nicola

Parnassos Safety first As I was asked by some of you about my impressions on safety awareness by the mt. Parnassos lift operators a few thoughts and ideas. First things first - there might be a big difference in the disposition to security questions between Greece and Germans/Austrians/Swiss people. à While in Greece everything is allowed which is not explicitly forbidden in our countries everything is forbidden which is not explicitly allowed. The Greece attitude is much more my taste, because imho bearing responsibility for one self is the safest way of (mountain) living and getting used that everything must be regulated doesn’t avoid danger itself. Probably the most effective way to obtain a high level of safetyness for skiing your beautiful mountains, is your own awareness for possible risks. And as the Greek seefearing tradition is so much older than alpine skiing, just think of your roots as excellent sailors … In brief - Don’t ascend a slope or mountain (neither on skilift, snowcat nor on foot) if you are not sure that snowconditions allow skiing downhill at a safe stile. Be aware that even “on offical skilift slopes” the snow could be ungroomed and hard (to impossible) to descend on skis. As I found out on our snowcat tour that some greek skiguides might not check the level of skiing skills of the participants you should ask your guide which conditions are expected in the unsupported terrain and if it is possible to manage with your skills. Nice to have – groomed slopes when the lifts start, operators to inform you about conditions (if they don’t talk to you, just ask), responsible and thoughtful skiguides – they don’t have to kiss your ass but safe it. - Although it’s easy to ascend the mountain by skilifts, don’t forget that you are in a high mountain terrain. Weather, snow conditions and visibility can change within minutes. There are the same risks like in shipping the open ocean, furthermore you don’t use a radar system for skiing and the reception of your mobile phone might not be working on the whole mountain. Nice to have – destination boards and direction signs, free pocket aerea maps - Some of the lifts are “charming vintage” models you should treat them with care – e.g. if you go uphill on the small t-bar (we used the first day), don’t leave the track, otherwise you could pull off the rope from the holding wheels, which may cause a long repair pause or even a bad accident. Nice to have – operators and/or signs to inform about best performance and smooth away of difficulties on those lifts. - Probably the restaurant’s concept is designed for alternate function as a skating rink – thanks to donmeli we could avoid a generous double salchow – just take care not to loose your coffee and balance. Nice to have – warning signs, better rubber mats everywhere (a restaurant with this safety hazard would be closed within minutes in Austria) best regards from Austria nicola

dear friends, back in austria we often think and talk about skiing and being with you – it was such a great expierence to meet you and discover the greek snow. i want to thank you all for your great hospitality, wich made us really feel at home. so many things i found impressive – the unexpected mountain variety, quality and amount of snow and even the way of greek après ski is something very special. as soon i’ll find a bit more time, i would like to publish a detailed journey review with pics. some of you asked me to post a review with suggestions on the parnass ski aerea – this will be done within the next days. thank you again for everything – we are looking forward coming back soon to discover more of your very special snowlife! nicola & erwin

long time no hear ... (ski)times were very busy ... finally our "skiadventure" trip to greece is booked, unusal but charming, we will arrive to patras by ferryboat from venice, with a bunch of skis in the trunk of our small pickup. we will provide testskis on saturday and sunday (march 11th & 12th) from morning thru afternoon. beside i am looking foreward on skiing together and like to share my tips and tricks around skiing easy on carvingskis with you. due to the fact i don't know ski aera and snow conditions, i would appreciate your suggestions about meeting point and time. for contact during our stay in greece i will be reachable on my mobile phone http://edelwiser.com/en/about/contact/ σας δείτε στο χιόνι - hope this is translated correctly nicola

close to snow and/or sea 80

@all - such a warm welcome - thx a lot 80 about edelwiser in the early 1990es i startet occupying myself with a new style of skiing, wich later on was called the "carving - style". soon i found out that the new style demands a radical renewal of ski technology. i met the first (austrian) developer of carvingskis and was admitted to this inner circle of ski developement. after the master mind retired his company successors were more and more committing themselfs to a course in the directon of skiracing. my husband - erwin (we will come together) - and me decided to refine the first models wich were constructed for a "broadband" use. we also wanted to give people the possibility to individually design their own skis. thus in 2004 we founded the "edelwiser" company in vienna. we developed a method of fabrication of custom made design skis. as my desire is to enable skiing on high quality skis for everybody the challenge for us is to offer individual skis with a reasonable price. in about one month we will be able to produce individual designed skis within 48 hrs. also there is a big rush for twintip skis. so we will develop a model in this direction following our philosophy of broadband function. hopefully we should be able to bring some prototypes ... more about skis http://edelwiser.com/en/ more about me http://www.edelwiser.com/download/kunstpis...gg_engl_pic.pdf -question- are there any suggestions for accomodation? so long and best regards ~n~

thank you donmeli - for the introduction (anyhow i cant read a word). if anybody likes to have information on the edelwiser-goes-greek trip i can answer in english or german. until march i should learn a few words greek nicola