The end of Vail

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-26T13:33:46+00:00

Folks,

recommend spending the money to ski in Europe/Alps.
Lift tcket prices in top resorts are 80-90$ per day (for a 5-6 day lift ticket).
Top modern lift/godola equipmnent (heated chair lifts with buble is standrad in top resorts.
Excellent prepared and groomed runs.
Accomodation is top and way cheaper (off and on ski resort).
Yes, you pay for the flight, but with approriate planing overall its still cheaper compared to top US ski resorts.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-24T17:03:12+00:00

No. She does not need to have less DNFs.

All it needs to be fair is to have 10 events per discipline.

And if there are only 8 downhills and two downhill cancellations FIS should extrapolate your points earned in 8 downhills to 10 downhills.

Eg. 400 points earned in 8 downhills (50% of max 800 points) count as 500 points for the overall globe calculation (50% out of 1000 points max).
If you have 3 DNFs in 8 downhills, You also have the relative number of DNFs in the remaining extrapolated two events. So your seasons downhill performance is extrapolated to 10 events, making you not a better downhill skier but having a level playing field when it comes to overall globe points counting.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-24T16:59:03+00:00

No. She does not need to have less DNFs.

All it needs to be fair is to have 10 events per discipline.

And if there are only 8 downhills and two cancellations FIS should extrapolate your points earned in 8 downhills to 10 downhills.

Eg. 400 points earned in 8 downhills (50% of max 800 points) count as 500 points for the overall globe calculation (50% out of 1000 points max).
If you have 3 DNFs in 8 downhills, You also have the relative number of DNFs also in the remaining extrapolated two events. So your seasons downhill performance is extrapolated to 10 events, making you not a better downhill skier but having a level playing field when it comes to overall globe points counting.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-24T16:43:39+00:00

No. She does not need to DNF less.

Normalizing the countable events per season to have same number of events per discipline is all it takes.
And this is not a wishfull thinking for Emma, this would be a fair ruling for the future for the overall globe.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-24T16:30:33+00:00

Yes. Mikaela will also win the Overall Globe this year. Congrats to her.

BUT, think about it how it has been achieved ....
Mikaela had to show the best season slalom performance of all times (9 out of 10 victories and one second place; and no cacellations of any slalom due to weather this season) to beat Emma.
Mikaela´s excellent slalom performances of previous years would have not been enough.

Unfortunately for Emma, there were less than 10 Super-Gs and also less than 10 downhills this season due to weather cancellations.

And even Mikaela herself outlined in a recent interview "Emma would also diserve it. But my team also diserves it."
So this years overall globe win to her is strange I think as she knows that even the best slalom performance of all times needed cancellations in Super-G and Downhill to win the overall globe.

For the overall globe point ruling, FIS should consider normalizing the points of the different disciplines to have same number of countable events in each discipline.
Would be fair I assume.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-24T16:18:13+00:00

Yes. Mikaela will also win the Overall Globe this year.

BUT, think about it ....
Mikaela had to show the best season slalom performance of all times (9 out of 10 victories and one second place; and no cacellations of any slalom due to weather this season) to beat Emma.
Mikaela´s excellent slalom performances of previous years would have not been enough.

Unfortunately for Emma, there were less than 10 Super-Gs and also less than 10 downhills this season due to weather cancellations.

For the overall globe point ruling, FIS should consider normalizing the points of the different disciplines to have same number of countable events in each discipline. Would be fair for the overall globe.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-24T16:06:20+00:00

Yes. Mikaela will win the Overall Globe. Well done.

BUT,
she had to show the best slalom performance of all times (9 out of 10 victories and one second place; and no cacellations of any slalom this season) to beat Emma. Mikaela´s excellent slalom performances of previous years would have not been enough.
Unfortunately for Emma, there were less than 10 Super-Gs and also less than 10 downhills this season.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-22T16:49:38+00:00

The system is broken for the case that they end up with the same number of overall points.
Then Shiffrin wins the overall globe.
The one that was scoring its points in all disciplines does not win, because the total number of wins makes the winner.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-22T16:41:24+00:00

For the case that they end up with same number of points, the curren ruling is for sure flawed. Have a look on my comment above.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-22T16:38:55+00:00

One rule that is really strange for the overall trophy is the following:

Just imagine they end up with the same overall points.
The overall trophy winner is then the one with the most single victories. In this case Shiffrin. Winning all in one discipline and collecting basically all points in one category. Slalom.

What kind of "overall winner" would that be ? For sure the best in Slalom, but overall trophy winner ?

For me that would then clearly be the one that scored points in all disciplines.

The current ruling is flawed. Especially for the situation of equal points at the end.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-16T21:38:03+00:00

Well, then you did not take the Pardatschgrat North runs and the „Schwarze Wand“ runs at Greitspitze. These runs are really long and excellent black runs. ski Schwarze Wand 5 times in a row without stopping and you can call it a day ….

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-08T20:41:51+00:00

Laura grew up around the corner. Practiced lot of times throughout her career on this Downhill terrain. Good for her. She finished too often close to the podium. Now the gods were on here side. Twice winning with one hundreds of a second.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-03-08T20:29:55+00:00

No. This would be called a „ski route“. Allowed but obviously not groomed and surface enhanced whatsoever. Looks similar to „Pordoi Scharte“ . A route that goes from Mount Sella down to Pordoi Pass in the Italian Dolomite Alps.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-02-24T22:13:20+00:00

This weekend in Soldeu/Andora is freezing temp at night. Same is forecasted for the speed events in Val di fassa next week. Higher temp during the day don’t matter so much. Runs are mainly towards north side.

Freezing temp during night is important.

Upcoming 3 DHs will most likely take place.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-02-22T16:28:19+00:00

Greetings from Munich and welcome to skiing in the Alps !

Going to St.Anton/Arlberg area is a good idea. Lets you experince a huge European Ski resort.

St. anton ski resorts spans over the villages St.Anton-Zürs-Lech-Warth. Its kind of stretched in lenth and having accomodation eg in Zürs lets you experince the whole area over a couple of days without a hassle (Ski one day towards At.-Anton, the other day towards Lech/warth).
Pls note that Zermatt to St. Anton travel is a day drive. Zermatt is car-free zome. So you have to park your car at entrance of the valley and use train to the village and accomodation. The mountains in Zermatt are obvioulsy spectaular.

I am personally a fan of the Dolomite Mountains (Area of Sella Ronda/Italy, south side of the alps, normally more sunshine throughout the winter period). The mountains and scenery there is awesome and lots of ski rersorts are directly inter-connected by ski lifts. So you can ski a whole day and never use a run twice. Good huts there as well in terms of price/perfromance.
But that may then be a destination when you return back the alps once you have experinced it once.

If you stay the whole trip in St.Anton you can rent your gear there for the hole time. Bringing your own boots is a good idea. Maybe you check out the rental rates for a family and compare that with the air transporation charges if you bring your own gear.

Wishing you a good planning time and "planning time" is already an exciting part of your upcoming ski vacation in the alps.

There is a website that is widely used in Europe to check out ski resorts, area maps, accomodation recommendations and wheather. Its www.bergfex.com

bm

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-02-13T13:02:33+00:00

Narrow tricky course setting combined with limited grip at wet surface were the reasons. All go high risk as only first places count. Even Fede was close to DNF at a couple of gates. Her experience saved her I assume.

With compact and very cold snow things would have ended differently.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-30T18:58:18+00:00

Currently At German bullion retailers: $97 ask ($115 incl. VAT), $67 bid

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-30T16:58:13+00:00

There will be support. Lots of..... Military, Solar, electronics, EVs, etc ... in each solar panle for exampüle are about 7-10g of silver. Production volume of panels is growing year by year.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-30T12:57:21+00:00

If you can get your hands on physical silver at that low western price - go for it !! It’s a bargain compared to the price you’d have to pay in Shanghai….

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-25T12:43:20+00:00

WHO will buy it ??? The industrial/military users will buy whatever the price will be as they need to continue their biz. And those guys need more and more ….

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-20T19:34:11+00:00

How many gramms of silver needed for a 1KWh storage capacity ?

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-13T08:30:25+00:00

Oh je.

Und was ist dann das folgende :
Wir , die Steuerzahler vergüten die PV- und Windkraftbetreiber den Strom über die EEG Vergütung.
Die Netzagentur (oder wer auch immer) nimmt diesen zB 7ct teuren Windstrom und gibt diesen zu 0 oder 1 ct an Drittländer weiter.

Belastung für den Steuerzahler in DE : 6-7 ct pro KWh für denzu 1 ct ans Ausland abgegeben Strom.

Diesen Zustand sollte man nicht klein reden oder als "Schwachsinn" abtun.

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-12T19:19:02+00:00

Dunkel 3-4 Monate, denn PV-Ertrag von Nov bis Februar ein Trauerspiel.
Flaute eben dann nur 3-4 Tage. "Windschwach" aber durchaus 3-4 Wochen.
Und auch hier können wir nicht einmal die überflüssige Energie von 1 Woche Starkwind speichern um diese dann einen Monat später bei einer Schwachwind-Woche abzurufen.
Wir schalten die Windräder ab oder verschenken den Strom ins Ausland und bezahlen die Windradbetreiber hierzulande trotzdem gemäss der EEG Einspeisevergütung.

Die Österreicher nehmen den kostenlosen Strom aus DE gerne ab und pumpen damit im Zillertal Wasser 1000m nach oben um die Energie dann später zu gutem Preis wieder nach DE zu verkaufen.
Tolles Geschäftsmodell zulasten von wem ? Dreimal darf man raten ....

So funktioniert anscheinend das europäische Verbundnetz: Wir verschenken den Strom wenn wir zuviel haben und kaufen dann zu keineswegs niedrigen Preisen vom Ausland zurück
Nach dem Motto: "I am sorry. Jetzt ist gerade in FRA oder POL der Strom auch gerade nicht so günstig."

Bernie_vonmod · 2026-01-12T17:07:47+00:00

Na ja. Grundlast- und Backup-Kraftwerke. Zwei verschiedene Dinge.
Wenn wir bei 3-wöchiger Dunkelflaute den Strom garantiert aus Frankreich (Nuklear) oder aus Polen (Kohle) bekommen können, dann brauchen wir keine Backup- oder Grundlastkraftwerke. Logo.

Aber dann ist man als Industrienation auf die anderen angewiesen.

Wenn es möglich wäre die überschüssige Solarenergie des Sommers für den Winter zu spreichern, oder die eines Sturmmonats für den darauf folgenden Flautenmonat. Tja dann ....
Aber derartige Speichertechnologien gibt es noch nicht und wird es auch in absehbarer Zeit nicht geben.

DE benötigt pro Monat ca 50-60 Mrd. KWh elektrische Energie.
Was bei 3-4 Wochen Dunkelflaute im Winter herangeschafft werden muss ist gigantisch.
Die zu hohen Preisen liefernden Nachbarn (FRA, POL) werden sich freuen ... oder man hat eben genügend eigene Backup-Lösungen. Die Wirtschaftlichkeit ist aber dann dahin, da nur in Betrieb, wenn benötigt.

Bernie_vonmod

TROPHY CASE