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Excuses for not taking lessons

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I have been reading through the thread on why snowheads are taking lessons, enjoyable and motivating reading it is too.

I am an enthusiastic but not particularly competent skier of around 20 years experience. I have intermitently taken lessons however I have not done so for aroud four years.

My main reasons for not taking lessons are that I tend to go on holiday with friends and family and ski with them leaving little time for lessons. At my level I probably need several hours work to correct faults that are so deeply engrained into my skiing.

I was wondering what other reasons people have for not taking lessons.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Well I know a girl on another messageboard who is going to do a "learn to snowboard day" at Milton Keynes so she won't have to take lessons when she gets to the resort and can ski with her friends all day! Puzzled rolling eyes

Got to say, if my friend was holding back my skiing we'd part company SHARPISH!

(I am an avid lesson taker because I just want to get better & better.)
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
but Alexandra wrote:
requirements for a ski instructer i.e., excellent instruction and *bloody* gorgeous!

So it's not quite
Alexandra wrote:
(I am an avid lesson taker because I just want to get better & better.)

wink Blush Laughing
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GrahamN, and since you've been reading the other thread you know I agree with Alexandra!

I can see only three reasons for not taking lessons -

1. You can't afford it.

2. You think you are so good that you don't need them (yeah, right rolling eyes ).

3. You don't fancy any of the instructors! wink

I am an avid lesson taker - over 30 lessons last season, and 13 so far this season (did I mention that I had never skied before Jan 2004, and I skied a moguled double black last week!) - oh yes, and there are lots of good looking instructors. And I no longer ski with one of my friends because she does hold back my skiing.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
pollittcl, 4. You don't think the instructors can teach you.

Given Alexandra's requirements, it's a good thing that I was teaching kids last year; I'd go completely broke if I had to get by on that! Laughing Now I have a good excuse for wearing the helmet when I guide! snowHead NehNeh
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ssh, nice face fur. Glad to see that I'm not the only hairy snowhead.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
ssh, I like your 4th reason! Very Happy (I don't think that way, though).

And there's nothing wrong with the way you look - just like many other instructors! (it's just a bonus when one gets the young, gorgeous ones Very Happy Very Happy ) Personally, I'd rather be taught by the best instructor, rather than the best looking one! snowHead
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Kramer, can you believe how short those skis are? Good grief!
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My excuse is usually because I'm with the family, but is really because I get all worked up about it, will I be the slowest/stupidest/worst/ etc and hold up the rest of the class. Silly, because it sometimes truns out I'm not. And now my kids are older it doesn't matter anymore. We've even had lessons together recently. So, I've booked a 2 day Women-only course in Whistler this MArch, but i'm still thinking of reasons to cancel, (poor snow, etc) when what I really mean is am I fit enough?
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Helen Beaumont, you are as fit as you are, and the instructors and ski school can accomodate that.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
ssh, Mrs Slikedges doesn't like lessons for the reason Helen Beaumont alluded to. If she joins a group appropriate for her level of skill, she feels hurried and f ears she's holding everyone else up. If she joins a slower group, she doesn't learn anything as she is already at a higher level technically.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Helen Beaumont, Having skied with you, you're working yourself up for no reason. Once you've got forward you'll be better than fine - after all getting to the bottom first doesn't mean you've done it well does it? (boys thing). slikedges, clearly your mrs. and Helen should both come to the same group when I arrange the women's only week (don't know when yet, but it will happen). Laughing
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
slikedges, there you go! I can't imagine a better opportunity for your Mrs. and Helen Beaumont than skiing for a week with easiski! Book it!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
easiski, I'll be there if I can. Seriously though, I'm actually quite looking forward to my 2 days away from the boys.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
mesk1, fitness is always a part of skiing, at every level. The more fit we are, the more we can overcome. That said, in my opinion, good skiing is effective skiing, which implies a high degree of efficiency. So, especially with the improvements in equipment over the past few years, it is now possible to ski better with less effort than ever before.

The biggest need for fitness is in the length of the ski day and the amount of centrifugal force that one must resist in turns. The implication of this latter is higher speeds, high edge angles, and shorter turn radii mean greater forces and greater necessary muscle fitness.

All of that said, I believe that "reasonable" fitness for a given level of skier is all that's necessary to improve. Normally, improvement is refinement of one of the skills used in skiing (balance, rotary, edging, and pressure control), which can be developed and refined on gentle terrain with relatively low energy. Of course, taking those skills to the steep and deep implies the fitness to apply them in those situations.

Does that make sense? Is is helpful?
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
$ Sad
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Incase my short post is unintelligible - I don't take many lessons simply becuase lessons cost money, and I don't have much money.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
easiski, We'd be onfor that, though our main deciding factor these days seems to be the slikedgelets! Smile
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haha OK I did say that I like my instructor to be bloody gorgeous - however one of my instructors was a woman! Shocked and I still enjoyed her lessons.

I'm just a show-off though, I don't want to be a mediocre skiier, I want to look like a local. Little Angel
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I only fail to take lessons when I can't afford it. I like getting better, and enjoying more of the mountain, otherwise what's the point in continuing to ski??? Puzzled Interesting that many people have also commented that price keeps them from taking lessons, which implies that they do actually want to take lessons and improve. S'a shame, as I firmly believe a high rate of current snowsports injuries are directly related to a lack of skill in controlling one's skis/board, over and above any other factor.

Alexandra personally I find particuarly attractive male instructors the worst kind - can't concentrate on the lesson at all! Cool Nice to meet 'em in a bar after lift-closing tho..... wink
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This year in St Anton I booked an instructor for a three hour private lesson on my second day. One thing that I'd forgotten is that when skiing one on one with an instructor you cover an awful lot of ground very quickly indeed. Especially when you have lift queue priority. The instructor decided that what I really needed to learn was long carving turns on black runs, and steepish off-piste, which was probably correct. Needless to say by the time that we'd done four black runs top to bottom non-stop, I was dying on my B2s, by the time that we'd finished the lesson, I was almost finished for the day. Private lessons really are worthwhile, but they are so much more intense than group lessons both in what you learn, and in how much skiing that you do, that unless you really are fit, two hours is about as much as is worthwhile. I certainly didn't learn much in my last hour.

I have a couple of friends who are ski-school averse, for one it is a combination of male pride and tightness, for the other she just seems to be happy to potter around on green runs going from restauarant to restaurant. I've tried persuasion, but now I just leave them to get on with it, and set aside one afternoon in the holiday for some social skiing.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Alexandra, I am a local! wink And I think women instructors can be gorgeous, don't you? Laughing

Manda, the other way to get a lot better is to just get a lot of time on-snow... See my comment to Alexandra, above.

Kramer, of course, that instructor didn't take you over the edge of what you could do, just right up to it. And, why not? snowHead Cool
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Alexandra, wrote:

Quote:

I want to look like a local.


So don't ski. Go to the solarium, with your goggles on, so that you get a deep mahogany tan with white panda-eye patches. Wear the biggest orthopaedic knee-brace you can find, and sit in the bar all day telling war stories. wink
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Acacia, an arm in plaster always goes down well in Whistler. Two arms if you're really going for the sympathy vote, and don't mind having to ask someone else to wipe your bum for you! Very Happy
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
Acacia, ha! Not around here. We ski with knee braces around here. And, if the knee can't take it, we ski on one ski. We also know to use sunscreen (or we'll end up with skin cancer at 35!), so we tend to be less tan but the visitors are burned like lobsters, nose and cheeks.

Funny thing is, I can tell by watching someone carry their skis from the rack to the lift approximately how good a skier they are.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Quote:
Funny thing is, I can tell by watching someone carry their skis from the rack to the lift approximately how good a skier they are.

ssh, ah, but in order not to show certain young people up, I've been given detailed instructions on how to carry my skis around, to the nearest centimetre, hand/crook of arm position, angle of tilt, poles, nonchalant expression, load and offload methods, you name it. As a result I am the most accomplished non-professional ski carrier in the Savoie.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
PG, it isn't the position of the skis, it's more like balance, comfort in the boots, use of the boots (like, "have you been in them a lot?"), independence of various body parts, etc. I'm not even sure that I could explain it. But, I can tell.

However, PG, I bet that you're a pretty blasted good skier. Although you have to get out more to get better... wink snowHead
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Yes - definitely part of it, looking comfortable. Have got lots of practice at looking 'right', mainly carrying other people's race skis around for the last few years - on and off the piste Confused . Not sure what it's done for my skiing though.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
ssh,

Seeing the way PG carrying his daughter Hannah's skis from race to race can you tell how good Hannah's skiing is?

Also not sure how is this related to the post title but please excuse for being thick as I am ignorant that one needs to take lessons to carry a pair of skis.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Feeling sorry for herself tonight. Super G first run, puts left arm through gate early on, loses left pole and glove, completes course a la Bode, but with a very sore arm. Run 2, catches an inside edge, takes off, right arm goes through safety netting and gets trapped, body goes over the top of netting, and she swings round 360 degrees. Thought she'd put her shoulder out for a while. Needless to say, tomorrow's judo tournament is out of the question! Ah, the joys of ski racing.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
saikee, my point is that it is really not too difficult to get a good idea of how well people will ski by watching them walk in ski boots while carrying skis. Does it tell one everything? Of course not! But, it is a good indication of whether they are just getting started, have been skiing a while but still have a lot to learn, or are pretty advanced. In the latter category, there is still much to learn, but it is more subtle and an instructor has a wider choice of terrain.

Skiing is about balance while moving. My friend Ric Reiter (a PSIA-RM examiner and long-time ski instructor, WC race tech, and lifetime skier) says this (in his best Spanish "Fernando" accent): "Skiing is like standing still... only faster!" Part of the challenge of balacing on skis is the limited movement afforded by the stiff plastic ski boots. One can see how people accomodate this characteristic by watching them walk in them. The added challenge of carrying something tends to amplify any balance issues, and they are the primary cause of most limitations while skiing.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
PG, I'm sure we all wish her a speedy recovery, sounds like a very painful incident Sad
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
PG, sorry to hear that! Wish her well from all of us. And remind her that some of us are looking forward to the day we see her on the podium at a WC event! snowHead
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ssh - you're bang on with the ski carrying... anyone looking like they're trying to carry a somewhat cumbersome washing machine is no "hero"!

And I'll agree... lady instructors can be very gorgeous - which quite frankly isn't fair - how dare they be gorgeous AND talented on skis?

n.b., to become a sex symbol is NOT the reason I want to become an instructor... snowHead Embarassed
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Alexandra wrote:
And I'll agree... lady instructors can be very gorgeous - which quite frankly isn't fair - how dare they be gorgeous AND talented on skis?

n.b., to become a sex symbol is NOT the reason I want to become an instructor... snowHead Embarassed
Maybe you have the cause and effect reversed? Perhaps it's all that time on-snow that refines them? wink
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PG,

Sorry to hear Hannah misfortune in the race. Hope she recovers soon.

When I was skiing in Shamshak, Iran last month the piste was separated by a net so that the other half was used for racing. When the race finished skiers were crossing into the race area and part of the net collapsed lying about 25 to 35mm above the ground. I was stupid enough in thinking I could ski across it. The result was the torso passed ok but one ski got caught into the net and I ate some Iranian snow. You can tell Hannah to see if that makes her feel a little bit better.

My brother two sons have joinned a skiing club in Norway and my brother is driving around just you to serve as a taxi driver. He is buying poles with hand protectors, shin guards and all the rest of the gears that I could not dream of having. I can well imagine your problem can only be more so.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
ssh,
Quote:

Maybe you have the cause and effect reversed? Perhaps it's all that time on-snow that refines them?

Maybe one day I'll post a picture - a sort of before and after!? Shocked

Alexandra, so why do you want to become a ski instructor? I have a variety of reasons -

1. To prove to myself that I am a good enough skier to do the job.
2. I like to teach, especially adult beginners (used to teach horse riding).
3. I like being surrounded by lots of reasonably fit (ssh's comment about the knee brace applies here), reasonably good looking men.
4. The male:female ratio in ski school is something like 4:1
5. Many male ski instructors are single.
6. I like men!
7. err...... did I mention men? Very Happy

Seriously though, it's really something like this - I've taken so many lessons from ski school that I know lots of the instructors, and have become good friends with some. I have been reliably told that I ski well enough to teach, and since I ski every weekend I might as well get paid for some of the time I spend in the resort. I need some sort of mental challenge since my current full time job is not mentally challenging. And I'm getting tired of all my friends asking me if I've interviewed with the ski school director! Very Happy
Actually all of the above was last week - I interviewed and was hired last Wednesday, and taught (after 4 hours of shadowing other instructors) a 2 hour level 1 lesson on Thursday afternoon! Very Happy By Sunday I was teaching level 3 and 4 (they really must have been desperate!)

(And the sex symbol position is already taken - by an ex model!)

So now I'm not going to be taking any more "lessons" - I get to take "clinics" instead! snowHead
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
pollittcl, now you've got us all imagining, you know!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
pollittcl, post 'em right here: http://media.snowheads.com/.
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pollittcl,

Quote:

The male:female ratio in ski school is something like 4:1


You mean the instructors, don't you, not the students?
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