Sunday, 27 January 2008
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Sunday, 6 January 2008
Monday, 31 December 2007
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Off Piste
Last day. Tomorrow we will be headed back to England.
Some things that have not happened:
Some things that have not happened:
- Fatalities, mortal wounding, broken bones
- Any instructor saying "Ben Ze Knees"
- Reading even one page of the books I brought with me
Some things that happened:
- Matt & Harry skiing black runs
- Icicle fights
- Snow - finally - overnight on the last day
On the last full day we went tobogganing again and set a new land-slide record of 350 metres. Then, on the way back, Matt & Harry invented a new sport called "Sled-Boarding".
In this, you take the plastic sled and stand on either end. Then, you attempt to negotiate the slope using pure balance, snowboard style. Both boys were somewhat successful at it, but Harry was especially proficient and has been declared world champion at this new event.
Wishing all blog-readers a happy new year for 2008 !
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Pole Dancing
An eventful day on the slopes. In the morning, Harry took a series of tumbles - but he was negotiating the most difficult black slope on the mountain at the time. A plate of chips saw him right again.
Maxine was ski-ing with Sinead and myself on the more sensible blue-graded terrain. All seemed to be going to plan when suddenly she lost control, span, and crashed through a blue wooden piste marker and backwards over the edge of the run, losing both skis and poles before landing flat-out in the snow. Rather spectacular and alarming.
In due course, she recovered her poise. The piste marker pole, however, was smashed to pieces and scattered over a wide area.
Meanwhile, in the afternoon, Roger was involved in a tragic accident. He was perfectly OK after returning to the chalet for a good rest, but the tragedy was that he crashed before he'd actually done any ski-ing for the day !
It all sounds a bit dangerous, but for really high-danger action look no further than some simple tobogganing. As we discovered, a 40kg-boy on a 1kg bit of plastic on a 200-meter hill goes extremely fast. Add in a dozen others hurtling down with limited control in the near darkness, and it all seems rather hazardous, but no one came to any harm. According to Harry, in fact, crashing and falling out of the toboggan is the best bit.
Maxine was ski-ing with Sinead and myself on the more sensible blue-graded terrain. All seemed to be going to plan when suddenly she lost control, span, and crashed through a blue wooden piste marker and backwards over the edge of the run, losing both skis and poles before landing flat-out in the snow. Rather spectacular and alarming.
In due course, she recovered her poise. The piste marker pole, however, was smashed to pieces and scattered over a wide area.
Meanwhile, in the afternoon, Roger was involved in a tragic accident. He was perfectly OK after returning to the chalet for a good rest, but the tragedy was that he crashed before he'd actually done any ski-ing for the day !
It all sounds a bit dangerous, but for really high-danger action look no further than some simple tobogganing. As we discovered, a 40kg-boy on a 1kg bit of plastic on a 200-meter hill goes extremely fast. Add in a dozen others hurtling down with limited control in the near darkness, and it all seems rather hazardous, but no one came to any harm. According to Harry, in fact, crashing and falling out of the toboggan is the best bit.
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
What Poker and Skiing Have in Common
In poker, standard advice is "Tight is Right". This mantra is designed to keep the beginner on the right track and headed in basically the right direction. In ski-ing, it seems the same advice applies to boots.
Reluctantly, I changed my comfortable but over-ample foot-irons for a much tighter selection. At least these ones don't hurt immediately, unlike an even smaller pair that I was also offered.
The new equipment is undoubtedly "better" but the gain comes with considerable pain. Thinking about changing boots, then changing boots and then thinking about changing them back again is a key part of ski-ing, I have learnt.
Matt meanwhile has diagnosed some problems with my technique - I am making turns and slowing down - apparently the correct approach is straight down the hill.
Reluctantly, I changed my comfortable but over-ample foot-irons for a much tighter selection. At least these ones don't hurt immediately, unlike an even smaller pair that I was also offered.
The new equipment is undoubtedly "better" but the gain comes with considerable pain. Thinking about changing boots, then changing boots and then thinking about changing them back again is a key part of ski-ing, I have learnt.
Matt meanwhile has diagnosed some problems with my technique - I am making turns and slowing down - apparently the correct approach is straight down the hill.
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