Markie 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 OK folks, I'm back from the 3 Valleys. I must have done about 15 miles a days. Had good weather every day, no wind and blue skies. I now have a very sunburnt face with the "panda-eyes" because of the googles. CB, I was using your skis and I'm glad I paid you what I did instead of what you were asking or I would now be feeling like I ripped you off. They really suited me well. As they were a bit shorter than what I normally ski on, I felt it much easier to do the moguls. I think I skied every single black mogul there except one which was closed off. That was about 20 altogether. Also, as your skis and bindings were quite light, that became a life-saving when I got lost in the woods once and had to hike almost a mile to the only gondola stations which I could see which was lower down but had no snow cover on the terrain I had to cross! Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 good - glad you liked em. Deals are for mates Post some pics when you have the chance. Also, since this is your thread hijacking isnt a big deal Mate, wont be able to get up to Hakuba in April when you come. Sorry but it will be impossible. If you have the chance to come to Kansai please do and currently thinking of visiting you next Spring Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Sounds good. How was the snow over there? I'd love to see some photos. Link to post Share on other sites
eskimobasecamp 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 fotos markie fotos Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 Fortunately, there was a week of good snow just before I arrived so there was a good base layer and practically all the runs were open. However, there were no freshies. Sorry about not having any pics. I don't even own a camera. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 markie needs a camera Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 No actually I need you or BCS with me to take those photos. I have never been into photo-taking but you guys are right, photos need to be taken. The terrain there is incredible, 600 km of pistes and over 200 lifts. The highest elevation I skied at was 2952m (Mt du Vallon) and from that, I could ski down to 1100m (Les Allues) which is where I had to hike to because of insufficient snow cover but the piste should have gone right to that station. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 >I don't even own a camera. thats a poor excuse Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 must've been epic. Do your knees hurt? Link to post Share on other sites
eskimobasecamp 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 oeufff maybe i should go back to the mountains in euroland? high elevations, endless terrain, but not much snow this year hmmmm? markie, BCS now has a nikon D80 - invite me on your next trip and i'll take fotos of you & your crew all week long. ps - my preferred ski destinations include russia, iran, greenland and alaska who went on your trip to les trois vallees? not an entire army from hong kong this time? Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 C.B.: Give me a week and I'll think of a better excuse. B.C.S.: Those are some exotic locations you have in your sights. I even found the 3 Valleys primitive compared to Japan and home....that's because I had to wipe my own ass after my business, not used to that! I'm thinking more like Val d'Iseres/Tignes for my next Eurotrip. On this trip we totalled 11 (10 from HK and 1 from Holland) and there was no overlap with the people from the Christmas/Hakuba trip, except me of course. Thursday: Funny thing is that physically, I only suffered from some very dry chapped lips which are still a bit swollen now. My only other injury is a bruised shin. That I got from walking into a short side-table at the airport; no injuries from the slopes and I'm also surprised to find no acheing muscles or bones either. Link to post Share on other sites
eskimobasecamp 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 TIGNES!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 The nicest thing about TIGNES is that it has that train which gets you to the top of the slope really fast even though the distance covered is quite a lot. Saves a lot of lift time. On a separate note, this time I was quite pissed that Lufthansa charged me extra for checking in my skis. From my knowledge, no other airline does that. I was below the weight limit even with all my ski equipment but they said they charged extra "just because it's ski equipment". This was on my out-going flight from HK. They didn't charge me anything on my return flight. To make it even more infuriating, the fee was 40 Euros, which is already quite a lot, but they refused to accept Euros and said I had to pay in HK dollars at what they determined the exchange rate to be! I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience (being charged extra just because the item is ski/snowboarding equipment)? Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Markie, when I went back home skiing a few years ago, I also took lufthansa. The travel agent said they had no extra charge for skiis. Yet, when I arrived at the airport they also charged me extra on both legs of the trip (I was under weight as well). I was pissed. When I asked the travel agent what the deal was, they said they did not recall telling me there was no charge... In the end my advice is double-check before leaving and then get a written confo (from the agent) that you will not pay extra, then you can claim it back from the agent if the airline still stuffs you. But if you show the written email to the agent then you should be ok. Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 That's a good idea Serre Che. I checked out the HK Lufthansa website and it did state that there are extra charges for ski equipment which came into effect on November 2006. But I still wonder why they didn't charge me on my return journey. I also wonder how they can charge you a 40 Euro fee and not accept Euros and force you to accept their exchange rate. Link to post Share on other sites
eskimobasecamp 0 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 I flew with Cathay Pacific to New Zealand and the travel agent i booked the flight with told me they would charge me 30,000 yen to take my skis with me.... i had already paid so much for the flight anyway, so was totally pissed and called the Cathay Pacific desk at Narita to check exactly what my baggage allowance was - they then kindly informed me that i could take a ski bag on top of my normal luggage allowance at no extra charge, they said as long as the ski bag didn't weigh more than 25kg, they would only count it as 3kg of my total weight allowance! STOKED! Don't know where my travel agent was getting their info from. I think BA have just recently changed their baggage allowance arrangements. Worth checking the policies of various airlines before you fly with ski gear I guess But that sucks Markie, extra charges you don't expect... BOOOOO! Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 That's totally weird, isn't it, BCS? In your case, with Cathay Pacific, it seems you can actually check in extra weight just because you have a ski bag. Similarly, when I was on my return trip with Lufthansa, at Geneva, they didn't even bother to weigh the ski bag, they just tagged it and me stack it on a trolley with lots of other ski bags. It could have weighed a ton and they wouldn't have bothered. Link to post Share on other sites
eskimobasecamp 0 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Seems it's a game of luck at airport sometimes...... i've never had to pay excess, but i've taken so much shit on planes before - i remember once i got on a Ryanair flight to Stockholm with 7 bags. I bought so much stuff in Sydney on the way back from NZ last summer, I had to put my ski boots in my hand luggage. I often check in for flights with a couple of really heavy pieces of hand luggage and get someone else (someone i know!) to hold them while i check in for the flight. After you pass that desk the X-ray people can't do anything, though I once got shouted at in Heathrow by an X-ray person, because i couldn't lift my hand luggage onto the conveyor belt it was so heavy. My mission this year is to travel light At least i don't have to take my skis back to Euroland this summer, they are staying in Japan Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Quote: Originally posted by eskimobasecamp: i've taken so much shit on planes before I usually leave that in the toilet before I board the plane. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 you know, at our age we should look after our knees more. Not flown Luft, but sounds like a reason not to now. Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Knees can be a problem at any age, especially when you do moguls. I've been lucky so far. Also, about charging for ski equipment, I hope the other airlines don't follow Luthansa's example. Anyway, it will be good if other members also bring this to our attention if it happens....not good to find out when you're at the check-in counter! Link to post Share on other sites
Simon 0 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Lufthansa is not alone in this. I've been forced to pay for my snowboard bag on Air France (US->Europe) and Delta (again, US->Europe). As far as I can remember, Air France was quite expensive: something in the 75/100 USD range. Anyway, the fact you had to pay in HK dollars is insane. Bah. Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 Thanks for that info, Simon. Now this mystery about ski equipment check-ins is getting even more mysterious. Another bunch of my friends from HK who went with me on the same trip to the 3 Valleys actually took Air France from HK to Lyons because they booked really early and got a good offer, about 25% cheaper than my ticket. However, they were not charged for checking in their ski equipment. Link to post Share on other sites
journey_man 0 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Just flew from Haneda to Chitose on Skymark and they charged me 1000yen for my skis, because they were skis. Their normal weight limit is 15kg - I had about 45kg all up (Ski bag was 23 and the other bag was 22) and they didn't even blink. Completely different from the story told by the website and phone agents. Bizarre. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Quote: Completely different from the story told by the website and phone agents I find that too Journey Man. It's as if "no-one really knows" and you just either luck out or the opposite. Very annoying. Link to post Share on other sites
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