 Poster: A snowHead
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@ster, I suggest you read the articles linked, I claim no knowledge in this area, save for an ability to use Google! 
I remember from school - and university - an endless stream of broken rugby and football players. Why people encourage their children to be involved in these sports I have no idea.
@pam w, now you're talking. But at least horse injuries are self-inflicted and not caused by somebody on the opposite side. https://horseaddict.net/2017/05/04/100-deaths-per-year/
10/1000 hours for leisure riding
200/1000 hours for amateur racing over jumps
1000/1000 hours for cross country eventing
Annual deaths in the USA from riding, 100. Annual deaths in the UK from MDMA/Ecstasy (are they the same thing?) 67. https://www.statista.com/statistics/470824/drug-poisoning-deaths-mdma-ecstasy-in-england-and-wales/
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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When I was over in Eastern (post '89) Germany for an operation the nurses there had an expression...Sport ist Mord! S'funny but they didn't class my broken bone due to motorbike accident as sport, until I told them it happened at a race track!
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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pam w - "deliberately inflicted" - you mean over egg'ed opposition sliding double footed tackles type thing or do you mean people rolling around claiming injuries. Yes I can believe it re horse riding v Ecstasy - although I know which personally id prefer doing - haha! Maybe im reckless for tackling such a dangerous sport.
ster - whatever they define per article it'll never tell the whole story I doubt.
Kenzie - wow now you're asking... obv not a marked 'run' but id say its about 10km and a vertical of some 1500m. I actually in my mind equate it (if you could do it) to skiing (via gravity only) from top of Val glacier to La Daille... first third of distance is a generally mellow descent on green / blue and perhaps red type gradient and then you get to 'fornet' and from then on its a push / mellow straight line along a valley bottom type thing as if you were skiing the Fornet > La Daille road type thing.
PeakyB - well dont know categorically BUT what I would say is that given the fact that even in relatively minor cases you may well need a blood wagon off the mountain and thus it will go down officially on the stats (skiing stats for injuries must be amongst some of the easiest to record given the fact the pisteurs will be involved and / or insurance claims I guess) whereas if you hurt yourself playing footy lets say then if you needed medical attention you might go there by your own steam and thus it might not be recorded or potentially many more minor injuries might not be recorded e.g. damaged ligaments like a twisted knee might not get recorded but instead a few days later rock up at your GP. I guess what I might be saying is that potentially the disparity in injury rates might be even more than even the claimed figures show.
Its worth noting that I have at times have had to tell students (generally of a nervous disposition) that the blood wagons they see on the mountains ARE NOT dead bodies being taken off the hill!!!! Also that often even relatively minor injuries that wouldnt even require a trip to the GP let along A&E in the real world are sometimes taken off in a blood wagon. Many years ago had someone someone fall and bang there knee area... they then felt 'liquid'... being worried that it was bleeding and with the pisteurs on site thinking potentially the same thing - the knee was wrapped up quickly and person taken down.... turned out he had forgotten he had a juice cartoon he had forgotten to give his kid earlier in the am in his pocket and it was that that had burst and oozed down inside his trouser leg and being quite sticky had felt like blood and the knee - well it was a bruise... however it was not a million miles off being a heli job at one point!!!!!!!!!!
Anecdotally in all my years doing this job, day in day out etc I can count on one hand the number of injuries a student of mine has received... I probably call the pisteurs for an incident I come across once a season on average (on their request of course) but me assessing my 'charge' as needing help... probably half a dozen times over the years. Within our 12 instructors within our ski school id say usually 2 or 3 times a season it happens. Ive had more people with self inflicted things - being sick off chairlifts as hungover etc than incidents related to the action of skiing. One time called someone who fainted - she hadn't had breakfast. Someone I thought was having a heart attack years ago and was about to call the pisteurs when they claimed they were feeling better and went home.... etc. For those who have skied with me i might have told them the story of the accident I came across on a bad weather day off piste that required a trash-e-otomy (sp?) - that was BY FAR - by MILES AND MILES AND MILES a one off.
Ultimately I often look at how risk adverse etc the people who deal with this stuff the most.... the pisteurs are. Lot of respect for those boys and girls and they casually watch the skiing world slide past (most of the time!).
James the Last - blimey 1 injury per hour from eventing stuff... imagine if skiing was that dangerous - we'd have EVERY person in hospital at some point during their weeks holiday!
gixxerniknik - back on that vein of stats, lies and damn lies when it comes to these things I guess!
Dk7 - fair enough - thats a good one. Im sure there are plenty of people who are luckier (is it luck or not I wonder to an extent?) and those who are not so lucky!
I personally know there are PLENTY of people who come for beginner skiing lessons with as much body armour on as possible as they assume its the most dangerous sport since gladiatorial battles 2000 years ago! Others are mentally geared for it being a hideously painful process and or nervous disposition convinced that the cliff 500m away could be somewhere they will fall off despite the fact they are moving at about 0.00001mph towards it.
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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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What a lovely morning
It was a couple of degrees cooler this morning which made a difference to the norm... however the biggest thing this morning was that the kids got up really early for some reason and even managed to get their own breakfast ready... amazing! We were thus well ahead of schedule time wise! Haha.
The sun was shining again but there was a little breeze today! Conditions on the slopes were really nice though.
At the meet point I recorded my weekly snow report for TDC and then I met my am lady... a really lovely lady from London. She was a solid skier but had lost the bottle a little and her love for the sport. So we headed up Solaise and 'reset those foundations' and got the smile back on her face. It was a really fun morning and we had quite a laugh. I think she was surprised how much of her love she got back. As lessons go it all just worked perfectly today and personally I found it one of my best sessions in terms of outcomes wise it could have been. Happy chappy.
I headed home after lunch and caught up on a few jobs / did some batch cooking and generally caught my breath. Tomorrow Clare start a multi day all day booking with some Arabs that are staying at one of the posh hotels in town... so I will be on kid duty. I think Olivia will go to Club by herself and I will take Ben for a ski before I collect Olivia and we all go for lunch all together - well that is the plan anyway! We shall see.
TTFN
P.S. Watched the Womens WC Semi Final of the T20 Cricket today - what a shame for England but England Men seem to be fighting back VERY well after a shaky start in NZ
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
As lessons go it all just worked perfectly today and personally I found it one of my best sessions in terms of outcomes wise it could have been. Happy chappy.
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The people who get you as an instructor are really fortunate, @Steve Angus. You are a born teacher. 
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| pam w wrote: |
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As lessons go it all just worked perfectly today and personally I found it one of my best sessions in terms of outcomes wise it could have been. Happy chappy.
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The people who get you as an instructor are really fortunate, @Steve Angus. You are a born teacher. |
Blushing - thanks so much
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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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Such lovely pics, they have put a big smile on my face - seeing you and Ben, and especially that one of Ben! I'm exhausted reading about the schedule that you and Clare keep up, but to have days like this, as you say, they are priceless
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Love the kid ski photos.and vid.
Steve, son 2 and GF are doing a season with Le Ski in VdI, she's on her 2nd season. Their season and those around them have been plagued by bugs, you know the ones... Cold, Flu, chest infections, even stomach bugs, infinitely worse than last year.
Have you heard much like this?
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@Steve Angus, fabulous!!
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You know it makes sense.
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Wonderful. Every bump is a jump.
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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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motyl - thanks. Yes indeed.
PeakyB - yes getting down with them... well being dragged around by them really! Yes the good thing about skiing is its a sport for life... you can do it young, old, on your own or with friends in a group or just a few of you; taking your time or rushing around, doing it when the weather is good, bad or indifferent. You can compete or chill out, get away from the crowds or join em. There aren't many sports that compare. So yea hope you can get a few hours with him next year. And they ONLY did 98.5kms in a day - part-timers eh! Haha
Frosty the Snowman - yes folks there are some vids etc on Instagram (@SteveAngusSnow) of the skiing. Yea thanks special pics! The bugs - well its just one of those years obviously... we get periods of bad bugs and there's once around at the moment for sure. To be honest its usual at some point during the season and last year (apart from COVID years) seems to have been an exception to the rule. Normally we get periods of it as this year.
Hurtle - thanks
AndrewBailey - it certainly seemed that way yesterday for sure!
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Poster: A snowHead
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When days off aren't days off
Not that I was really expecting today to be a chilled day it sort of in some ways was.
The kids woke up very early but didnt come and pester us and instead ended up building a den in Bens room... well every blanket, duvet, pillow, toy and prop was used in the building of it... at least they were quiet and didnt wake anyone up (amazingly).
Anyway our guests were pretty chilled as the weather (whilst not bad) didnt look too inviting out there so with the kids having Sunday am special breakie (and then me) and then the guest having cups of tea with me, Clare headed out to work. She ended up having quite a day as the guests had booked the Panoramique restaurant in Tignes and that was at 1430 and they were still there at 1630 (yes I know).... so the hotel chauffeur was sent around to collect them from the bottom of the funi in Tignes in Val Claret at 1700!!! Clare didnt end up getting home till nearly 1800 which didnt please her too much!
So finally with our friends out skiing and breakfast all tidied away I got some jobs done, the kids watched some tv, did some homework and I got jobs done like a wash / change of bed sheet / prep for dinner etc. It was a pretty chilled am.
We watched the ski racing from Crans Montana and enjoyed a nice lunch.
The afternoon was a trip to the pool and we ended up spending 2 hours there - it was nice just being able to have some fun in the pool altogether and some exercise too.
With everyone back home and after our guests left (they live in Geneva so it was only a weekend ski for them anyway!) we had a family meal of my making, Fajitas and then got the kids into bed. And thats about it for today before a new week starts tomorrow.
The weather today meanwhile has been interesting with a strong breeze, light (very light) snowfall all day and pretty thick clouds but no real accumulations (yet) and a drop in temps. I dont think its going to be a game changer but we shall see.
Oh and I forgot to snap a photo today so this is Radio Val's.
TTFN
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Colder
Got my morning snuggle in bed from Ben again this morning but otherwise it was all systems go as normal getting the kids out the door... and it was a chilly morning at that. There was a chilly breeze blowing and the clouds didnt really know whether to move in or out (twas to be the story of the day actually!).
Anyway I decided to go back up to mid (but not the depths of) Winter layers so thats 2 more than this time last week and took a third just in case (boy I was glad I took that third one as put it on in the end!.
I took the kids to the school bus which I haven't done for a while so it meant I was a little behind the curve time wise but non the less got to the meet point in time.
My am lot were a young couple from Glasgow and were on their first ski holiday but had done the sensible thing and headed to artificial slopes back home and got up to speed relatively before their holiday! It didnt feel too busy up there to be honest (well not too bad bearing in mind its school hols) but it was chilly. As the clients had been a little late we were sort of joining the back of the line to get up the hill but it wasnt too bad in the end!
Anyway after walking down the steps at the top, crossing over above the Bellevarde Restaurant and then down Collette we managed to get in several laps of Grand Pre. It was most definitely a cast of trying to build up her confidence and tweak his technique which I think we successfully I managed to do. Having spent time getting this dialled in I didnt want to push it too much and especially since today was the last day of their holiday. So ultimately we lapped Grand Pre all morning really building it all up. On request he asked to do some backwards skiing and then some flatland 360 spinning which was a fun way to finish the lesson up.
I got a phone call late in the morning from a friend who is the administrator of another school saying that her school was fully booked this afternoon but she had a client in need of another instructor for this afternoon and could I help. Well ultimately yes but there was a little waiting around until it all got sorted out. We didnt end up starting until 1400 which was a little later than planned and due to various reasons we could only go on for about 90mins. So it was a strange session with a father / son team from Belgium... I think they had assumed I would be teaching in French but all the communication about the lesson had been in English.... so it was a rather strange session all in all. The Dad did the translating for the teen son but it worked fine in the end.
I had a mega rush about after skiing changing and getting into my civvies clothes and getting the laundry out before heading up to school to get Ben and his buddy Tom and get them to the swimming pool. What a rush, rush hour that was. My time at the pool was hardly relaxing answering a couple of calls and emails before getting the boys home again.
It was quite late before the kids were in bed and the last few rush about hours have totally whacked me out thats for sure.
The weather tomorrow should be sunny and better than today... with a drop off in the breeze and the sun coming out it will feel much warmer than today I think.
TTFN
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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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@Steve Angus,
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My am lot were a young couple from Glasgow and were on their first ski holiday but had done the sensible thing and headed to artificial slopes back home and got up to speed relatively before their holiday!
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Sounds impressive for first timers. Highlights the benefits, often recommended to beginners on snowHeads, of putting some time in first at a snowshed or on a dry slope at home (even though cost per km skied is very high)?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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PeakyB - TOTALLY agree. I cut my teeth before I taught and then after I got my equivalent of my Level 1 on dry slopes and probably until I was about 16/17/18 MOST of my skiing hours were done on dry slopes. Then in my early 20's got the hours on snow up and onwards. But HIHGLY commend dry and indoor slopes as a stepping stone for sure. In fact used properly (even though I say so myself when I was running some of the instructor training at Hemel some 10 years back and more in its early days) I think even for avid skiers and boarders artificial slopes have their place. People often think they need millions of km's of slopes and 'why use one run indoor' etc.... well its a means to an end at the end of the day. Yes good luck to the couple!
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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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Some really good discussion of this on the last Ski Instructor Podcast on focus when learning.
Dry or indoor artificial snow slopes can be a real asset if you go into them with focus about exactly what you want to achieve. Short slopes do have their limits but it also means that downtime between runs is at a minimum. Some times when you do have the kms and kms of slopes people just ski aimlessly. Having not a lot to play with in terms of runs focuses the mind! Use those slopes for specific drills and technique and it will pay off massively when you reach the mountains.
Even in Tignes/Val I love the Stade Red run beside the Borsat lift. It is never busy, snow usually great and you can very quickly do laps on the button. Love it when working on specific issues, of which I know I still have many.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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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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@Steve Angus, glad to see some of the snow I ordered has arrived. Just on my way over for a few days. Might see you around the slopes
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Yesterday there was possibly 25cm of new snow up on the top of Le Fornet while of snow there was only a dusting at town level.
The amazing thing I saw yesterday was a small group of skiers off to the left of the Borsat Lift had built a ramp out of one of the big hollows and one of the skiers performed a perfect back sommersalt - hats off to him!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Steve Angus,
Look forward to news of the difference a bit of new snow has made to the conditions underfoot
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In local news there was talk of the renewing of the sports centre contract on Radio Val this morning. Im not sure what the timeframe is but one of the potential operators of the centre was talking about some changes including possibly putting in an Esport and Laserquest centre downstairs in the building. All bids include redoing the upstairs and possibly putting in a proper kids play area etc BUT the most incredible suggestion is to put in a articifical ski carpet revolving slope thing!!!! Im not really sure it is a sensible suggestion but apparently thats what is potentially in the offering. Hmmmmm
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Been on the genepi have they?
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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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| sno trax wrote: |
| @Steve Angus, glad to see some of the snow I ordered has arrived. Just on my way over for a few days. Might see you around the slopes |
Right on queue eh and yes good to see you briefly today... hope you enjoyed the conditions.
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| welshflyer wrote: |
Yesterday there was possibly 25cm of new snow up on the top of Le Fornet while of snow there was only a dusting at town level.
The amazing thing I saw yesterday was a small group of skiers off to the left of the Borsat Lift had built a ramp out of one of the big hollows and one of the skiers performed a perfect back sommersalt - hats off to him! |
Sounds like I missed a nice day on the mountain. Pretty cool to see eh (the flip!)
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You know it makes sense.
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| PeakyB wrote: |
@Steve Angus,
Look forward to news of the difference a bit of new snow has made to the conditions underfoot
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In local news there was talk of the renewing of the sports centre contract on Radio Val this morning. Im not sure what the timeframe is but one of the potential operators of the centre was talking about some changes including possibly putting in an Esport and Laserquest centre downstairs in the building. All bids include redoing the upstairs and possibly putting in a proper kids play area etc BUT the most incredible suggestion is to put in a articifical ski carpet revolving slope thing!!!! Im not really sure it is a sensible suggestion but apparently thats what is potentially in the offering. Hmmmmm
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Been on the genepi have they? |
It freshened the pistes up today but I spent most of my sliding time Bellevarde side today where it hadn't made a huge difference. And yes I think they need to look at sobering up with ideas like that eh!
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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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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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@Steve Angus, tourist office contact told a pal that 95% Val beds booked through March. Might be a slight exagération, bit still…
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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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| Dr John wrote: |
| @Steve Angus, tourist office contact told a pal that 95% Val beds booked through March. Might be a slight exagération, bit still… |
I suppose including the Easter hols start I suppose that could be vaguely possible but 95% seems a little high. The other point is that what 'counts' as beds booked generally relates to hotels and bonafide TO beds and not the countless 'adhoc' TO's and unregistered apartment rentals etc that all in all probably makes up a fair few %.
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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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@Dr John,
If a couple take a four bed apartment, that counts as 100% occupied, even though only half beds used. Same for groups taking chalets, but not using all the beds.
To be honest I wouldn't expect 95% of available beds to be used even at Xmas, New Year & half term.
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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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Splits
Well ahead of this storm of the century that might be coming our way later in the week (hmmm will wait to see if it materialises or not!) - the sun continues to shine and brightly at that. The temps are cold at night holding up the pistes really well and even with the pm sun its not transforming adversely the slopes although there is just about the possibility of working some Spring off piste if you decided that north pow wasnt your thing! So all in all conditions are excellent and might get even better later in the week. Well perhaps it will be tough going for a few days but in the grand scheme of things it'll be a great thing.
Anyway this morning, and after I got a late call from a colleague last night saying that due to personal reasons he had to pass on his morning lesson today to me, it was all go. For a Sunday morning it felt like a normal weekday morning actually. Olivia needed to get to club (again she was doing stubbies) and I needed to be a the meet point all for 0900 so it was a small miracle we fitted in normal eggs on toast break - yum!
Ben was having a chill day and Olivia had her new uniform trying on at 1000 at Club so Ben was dragged around a lot today.
Anyway I got to the meet point and my new team for today and tomorrow morning arrived promptly. It was an interesting group mainly in the TV and film graphics industry but of varying abilities. One thing you learn pretty quickly in this job is how to deal with what we call splits... so splits in abilities and needs etc between different persons in a group. Even in organised groups you always have splits and different needs etc and sometimes this can be massive and sometimes pretty minimal. However today and bearing in mind this is 6 friends there was a huge split.... from "probably should should still be on the magic carpet" through to a couple who "I might consider taking on a black run". So how do you manage that I hear you ask.... well sometimes you suggest splitting the group, sometimes you might give the harder drills to the more accomplished in the group and easier to the less accomplished and there are plenty of other tactics. But today it was a case of giving parameters in terms of location of types of run we worked on and thus those lesser ability wise were not likely to kill themselves or others. But often its like trying to stick a plaster over a sinking ship.
Today by working holistically as a group it could control the session and not let it fall apart. With some individual feedback and focussed feedback everyone could take something away from the lesson but it really is not ideal thats for sure! Phew one down one more to go tomorrow - nah it'll be fine all good - haha!
I collected Olivia and got her home and then the afternoon was a very chilled one. Ben and I watched a movie and played some Playstation and after bath and hair wash it time to get the kids to bed.
Tomorrow is full day of teaching BUT just to let everyone know.....
...the next couple of weeks before the school hols start there is some availability for lessons with me / TDC - so please get in touch if you have any lesson needs. There is not a LOT but a few slots including a few mornings after this week towards the end of the month but no further than that into the hols.
Oh and Ive just found a final and last pack of mince pies in the back of our store cupboard.... OK a little stale but a nice treat for March! haha
TTFN
Notice the pisteurs having a ski in monitors!!!! Guess after the close call in there the other week they wanted to check out what the entrance really is like at the moment!
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Mon 6-03-23 8:30; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Steve Angus,
'storm of the century' - don't know who's predicting that, but they should be careful what they wish for. By the time they'd finished digging out after a 'storm of the century' the season would be over. You CAN get too much snow (sorry, not preaching to yourself - you've done seasons & know the score).
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^^^^ totally folks re storm of the century… over the years there have been some biggies and ironically it only takes about 2 days of ‘storm of the century’ before everyone moans about it being too snowy etc. in my years here have seen a few storms where people are confined indoors but as those of us who have experienced them when it’s that bad you don’t want to be outside anyway!!!!
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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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@PeakyB, January 2018 the gendarmes went from bar to bar telling everyone to go home and stay there until further notice. Several days were lost to black flags. I think that season there were at least 4 storms of the century.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Mon 6-03-23 12:50; edited 1 time in total
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I remember Christmas 2019 being a bit of a snow-fest
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FAQ
) and some more stitches in my head but mainly muscle tears (hamstrings) as i got older. I did witness the odd arm/leg break but thankfully not involving me.
Really enjoyed the few hours we did together though and hope to repeat, hopefully when I'm much fitter, next year.
