yet another newbie

Hi all
Me and the wife have decided to try our hand at skiing this year for the first time, both very late 40's. We have friends going to St anton Austria late February.but after reading a couple of reports on the area i am not sure its right for us.
so the questions are :

1) is this a good resort for total beginners
2) any recommendations if the answer to question 1 is no.

we live in London England

many thanks
brian/jane

Hi Brian & Jane

I know nothing about St Anton. All I can say is that a year ago I was in the same position as yourselves, except in my 50s, not having ski'id since a schoolboy. After browsing this site I decided to go to Niederau in Austria, and would recommend it to any beginner who isn't looking to mix with the smart set, or who wants trendy discos til dawn, but who wants a manageable resort with a great ski school (the Red one) and a friendly atmosphere. That's all I can offer really. (PS: I've been back twice since, and am going again in Jan!)

thanks for the reply,

quick question ; did you have any lessons on english dry slopes before you went. it seems that there are two definite schools of thought on this one,either yes you must or absolutely not.

many thanks
brian and Jane

Hi B & J
No, I had no dry slope lessons before going, but was in the ski school every day while in the resort. This went at a perfect pace (for me) and I made more progress in a week than I had thought I would.

Jabski, of the ones who said absolutely not why do they think that? I'm no expert either on snow or dry slope but have tried both. I found the dry slope harder to ski on than real snow, but have recommended it to my brother (who skied once for a week 12 years ago), and his girlfriend (who has never been) before their hol with us in February. For the purpose of getting used to having skis on, moving around on them and starting to turn etc I can't see a problem. It'll give you a bit of confidence when you get to the real stuff. I would be interested to know why people think the opposite though.

One thing I would say to any totally new skier is that it pays to get yourself in fairly decent shape before you go, to get the most out of your holiday. After all, you don't want to find that by mid-week your legs are too tired to get you through the day, so that's my only tip really, do a bit of exercise before you go, especially on the quads.

As regards dry slope practice, I have no experience and hence no opinion. Wherever you decide to go, I hope you have a wonderful time !

hi
The main reasons i have been given for not using the dry slopes are as follows:

1)The dry slopes feel nothing like the real thing
2)if you take a tumble it hurts much more than snow
3)breaking of fingers thumbs etc are much more common
4)dislocations and muscle injuries are far more common
5)if you use your own kit ( which i wouldn't) it will get ruined
6)the runs are far to short

(these are just some of the list which may turn out to be just urban myths)

I am thinking that we will have some lessons before we go,so it will be interesting to be able to make a decision based on personal experience rather than just hearsay.
thanks again for your input
brian/jane

Jabski,
I reckon your dry slope 'against' list is pretty accurate :D

Last time the topic of dry ski slope lessons came up my advice was don't go on the dry ski slope within 6 weeks of your ski holiday, in case you hurt yourself.

I broke my shoulder falling on the dry ski slope in a lesson, and it took about 6 months before I got back the full use of my arm. It wouldn't have broken if I'd been on real snow. I broke it 2 days before Christmas and 2 weeks before our family ski holiday - my first one for about 30 years. So I couldn't ski on the holiday - only watch others ski - which is rather frustrating.

And it's not just me. Plenty of other people have had breaks and minor injuries. It's fine if you leave plenty of time to heal before the ski holiday, just in case! You can of course also get hurt in a snow dome, but it's less likely.

I have been to a snow dome a few times, and the experience is much more like real ski-ing, plus it's indoors so you can do it in comfort whatever the weather. The only down sides to snow domes are that there are less of them, so you may have to travel further, and they are more expensive than dry slopes.

With these provisos, I would recommend going to a dry slope/snow dome before one's first ski holiday. On holiday it can be quite intimidating as a total newbie to the sport - the hire shops can get really busy and just learning how to carry all the gear and do up your boots etc. is difficult enough, without coping with possibly ratty instructors and trying to find the right meeting place for beginners etc. It's all much easier if you have some sort of an idea of what to do before you get there.

Ally