: :oops:.

Undaunted, I got the needle and thread out that evening and repaired it and returned to the slopes the next morning with my dignity restored.... or so I thought. The lesson that morning was similar to the previous day with plenty of falls and I was glad of the lunch break. However, as I sat down in the restaurant, the seat felt colder than usual and I realised something was wrong ..... my great stitching job had come undone :evil:.

I asked my classmates how long I had been in this state and they all burst into laughter. It turned out that the suit had split on my first fall and they had decided to say nothing to me and see how long it would take me to notice. They described me as leaving a trail of polyester padding from inside the suit behind me all morning as I skied down the hill :shock: :shock: :shock:. As it was only lunchtime and we were a long way from my hotel, I had to ski the rest of the day in that condition :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:.

The only positive note to the story was that I obviously had to buy a replacement. As it happened, the shops in the resort were expensive and had no cheap ski gear. I ended buying an end of season, Italian ski team jacket by Fila that was reduced to half price (bright yellow, with some black and blue trimming - not as gaudy as it sounds but great for being seen on the mountain - I will have to post a picture one of the days). It still cost about £120, which was a lot nearly 15 years ago. But I am still using it and it is still in great condition :lol:

When I saw this post, I thought it was about some new type of ski for going really fast :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

RoseR

I go to France with a large group (30-40)most years. We like it for a number of reasons incl:

- plenty of large, well-connected ski areas, with lots of skiing suitable for everybody in the group;
- lots of high altitude resorts so snow sure;
- lots of ski-in, ski-out accommodation that can take large groups(great if you have kids in tow);
- good food (though sometimes you do have to look for it).

On the other hand ............

- villages are often soulless concrete messes - very unattractive;
- drinks and food can be very expensive;
- apres ski is usually useless (not that big a deal when you have the kids with you)
- rudeness can often feature!

Its a matter of deciding what your priorities are and finding out if a particular resort matches up. One bad experience shouldn't really put you off.

Hope this is of some help :lol:.

Here's my tuppence worth:

There is no doubt that some posters are more expert than others and occasionally those views can be expressed in slightly trechant terms. However,I have rarely considered these to be intentionally hostile. Of course, there will be the odd time where a poster should really have reflected on what they were saying before hitting the "submit" button but I wouldn't let that influence my attitude to the forum as a a whole.

Like Juliet, I would be a competent red skier and manage black in most conditions but would be long way from expert, do not own my own skis and have little idea about the technology. However, I find the site is fun, helps me manage my obsession with the sport :lol:, is often inspiring (especially Pavel's posts) and provides a huge amount of information that ranges from the obscure of interest only to the experts who ski all reason through to the banal that anybody who has skied more than a few times will be familiar. The beauty is you pick what interests you an engage with that.

I don't think anybody should feel put out by the forum, even where they are the subject of a robust response :!: Like DaveMac, I consider logging on as meeting up with a few friends and like all groups of friends, the odd one can be a bit of an a***hole occasionally :twisted:. And like any group of friends, sometimes you have to put with a little bit of it, as long as it does not get too pervasive.

Stick with us Juliet :lol:.

As usual, an insightful and inspiring post Pavel.

I particularly like the idea of taking an hour each day to really concentrate on improving technique. Like most one/two trip a year skiers, I tend to enjoy clocking up the piste miles in whatever mode is easiest and need to force myself to work sometimes. I think your approach really makes sense and will try to follow it on my next trip.

One thing surprises me - you have not mentioned lessons. I would have thought that taking lessons, even when more advanced, would always be advisable for those seeking to progress. I try to take a few private lessons each year and have found it very important, both in terms of forcing me to focus on technique but also in terms of eliminated "bad" technique. Unfortunately, given the variable quality of instructors, it can be a waste of time on occasion.

Keep up the good work.