OFF PISTE FOR BEGGINERS

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 20:50:34 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

FWIW we had an almost perfect day in Laax for learning off-piste. 20 to 30
cms new snow sitting on prepared piste with no wind blowing it about. For a
first or second attempt it was an ideal situation.

Wow! You actually went skiing? That must be, ohh, three days so far
this season, no? :-)

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

20 days so far, minimum 6 hours per day on the piste.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Ace" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 20:50:34 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

FWIW we had an almost perfect day in Laax for learning off-piste. 20 to
30
cms new snow sitting on prepared piste with no wind blowing it about. For
a
first or second attempt it was an ideal situation.

Wow! You actually went skiing? That must be, ohh, three days so far
this season, no? :-)

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the
Ski Club.

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:42:21 +0100, "Simon Brown"
wrote:

20 days so far, minimum 6 hours per day on the piste.

Good-oh. For a while I thought you were going to sit on your arse all
season :-)

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

No,

Generally I wait 'till the tourists have naffed off :-) Been very quiet this
week - some ski-lift companies are in serious trouble.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Ace" wrote in message

Good-oh. For a while I thought you were going to sit on your arse all
season :-)

In message , "David Brown )"
writes

k, if you do get some powder, it's important to remain well balanced
on your skis, trying to keep your body weight above (at 90 deg to) the
centre of the skis. David's 'lean back' advice is based on being able
to lift the tips of the skis slightly while retaining this balance. If
you try and lean back you'll almost certainly not be balanced and in
powder this can have disastrous effects.

Very true, my 'a little' comment really sort of meant don't lean forward
when jumping your turns.


All this excellent advice has been contributed by experienced off-piste
skiers. It's rather less dignified for beginners:

1) You fall frequently. Your skis stick into the snow at funny angles,
so that getting up again is something of an engineering project. You
fall again almost immediately.

2) You remove your skis so that you can pull them out of the snow.
When you want to put them back on, you place them on the snow and stand
up. Your feet then sink into the snow and you may or may not find out
how deep it is: the other year a snowboarder in the USA drowned in soft
snow by doing this.

3) You do a bit of unpowered human flight, pick yourself up, and
find your skis have disappeared - they're under the snow somewhere.
Find the place where you got separated from them and stick a pole in to
mark it, start searching there by moving the other pole from side to
side through the snow. Work your way downhill until you hear a clink,
then repeat for the other ski.

Later, buy two lengths of bright cord or ribbon, tie one to each ski,
roll the rest up and tuck it into your boot. It trails behind them as
they try to escape and makes them easier to find.

4) You get caught in a bush or tree and are unable to free yourself.
Stay within sight of the piste (or other well-used route) unless you
have a companion who will find you and help you out. Pray they don't
think to first take a photo of you stuck in the tree.

--
Sue ];(

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 22:30:28 +0000, Sue
wrote:


snip all-too-true experiences :-)

3) You do a bit of unpowered human flight, pick yourself up, and
find your skis have disappeared - they're under the snow somewhere.
Find the place where you got separated from them and stick a pole in to
mark it, start searching there by moving the other pole from side to
side through the snow. Work your way downhill until you hear a clink,
then repeat for the other ski.

Just a note on this, as I've found that even some experienced skiers
don't realise: When searching for a lost ski it's _much_ easier if you
can use the tail of another ski - it's longer, goes into the snow much
more easily and drags through it smoothly too. Normally you'd want to
move ths ski diagonally across the track along which you flew.

4) You get caught in a bush or tree and are unable to free yourself.
Stay within sight of the piste (or other well-used route) unless you
have a companion who will find you and help you out. Pray they don't
think to first take a photo of you stuck in the tree.

They usually do, especially in this day of digital cameras, which also
means they'll be able to display them in the bar that night :-)

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

Sounds like great fun, thanks for the beginners tips sue. I wont be going
for anything to challenging, but with almost half a meters snow forcast
leading upto the days I arrive, I shouldnt have to stray to far to get the
off piste experience!

Kyle


k, if you do get some powder, it's important to remain well balanced
on your skis, trying to keep your body weight above (at 90 deg to) the
centre of the skis. David's 'lean back' advice is based on being able
to lift the tips of the skis slightly while retaining this balance. If
you try and lean back you'll almost certainly not be balanced and in
powder this can have disastrous effects.

Very true, my 'a little' comment really sort of meant don't lean forward
when jumping your turns.


All this excellent advice has been contributed by experienced off-piste
skiers. It's rather less dignified for beginners:

1) You fall frequently. Your skis stick into the snow at funny angles,
so that getting up again is something of an engineering project. You
fall again almost immediately.

2) You remove your skis so that you can pull them out of the snow.
When you want to put them back on, you place them on the snow and stand
up. Your feet then sink into the snow and you may or may not find out
how deep it is: the other year a snowboarder in the USA drowned in soft
snow by doing this.

3) You do a bit of unpowered human flight, pick yourself up, and
find your skis have disappeared - they're under the snow somewhere.
Find the place where you got separated from them and stick a pole in to
mark it, start searching there by moving the other pole from side to
side through the snow. Work your way downhill until you hear a clink,
then repeat for the other ski.

Later, buy two lengths of bright cord or ribbon, tie one to each ski,
roll the rest up and tuck it into your boot. It trails behind them as
they try to escape and makes them easier to find.

4) You get caught in a bush or tree and are unable to free yourself.
Stay within sight of the piste (or other well-used route) unless you
have a companion who will find you and help you out. Pray they don't
think to first take a photo of you stuck in the tree.

--
Sue ];(

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 13:13:00 +0100, in

(rec.skiing.resorts.europe) Ace wrote:

How long ago did you form that opinion? In recent years I've heard
horror stories about some Austrian instructors still trying to teach
by numbers. e.g. 'adopt the ice position for this run'.

Two years ago, I was in ski-school in Wengen. I can't praise the
quality of the instruction enough.

Any off piste I may have done during that holiday was brief, and
unintentional

I have trained to instructor level in scuba diving, so I have some
experience in what makes for good tuition.


--
Charlie