 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi there everyone, I am studying Industrial Design at Northumbria University. For my Final Major Project I am tackling some of the inconveiniences of skiing and boarding. For my research I would really appreciate all your own personal gripes with skiing, whether it be trying to navigate in a white out, keeping track of your kids or working out where to get your best vin chaud from!
It would be great for my research report if you could give your age, and whether you have kids or not.
Thanks for your help
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Keeping track of my stuff. And, more especially, my kids' stuff (when they were kids, that is).
I used to get worried when the kids were much faster than me, but clueless about navigation. Neither pertains now.
I hate hanging around airports (though that's not really skiing-specific).
Of course, in general, I love it.
BTW, I'm ancient (compared to you; probably) 
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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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Toilets (I know I'm always going on about the loos, but it's very important to me). 
Getting down the wet slippery stairs in cafes to get to the toilets is very hazardous wearing ski boots.
Having to get just about totally undressed just to have wee is most time consuming. Gents, you do not have this problem.
And those french Hole-in the-Ground loos - don't get me started!
And they never seem to have hot water for hand washing.
Apart from that, everything is hunky dory.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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toogie71,
The subject is big enough for a 3-year Ph D project.
On fear alone you can have a chapter on each of
slope gradient, piste condition, lack of snow (for the holiday), theft of equipment, get loss with members of family, injury (one chapter for without and another chapter with helmet on), etc , etc
Just cut and paste the posts from here and pray your examiner isn't a forum member.
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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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FLAT LIGHT
and hangovers
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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the bar running out of alcohol.
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That the pistes never seem to be full of attractive ladies wearing only bikini bottoms and scarves, like I see in countless specialist publications.
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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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Haha, this is all great stuff, I find it annoying arriving at a new resort and wanting to just ski without having to get a map out alll the time, having to stop to do this is a hassle. please keep all your gripes about skiing coming...
And please mention your age if possible...
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Fears - well I spend months pre-holiday fearing that there won't be "enough" (whatever that means) snow.
Frustrations - when the people that I am skiing with take ages to get on the slopes in the morning, long lift queues with people barging in.
Age 50, some of my "kids" still sponging a ski holiday off me despite my having paid adult rates for them for years 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The weight of gear.
Over-crowded pistes.
Slush.
Losing an edge.
The prices.
Knee injuries.
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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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Fears: on piste - of someone skiing into me; off-piste - of holding ski buddies up, because it takes me so long to re-assemble all the bits of myself and my equipment when I fall.
Frustrations: lift queues and bad weather which isn't actually producing any powder.
Age: not telling (but I learned to ski on straight skis.)
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Fears: not getting the snow i dream of; pushing MrsFE too hard to extend herself and upsetting her on icy/otherwise horrible pistes; being too old to take the sort of massive tumbles i used to almost enjoy; hearing my leg snap
Frustrations: the size of the average accommodation; the cost of it all; the transfer times to many resorts
I'm 29. I turned 29 in 2006 and will remain 29 until 2024.
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You know it makes sense.
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Queues
Boot pain
Crowds
Queues etc.
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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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FastEddie, I'm past 29 even on your scale, and still happily taking the tumbles. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Good to hear it, laundryman! It's not that i'm in denial, it's just that while I keep getting older, those Swiss finishing school girls keep on staying the same age...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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* having to sort all the kids' clobber/kit in the mornings especially if morning ski school (no matter how organised I get the night before)
* British hooray henry types on the piste, SO embarassing, try hard to blend in with the locals if they're around
* people who don't stop to help when there is red stuff around
* people (do you detect a pattern here?) who have a deep seated desire to raise the bar half way up the chairlift like they want to get off there or something
* worry about snow levels about a year before we go
Age? Old enough to know better 
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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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Im sure boot pain would be a good one for you to work on.
When the older chairlifts hits into the back of your thigh.
Size of Accomodation is normally a moaning point in my family.
Flat Light is another problem for the rest of my moaning family, goggles to see the snowy terrain fully in flatlight would be great.
16, I hope children are a while off. I see myself more as a child than a parent.
Walking to lifts or polling to and ski school meeting point
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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OK, age 30, no kids, my pet frustrations are:
Sometimes arriving in resort at night and being unable to truly appreciate the surroundings until the next morning.
Carrying skis and walking in ski boots.
Worrying about gear being nicked from outside restaurants (although I do have a lock).
Worrying about whether groups that I put together will like skiing together.
Loud brits.
Going to the loo on the mountain, especially if it's down stairs.
Not ever really being as fit as I would like, despite the best laid plans and intentions.
Sometimes queues, and rude people in queues.
Paying loads of fees to transport skis everywhere, then worrying they will get trashed in transit.
But I LOVE LOVE LOVE skiing and the list above is really only very minor compared to the benefits of being able to participate in this most amazing pastime!! I would be able to offer a counter to half of them anyway!
D
Bad visibility, whatever the cause.
Misted up gigs, seems to be unavoidable no matter what model I have.
Worrying about poor snow conditions, although I have never found that poor snow has ruined my holiday, more that particularly fab snow has enhanced it beyond expectations.
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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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Age 48, no kids, low intermediate.
Advanced skiers showing off on nursery slopes (excessive speed in crowded areas)
waiting times for lifts
lack of decent toilet facilities on slopes
poor signeage of pistes
poor quality of piste maps
cost of lift passes
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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youspurs1,
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| Advanced skiers showing off on nursery slopes (excessive speed in crowded areas) |
Not my experience. Only fake advanced skiers would speed on nursery slopes as it is almost a criminal act that no decent skier of any ability would do. Besides any showing on on a nursery slope cannot be as advanced as it is executed on a blue, red or black slope.
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Age 19, no kids yet- thank feck!
Fears: Getting injured or worse.
Frustrations: Queues, people skiing on slopes they are nowhere capable of skiing really grinds my gears and makes me just want to punch them in the spine.
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There are NO incoveniences in skiing. The only frustrations are lack of snow in the summer and other skiers/boarders using up the fresh powder.
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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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| youspurs1 wrote: |
Advanced skiers showing off on nursery slopes (excessive speed in crowded areas)
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I reckon you're mistaking advanced for out of control intermediates. Of which there are many.
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lift queues
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Frustrations - anything to do with telemark skiing, telemark skis or equipment. But please dont try to fix anything about telemarking as the pain in the *sidness is part of the charm.
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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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I'm sure industrial design could take a look at piste maps, mentioned here before. The tube map for London is a famous example of how things can be made simple, whilst retaining all the relevant information. My eyesight isn't bad (but not excellent either) and it is very difficult to read piste names and numbers on many maps. I reckon with a bit of thought one could devise something that would be much more user friendly. I'm an old bloke by the way, with kids, who never have any interest whatsoever in looking at piste maps.
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Fears - Injury (to me, family, friends, in fact anyone)
Frustrations - Being at the mercy of the weather
- Not having the will power to lose 3 stones and get fit.
- Not being at this stage of skiing development 35 years ago.
- Constant urges to run away from everything and go skiing
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You know it makes sense.
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Frustrations:
- going home at the end of the week;
- people faffing about in the middle of a lift queue, waiting for friends/family;
- people standing on my skis in the lift queue;
- people leaving empty seats on a chair-lift, when there's a queue behind them;
- lift queues (something of a theme here...);
- not living closer to the mountains;
- piste maps - every resort does them differently, yet none of them can get it right.
Fears:
- that I might have forgotten how to ski since the last holiday.
30<age<32
kids = 0
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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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Something my family find a quite funny problem is that often with googles and sunglasses they mistake black piste signs for blue in areas they dont know.
Admitadly there is an easy resolution which is to take your googles/glasses off for a second.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Poling - I ferkin hate it 
Getting my boots on in the morning when my feet don't want to bend in the required direction.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Major frustration, this year at least, get pregnant accidently AFTER booking ski holiday. ARGHHHHHHHH!
In a normal year:
- Steps in mountain restaurants especially to the loo.
- already mentioned - those French hole in the floor loos, for girls in salopettes..HOW???
- generally getting ready in the morning, too much stuff to remember, and it always seems to me me who has to find everything for everyone and, having dropped off kids feeling tired before even setting out.
- not being able to get a tissue out of pocket (or map/suncream etc) without having to take off gloves.
- piste grading problems, actually knowing when you take a lift if it is possible to get down using an easy route would be very useful. (Not so much of a problem now my skiing is better but when I was a learner this was one of the things that freaked me out)
- Finding family accomodation which isn't the size of a match box with extra beds in it. And doesn't cost the earth.
Age 31, kids ages 'almost 4' and 18months.
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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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The solution to flat light is quite simple. Go and watch a few blind skiers. Never have the gall to complain about flat light again.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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Kramer, or simply ski the same slope so often you know every bump by heart
Red from Mannlichen and red from Lauberhorn chair here in wengen are like that for me
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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What are peoples perceptions of piste maps, are they a success? what elements do they have which can be improved? e.g a hassle to remove from your pocket? not easy to read in bright sunny condition?...
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not easy to read in bright sunny condition?...
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Never had THAT problem
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what elements do they have which can be improved?
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Print them on "tear proof" paper and put a "piste map re-cycle bin" at the base and train station to collect them when the guests are done with them...
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| toogie71 wrote: |
| What are peoples perceptions of piste maps, are they a success? what elements do they have which can be improved? e.g a hassle to remove from your pocket? not easy to read in bright sunny condition?... |
I'm impressed, you were up early today 
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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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Pet hate:
Getting on older chairlifts that hit both legs, in the most painful possible place on the calf, at a force equivalent to being kicked by a horse.
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FAQ
