 Poster: A snowHead
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@Humfrey, been keeping a close eye on this thread as I'm taking my partner to Meribel in March for her first taste of the mountains. She's done two blocks of seven hour lessons at CFe and, by the end, was linking snowplough turns with a touch of parallel. She's comfortable in parallel and nicely controlled through the turns. I'd been considering which lessons to get for her in Meribel to get her familiar with skiing on a mountain (as I imagine the psychology is different when you're at the top of a mountain 2 kilometres high as opposed to a short, man-made slope).
Can I ask which 'level' and how long you had your other half on lessons for before letting her loose on the slopes?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Humfrey, very good news!  Thanks for reporting back; some people don't bother.
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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?
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@Astraeus, Level 3, after 8 hours in the snodome. Would certainly recommend New Gen.
You're totally right about the psychology, I think the main challenge is keeping your confidence and using what you know when staring down what seems like a precipice into the valley below. What I did at the end which I wish I'd done at the beginning was go tired down a slope that was at the edge of my comfort level - suddenly empathised with everything I'd been telling her to ignore all week.
Other things I discovered... stay behind her - it's a real confidence knock to be continually catching up.
Also try and follow the sun, one thing I took for granted was recognising and skiing ice/powder/hard packed snow/moguls etc but of course for a beginner this is hard especially in the shade.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Other things I discovered... stay behind her
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A very good point. Then if she does fall, you can catch up and help. It astonishes me how often you see a couple with the strong skier half way down the slope and a nervous and wobbly looking one behind!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Humfrey, great tips.
It was a horrible feeling when I was learning (teaching myself!) to see experienced skiers in my group hurtling down the mountain leaving me feeling a) that I wanted to push beyond my limits and b) that I was holding up the group. They never once felt that way, but you tell yourself that on the way down when you only need to be concentrating on doing as you're doing. As we're travelling on the train we've got an extra two days skiing above the rest of our group so we'll use the first day for me to find my legs (and for my partner for find her legs) on the Altiport beginner's slopes, ready to progress onto some more interesting runs on day two and three. I may see if New Gen have any lessons running on the Sunday for my partner.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Humfrey, Great Result
Now 'lock in that learning' by going along for the odd lesson @ MK (assuming it's convenient) or perhaps some free skiing. Some people can 'skip skiing' for 12 months and come back to it at (almost) the same level - I definitely don't and use the fridges to keep my skills up/practice during the summer
I'd also suggest to book meribel again and lessons again with New Gen - if she goes back to skiiing slopes which she remembers from last year, that will help with confidence compared to going somewhere new at this stage.
Enjoy.
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