J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by iLoveSkiing

Pavel, Thanks for the instruction. I am guilty of doing every buckle up as tightly as possible. Your notes are going into my ski tips folder.

Edit:

'The crucial two buckles are the next two buckles. The one going diagnonal towards ankle is key! It retains your foot ie heel in correct position.

The top and last buckle is also very important since it contributes to your lateral rigidity'

Pavel, how should people tighten the crucial two buckles and the top buckle?

Pavelski, you have great stories and tell them(write) well. Keep them coming!

I think the salomon ski socks I have are what you are talking about, grey heel and sole and black around the instep and back of calves. The socks provide gentle compression around the calf area and compression of muscles does I believe help to relieve and offset fatigue.

Technical ski socks dry extremely quickly, I now take three pairs with me on holiday and wash each used pair with shampoo for drying on the radiators.

Don't make the mistake, like me, of buying a pair for each day's skiing because the coast adds up quickly and from experience washing and rotating works fine. Saves money and baggage allowance for other stuff. Of course if you want to buy for each day then do so.

Thank-you 82ross. That was exactly what I was looking for, keeping it 'real' Terje wouldn't have it any other way!!!

I hope you all realise youtube compresses the aspect ratio of videos widthewise so the steepness is more than it really is. I've been looking for the non-compressed version of this on the 'net without much luck. It's impressive stuff but remember the youtube compression.

Case in point is look at the guy talking at 16-19 seconds into the film, his head and neck look stretched and very thin, the compression makes the slope look much steeper, not that it isn't steep.

I always assume it's going to be cold outside and very warm inside in the evenings so it's jeans, tshirt/shirt , optionally a zip up fleece/track top, and warm (ski) jacket. If the evenings are warm like they can be in my experience then for go the warm jacket.

If you plan on eating in smarter restuarants smarter jeans or moleskin trousers and perhaps boots are a consideration. However dress for the conditions, if it's dumping down with 2 feet of snow at resort level people won't expect you to show up in dress shoes.

eurokitty, As I understand it Vallnord and Grand Valira are two separate ski areas so you will need two separate passes unless things have changed since I was there two years ago.

I don't know about a 45minute travelling time but it's not several hours. Since you are not a beginner go to Soldeu and enquire about a joint Vallnord-Grand Valira pass. Sorry I can't offer you more advice.


Edit: Thinking about it, Andorra is about the size of the Isle of Wight which is at most 3-4 miles across but obviously Andorra is mountainous so no chance of doing 60mph all the way on those roads.

Take a look at the map

http://www.multimap.com/world/AD/Escaldes-Engordany

Use the slider bar to adjust the scale.

It looks like you leave soldeu on the CG-2, take the cs340 at the next big town, follow that until you can take the cg-3 through La Massana, and then follow signs to Arinsal-Pal. The route looks less than 30 miles easy.

eurokitty,
When I went to Arinsal with Crystal Ski, the transfer from Toulouse to Arinsal via Pas, Soldeu, Andorra la Velle, and la Massana was about 3 and a half hours on a coach in Feb so as bandit said no way will it take 7 hours under usual conditions.

I haven't been to Soldeu but looking at the piste map the skiing area is much bigger and looks more varied than Arinsal-Pal.

If you're a first time skiier and feel you are missing out if you don't do both Vallnord(Arinsal-Pal-Arcalis) and GrandValira(Soldeu-El Tarter) then I'd suggest you do Vallnord first then GrandValira.