Spring 2016 newsletter

Transcription

1 Welcome to our spring newsletter. Wow, what an amazing winter. As the Folgarida and Madonna di Campiglio areas are amongst the few to have invested heavily in snow making facilities, they were able to operate right from the start of December. Then, around the end of January, winter returned, with thigh deep snow off piste for much of Feb, and even during March when other regions were struggling. So all in all it s been simply a wonderful season. So that s it for this winter and now it s time to start preparing for the next - it never stops. We hope you find these newsletters interesting (we send out two a year in Autumn and Spring), but of course if you d rather not receive them, just let us know and we ll remove your details immediately. To unsubscribe from our news letter please go to: In this edition: It s easy to contact us Our new 4* hotel in Folgarida Why does ice form on the bottom of your boots? How does an Air Bag Rucksack work? School ski trip REALLY should be affordable Phone (01942) Text clients@brentaski.com News We have just launched our 2017 School Groups programme. As you may know we like to keep things very simple, so here it is 897 1:10 free places, flights, transfers, hotel, half board, lunch, equipment and 6 days ski school - 4 hrs a day. 27,548 people (up to now) have viewed one of the Snow Reports which we upload from the slopes of Folgarida and Madonna di Campiglio. To say this enormous number of people is a complete surprise would be an understatement. The Snow Reports will be back again from next December. Log in and like us to receive notifications News Our Personal Performance Courses have been virtually fully booked for this winter - so they will be back again next year. Many of our clients can already ski to above standard Ski School level but they are still seeking that little nudge to enable them to flow. This is where our PPC s come in. The normal cost is 200 per person, per week (booked via the local ski school it s more), but for Bentaski clients they are free for most of the winter. More details at From the 8 Feb Snow Report Deep (very deep) snow From the 8 Feb Snow Report Deep (very deep) snow Max 6 per course

2 Our new 4* hotel in Folgarida ALPHOTEL TALLER In our opinion this is Folgarida s best hotel. Slope side (50m) - ski In/Out Premium grade rooms Fine dining with full buffet breakfast, post ski tea time buffet and 3 course dinner Full leisure centre and spa with swimming pool with inbuilt hydro-massage area, sauna, gym. Large bar area with lots of snugs leading off Ok, we know this is going to sound like a typical tour operator sales pitch, but we honestly do think that if you re looking for perfect hotel, which won t break the bank, in which you can relax by the pool at the end of a hard day on the slopes, then this hotel provides the perfect location.

3 Why does ice form on the base of your ski boot? This question was asked by DB from BASI (the ski instructors association in the UK) who said he knew it was something to do with pressure, but wanted a fuller explanation. The main reason is that snow is formed by frozen water vapour with loosely joined crystals which can be crushed together, whereas ice is formed from frozen water with densely packed crystals which can't be forced, by just your weight, much closer together. Snow on the ground has a certain amount of energy which, as you step on it, is forced into a smaller area and so it warms up. This heat is added to by the energy you supplied by stepping on it, all of which makes the water molecules, in the snow, move faster so they are be able to break the bonds which were holding them together in the ice crystals. Some of these, now free flowing liquid, water molecules will flow into any groves, dents and scratches on the bottom of your boots. As you lift up your foot for the next step, the liquid water on the bottom of your boot will lose some of the extra energy to the atmosphere and it will cool down, so the molecular bonds will reform and a thin layer of ice forms. Each subsequent step will compress the snow underfoot and the energy applied will warm it and (slightly) the surface of the ice on your boot. At the point of contact the water molecules (in the snow and ice) will merge. The extra energy added to the liquid will dissipate into the layer of ice and the atmosphere, so the layer of ice will grow. But it's not all bad. As the bonds between the ice crystals is much stronger than the bond between the ice and your boot, you should quite simply be able to knock of the whole lump off quite easily by scraping the base of your boot on your binding. If you have a question about anything to do with skiing, send it in and we ll try our best to answer

4 How does an Air Bag Rucksack work? An ABR will help you stay on top of an avalanche due to Kinetic Sieving, it will NOT make you float, but it may keep you on top of the avalanche. All types of ABR's are designed to inflate either one or two large bags in the event of you being avalanched. This will increase your volume by the size of the bag (around 150 to170 litres). If we assume an avalanche does not contain items such as rocks, trees, etc. the size of the objects within the flow will vary from single ice crystals up to large blocks of packed snow. Each of these objects has Kinetic Energy; this is energy something has due to its motion. As the flow moves downhill the objects within the avalanche will bump into each other, and each time there is an impact, some of the energy will transfer between the objects altering its speed and direction. It may help to visualize it like this - if you are playing snooker and you use your cue to hit a ball, you are giving that ball some kinetic energy. The ball rolls across the table and hits another ball, at this point the first ball passes some (or all, depending on the angle they collide) of its kinetic energy to the second. The first ball slows down but the second ball is accelerated away, as it now has the kinetic energy of the first. Within an avalanche Kinetic Energy is passing between many objects at the same time. One of the results of this process is that some objects are, at certain times, moving faster and some slower, so gaps form between them. As the general direction is downhill the entire mass is tumbling. If the gaps between the objects is large enough a smaller objects may fall into/through them and these small objects also have gaps between them, which even smaller objects can fall through. So the entire mass is acting like a sieve with the smaller objects being able to proceed downward further. It must be remembered that the whole mass is tumbling so at any given time there may be some large objects lower down and some smaller objects higher up, but the general result of Kinetic Sieving is that the avalanche will become layered with the smaller objects lower down and larger object nearer the top. The result is that as the avalanche moves downhill a number of larger blocks of ice or compacted snow (or even people) may be seen moving along on the surface of the snow, or at least within the upper layers; but they are not floating. However it works, the result is that you are much more likely to remain within the top layer of the flow, and stay alive. It must be noted that an ABR will help you only if you are in a moving avalanche for long enough for Kinetic Sieving to take place. They do not work if you are caught by an avalanche just before it stops: but the brightly coloured airbag material may assist rescuers in locating you. Does the physics really matter? No, the only thing that does is to make sure you pull the handle, before it s too late!

5 School group ski trips (they really should be affordable) It is not uncommon for children (well their parents anyway) to be asked to pay absolutely crazy prices to join a school s ski trip. In fact we would go as far as to say that in some cases the, so called, specialist school tour operators, are putting some kids off skiing for life, due to their profiteering. We have been running ski holidays since 1986 and have seen the number of school trips drop each year and we know that one of the main reasons is the ever increasing cost of joining them. Affordable group ski trips If you child comes home with a letter from their school with details of a ski trip and which costs much more than this, it maybe an idea to call the school and ask them why! Non half Term 897 Half Term 1,047 Minimum numbers = 20kids Includes: 1:10 free places for teachers or other adult supervisors. Flight (Manchester or London - many other airports available). Hotel (3*). Meals (half board). Lunch in slope side restaurant. Lift pass. Equipment (inc. insurance loss/damage) with on-slope storage. Ski school (2hrs AM + 2hrs PM - 6 days). Dedicated in resort rep. Off pi ste ex cu rsi o n (w ith m ou ntai n gu ide) Evening activities can be easily arranged, e.g. 0 ( 0) Night skiing 20 ( 16.23) Forest trail snow shoe trip (with UIGM mountain guide) 8 ( 6.49) for the coach - Ice skating in Dimaro 14 ( 11.36) Ski school presentation with pizza 0 ( 0) Disco/party/karaoke 0 ( 0) Quiz night 10 ( 8.13) Evening torch light slope decent - with ski instructors (a legal requirement) 5 ( 4.07) for the coach - visit to historic Trento with guide. Night skiing in Folgarida Any evening activities should be confirmed prior to arrival to ensure availability. The cost can be added to the final invoice or paid direct to the supplier in resort - we don t add anything to the costs.