So what 10 things did you learn on your first ski holiday?

A snowHead

1983 Sol y Nieve (Sierra Nevada)
- People getting off the plane in Malaga in late April generally are going to the beach.
- People getting on the plane in Malaga in late April may have had a more uniform tan but my panda eyes rocked.
- That is a VERY big hill.
- In the morning it is VERY cold and you freeze if you don't have a lot of clothes on.
- Quite soon it gets VERY hot and you boil if you have too many clothes on.
- Skiing is fun
- Chairlifts are hilarious.
- There are lots of other places besides the nursery slopes.......
- You can beat the posh kids in a race if you cheat and take an 'off-piste' short cut.
- My parents drink a lot.

A snowHead

Early 70`s, young teenage me on school trip:

1 It`s not 'a short walk to the slopes'

2 The hotels idea of 'plentiful food' is not the same as that of the average teenager.

3 Never trust your ski instructor.

4 Ski gear hire shops in England have not got a clue what you need. (I think thats improved big time now)

5 Teachers on school trips don`t give a **** what you do so long as it does not inconvenience them, maybe thats not changed unless they could be sued Laughing

(But surfice to say I did not let me own children go on a school ski trip, somewhat influenced by price also!)

6 Leather boots are really great, till someone breaks an ankle (But the plastic shell ones still lack in that comfort)

7 Short transfers are a lie (although with hindsight many decades on a couple of hours from airport is perhaps not so bad)

8 Austrian bars will sell alcohol to teenagers, it just costs more. (I`m guessing thats no longer the case)

9 New Years Eve equals fireworks, forget any safety issues.

10 Ski holidays are mega fun! My major takeaway from that very confusing first trip!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

2012, Les Menuires - was convinced I hated skiing, but wanted to go on holiday with friends. Had a great lesson beforehand, and some skiing local green runs, and was starting to think skiing might actually be ok...

1. How to parallel ski
2. That just because you learned (basic) parallel doesn't mean you can't snowplow if/when you need to Embarassed

3. What concussion feels like Shocked

4. How to 'skate' and tow snowboarders (3 in a chain! ouch)
5. Chalet hosts are underpaid, and good ones are awesome
6. Cheap chalet wine eventually tastes alright if you drink enough of it
7. Hottubs are disgusting
8. Saunas are helpful
9. Painkillers are very helpful
10. I actually like skiing!

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

1972 - Through the eyes of a 12 year old.

1. Trains/Boats/Couchettes/Electric Trollies were a wonderful adventure - going from Dublin to Saas Fee
2. You can't put on skis and just ski
3. There is a lot of stumping uphill involved (2 Days worth), before being allowed on a lift
4. Hot Chocolate and Apfelsaft taste better in Switzerland
5. Shops seemed cheap, with 10 Swiss Francs to the Pound
6. You could buy a Flick Knife - but I didn't have the courage, so got a Swiss Army knife instead
7. It's best to let go the Button Lift, before you've been pulled half way up the ramp at the top
8. Falling is a laugh, when you're with your Mates
9. Some Kids couldn't get the hang of it - Well, one in particular, called Harry Payne
10. Now addicted from the age of 12

You'll need to Register first of course.

1996:
1. Teachers behave differently when they are not at school
2. Coach toilets stink sooo bad
3. Clubhotels are a bit scummy
4. French shops will happily sell alcohol to school kids
5. Bidets are good for keeping small bottles of beer and wine cold
6. Teachers dance on tables in the evening
7. Schoolkids can get into nightclubs in france
8. ESF instructors have hipflasks of genepy
9. Skiing is the best thing ever
10. I am hooked for life

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

2015
1. Boyfriends don't make good ski instructors
2. Walking down the side of the steep red home run in your ski boots on day 1 because said boyfriend led you the wrong way isn't the end of the world
3. Proper skiing lessons are a good idea
4. It is possible to fall over dozens of times in one short run
5. Gluhwein at lunch is essential for better skiing
6. Bruises can form on top of bruises
7. It's not worth missing a whole morning of skiing to wait for the dentist unless you are actually in agony
8. Fresh powder is amazing
9. Austrian villages are beautiful
10. Skiing is always a good idea

After all it is free

1. Aeroplanes are fun
2. Norwegian fjords are very, very steep. With little roads carved into them that cause hair-raising moments when your transfer bus meets another vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
3. Norwegian powder is more prevalent than Scottish powder.
4. If a bunch of you miss the lift back down, it is not advisable to try and ski down through thick forest. Much more prudent to wait for the next lift. This also means you will get home before it gets dark and won't upset the teachers.
5. Norway is expensive. So expensive that you can only afford the cheapest viking tat to bring home as a holiday gift to your parents. Your parents will then feel obliged to put in on show in the front room until they die. Then, after clearing their house when they die, you somehow end up with a really crap longboat stuck in your attic.
6. Being taught to ski with your hat wedged between your knees was seen as a great way of learning to keep your knees, and your skis, locked together. Norwegian ski instructors are also much more at ease taking you over jumps than your school teachers are when you are at Cairngorm.
7. Winning a medal in the end of week race can make you a bit smug. Can also cause a bit of resentment with your peers. This is excellent.
8. The end of week handing out of the national ski school levels of competency awards is really quite competitive. Norwegian stars are harder to achieve than British stars.
9. If the locks on your mates suitcase break, it isn't a good idea for him to try and tie it together. It won't survive the airport baggage handlers and all his dirty clothes will be going round and round the carousel. Everyone in the airport will laugh at this.
10. You really hope a cheap viking longboat will help curry enough favour for your parents to let you go again next year.

Bosco San Giorgio (sic), Italy, age 12, 1981.

I really liked skiing.
Aquavit tastes like shi**.
How to swear in Italian, (one of the guys in school had Italian parents).
Lamboghini made skis.
Luton airport is a dump.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

1. Even though you play lots of sport, don't underestimate how much those muscles will hurt!
2. Don't trust your mate when he says "we did this run yesterday, you'll find it really easy"
3. You really feel like you're hurtling at speed, even though as a beginner you're going about 2mph.
4. It's very easy to get absolutely hammered by 8pm.
5. Skiing with a killer hangover isn't so much fun.
6. Videoing your friends falling over means you can embarrass them to everyone for ever.
7. Hired ski boots really aren't that comfortable.
8. It can be surprisingly warm skiing.
9. Lunchtime outside in the sun with a beer surrounded by the mountains is one of the most joyous experiences ever.
10. Skiing is the best holiday.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Sinaia 1991

1. Tarom planes bounce a lot
2. Mad Max driving skills are developed by Romanian drivers
3. It's bloody hard and hot work getting back up when you've fallen
4. T-shirts can be worn when its cold, but don't fall on ice
6. Romanian beer is good, Romanian wine can be good or dire
7. Avoid the local hooch that the instructor gives you
8. Rope pulls and plastics handles shed C&A gloves
9. Don't believe the instructor when he says those dogs won't bother you
10. That its brilliant fun, when can I go again. Thanks Mr Instructor for getting us to ski from top to bottom on the last day. That made the week Very Happy

From a subsequent years trip - don't buy quality gloves, have a few drinks and then volunteer to hold a candle for the torchlight descent Embarassed

snow reports

@Jameswp,

You know it makes sense.

1. The reason you hear all the bells ringing at the many level crossings on the train line from Bergen to Geilo is because you are on the train. Doh.
2. Norwegians really do live in wooden houses painted pretty colours
3. If you leave one of your walking boots on the train it will go on to Oslo and only be sent back in time for you to take it home again, thus rendering the other boot useless for the whole week.
4. It is possible to go for a week without a shower but it means that some of the suntan of which you are so proud will wash off your face.
5. It’s OK to eat whales
6. Duvets in crisp white covers are infinitely preferable to blankets.
7. The beautiful Norwegian pattern sweater your mum knitted you with such love and affection is itchy
8. Skiing is fabulous, as is Hans, the instructor
9. You will wear that anorak with the one star Norwegian ski badge until it is threadbare and the sleeves don’t go far past your elbows
10. If you buy your grandmother a nice Norwegian cheese slicer with a horn handle you will get to inherit it and still be using it 59 years later.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

1990 – Mount Hotham, Australia – Yr 12 Ski Trip

1 6 hours on a bus is a long time to get to the base of the Mountain from Melbourne
2 2 hours to get up the hill in same bus is boring (is this worth it?)
3 OK….these boots are not comfy – need to get those awesome rear entry thingies
4 these ski’s and poles re awkward
5 Snow looks soft but it isn’t and I have bruises to prove it
6 snowploughing for ages hurts…..is this what thigh burn is?
7 Christ getting off a chairlift without skis is hard enough…..on slippery ski’s it’s a nightmare
8 Wow. Nailed it! Finally made it down the beginner run without falling and even linked some turns
9 Wow there are runs that you can actually go fast on and crashing at speed is not that bad
10 Addicted…..got to get me some skis and boots

2002 – The 3 Vallees – 1st European Ski Trip

1 Oh My God! The Sunshine
2 Wow! They have Deckchairs
3 The café at 3,200 in Val Thoren’s is almost 2 x as high as the peak at Mount Hothan
4 Ahhhh that’s what powder is
5 Thigh burn…….now I get it
6 These parabolic skis do make a difference…..need to get rid of my 1991 Atomics
7 Weirdly, I get vertigo on ski lifts……never noticed before
8 God I love Courcheval!
9 These mountains are BIG. Never knew they could be so big!
10 24 hours in a bus to get here was worth it…..will even enjoy the 24 hour bus ride back

A snowHead

@FrediKanoute, "10 24 hours in a bus to get here was worth it…..will even enjoy the 24 hour bus ride back"

Not bad from Melbourne though snowHead

that's really going some Very Happy

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@fixx, i havent been in a hot tub since some rumours in Morzine 2011/12 season about what some guests and hosts got up to.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

@halfhand, i’ve viewed them ever since as a marinade of bodily fluids. Thats a hard pass

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Every trip i still chain pop iobufren and paracetamol. Alternating every 2 hours.
I stain everything (why white bedding) yellow with tiger balm.
I always end up running out of volterol.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

1. Bend ze knees
2. How to have your photo taken (with the ski tail stuck in the snow)
3. How to do the Austrian knee/foot/bum slap dance.
4. How to do a Cornish accent (our PE teacher)
5. The pylon half way up makes hungover students heave
6. If U go first (and fast), the instructor will be too busy watching the more nervous students to notice U going back up the drag to get an extra run in, by going last too.
7. Skateboarding is good prep for skiing
8. Piles of soft snow are a great way to stop, until U learn how to stop.
9. Werewolves, bite yer bum!
10. I like skiing

snow reports

@Mr.Egg, paracetamol is a placebo, unless you are looking for a final exit ...

@Nadenoodlee, "rumours". Not rumours. Extremely unsanitary.

You know it makes sense.

You were in Morzine in that season?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

1 When chatting with your mates the night before your first ever time on a snowboard, do not say in a semi sarcastic voice ... ‘just how hard can it be’.
2 The first uplift ever on a board after one hour of familiarisation is best not done on a chair lift
3 Getting off chairlifts hurt
4 Ski resort holidays are fantastic
5 Getting up with a hangover to board is not that bad
6 Padded shorts are needed for boarding and pillows don’t really work as an alternative
7 Aches can get worse every day
8 French female board instructors are all hot
9 Don’t sit too close to an open fire in the pubs
10 Know your route / way home very well, because it snows and and everything then looks all the same, especially at night after a few scoops

A snowHead

Air travel isn't very interesting.
Overtrousers are not ski pants.
Girls feel soft.
If you think you have groin strain, deep heat doesn't help.
Bloody hell I'm good at this.
Bulgaria is cold.
I can actually buy Alchohol.

circa '1974/4' school ski trip

A snowHead

1) that it’s possible to hurt in places you didn’t know existed
2) that I wasn’t a naturally gifted skier, which came as a shock
3) that going on your first ski holiday alone, didn’t have to equal lonely
4) that waiting until early March before going to C & A to buy your first ski gear, would result in minimal choice i.e. the option of one of two equally hideous jackets, and not much of anything else
5) that wearing ordinary leather gloves rather than proper ski gloves (see 4) was a bad idea on a nursery slope tow rope
6) that feeling like giving up by the end of the 2nd day, was normal
7) that getting up on the 3rd day and getting back out there, would result in the euphoria of completing the nursery slope without falling or wiping out the rest of the class
Cool

that from Day 3 onwards it was possible to ski all morning in class, then through lunchtime, then all afternoon in class (Austria) and not even think about food - See ‘euphoria’ above
9) that Austrian church bell ringers, must not own watches.
10) that your legs shouldn’t be able to slip up and down in the hired ski boots and consequent huge blisters weren’t ‘normal’

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@fixx, oh darling, its not what you’ve done but the many before you.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Pffft - hot tubs are just part of the risk/reward nature of skiing. The chemical soup and dead skin/hair/bodily fluids might seem scary but once you lower yourself in and grab your chilled beverage all ifs fine. You're not drinking it after all.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Like another poster sierra nevada (sol y nieve) was my first ski holiday , although I'd been to Glenshee before.
1) learning to ski on a back-door 10m plastic slope doesn't really count.
2) Malaga Airport really is full of people who think you're in the wrong location.
3) bus drivers don't require to follow "rules of the road".
4) half-board with a choice of main courses might mean meat or fish. Every night.
5) my first experience of English youths on holiday as a group was sadly very poor.
6) you really DO need to wear sunscreen at altitude in sunshine.
7) it's OK to laugh at someone who didn't follow item 6 Eh oh!

(

chairlifts are GREAT!
9) People will steal your skis, and local police will insist you have merely forgotten where you left them.
10) on the flight home, we learnt that Scotland had beaten England to win the Grand slam rugby (1990) Eh oh!

Addendum: the European Cup racing was being held during our visit , first time I'd ever seen REAL skiers other than on TV. OMG.

I still own and wear 2 t-shirts I bought on that trip..

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

1. Lifting the chairlift bar before getting off, and clearing the runway pronto for the ones behind you
2. Ski instructors are babe magnets
3. What the instructor is trying to get you to do is impossible
4. Blue slopes are impossibly steep, blacks are basically freefall
5. Orderly queueing is unnecessary; just follow the natives
6. Food provided on school / uni trips are not necessarily edible
7. Nothing is cheap on the mountains
8. Resorts are not near airports
9. Kids on skis are there to show how rubbish you are
10. God should've created more robust knees

After all it is free

1. The time you have been told the transfer takes from airport to piste is wildly optimistic.
2. That driving from Salzburg Airport to Ellmau goes through Germany.
3. That Dan Air really is an airline and not a typo from a character in The Eagle.
4. That Luton Airport has not improved since the mid 1980s.
5. T bars should be removed from the planet.
6. Austrians are born on skis.
7. Big orange pads attached to pylons are really magnets for beginners.
8. Point your knees down the walley!
9. To ration the pocket money my parents gave me.
10. That skiing is highly addictive.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Help!!

So what 10 things did you learn on your first ski holiday?

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste