 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I don't think a day skiing with people who are slower/less competent is too much to ask. But more than a day......
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I feel there's far to much emphasis on technical progress. Most of us don't have a chance in h@ll of winning world cup, or even passing eurotest. What's wrong with just playing?
Skiing with slower friends gives me time not just to admire scenery but to play around a bit more. Ever tried carving backwards? How many moguls can you get round on one ski? How about a few ollies or some gentle 180's?
I bet that would teach you a heck of a lot more about your balance than practising the same two turns all day.
Anyone getting bored waiting for a slow group must have little imagination.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Michelle, With friends we have skied with a few times before; we always have an agreement that no-one gets left on their own & no-one is made to do anything they don't want to. It works well. I think if everyone is flexible & considerate then there is no problem. As long as you agree on the hot chocolate/vin chaud stops, who cares??!! 
Perhaps the perfect solution would be to ski in a group of 6 for a week & then everyone gets to be "leader" for a day??
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I agree that it is better if you ski with someone who is of a slightly better ability than you, however there have to be a few ground rules-
You have to be prepared to return the favour with other friends who are not as good as you, that way everyone gets the benefit of being pushed a bit.
You have to be prepared to go outside your comfort zone when skiing with the person of higher ability, and not shout at them when you are little scared.
I have no problem with skiing with people of lesser ability, I do mind it when they blame me for the difficulties that they are having.
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Tony Lane,
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There should be one big outing for half a day for the whole party
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There are 28 in our party! It would take us half a day to organised and onto the first lift!
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Q: What is the ideal number of a group skiing?
A: 42. No more, no less.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I enjoy a bit of everything. On the first day I prefer to ski by myself or with a competent friend. As the week goes on I don't mind taking it at a slightly easier pace and ski-ing with say 3 - 4 others especially if it is a small resort and I have explored everywhere.
This year 8 of us went to Alpe D. 4 beginners, 2 with 1-3 wk on snow and 2 with reasonable experience. My mate has about 4 wks and I have 8 wks.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hi johnboy, how goes it? You're almost a stranger these days. That new bloke in your office still curtailing activity?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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42 is the answer. Well done, skanky.
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You know it makes sense.
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| skanky wrote: |
To understand the answer, you have to understand the question.
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What, How many roads must a man walk down?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Mark Hunter, I agree that the ideal of being with someone that pushes you does presuppose that the difference in standards is not that great. The weaker person needs to be encouraged but not intimidated and must also not feel that they are a hindrance. Similarly, the stronger person must not have reason to feel resentful.
My recent experience of this was a visit to Courchevel where a friend was doing a season. She was that bit faster and smoother than me and, being a seasonaire, had got out of the habit of stopping mid-run. We flew around and covered huge amounts of ground, but in order for me to keep right up with her i really had to concentrate on my turns. If i did an unnecessary turn or a messy turn or if a took a line that was not straight down the fall line, i suddenly lost 20 yards. It was the best thing that could have happened because i had to be committed to every turn and make sure that my technique was perfect. Now the test is whether i can do it when I'm on my own or with others that are not stretching me like that!
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Poster: A snowHead
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skanky, I understand the question. H2G2?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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MartinH, I'm with you on this. Skiing is fun.
I wonder if the common suggestion here of the need to race around the piste could be linked with the discussion on Bad behaviour on the pistes ? (I'm in a stir-it-up mood today...)
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Me too, Jonpim, my kids have great fun jumping in and out of trees waiting for me. How was VT?.
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Helen Beaumont, Val T was great. I skied with complete beginers, intermediates and kids going at warp factor 7. All were fun. Indeed, skiing with slower skiers is good for technique as most moves are more difficult at low speed.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Glad you enjoyed it, bruised my shoulder badly in Serre Che, but it was on the last run of the holiday so didn't matter too much . Otherwide a fantastic time.
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I mostly ski off-piste (so obviously I can't ski alone even if I wanted to, which I don't).
Consequently I ski alot with guides. The maximum most guides are prepared to ski with off-piste is usually 6. This is a matter of safety. For really steep slopes many prefer to take only 3 or 4.
Personally I really like that sort of number, but guides are expensive so I usually ski with 5 or 6 to keep the cost down. It has the added advantage that, since I'm older and/or less fit than most of the people I ski with it gives me a bit longer to get my breath back between pitches
It's important to ski off-piste with people the same standard or you either stand around alot or get run to exhaustion if you are the slower person. Also, if there is a less good skier in the group the guide won't take you on slopes that will challenge the rest of you. (I must admit, though, that sometimes I've been with a group where the slower skier dropped out due to exhaustion and my own lack of fitness made me wish him back again to give me a breather!
Of course one way to ski with people of the same standard and wanting to ski the same sort of things is to go on a Ski Club of GB holiday, but they are ridiculously expensive!! Why don't they do any cheaper ones? They keep on about wanting to attract younger skiers but you have to be older or have rich parents to afford them.
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snowball, they did one in January to Flaine which was far more reasonably priced. I think what they offer is good value.
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| Wear The Fox Hat wrote: |
| skanky, I understand the question. H2G2? |
 Yup. Said it was sad.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Well, perhaps, Elizabeth, but I ski mostly off-piste and want to ski 3 weeks per year. The ski-club gold standard off-piste holidays are about £850 - £900 for the Alps without liftpass, lunches, helicopters etc., and well over £1,000 for the USA. If I arrange it myself with a group of friends I can do it much cheaper. (sorry, this should be in the Ski Club section)
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I was in Flaine when that january trip was on. Conditions wer awful - offpiste more or less closed, rain for three days, most lifts closed...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Well, nbt, I know the Ski Club is very Establishment but I don't think you can blame them for the weather (or did they know somethiung when they made it cheap!)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| snowball wrote: |
| I mostly ski off-piste (so obviously I can't ski alone even if I wanted to...) |
Interesting you should say that, coz elsewhere here (but can't find it just now) I had a vigorous discussion with fellow-snowHead on this very subject. I'm with you on this, but it seems this opinion is far from universal.
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I must try to find that discussion, Jonpim.
Though I'm an experience off-pist skier and have done a snow-craft course I know I don't know much.
Even a guide can be caught out.
I've been in a lage avalanche (the guide was buried, but I stayed on the surface, though it carried me about 300 metres). The slope had had a long time to consolidate and it wasn't particularly steep. The 7th person down set it off (he found the one patch of snow that triggered it). We were lucky: nobody was hurt though lots of skis and sticks were lost. We were many miles from a piste and had to call a helicopter to get those without skis home.
Anyone who skis off piste alot will see a few avalanches. I've been been with groups that set off various avalanches and sloughs, mostly small, but even a tiny slide that goes a couple of yards can trap you. If you are caught in one or just get injured and there is nobody with you you're  . Even losing a ski in a bad place can be potentially fatal.
Mostly I ski with guides and despite that one experience its amazing how precise their knowledge can be. If I ski without one I play safe. Any slope I'm in any doubt about I don't ski. But even that is a calculated risk.
The few times I've skied off-piste on my own I've known I was doing something I shouldn't.
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You know it makes sense.
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5- enough to play chairlift soldiers !
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Tell us more nade... sounds like a fun game!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Tis fantastic- we tried it with 6 in Pas - but that got nasty. Now im sure half of you will all whinge and say we're irresponsible etc etc
Right- First of all you have to all get on the chair lift- easier said than done if theres 6 of you going for 4 spaces
The object of the game is to be the last soldier standing. You can do this in two ways, either be the last to stand up when you get to the end - whos got the strongest nerve
or
You have to knock over as many of your fellow soldiers as possible when you get off, but still be standing- extra points if you get the lift stopped
Its not stupidly dangerous or anything and we dont do it on the busy lifts- its surprisingly good fun though- good idea to form an alliance with another soldier and go for glory! Winner gets free drinks all night 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Don't know where that smily face came from in my last: I know I typed the word . Very strange.
Where did all these soldiers come from? (Doesn't someone ever fall off from a great height doing that)?
I feel like I'm talking to myself... Perhaps I am. Snowball is melting
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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No we dont get ready until the end- I fell off before we got to the end once but only because i was getting ready to perform a manoevre, so i got the the edge of the seat and the liftie stopped the lift cos of the previous chair loads soldiers and I lost my balance and fell off, only about 4ft though !
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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try hovering your mouse over the smily face snowball....
______________
2 to beam up Mr Scott
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Oh Ho! someone's got too much free time to be playing with the ' -filter'
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Oh I get it, obcenities get replaced!
(Just talking to myself again,Nadenoodlee, - but now I'm puting this file top of the list I expect you'll be back here in a moment, assuming you're still on)
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I realize that the intended focus of the thread was probably groups of friends, but, from a different perspective, last season, I skied with a group of 12 beginners from southern China, ages 20 to 68, who had never seen snow before and barely spoke English (I don't speak any form of Chinese).
The other instructors were rolling their eyes and breathing an obvious sigh of relief when this group was assigned to me. It turns out they were a great bunch to work with. I had more fun with them than when I ski with certain fellow instructors.
Attitude and cooperation is everything - size of the group is less important. If everyone truly is content to simply spend time together going at the pace and on terrain suitable for the weakest skier, there will obviously be little tendency for the group to become fragmented, people won't become impatient waiting for others, etc.. As in one of the stories above, problems usually happen when the better skiers become impatient, and, for example, decide to split off to "try an interesting run", "get an extra run in", etc..
Tom / PM
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Sounds hilarious Nadenoodlee - but I guess you have to be in a resort where the lifties are pretty relaxed about people messing around so much!
If I'm in Andorra I'll try it - know enough crazy people who would be up for it!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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FAQ
I suppose not, if you consider kicking off your ski's a quarter of the way down a shortish (and quite benign) red and stomping down reflects good technique 
] abilities and wouldn't suggest that I 'try' the more difficult runs just to keep up. If I thought that I'd be pushing myself too much, I'm quite happy on my own, in relatively populated areas that I know. But I don't yet feel competent or confident enough to explore on my own, therefore some poor kind soul needs to be there occasionally to guide into new areas!
)
so eventually u just 
