Messages posted by : admin
Suunto do a range of interesting looking watches described here. There are a couple of other manufacturers of such things but most seem more aimed at pilots than skiers. |
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May his soul rest - but why do people do this? I recall, about a decade ago, riding the chair back up the Black run on the Grande Motte and watching aghast as a skier below waved up at his mates... while he stood on a snow-bridge over a crevasse about 100m the wrong side of the danger markers and ropes at the piste edge. We skiied back down (on the piste!), with the intention of yelling at him, but saw no sign of him so continued on. As the chair back up took us over the crevasse again we saw, literally, a skier-shaped hole, as if made by a cookie-cutter, in the snow-bridge! A piste-basher was already on the scene and we watched a pisteur descend into the crevasse on a rope (attached to said piste-basher). On this occasion the guy was lucky... but what a complete idiot? Glaciers may make for reliable skiing but they are not good places to venture off-piste. |
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Although a little warm it looks likely to precipitate for most of the next week to ten days in the French Alps at least...
...and that has to be good news... !amazed |
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Some of the latest variants of these look feature-packed enough to satisfy the most gadget-obsessed amongst us.
For those unfamiliar, the more advanced models not only tell you your altitude but keep track of your cumulative vertical over the day. You can download your skiing day onto your PC, compare one day with another, analyse your vertical velocity relative to the space-time continuum (ok I made the last bit up...)... Anyone got one? Is it (still) fun? useful or just entertaining? |
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Yet another reason not to ski alone, even when close to the piste...
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It was X-Screams I just sold... and, yes, they were a little flappy at first but that disappeared as I got the hang of, I dunno, "driving" them with a little bit more toe pressure than I was used to? That would've been one big lady... B) ...great skis at speed over crud and in softer stuff though...
The Scream 10 I confidently expect to be stiffer, particularly in the tip, from the specs and reviews... I will let you know (if there's any snow left in Tignes by the weekend)... |
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NARSIDs - Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Death
Something I had no awareness of at all... these occur when a skier (or boarder) falls, head down, into the hidden wells in snow around trees. According to this article on Ski-Injury these accounted for 25% of ski fatalities in British Columbia (not sure over what time frame). Read the article... and stay away from those trees in the powder! |
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Ever more popular, helmets seem a logical choice for kiddies (as their heads are closer to ground/other peoples skis,boards) but there seem to be pros and cons:
+ protect well against minor knocks and bumps + some protection in a big crash + keep yer head warm! - reduce spatial/situational awareness Given that head injuries are a (thankfully) rare occurrence and avoidance is better than cure - is the loss of awareness worth it? (i.e. are you more likely to injure yourself 'cos you didn't see it coming?) There are, of course, different designs of helmet but anything that impedes vision or hearing at all can't be a good thing. For excellent coverage of this and other ski-related safety and injury concerns see Ski-Injury.com. So, anyone here wear one - does it impede you? |
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