Family Ski holidays with baby facilities

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 08:47:04 -0800 (PST), in
,
Matt T wrote:

On 6 Feb, 15:55, Ace wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 05:12:24 -0800 (PST), in
,

Matt T wrote:
On 6 Feb, 12:32, Ace wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 04:05:22 -0800 (PST), in
,
Matt T wrote:
(boo hoo, and my diamond-encrusted ski-boots are too tight)

Heh. I'm up to countsgives up counting oh, at least 30 days skiing
so far this season, with probably six or seven of those in decent
fresh powder. Off for a (free) week at a 4* hotel in Davos next weekhttp://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/skifreshtracks/holiday.asp?intHolida...
Life's tough, eh?

Yup, sucks big time. I mean, I had to queue for at least 20 seconds at
a lift this morning. Bloody February...

But you were back and posting by 11:40; not much of a day's skiing...

11.40 UK time

Err, no. Actually 11:45 CET.

On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 02:45:58 -0800 (PST), Matt T
wrote:

....

Ace wrote:


Heh. I'm up to countsgives up counting oh, at least 30 days skiing
so far this season, with probably six or seven of those in decent
fresh powder. Off for a (free) week at a 4* hotel in Davos next week
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/ski...HolidayID=1601
Life's tough, eh?

There are moments when I truly hate you. But mostly it's just envy.

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 11:00:18 +0000 (UTC), Switters
wrote:

Also, they are very heavy.

riding switch etc, then readjust for cruising back down the slopes in

Learn to ride switch with the settings you normally go for. The times
when you might need (as opposed to want) to ride switch,

Where might one /need/ to ride switch? Apart from falling-leaf type
manoeuvres? I can recall my heels burning on a long traversing blue in
Val d'Isere several years ago and wishing I could ride switch then. On
that week I'd only just started riding red runs.

you're not
going to have the luxury of being able to stop, change the bindings and
get going again.
Imagine stopping, rotating the
foot to 90deg, then scoot along, get to a downhill, then you've got to
stop and rotate back, before setting off again. Rather than getting to
the downhill, stepping in on the back and riding away.

Well, first, I was referring ot schussing, not scooting. Scooting
isn't a problem.

I wasn't thinking about changing the settings every time I changed
riding direction or slope. That would clearly be daft. Rather, say,
for a morning playing in a snow park I'd possibly want to set it up so
that my feet were nearly symmetrical, then for an afternoon of
generally blasting around at higher speed on pistes, just change the
angles for a more comfortable unidirectional style.

I get what you're saying about having to adapt and the extra weight,
though. From your and other replies, it's not generally done.

What angles are you using at the moment?

Umm. Difficult to judge, but around 15 degrees forward on the front
foot and 3-5 degrees forward on the back foot, at a guess.

--
-Pip

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:32:53 +0100, Ace wrote:

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 04:05:22 -0800 (PST), in
,
Matt T wrote:

(boo hoo, and my diamond-encrusted ski-boots are too tight)

Heh. I'm up to countsgives up counting oh, at least 30 days skiing
so far this season, with probably six or seven of those in decent
fresh powder. Off for a (free) week at a 4* hotel in Davos next week
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/ski...HolidayID=1601
Life's tough, eh?

Harrumph. Nobody likes a smug git, you know.

--
-Pip

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:35:17 +0000, in
, Higgins
wrote:

Ace wrote:


Heh. I'm up to countsgives up counting oh, at least 30 days skiing
so far this season, with probably six or seven of those in decent
fresh powder. Off for a (free) week at a 4* hotel in Davos next week
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/ski...HolidayID=1601
Life's tough, eh?

There are moments when I truly hate you. But mostly it's just envy.

MWHID.

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:12:08 GMT, in
, Pip Luscher
wrote:

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:32:53 +0100, Ace wrote:

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 04:05:22 -0800 (PST), in
,
Matt T wrote:

(boo hoo, and my diamond-encrusted ski-boots are too tight)

Heh. I'm up to countsgives up counting oh, at least 30 days skiing
so far this season, with probably six or seven of those in decent
fresh powder. Off for a (free) week at a 4* hotel in Davos next week
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/ski...HolidayID=1601
Life's tough, eh?

Harrumph. Nobody likes a smug git, you know.

MWHID (2).

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:09:55 GMT, in
, Pip Luscher
wrote:

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 11:00:18 +0000 (UTC), Switters
wrote:

Also, they are very heavy.

riding switch etc, then readjust for cruising back down the slopes in

Learn to ride switch with the settings you normally go for. The times
when you might need (as opposed to want) to ride switch,

Where might one /need/ to ride switch? Apart from falling-leaf type
manoeuvres?

Gullies. Narrow and steep. Sometimes (especially for skiers) there's
not room to safely do a proper turn, or even sideslip (the boarder's
favourite manouever), so backing out and turning is the safest way
out. Perhaps that's that what you meant by 'falling leaf'?

Also, for a boarder, if you're caught on the 'wrong' edge just as you
need to start a long traverse, with no height to switch, you may need
to stay that way for quite some time. This, for me, is one of the
things that defines a boarder I'm happy to take skiing on tricky
off-piste runs.

I wasn't thinking about changing the settings every time I changed
riding direction or slope. That would clearly be daft. Rather, say,
for a morning playing in a snow park I'd possibly want to set it up so
that my feet were nearly symmetrical, then for an afternoon of
generally blasting around at higher speed on pistes, just change the
angles for a more comfortable unidirectional style.

I think the problem with that (and I speak as a non-expert boarder) is
that you'll never really get used to any one setting. As Switters
says, I think the best bet is to learn to ride all conditions from one
setting. FWIW I've always tended to go with the feet-pointing-forwards
position, as it feels more like skiing and fits with my personal
philosophy of having a front end and a back end, rather than two edges
to slip down, IYSWIM.

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:16:45 +0100, Ace wrote:

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:09:55 GMT, in
, Pip Luscher
wrote:

Where might one /need/ to ride switch? Apart from falling-leaf type
manoeuvres?

Gullies. Narrow and steep. Sometimes (especially for skiers) there's
not room to safely do a proper turn, or even sideslip (the boarder's
favourite manouever), so backing out and turning is the safest way
out. Perhaps that's that what you meant by 'falling leaf'?

Do you mean so narrow that you might have to ride straight down it in
switch stance until it widens enough to turn?

By 'falling leaf' I meant zig-zagging down a slope on the same edge,
simply reversing direction. It's a basic practice manoeuvre.

Also, for a boarder, if you're caught on the 'wrong' edge just as you
need to start a long traverse, with no height to switch, you may need
to stay that way for quite some time. This, for me, is one of the
things that defines a boarder I'm happy to take skiing on tricky
off-piste runs.

Well, traversing (cautiously) switch isn't a problem, IME. Completing
a turn on a steep (for me that would be a steep blue run) slope,
OTOH....

I think the problem with that (and I speak as a non-expert boarder) is
that you'll never really get used to any one setting. As Switters
says, I think the best bet is to learn to ride all conditions from one
setting. FWIW I've always tended to go with the feet-pointing-forwards
position, as it feels more like skiing and fits with my personal
philosophy of having a front end and a back end, rather than two edges
to slip down, IYSWIM.

I dunno. I can't speak from wide experience, but I *feel* that the
mental adjustment isn't as great as people make out; I'll have to
experiment. Riding switch OTOH is weird; theoretically I know what to
do, but I don't have the so-called muscle-memory to do it on anything
other than greens or easy blues. Actually, it's been so long that I'm
not sure I can do it at all ATM.

--
-Pip

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:09:55 GMT, Pip Luscher
allegedly wrote:

Where might one /need/ to ride switch? Apart from falling-leaf type
manoeuvres? I can recall my heels burning on a long traversing blue in

I suppose it's not a case of 'need', but more a case of being much quicker
if you do switch over. Being slow, especially off-piste, is a sure fire
way to **** off your companions.

As you say, on a traverse - if it's particularly long and getting to the
point where want to collapse in a heap of pain, it's useful to throw in a
quick 180 and carry on.

Also sometimes in the trees you can hit a dead end, and need to wiggle out
backwards, but with no room to spin around.

Well, first, I was referring ot schussing, not scooting. Scooting
isn't a problem.

Sorry, misread that. I guess you're referring to nailing it straight down
the fall line, which suggests stopping, rotating the bindings, hurtling
down the slope (possibly for a flat section), then having to change them
back again.

for a morning playing in a snow park I'd possibly want to set it up so
that my feet were nearly symmetrical, then for an afternoon of
generally blasting around at higher speed on pistes, just change the
angles for a more comfortable unidirectional style.

Fair enough. For me, the extra weight of the bindings wouldn't be worth
the minor inconvenience of whipping out a work tool, and manually
unscrewing, setting and screwing back up. Takes all of 5 minutes,
compared to 10 seconds. Over the course of the day, that's just not that
important for me.

What angles are you using at the moment?

Umm. Difficult to judge, but around 15 degrees forward on the front
foot and 3-5 degrees forward on the back foot, at a guess.

For most people, that's just too narrow. If you do some squats in socks
on a lino flooring or something, what's the most comfortable position for
your feet? Are they only 10 degrees apart? Most people tend towards 25-
30 degrees of difference.

On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:16:45 GMT, Ace allegedly
wrote:

or even sideslip (the boarder's favourite manouever)

Actually, my favourite manouever is blasting past the skiers in the
powder, as they do their little pogo stick routine. Sideslip comes a
close second though.