J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Dave Mac

I found this interesting, given my love of art, culture and all things old. No missus, I'm not talking about you!

The French are great engineers, and I have always respected how they get things done. They are however, on occasion, a tad brutal. The old village of Tignes was submerged when the dam was built in 1952.

Consequently, modern Tignes dates from the 1960s.

Val D'Isere dates back to Roman times, and the village church was built in the 1660s, by which time, most contemporary Austrian churches were already 400/600 years old.

I'm just away to get my anorak out.

That all sounds good Admin, my eldest son, and his mate arrive on Saturday evening.
And, yes, that IS a late lift, hope you have your head torch!

I believe it is possible to do this ~ it will need some assistance from Admin, and he is busy just now.

You are right. There was a section of thread some time ago, and one lady expressed doubt. So I sent her a pm, detaing her house, surroundings, her family members.

After your post, I tried again, with a regular long time poster. Took three clicks to discover his address, and name of his partner.

Given that the sleeps thread actually gives an indicator as to when the poster will be away from their house.......

SwingBeep wrote:
The real problem is acquiring the knowledge needed to decide whether a slope is safe to ski or not, this takes time and most skiers simply don't have the time available. A recent study by an Austrian university found that 40% of off piste skiers under estimate the avalanche danger, especially when the slope is greater than 40 degrees, when the snow is wet and when the avalanche danger is at level 4.

Having read every post in this debate, without comment, I think the above is the nub. It is difficult for the 2/3 weeker to accumulate the knowledge, and the "feeling" for avalanche potential.
Imagine you are an interviewer on the slopes. You ask people:
"What angle of slope are you skiing on?"
"What is the current Avalanche Level on this slope?"
"What was the ground temperature prior to the last major snowfall?"
Maybe several other technical questions. ~ Who could answer?

While we all should be able to answer the AV Level, I doubt that many could assess other questions.

I have, fortunately on few occasions, had a realisation that I was in avalanche danger ~purely by the feeling underfoot. It is unexplainable, but I have recognised the feeling, and moved cautiously away.
The OP rightly asked about the move from Off Piste advice to avalanche issues. They are entwined.
When I started skiing, there was no Piste and off Piste. In my favourite resort, there were 17 named runs. We freely skied all of them, without any thought of piste or off-piste.

The snow is pretty reliable in the Kitzbuhleralpen area of Tyrol, one reason why I have gone to Niederau for the last 43 years.

Typically, Soll in January, will offer about 90/100cm of snow on the Upper slopes, although last Jan, it had a depth of over 2m. The valley level depth is normally 30/65cm.
Soll almost shares Niederau's advantageous north facing slopes, facing SSE, but not quite the same tree snow accumulation/protection.
Looking pretty good for your dates. I will be visiting there in each of the 3 weeks following you.

Ski well.

Sinbad14 wrote:Ooops! is that Milton or Hemel ?

I'm going to Hemel a couple of times a month at the mo

Welcome to J2ski, Sinbad, you have started by being put on the naughty step.
Castleford is in Yorkshire! Hast tha niver bin north of t' Watford Gap?

Ian Wickham wrote:

Dave Mac wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:I should think the place is very nice ..... that is if you like your men in leather shorts :thumbup:

C'mon, Ian, you KNOW you want to...

Mine are too big for me now :oops:

:D :D :D
Have you been over-training, Ian, and peaked too early?

Ian Wickham wrote:I should think the place is very nice ..... that is if you like your men in leather shorts :thumbup:

C'mon, Ian, you KNOW you want to...