Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Okay, at Easter I'm going skiing in Austria. I've got all my basic needs (jackets, goggles, salapets, thermals etc) but I was wondering what else I'd need just for comfort.

It's a 36 hour journey from Wolverhampton (where I live) to the resort in the mountains in Austria. Any travel tips? 28 hours on a coach near well killed me when I went to Vienna, haha.

Also, has anyone else been skiing before? I've only had one lesson on the dry slopes before (I fell over once and not while skiing. I didn't know how to take my boots out of the skis, leant over to unclip them and fell flat on my face ) so I'm not exactly experience. Any tips?

My brother works at a ski slope, operating the Teebar, and the most common thing I hear him saying people get hurt doing is not listening to instructions when they go up. Whether its on the tee bar or chair lift, apparently people don't listen because its not what they think they should do.
So my tip is: When someone tells you to do something, do it, even if you don't think it seems quite right... Unless its completely stupid.

That reminded me VeraX.

<amusing anecdote>

I went on my first and only skiing lesson with a group of friends and my friend already knew how to ski. The instructors (to gain our confidence I guess) told us we had to hold our knees and do little hops until we got to the bottom of the slopes. I was nervous as heck and I asked my friend what they'd make us do next. I almost cried when he told me that they were going to bring out skipping ropes and make us skip down. He couldn't stand up for laughing.

There. It's proven that I'm the most gullible member of PPT. *idea for future topic*

</amusing anecdote>

Anyway, all advice is very much appreciated.

An easier way to unclip your boots is to press down on the back of the clips with your ski pole. That way you don't get your skis tangled.

I've been skiing 3 times, anything specific you'd like to know?

Best times of the day to go? My maths teacher says first thing in the morning when it's icy is the worst but my friend says in the afternoon when the snows starting to get slushy is the worst.

Also, techniques. Best ways not to fall over, etc.

They're both talking rubbish . Best time of day to go is whenever you feel like it!
I suppose really early morning isn't that great because of ice. But in the afternoon the slopes certainly aren't slushy. The very idea is a bit ridiculous

However, you do find in these places that for the locals skiing is a very popular activity. So you might be better off giving late afternoon a miss- i.e. when school and work has finished, because you get a sudden influx of people to the slopes.

If you must fall over, fall onto your side. Try not to cross your skis over at the front when skiing, and if you do don't panic. Because you'll fall over, and it'll be awkward, and it'll hurt.

My best advice? Make sure you're comfortable with stopping. Although it's one of those "duh" things, it's very important.

I knew someone who went on the slopes before he was completely comfortable with stopping and almost ran into some younger girls but smartly decided to purposely fall to avoid hitting them.

I guess that brings up another good point. Avoid getting too close to anyone else. My friends collided because their skis ended up getting caught up or something. o_o

This all sounds so painful! I'm worried now! Heh.

Don't worry about it too much. You should be fine. I know it sounds bad in terms of accidents, but you have to consider that the slopes most of us were on looked like rush hour traffic. :P

Yeah, that's what happens when you take 200+ people from Texas skiing with other non-skiing schools as well as the normal tourist crowd.

Oi, my skiing experiences three years ago were rather weird. First of all, I had a classmate who couldn't turn or stop no matter how hard he tried, and he ended up crashing into a tree. Then we had to go through an easy turning course, and he just went straight...and crashed into another tree, this time so hard that all the snow on it fell directly on him. He was snowmobiled to the hospital...

I wasn't a good skier myself, either. Going downhill once, I also couldn't stop, and ended up colliding full force into the lineup for the ski lift. The line was made of rope, so it didn't hurt too much, but I couldn't breathe and got a little chafed.

Then there was the incident where I got my shoes stolen. We put our shoes in the cubbyhole where the ski boots are, and someone decided to take mine. >_> I never got it back; I had to go home in old snowboarding boots after talking to the manager.

But other than all those incidents, it's really fun! I'm probably making it sound worse than it really is, so don't worry about it. Just make sure to keep those possessions in a safe place, and learn how to stop. :P

Use your sticks to unclip your boots from your skis.

I've been ski-ing lots of times, mostly in Bormio, Italy. I can only recommend it. There is nothing quite like it. Your legs will killl when you wake up on day two, but it gets better and so will your ski-ing.

Have fun, I envy you