Entries by David Tapley

Well, our NatureMill is no more. Or at least no more with us.

Our original test unit has been sold on and we've no more plans to persevere with the units. It's a shame as the concept is good and the technology required relativly simple but I can't say it really worked for us.

We're still interested in finding and marketing a domestic indoor composting unit, so if you have one let me know !

email: david@mediacopy.co.uk

A coach and friend of mine recently blogged on "Adaptability or Versatility" in the context of recreational skiing, and pointed out that while racing is obviously 'measured', usually by a stop watch, Recreational skiers and skiing is typically 'judged'.

Ski School instruction is an good example, where as a learner you are set a task by your Ski Instructor. You attempt the task, skiing down to your Instructor who gives you their judgement on your performance. This approach has it's place, but an undesirable result can be a focus on "How do I look?", rather than "How effective was my skiing?", or to put it another way, Style over Effectiveness!

Instead I'd suggest that many recreational skiers would benefit from viewing their skiing like racers do, 'measuring' the outcome of a given run rather than relying on someone else to judge it. For example at it's most basic your desired outcome might be "get down the run safely and having a good time while doing it"*

It doesn't matter what it 'looked like' when you have achieved the outcome you wanted. As you gain more control over your skiing you can aim for more specific outcomes. The next step could be "get down the run safely, have a good time, AND maintain a constant speed." and so on, adding more specific measures as your skill develops. Importantly by using these are 'measured' outcomes you can assess for your self the success (or not) of your skiing, and if you want they give you the means to learn from every run of the day.

One of the key benefits of the Coaching process is that your coach can provide you with the tools to be able to 'assess' YOUR own performance, which in turn means that you can take more control over your ski learning, feel better about your skiing and change it as you need.

*borrowed from the link above.

Trip 2

The following Monday night and Tuesday day saw a fresh fall of snow across Shropshire. We had enough to cover the Dendex at Madeley giving a brief period of floodlit, lift served night skiing which I took full advantage of.

With a Saturday trip back to South Shropshire arranged with some fellow Instructors from the slope, by Friday I was tempted to check out The Wrekin. A walk up a week or so previous had shown some hard packed cover at the top and with the extra snow it could be good for a few turns.

An early finish in the Office, packing the car with Dog, Skis and the usual stuff I arrived at the bottom at around 3pm with the light already fading.

Boot's on, Skins attached I made it as far as the dog leg below the cafe before deciding to bootpack the rest of the way, ski's on my pack. At about half way I came across some Snowboarders who reported enough snow for some turns at the top. Spurred, not least by the fading light I made to the top, grabbed some 'sunset' photo's and popped my ski's on.



The ski down at the dusk went as far as the tree line before the rocks called an end to the slide. I'm guessing it amounted to around 150m of vertical but all the better for being on my 'local' hill. An unsteady walk down a 'short cut' in ski boots followed.

PS. Some video below shot the following year:

Trip 1.

By the start of January 2010 Shropshire had been in the icy grip of Winter for weeks. Finally it had snowed and the temptation to see of Shropshire Skiing was possible was too much.

In the Summer I'd picked up a pair of touring bindings and set them up on a spare pair of twin tips. A pair of second hand 'skins' had been acquired and I was looking for an excuse to see if my ski tech skills were anything like. So I loaded up an inappropriate car with dog, ski's and the usual paraphernalia and set off.



I ended up crossing through Much Wenlock to Church Stretton with the idea of maybe skiing Hope Bowdler Hill. I ended up dropping in to Stretton and heading towards Carding Mill Valley, but on a whim kept going to look at Caer Caradoc and The Lawley now across the Valley.



The Lawley looked a good bet, so I picked up an OS map in town and found the path to walk up. I was in two minds whether to take the gear, but decided it was worth a punt.



There was decent coverage at the top, a bit crusty but enough for some sweet turns right down to the gate.



Caer Caradoc looked a tempting in the sun set, but it was too late for a hike up.

Quick update. The second "clipfix" failed and compost would not transfer from the upper to the lower chamber. I've just received my 3rd 'fix' from NatureMill and will fit is soonest. Update to follow so Fingers crossed.

This week I visited a 'Sustainability' show at the NEC Birmingham and came across a stand dealing in 'starter' bacteria, usually for septic tanks. I picked up a sample pack and will add a pinch when I restart the NatureMill. The company was confident it would make a big difference to the composting process.

A friend of mine once tried bungie jumping. Standing on a high bridge, the next guy up stepped forward so that the Instructor could attach the harness and bungie cord for his jump. For a 'Laugh' the Instructor started to attach the cord around his neck, no doubt expecting the guy to object and see the 'joke'. In this case the guy didn't object at all and seemed quite prepared to jump. Perhaps it was because he had implicit trust in the Instructor, or maybe he didn't know any better ! Which ever, it goes to show how reliant you are on the 'experts' when starting out in a new sport.

Skiing is no exception. As a learner you are confronted with lots of unfamiliar equipment and you rely on the experts from the hire shop to set it up correctly for you. If the 'experts' mess up, or are maybe not expert at all, you could be at risk. A group of friends recently went on holiday and hired skis and boots from the local hire shop. On the first morning one of them fell, suffering a knee injury after the skis failed to come off.

The problem was incorrectly calculated settings for their ski bindings. On a hunch I checked the 'shop' settings for their ski bindings against the industry standard charts. For each person the shop had set them too high, making it harder for the ski's and boots to separate in the event of a fall. Appalling service from so called experts.

This could happen to you, but it's simple to avoid.

Ski bindings are adjusted according to a "DIN" value so that your skis and boots separate in the event of a fall. The idea is to reduce the chance of leg and knee injuries. Your DIN value is calculated from information including your weight, height, the sole length of your ski boot, how aggressively you ski and your age. DIN settings are an international standard and are transferable between different makes of Alpine ski bindings.

Because DIN values are an industry standard there are lots of charts and spreadsheets available online to make working out your own personal DIN setting quick and simple. Once you know your DIN setting you can give it to the shop each time you hire (or buy) ski's so that they can set them correctly. As a precaution double check visually that they have been set as requested before you leave the shop. Expect the front \ rear \ left \ right settings to be the same. If in doubt have them double checked by a qualified expert.

Try this link for DIN Charts: http://www.dinsetting.com/dinchart.htm

DISCLAIMER: This article is for information only. Always have your bindings checked and adjusted by a professional.

Sorry for not posting recently. It's been a fantastic season so far and I've been busy Teaching, Skiing and having fun

I'm going to kick off my first post for a while with some thoughts on variable conditions. This time of year (March\April) conditions change massively between the first and last run of the day, and the techniques you use after breakfast may well trip you up just before tea.

Off piste skiing is a big favourite of mine and I've just counted at least 8 different ways I've used this week to make arcs. In a single run the snow can vary between wind blown crust, to powder, to slush and my skiing has to change as I adapt to the conditions under foot. The same applies when skiing on piste. As the aspect, width, steepness, altitude of the run varies the snow conditions will change. Other factors include the time of day, the weather and the amount of skier traffic.

Luckily from the moment your skis touch the snow (and often as soon as you glimpse the snow on the way to the lifts) you will be making a sub conscious evaluation of the snow conditions. It's helpful to make this a conscious thought process, especially if you are new to skiing.

The snow gives you a lot of clues to help you choose from your 'tool box' of techniques the best one(s) for a particular slope. On the approach to the start of the run:

• Listen to your ski's ? Are they rattley or quiet ?
• Feel for the snow underfoot - Is it soft or hard, slushy or frozen ?
• Look at the snow - Is it lumpy, hard or soft, fresh, deep, pisted ?
• Texture is a good one - Is it pisted corduroy, Wind blown crust or soft slush.

Some of these clues might be scary - rattley ski's on a hard piste early in the morning can be intimidating. But forewarned is forearmed and by considering the conditions you can start each run with a clear idea of which technique you are going apply.

Sometimes it takes a couple of arcs to confirm your initial impressions, so be prepared to adjust your approach and you will need to keep adjusting as things change during your descent.

Having a wide repertoire of skiing techniques gives you the best chance of success on any given day. You'll have more choice from more ways to ski different conditions. It means that you can have more fun more of the time, and not have your day cut short should the snow conditions change !

I found myself standing in WoolWorths today waiting for my Wife.

I wondered what's the shop for ? In our branch there isn't much focus - I'd just bought a ?1.99 Climbing Rose and she was buying a DVD.

It's OK. I've worked it out. It's for selling cheap stuff. Cheap CDs, Cheap DVDs, Cheap Roses (!) etc. etc. A bit like a pound shop but with scope for higher prices. Genius. An impending recession - It's the future!

I find my Wife but no DVD. No purchase.

Why ? They couldn't find the original disc in their filing system. Lost sale.

Maybe not the future quite yet.

Being a Ski Coach puts me in an interesting position when learning new Sports. One of the most important is that it reminds me what it feels like to be a 'beginner' which in turn lets me improve my ski teaching.

One of my new passions is Indoor Climbing which I started about a year ago. A couple of things come to mind that are relevant to those who want to improve their skiing:

Firstly, my climbing has improved with my fitness. As my upper body and finger strength has increased with practice so I've been able to take on harder and harder climbs. It's pretty obvious, but a simple way to help improve your skiing is to get fit! For me this usually involves plenty of Hill Walking, Gardening and Indoor climbing.

Secondly, climbing has reminded me how SMALL changes in technique can have a BIG impact in success or failure. In climbing you are either make a 'move' successfully or fall, so it's easy to see if a change in technique make a difference. For many beginner and intermediate skiers it's likely that if you can make some quite small technical changes to your skiing and feel a BIG difference. You will need the help of a Coach or Instructor to assist you in identifying the best for you, but posture and fore/aft balance is often a good starting point.

However, the real value of your Coach or Instructor will be in helping you to make the change.

On our last skiing holiday my wife had some problems with her ski boots. By the end of the 3rd day her feet were red sore and skiing was no fun at all.

With Winter fast approaching ( and more like here if our weather is anything to go by ) I decided to get her down to a specialist ski boot fitter to try and fix the problem.

Word of mouth (or more accurately posts on a popular ski web forum) guided me to Colin Martin who runs Solutions for Feet in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Colin is a certified Pedorthist (C.Ped), a skier and instructor who has spent many years specialising in fitting and customising ski boots.

Colin examined my wife's feet and ski boots and it quickly became apparent after testing and measuring that there are 2 big problems. The first is that her boots are 2 sizes too big, and the second is that she has tight calf muscles which reduces her ability to flex at the ankles, a key skiing movement.

Colin proceeded to check my boots. I wasn't surprised to find my boots are also 2 sizes too big as my buying decision was influenced by the unbearable pain inflicted on me by my 1st pair of boots. I was surprised to hear that I could also do with working on my calf muscles to loosen them up. Luckily for me my ski boots feel fine although the liners will wear out quickly.

Unfortunately for my wife the only solution for is a new pair of correctly fitted boots and some stretching exercises.

For many skiers buying ski boots is fraught with problems as I know from personal experience.

However today proved to me that it is worth taking the time to search for someone who is skilled and experienced enough to suggest the most appropriate ski boot for you and your level of skiing, AND have the skills to craft and tailor your ski boot to your foot.

With the vast range of boots available from the many and varied ski boot manufacturers, the trick is to select a boot with a plastic 'shell' that matches your feet as a starting point. Small adjustments can then be made to the shell and liner for a perfect fit.

A couple of visits back to the boot fitter to fine tune the fit will leave you with comfortable, perfectly fitted boots which will help you ski more effectively and will as likely as not, last longer too.

PS. No ski boots were purchased in the making of this blog. Yet.

Looks like the 'clip fix' failed. The unit still refuses to transfer waste from the top chamber to the collection tray.

The issue seems to be the design of the clips. The new ones have been bent over by the mixing arm, but the arm needs to catch on the clips when it transfers.

NatureMill are aware of the problem and have some new clips in development and in an email they have promised to ship me free replacement ones when they are ready. However they are not due until August so it looks like the NatureMill experiment is on hold for a few weeks.

I'll update you all when they come through.

This weekend I replaced the broken clips which had caused a problem with the NatureMill. The machine had stopped transferring waste from the top compartment to the bottom.

The replacement clips arrived via UPS from the States, sent directly from the clip manufacturer. NatureMill had emailed me the instructions for replacement. Before starting the repair I dumped it's contents on our compost heap and hosed the machine down to try and make the job as pleasant as possible.

The instructions were mostly fine, and taking the machine apart went OK. The only 'issue' was how the new clips actually fitted. The old ones had completely broken and there was no hint as to how the new ones went in. In the end I had to refer back to the photo's I took when the unit arrived and luckily there was one which gave the answer.

Fitting the clips was OK once I'd managed to free up the trap door. The main thing is not to accidentally throw out the small plastic grommets which help secure the clips with a friction fit. The instructions also suggest ensuring the trapdoor 'arms' are parallel, so I checked and bent them as required.

Reassembly is disassembly in reverse. Because I'd hosed the unit down I decided to restart the composting process from scratch and I reset the NatureMill when I powered it up. I added some chippings and soil and eventually the machine went in to 'Mix' mode. The the clips seem to have held OK.

The real test will be if the transfer function works and how long the clips last for. 4 months is the record so far. Fingers crossed !

Good news on the Nature Mill. I've been testing the unit with an alternative to the saw dust I bought after the saw dust pellets which shipped with the machine ran out.

When the original pellets ran out I popped down the local pet shop and picked up a bag of sawdust for pet bedding. However it seems that this type of sawdust isn't helping the smell issues I've been having with the Nature Mill. I'm unsure as to why, other than perhaps its pine softwood.

During the Winter I had a couple of big Pear trees behind the house heavily pruned and the Ivy removed. The job left behind a large pile of finely cut wood chippings which have started to compost down. So I fed the Nature Mill with a couple hand fulls from the chippings pile and the results have been encouraging. A smell is still there when the lid is opened but it's a bit more pleasant.

The bad news is that the machine has stopped transferring from the top chamber to the bottom one which means that I've not been able to test the wood chippings over a full cycle. I found a broken clip which must the the cause of the problem.

The good news is that the Nature Mill company in the US have been very helpful and redesigned replacement clips are on their way. The guys emailed the instructions for replacing them but it looks a messy job as the unit has to come apart.

I'll let you know how it goes . . . . .

Earlier in the year I took part in some research for the Canadian Avalanche Centre who in collaboration with the Simon Fraser University were conducting a study on avalanche awareness of out-of-bounds skiers and snowboarders. The goal is to develop better avalanche awareness materials for this group.

Analysis of the data collected is ongoing but as a thank you they sent me a copy of their pocket book and reminder card entitled "Avaluator" which was based on initial research cumulating in 2006. I received mine in the post yesterday and it looks to be a useful tool to aid decision making and a check list for those venturing off piste.

Obviously this type of publication is no substitute for training and using a guide but it aims to provide skiers and boarders with a tool which will enable them to avoid obvious mistakes and "set them on a path of learning and practising good habits".



For more information see the Canadian Avalanche Centre web site at:

http://www.avalanche.ca/default.aspx?DN=428,4,558,3,Documents

And Pascal Haegeli's site at:

http://www.avisualanche.ca/adfar1/avaluator.html


Update:

Following a couple of emails to Pascal, he comments:

"The Avaluator combines two methods for personal risk management on backcountry trips in avalanche terrain.

The Trip Planner allows the user to pick reasonable trip destinations based on the regional danger rating from the avalanche bulletin and a trip rating that expresses the exposure of the trip to avalanche hazard in general. For more background in terrain ratings visit:

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/visit7a1_e.asp
http://www.avalanche.ca/default.aspx?DN=646,428,4,558,3,Documents

The Obvious Clue Method was developed by Ian McCammon based on US avalanche accident data. The idea is that the more clues are present, the more similar your situation to past avalanche accidents. You can find more background on this method in the following papers:

http://www.avisualanche.ca/downloads/2004_ISSW_DecisionFrameworks.pdf
http://www.avisualanche.ca/downloads/2006_ISSW_McCammonHaegeli.pdf
http://avalancheinfo.net/ADFAR%20Proj%20Docs/CAAReviewEuropeanDecisionFrameworks.pdf

There are two parts to the recommendations of the Avaluator:

1) The colors on the Trip Planner Chart and the Obvious Clue Scale (green-yellow-red) are expert recommendations about what level of training and experience is necessary to safely travel in avalanche terrain under the given conditions.

2) In the booklet we also provide estimates on the percentage of historic US avalanche accident that could have been prevented if the accident parties would have followed these guidelines. A comparison of US and Canadian avalanche accidents showed that their characteristics are comparable and these percentages are applicable in Canada as well.

So while the Avaluator contains some common sense recommendations, the user should be aware that the recommendations were developed by North American experts and that the percentage of prevented accidents is based on North American accident statistics.

The Avaluator does not have any capabilities to predict individual avalanches. It is built on historic avalanche accidents from North America and its goal is to make users aware of conditions that have resulted in accidents in the past. The recommendations of the Avaluator provide the users with a sense of how much training and experience is necessary to safely travel in avalanche terrain under different conditions. The Avaluator provides a new accident perspective to complement the existing avalanche safety methods such as snow science, group management and rescue skills."

This is an example of posting to the blog from a mobile phone via the text-Connect service. The SMS text message is sent to our text number and the system forwards it to a pre defined email address, in this case my blog. See http://www.text-connect.co.uk for more info.