Skiing & Business. Coaching & Instruction.

ACL skiing injury. What to do next !

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:37:30 +0100

Bad times. On the 4th afternoon of my last trip out I managed to snap my ACL while skiing an off piste gully. I'll cover the circumstances of the ACL injury and try and draw on any lessons in another entry but suffice to say I felt it go before I'd actually fallen.

In this blog entry I've jotted the lessons I learned and some of the choices I made while going through the NHS system. I just had my ACL reconstruction, 7 weeks after the initial injury.

1. DO try and protect your knee as you fall. I felt a 'pop' trying to recover a situation and immediately knew something was wrong. I let myself fall and did my best to protect the bad leg, trying to reduce any extra damage to the knee. After the fall there wasn't a lot of discomfort and I was able to ski out across an untracked powder field and an easy piste to a lift. This is not recommended due to the extra damage you might do to your knee.

2. DO go to the local medical centre for a diagnosis. The local doctor confirmed I had an ACL rupture and did an x-ray. The 99 euro was money well spent as it gave me a confirmed diagnosis with which to enter the NHS system. The also doctor prescribed a brace, crutches, paracetamol and aspirin from the local pharmacy. 250 Euro to cover this lot was less good value !

3. DO ensure the doctor gives you an 'Fit to Fly' letter. Without it you may not be allowed on the airplane when you hobble up on crutches. It's also worth prompting your holiday rep to inform the airline in advance that you may need to keep the leg elevated. I didn't do this and there was a difficult moment at check in when I thought I would not be allowed to board.

4. IMPORTANT - DO proceed to directly A&E at your local hospital on your return to the UK but DON'T be disappointed if you don't see anyone on the day. Hand over the documents from your resort doctor and let them know you have a CONFIRMED ACL rupture. If they don't treat you on the day ensure they book you into the appropriate 'Fracture clinic' at the hospital. This saves you going through the referral process via your GP and will save several weeks and remove any ambiguity regarding your injury.

5. DO ask to see the main consultant at the clinic even if it means waiting longer. A ruptured ACL will not show on an X-Ray and you will need an MRI scan to confirm the diagnosis. Let them know how important skiing is to you and how motivated you are to ski and be active again.

6. DO ask if there any any MRI cancellations on the day which you could take. My consultant kindly asked the hospital scanning department if there were any cancellations and as a result I had my scan that morning. If not, many people choose to get a private scan done but trying to score a cancellation will save you several hundred pounds and save weeks from the process.

7. The final step is to see the specialist knee consultant. Before any sensible decisions can be made the MRI results will need to be available. I was given 3 choices and I had to decide right then: A Physio program and see how it goes, Op to investigate with a view to making an ACL reconstruction decision later, or an investigation plus an immediate repair as required on the day leaving it to the surgeon to make his best decision. It made sense to me to choose the 3rd option, check and fix on the day.

8. DO be flexible. If you choose surgery your surgeon may operate at 2 or 3 hospitals. Let him know if you are flexible as to where you have the operation and this reduce your waiting time. I had mine done in via the NHS in a private hospital which was 10 miles further away than our main NHS facility.

Good Luck !

Le Monetier les Bains - March off piste.

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:12:14 +0100

The third week of March was again spent free skiing in Le Monetier les Bains with the Snowheads off piste week. True to form it started snowing on the first day and we scored several days of fresh powder. My 'bobble hat' cam recorded a few runs, both outside of the main ski area but it goes to show that a little walk pays dividends.

^^ Access to the couloir required a bit of walking, scrambling and climbing taking perhaps an hour. Well worth it in the end. The couloir was in pleasantly steep, in good condition and opened to a lovely powder field. Skip to about 3 min to skip the walk in.

^^ This side valley is the section that the couloir joins. We stuck lucky finding it untracked. The exit is through a forest offering some nice tree skiing.

Skiing in the Spanish Pyrenees, Baqueira Beret.

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:04:00 +0000

Half term saw me working in the high Pyrenees, guiding groups in Baqueira Beret. The first couple of days were blue sky, but very cold and were followed by 3 days of snow. Overall I estimate that we had around 1m which gave ridiculous amounts of 'powder'. Here's a quick video shot on the first clear day after the storm. Typically it was the day we had to pack up early and head for home

The Wrekin - POV Video.

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:47:17 +0000

A short video shot last Friday on the Wrekin.

Welsh Skiing - Dec 2012

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:31:51 +0000

Inspired by my 'Shropshire Skiing' on Friday afternoon I was minded to see how conditions were in Wales for a trip the following day.

I'd already scoped our the Berwyns for possible skiing opportunities but in the end I was swayed by reports of 'powder' on the Breacons and Pen-y-fan.

Arriving in the car park off the A470 at around 11.30 I muck about trying to find a parking spot that I'd be able to exit from should the snow start to come down. Once sorted I kitted up and checked the OS map. The tops were in cloud, a shame as on the drive down the Breacon Beacons looked fantastic in the morning sun.

Breacons in the snow, looking towards the A470 car park during a rare sunny interval !

As luck would have it I bumped into Mike from the Snowheads forum and he kindly offered to walk up again. He'd been to the top for an hour waiting for the weather to clear with no luck. As we headed up the snow started to fall and the wind increase. By the time we hit the 600m level it was howling a blizzard.

David in the Breacons, Dec 2011

With the weather closing in and visibility reducing we decided that hiking to the top wasn't going to be very rewarding, so we kitted up for an easy slide back to the car park. By this time the path had filled in but the tufty grass was poking through in places. Mike lead the way cutting high across the slope, down the valley to get a more direct run to the bridge.

This was very different kind of skiing, requiring patience and softness with the ski's. Push too hard and you break through into the grass and muck causing the ski's to slow rapidly, but choose an good line, avoid the odd rock and don't rush things its all good.

"Mike Pow" a purveyor of the finest Welsh Skiing and my guide in the Breacons.

It's a shame the Breacons were not more welcoming as there is definitely potential. Fingers crossed for a Blue Sky powder day next time...

The Snowheads forum thread for all who wish to get involved is here

Shropshire Skiing - December 2012

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:00:54 +0000

I finally managed to score some Shropshire skiing for 2011, and my first Welsh skiing the very next day.

Last Friday dawned murky in the village but a glance over to The Wrekin showed lots of white on the top, so a early Friday finish seemed a good idea. By the time I loaded the car it was snowing hard, and it got heavier as I drove over.

In the car park I hooked up with Nicholas, a skier from our local slope who was out for a walk, and we hiked up together with the dogs.

A good covering

The hill was looking very Wintry above the half way house but the cover was quite soft as had yet to be 'pisted' by the passing walkers. Discretion was the order of the day and I decided to ski the grassy pitch from Heaven's Gate to Hell's Gate. It was probably only 75 meters or so but it was nice to have snow under skis again.

Skiing below Heavens Gate

I had a second attempt just below Hell's gate but the cover was thin and the grunching noise off putting !

All in all a pleasant walk up. Fingers crossed for more snow this coming Winter.

Catered Chelet in Baqueira

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:31:49 +0000

Ski Inspired, the people behind the BB ski school are offering catered chalet accommodation in Baqueira this year. Just 40m from the lift with a top class chef we're looking forward to sampling the food and accommodation at some point this year.

http://www.baqueira.co.uk

Compost ahoy.

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:50:51 +0100

First batch of compost produced.

3 months in and the new indoor composting machine has produced it's first batch of compost. As you will see from the photo's below the resulting compost is dry, soil like and easy to handle.

It's fair to say that I could have 'harvested' compost before now but I decided to wait until it had reached the 'full' line marked on the inside of the machine. Quite impressive that the composting machine has managed to reduce 2 peoples food waste over 3 months to such a small volume and probably hints at the richness of the finished product.

Removing the finished compost from the machine was easy. The internal 'lid' is removed leaving plenty of room to access the compost with the trowel provided with the machine. In the end I used some plastic container and scooped out the compost directly. In the end the machine produces approximately 4 litres of compost over 3 months. I took the opportunity to clean the lid section with a damp cloth. "Jobs a good un".

I decided to use it to boost my lavender plants and I've sprinkled it around their bases being careful to avoid the leaves. I'll report back on how it goes.

'finished' compost from our indoor composting machine.

Feeding the plants with the compost created by our composting machine.

Video Clips from last season.

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 05:04:54 +0100

Trifides Grand couloir - La Grave.

Powder on the Glacier - La Grave.

Tree Skiing in Serre Chevalier. March 2011.

Montgenevra Tree Skiing.

Montgenevra. Off Piste run to La Vachette.

Fast ! Fast ! Fast !

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:47:11 +0100

Fast decomposition of food to compost.

The new indoor composter continues to work well. Food goes in and the next time I open the lid it's disappeared with only a small increase in the volume of compost to show for it. We've mostly been feeding it with left overs from cooking and out of date food from the Fridge.

Most impressive has been the speed at which the unit has reduced potatoes, 24 hours and there was little to show for them. I chopped them down to prevent them jamming the mixer and that was that. The 'mix' in the unit has stayed dry and I notice that the 'fresh air' light comes on automatically from time to time.

Here are a couple of photo's showing the speed at which the unit is working. They were taken 3 or 4 hours apart after a fridge clear out:

Before

3 hours later.

If you are interested in pre ordering a unit drop me an email:

david@mediacopy.co.uk

Home Bio Digester & Composter - Test Update

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:34:13 +0100

3 weeks into the test of our new indoor home bio digester \ composting machine the news is good

We've been feeding the machine waste food from the kitchen and fridge and there is almost nothing to report. Food goes in & disappears ! The resulting compost mix is dry and there are no unpleasant smells or leaks.

The 'mix' of food waste has been a selection of salad, old vegetables and out of date pasta and rice. I can't say we've put the maximum amount through the machine but it's easily coped with our needs so far. For instance a 1kg bag of new potatoes that had gone to seed were reduced to almost nothing in the space of a day or two supporting the manufacturers claim that waste is reduced in volume by 90%

Uncooked dry rice takes longer but that's to be expected.

So far it looks as if it will be at least another month or more before we'll need to remove compost from the machine. Photo's to follow later.

All in all 'Boringly' effective !!!

Government proposes Food Collections

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:34:09 +0100

The Sunday Times reports that local authorities will be encouraged to collect food waste and may charge households for the privilege.

Home Bio Digester \ Indoor Composter. Getting Started.

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:54:49 +0100

After the new Indoor Composter arrived we were keen to see how well it worked.

The start-up procedure was very simple. The machine arrived with a bag of 'starter' agent containing the bacteria which will break down the food waste. This appeared to be dry compost. The instructions say to add sugar and water to the dry mix and leave for 24 hours before adding any waste.

Dry 'start-up' mix containing the active bacteria.

Sugar and Water to activate the bio mix.

7 days in and I'm glad to report all is well. The 'compost' in the unit is dry. The small amount of food added so far has been broken down and the unit is seemingly smell free !

The manufacturer suggests that waste food should be broken down to 10% of it's original volume in around 24 hours and so far that seems to be about right. The only thing that appears to be 'hanging around' is some fresh pasta I added which was past it's sell by date in the fridge.

To be fair the manufacturer suggests that it takes a week or so for the bacteria in the machine to mature and multiply to full strength so we've only added a small amount of fresh waste, mostly consisting of coffee grinds and bread.

So, after 1 weeks operation, so far so good

If you are interested in ordering a Home Bio Composter please get in touch. The initial plan is to bring in small batches of units as demand builds.

Indoor Composter - Our 'NatureMill' experiment continues in a new form.

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Wed, 18 May 2011 21:10:41 +0100

Good news on the Indoor composting front.

A couple of months ago a manufacturer from the Far East contacted me about their new Indoor Composting machine, and after some deliberation I've invested in a test unit which has just arrived from the Far East.

First impressions are very good. The quality of manufacture appears excellent, and much more in the 'white goods' style than the NatureMill with a steel housing and high quality mouldings for it's plastic and rubber parts. It's larger than the nature mill, similar to a mini fridge, and it arrived with a 3 pin UK plug, ready to go. The unit is designed for 3-4 people, composting up to 1.5kg of food waste per day.

The unit is designed to be fast acting - composting waste in 24 hours using a Bio "fermentative" method of composting, which reduced waste volume by 90 - 95%. According to the designers it uses just 80 W/h and it's operation should be odourless, as evidenced by rubber seals and a catalytic deodorizing feature acting on the air outlet. The output 'compost' is very rich and can be reduced down 1:3 with garden soil to use in the garden.

The retail price of the unit is unclear until we gain an idea of demand. If you are interested let me know. david@mediacopy.co.uk

About the same size as a Beer or Wine Fridge.

Food waste is added from the top.

Food Waste is mixed by the machine.

Rubber seals on the lid mechanism and cover help ensure smell free operation.

Guides - Serre-Chevalier

nospam@example.com (David Tapley) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:51:54 +0100

I spent an excellent week skiing the Serre-Chevalier area in the company of two excellent guides, Alain & John Luke. Superb Tree Skiing, steeps and they kindly organised a trip over to La Grave, which was also superb.

Their web site is:
http://www.montagne-et-ski.com/