 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone had lessons with him, at Tignes or elsewhere? Would be interested to know. Am considering booking a week's course with him
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Villz wrote: |
| Anyone had lessons with him, at Tignes or elsewhere? Would be interested to know. Am considering booking a week's course with him |
 20 minutes that changed my skiing life! See www.alirossskiingclinics.com
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easiski, So why is Mr Ross "THE MAN"? Is he better than other instructors?
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I recently found his book (Ali Ross On Skiing , 1987)) in my garage during a sort out and have it on my desk as we speak. I've had it from new but never read it and forgot I had it. Think I'll settle down with a cup of tea and give it a peruse.
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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.
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Basil, I hope you will share a short book review in the near future.
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ALQ, I'll do my best.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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In a conversation about a year ago with a young woman who had completed her BASI L1 and was going ahead with L2, she used the words "Who is Ali Ross?". She'd never heard of him.
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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.
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I did several of his ski clinics back in the late 80's in Tignes. Changed my skiing completely (for the better I think) and I still have a good bit of his teaching in my technique. The concept he teaches is very simple - just angulation and edging - but I can remember it seemed hard to achieve at the time. The transition from skid to big edges was a real buzz though when it clicked. He had all the group on 2m Slalom skis before the week ended - Rossi 4S's and (my favourite) very skinny matt black Dynastar Coupe Du Monde's. One year he had us trying GS turns over the moguls just below the Panoramique Restaurant on the Grande Motte. His clincs were run through Supertravel in those days, so pretty ok accomodation as well. And the nightly review meetings with the dreaded videos. Then you really get to see how much you are actually angulating - and its nowhere near as much as you think. Apologies, I've rambled but I'm sat here remembering that I had a really good time and learned a lot. Go for it and give my regards to Ali and Moira (oh, and I've still got a white sweatshirt somewhere with Ali Ross Ski Clinics written all over in electric pink - now that is sad...)
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Quite a few years ago I was stopping in Tignes in a chalet that had a number of people doing an Ali Ross course, they were almost in a religious rapture about it all, but he did have a tendency to suggest 1 type of ski as the "best" - can;t recall what it was though
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You know it makes sense.
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snowbunny, I didn´t know who he is. I´ve just bought some books of amazon to se what he says. 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| glasgowcyclops wrote: |
| snowbunny, I didn´t know who he is. I´ve just bought some books of amazon to se what he says. |
If you are a ski teacher you have some catching up to do! I was taught by a ski teacher who was mentored by Ali Ross. IMHO the BASI style was/is influenced by his methods.
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Poster: A snowHead
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He was one of my trainers in the 70s & 80s along with Alan Hole, Fred Foxton and Colin Whiteside from Pontypool. Took no prisoners and scared the shite out of me. Luckily with Alan, Fred and Colin I was usually well prepared by the time Ali got a chance to review progress!
Does anyone remember the big heavily built Welsh guy who took over the management of Ponty when Colin moved on?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowbunny, I´m not a teacher. I only took up skiing when I knackered my knee at football. (Skiing is good fo it BTW).
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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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| Basil wrote: |
| ALQ, I'll do my best. |
How was the book? Any useful insights into why Mr Ross' teaching method is so highly regarded?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| snowbunny wrote: |
| glasgowcyclops wrote: |
| snowbunny, I didn´t know who he is. I´ve just bought some books of amazon to se what he says. |
If you are a ski teacher you have some catching up to do! I was taught by a ski teacher who was mentored by Ali Ross. IMHO the BASI style was/is influenced by his methods. |
Neither have I, although I'm not in BASI. Skiing god, or instructing god? Or both?
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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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ALQ, Working through it slowly as its in my bathroom library. I like to think I can ski a bit so I can understand the terminology but would not think a low experience skier would necessarily "get it" as skiing really is a thing that needs to be demonstrated. Not really picked out anything from it that would benefit me yet but still quite a way to go so fingers crossed.
The book is illustrated with photo's and sketches which attempt to describe various techniques but, again, without some experience it would be difficult to understand. Because the book was written before the true age of video instruction, the internet and You Tube it is obvious how difficult it would have been then to write such a technical book and get your message across effectively.
Do not misunderstand me, I am not criticising the book, it is just that the style in which it is written seems very dated, but then it would be.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Basil, Sounds a bit like those old golf 'manuals' floating around in second-hand book stores. However, it has sparked my curiosity as to whether there is anything special or at least vaguely interesting about Mr Ross' recommended skiing technique. I'll keep any eye out for it.
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ALQ, Yes, just like a golf book, I couldn't quite put my finger on it but that is a good comparison. If I eventually get through it you can borrow mine, rather than buy one.
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Basil, Very kind of you. Thanks.
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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.
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Yes for sure.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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ALQ, So now I've read it. Hmmm, not sure it was worth the read. No offence to the guy but not very well put together (text layout) and the photo's and illustrations are all very similiar and do not accompany the text very well at all. In pretty much all of the pictures he seems to have one ski raised off the snow and the reader could be led into thinking this was the correct technique. Would not stop me attending one of his courses though.
If you want me to send it PM me and I'll put it in the post.
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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.
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Basil, Many thanks. PM sent.
I am intrigued by all the praise he has received.
Besides, anything to do with skiing during the summer months would be of interest.
I agree with you about his courses.
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Basil, ALQ, the book is dated FFS, it was printed in the late 80s! But his skiing is most definitely not. He is still one of the best and will get you past whichever plateau you have found yourself on.
The praise is well earned and the fact that he is still teaching and preparing people for instructor training after all these years speaks volumes for the standards he achieves.
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You know it makes sense.
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Samerberg Sue, An earlier post of mine agrees with your sentiment that the book is outdated and I do not criticise AR's teaching skills, but the book does not effectively put a message across. If you have not read it then perhaps ALQ could send it on to you when finished.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Samerberg Sue, Could be that I wasn't reading it with a Scottish accent.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Samerberg Sue How do you rate Ali next to Phil Smith? I always remember Ali for pioneering the skis hip width apart stance. Before then it was the norm and very fashionable for skiers to ski with their skis clamped together. And along came Ali and dismayed all skiers (I was no exception) when he pooh poohed that aesthetic trend.
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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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Rossco70, never fear, it seems that on the 19th Oct, the Skishow, and he will be on Inghams stand, all will be explained, as there is a DVD being released, by the man, plus eventually i phone apps.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The Ali book referred to in these comments upon is 'Ali Ross on Skiing',published in 1987, so not suprising it looks a bit dated design-wise. There have been 2 videos and another book (1998) since then. Anway, the message that 'the ski turns you if you know how to use it' was then way ahead of its time and it was only in the early 1990's that ski manufacturers caught up with Ali's ideas by designing a ski with exaggerated ski cut,to help'carving' turns at recreational skiers' slower speeds. Even now, 'carving'is regarded as a fashionable niche in most teaching systems,rather than the norm from which all else evolves.
Enough of my wittering. As the previous post says, get the new DVD, published in the autumn available,I hear, at its launch on the Inghams stand at the London Ski Show. I really look forward to seeing it.
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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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The best-kept secret of the ski season is out - before it's even begun! Yes, Ali Ross,
the guru of British ski teaching has made a new DVD. My name's Roger Corke and
when I'm not making documentaries for programmes like the BBC's Panorama and
Dispatches on Channel 4, I'm a bit of a ski nut. I've made the DVD with Ali.
We got together eighteen months ago and hatched the plan to make the DVD
- plus an I-phone App - and it is being launched at the Ski Show in London on
October 19 - in association with Inghams, who supported us in making it.
The DVD is aimed at the thousands of skiers who go skiing once or twice a
year and never seem to improve and never get off that dreaded Intermediate
Plateau...people like me and my wife, Lynn. She hadn't been on a Red Run for
years until she used Ali's basic techniques after watching an old video he
made 20 years ago.
Within one hour of getting onto the slopes again she was going down a Red -
which is I why I got in touch with Ali and suggested we make a new DVD...and
why we've called the company producing it Red Run Media.
If you can make it, Ali and I will be delighted to see you at the Ski Show
next month but we'll be releasing more information before then. To find out
more - and for the chance of a pre-show offer on the DVD - please send an
email to skibetterwithali@hotmail.co.uk
Roger Corke
Red Run Media
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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rogercorke, Welcome to 
I look forward to seeing you at the ski show. I wonder what Ali has updated in his DVD since he wrote his book?
Out of interest, which documentaries have you made?
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Over the past 20 years, quite a lot - from the first Panorama investigation about corruption and the World Cup (with Andrew Jennings), an investigation into the Madrid bombings (with Peter Taylor), most recently a film about the Naples mafia. I'm at present working on a Panorama scheduled to go out in early October about the ways to get round paying people the minimum wage. I was partly responsible for getting one of the 20th century's greatest miscarriages of justice overturned by the Appeal Court - the case of Derek Bentley, hanged in the early fifties after being wrongly convicted of murdering a policeman. As well as Panorama and Dispatches, I've worked for World In Action, Whistleblower, the BBC2 foreign affairs series This World, ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald and The Big Story.
It's great fun - but not as fun as skiing!
roger
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I've just finished building a new web site for Ali at www.alirossskiingclincs.com . If anyone has any good photos of previous courses do send them in for the site. Regards and thanks, Paul
PS In true neutrality, and having attended several courses over the years, I would say Ali's courses are a great learning experience in a smashing resort.
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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.
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Hi Paul, we met on one of Ali's courses a few years ago. I think you missed an i out of clinics in the link. Will take a look.
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Today the Ski Better with Ali Ross DVD and App are officially launched at the Earl's Court Ski Show. The Big Man himself will be on the Inghams stand (F6) this afternoon, so please come along and meet him - and buy the DVD at a special 25% show discount.
If you can't make it to the show, please log on to www.SkiBetterwithAli.co.uk, where you can order the DVD for and go through to the App store to download the Apps, which play on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
There are two Apps - a free lite version and a paid-for full App which costs just £2.99 - less than the price of a drink up the mountain! And if you buy the DVD through the App, you get a £2.99 discount - the price of the App. So if you buy the DVD through the App, you get the App for free.
If you do download the App/buy the DVD, please please let us know what you think and post reviews. And please PLEASE pass on all of this info to all the Snowheads and skiers you know. On the SkiBetter website, there are Facebook and Twitter pages for you to become friends with/follow. Let's get Ali going viral!
Roger Corke
Producer of Ski Better
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FAQ
