I am new to this Forum, so I have browsed the various topics and comments before creating this new one.
Go to any ski area or resort and observe the skiers on the intermediate slopes. A view from the chair lift is the best observation point. I do not know the exact numbers, but the majority of the intermediates there will never improve beyond the level they have attained. For many younger skiers, if they can confidently point their skis downhill and get the thrill of speed - that's good enough for them. For many older skiers, they've always skied within their intermediate capacity - so why change.
Reading the comments and tips on this forum, I read words like: steer, set edges, skid, rotate, etc. None of that will be remembered when you're finally on the skis and facing the (daunting) slope below. There are only two ways to improve. The first is by taking ski lessons (and not from your husband, wife, or brother-in-law) And the second is to actually see the correct manner in which you should ski; Youtube has many excellent video clips to help give you a visual picture. Get some lessons first - then watch some Youtube clips. There is no reason to spend "5 or 6 seasons" to learn how to ski correctly - and the difference is similar to being released from bondage.
Skiing has changed enormously in the last fifty years - mostly for the better: Better skis, better boots, better protection - but the Terminal Intermediates remain.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
And your point is?
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?
shakylegs, so what's the problem? Speaking as a 'Terminal Intermediate' myself, I enjoy my skiing and I manage to ski without unduly endangering myself or other slope users. I don't have a problem with that. For me it's a holiday, a recreational activity I enjoy, not a competition...
queen bodecia, exactly right. Always seeking to improve your skiing is a worthy aim, but it is absolutely not the only way to enjoy ski holidays. If you are happy with what you do why change it?
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
shakylegs wrote:
- and the difference is similar to being released from bondage.
shakysock, so you're suggesting watching Youtube videos as a way to improve? But how do us terminal intermediates know which videos are good and which are bad?
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
You're wrong, incidentally. I find it almost impossible to effectively learn movement patterns by watching others, whether that's an instructor or a video.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Any one else predicting the arrival of a sales link somewhere in the OP very soon?
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Megamum wrote:
Any one else predicting the arrival of a sales link somewhere in the OP very soon?
Oh Yes; no doubt to a series of Video's or Phone app; or maybe even a new whiz-bang method of becoming a ski-star without any work or effort!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Youtube rocks, instructors are over-rated IMO! Who needs them when there are experts like this on Youtube, it must be right over 200K have watched it
shakylegs, welcome to snowHeads. I am a Terminal Intermediate and relatively happy with that state of affairs. The only reason I take skiing lessons is that, the better I ski, the less I get................shaky legs! I didn't like getting tired after a few runs and now I don't.
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.
not the warmest of welcomes for poor old shaky
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
I know I shouldn’t respond to this but I can’t help myself…….
Shakylegs – do you think the only people who get great pleasure from skiing are the radical young dudes in the park?
People who ski blue runs for an hour and go and sit in the café for an hour can get as much out of skiing as the person touring in the back country – as you hopefully mature you will realise that people are different and enjoy different aspects of being on the mountain.
Also without these ‘terminal intermediates’ there would not be any ski resorts as they probably contribute more to the ski industry than a lot of people
As long as everyone is safe and happy the mountain is big enough to provide everyone with the challenges they desire
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I totally agree that a ski holiday should be about enjoying yourself and if that's pootling around on blues then brilliant. I do think, however, that it is a pretty well held notion in most activities, be it sport, music, sewing etc. that the better you get the more you enjoy it. After all there are alternatives to ski holidays so the very fact that people strap on skis indicates a desire to be competent to a certain level. People also tend to find satisfaction in challenging themselves. This doesn't have to mean the park or backcountry but it certainly could be making more flowing, controlled turns on the blues, feeling as at home on reds as you previously did on blues and getting around the mountain more thus exploring and getting value from your expensive lift pass.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Surely shakylegs lives under a bridge. Should we be encouraging him ?
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Claude B,
Wow! That's like an educational video on making educational videos.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
A really refreshing set of comments!
I've only been skiing twice - but as much as I enjoyed skiing in my first trip, I didn't particularly enjoy being in lessons for most of the time (especially when my friends were in different groups) but loved the hour or 2 skiing I did in the afternoon with my mates. So for my second trip I didn't have any lessons and it was the most amazing trip (and according to my brother I improved massively over the week).
Don't me wrong, I know lessons are really important so I'm determined to have a few lessons before I go again next year (and maybe a 2hr private lesson in resort) to make sure I'm on the right lines, but I've learn that I love the freedom of skiing with my friends all day, rather than being stuck in lessons all morning every day. It is a holiday after all!!!
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?
Trolling aside, Pedantica and her ilk are far from terminal intermediates, just modest.
There's sort of a point buried in the first post that some people can learn by seeing "good" modelled by others, others need step by step guidance/physical movement patterns and some need to understand the why and the how before they can absorb it. No 2 people are exactly alike which makes ski instruction a tricky business.
There's sort of a point buried in the first post that some people can learn by seeing "good" modelled by others, others need step by step guidance/physical movement patterns and some need to understand the why and the how before they can absorb it. No 2 people are exactly alike which makes ski instruction a tricky business.
That's a good point. In my experience, as a learner and a teacher, there are relatively few people who can look at the overall picture of a good skier and replicate all of their movements. Not saying they don't exist, I think I've probably taught one or two, but fairly rare. When you break down skiing into more specific movements then I think it becomes easier to watch and copy, but you need a certain level of understanding to ensure you're looking at important movements rather than stylistic or superficial movements. An instructor can help with this, but lots of other ways of getting that info such as books, videos, skiing experience where you develop a "good eye", etc. Just as there are no 2 people alike from a teaching/learning point of view, there are no 2 people exactly alike in terms of what they are looking to get out of their skiing holidays.
When teaching kids its more than likely a different matter, but as I don't teach kids I can't comment.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Welcome! Anything with "Intermediate" in the title seems to start an argument here. The only more provocative word is helmet!
For what it is worth I think we are nearly all intermediates on the grounds that there are people who are worse and people who are better. When holiday Brits start calling themselves expert skiers it is time for the locals to start laughing, or hide behind something solid until the carnage is over.
Unless you live in the mountains and don't need to work, there comes a point when simple lack of snow time limits your skills. With a limited time available I, like many others, choose to enjoy skiing to the level I have reached rather than spend the whole time in lessons. If you spend a week with a grin on your face that is success
Hello: This is shakylegs. I will try to answer some of the comments to my post.
* No there was no ulterior motive in the post, there is no connection with me to any ski school or organization, and there are no videos or apps forthcoming.
* I must say I was surprised at the apparent resistance to improvement. Did we all stop reading after learning to read our Doctor Seuss books in the 2nd Grade?
* No, I do not live under a bridge. I actually live in a cardboard box behind Walmart to save enough money for the next season.
* I was not suggesting you spend your entire vacation in ski school. Take a morning lesson, then go out and practice what you have learned.
* And no, I am not a rad dude who hammers Double Diamond runs - the Blues are fine. Me? I am just an old geezer who first strapped on a pair of wooden boards in 1956. I still have, and use, my bamboo poles - they make an interesting conversation piece on the chairlift.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
No resistance to improvement here. I have been skiing for 23 years (42 years elapsed time), am still taking lessons, and am still learning. I do regret not skiing more, and a lot of "possible achievement" is now closed to me because I'm too old, but that doesn't mean I don't have fun. Am I a "terminal intermediate"? It depends on your definition. If anyone "below" a professional is intermediate, then yes, definitely. If I look at the average skiing level on piste, I am way above the average and I'm half decent off piste even if I like piste more. And I keep improving, though of course not at the rate of my kids.
I still don't understand the point of your first post...
After all it is free
After all it is free
Hmmm...
People learn through many modalities. Applying what one reads, hears, sees, or drills is the biggest challenge, and learning for yourself the best combination of modalities is very useful. As an example, even though I teach skiing, there are times when I cannot feel a new movement as I'm trying to do it. I have used tracks in the snow, video of myself, and input from skilled observers to feed the gap. To assume that others learn in the same way you do or in some consistent way would be an error. We are all at least a little bit different, and some of us (me among them) have very rare learning modalities as our preferential path.
I also find the lack of information about the demonstrators' intentions to be a gap that often gets filled by well-meaning observers who turn out to be completely wrong.
So, YouTube might work for some and be completely useless to others.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
