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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Lorraine, that's because you've never had lessons with me!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
page six
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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?
Masque wrote:
page six


how many pages to hang the whole body?

i can work at helping.... Toofy Grin
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
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little tiger, I'm just wondering what hell would be released by a thread on the correct way to teach a snowplow or something equally advanced like how to handle cold induced willy shrinkage at those unplanned yellow snow moments
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Masque wrote:
little tiger, or something equally advanced like how to handle cold induced willy shrinkage at those unplanned yellow snow moments


I don't have that problem Very Happy
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
do the snowplow one and get rusty guy back Twisted Evil PSIA don't do snowplow they think it an evil invention.... they use a wedge (big difference wink ).....

get the Harb disciples in and you can have a right hummdinger because HH swears any non-parallel start is the work of the devil and will lead to terminal intermediate skier rut hell..... Unfortunately no one has explained this bit to the austrians and italians so they keep winning races despite having been taught snowplows
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
little tiger, and proabably traversing! Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing

I am not going to rise to Veeights offensive remarks, and I'm very bored by the pedantic rubbish, so I'm off now....
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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!
veeeight wrote:
Quote:

All my ski instruction has been in Europe, and certainly in the last 10 years has been the same as your description of "core skills"


I'm glad to hear you say that.

I'm pleased you've experienced a skills based assessment & development.

I was at risk of tarring all European based instructors with the same brush going by easiski's comments................ Razz
Feel free, and don't forget to tell all the Europeans who don't subscribe to your views that from now on they'd better stop beating the North Americans across all the ski racing disciplines seeing as they haven't learnt to ski properly in the first place rolling eyes rolling eyes
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
easiski wrote:
little tiger, and proabably traversing! Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing

.


yeah and side-slipping too
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
You know, veeight made a comment on this thread based on what he read on this thread, and now he is being torn apart by the rabid dogs who hate all things non-European. (so, I guess he has joined my club now Laughing ). In my experience of ski instruction in Europe compared to North America, there are differences in the approach.
Could those who are saying that there aren't please list the North American ski schools they have had lessons off, then perhaps it will be easier to understand what they are on about.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I have had lessons in Meribel, St Anton, Verbier, Courmayeur, Aspen, Banff (lots), L.Louise, Courchevel, possibly elsewhere. Some of them were rather a long time ago, and on straight skis, but to the extent that I can compare, I didn't notice a huge difference between the approaches, although some instructors were miles better than others. They were all trying to get me to do the same things (weight in the right place and so on) and the Banff lessons at least (about 6 weeks, all with the same bloke, over about 6 years) emphasised the desirability of having 'different tools in the box' - side slipping, the odd snowplough, and traversing was definitely part of all the lessons.

The main difference I noticed was that the more recent instructors (mainly N.America) took the whole business more seriously than the earlier ones (all European). I suspect that this has more to do with changing times than geography, and perhaps the fact that I am now a half decent skier rather than a hopeless one.

I think there might be a bit of over analysis going on here. I also think that I ought to be a better skier than I am given the lessons I've had (my fault, I'm sure).


Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Wed 19-04-06 8:51; edited 1 time in total
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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.
Is this thread dead now...........please? before it degenerates to my bat is bigger than your bat....oh, it already has....

didn't see that coming.....!! Shocked Smile
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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
It's a shame that this has turned into a battle of one continent v. another. Unnecessary in my opinion. It's just skiing.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
rob@rar.org.uk, unfortunately that was how the thread started!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Wear The Fox Hat, amen and hence my exit.

i have had the pleasure over the past few years of working with a wide variety of folks from many different nations. good teaching and/or skiing knows no geographic lines. sadly the same can be said for lousy teaching.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Wear The Fox Hat, Rusty Guy, A little unfair I suggest ...

I think most people believe that Brits feel more closely aligned with their US 'cousins' than they do with their 'fellow' Europeans . Having lived in the US , used to be married to ( a long, long time ago) a US citizen and my daughter also being one ( and living there ), I feel qualified to comment. This is not necessarily correct as Winston Churchill identified ( and this misunderstanding endorses it) , nevertheless most Brits believe they share a common language/sense of humour/morals/religion/democractic intent with US Americans.

However it is not unusual for people on forums ( and this one is no exception) for people to lay down challenges. easiski, did this - and with her superior knowledge of ski education , focused her comments on a potentially 'different' school of thought as she 'sees' it. To describe her challenge to fellow learned instructors as confrontational or jingoistic is way OTT.

Rusty Guy, Interestingly the one comment/question/fact that I (as an advancing beginner) took away from this thread ( having learnt traversing/side-slipping ad nauseam) is the fact that I frequently- with an instructor - 'meander aimlessly' across a piste. It was your comments that made me think, so please keep posting your alternative views , and although she can speak for herself, easiski, has also pointed out that she is still 'learning' from others. To take umbrage at what she has written is probably not good for either of you , not withstanding individual/generic cross-pond styles surely what you were doing was have a discussion/debate/disagreement on 'teaching styles' way over the heads of most of us ( sorry long breath to read that ). Long may it continue and we all then benefit from the 'crumbs' that fall!

BTW - I am undoubtedly the most pro-European poster here in generic terms ... conversely, I do appreciate others thoughts, especially written/spoken in a language I understand. snowHead rolling eyes
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Welsh?
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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?
Masque, Puzzled I thought you'd hung yourself ... are you using the word as verb, noun or adjective ?
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Masque, I did understand ... and I'm probably not the only poster here who used it as their first language ! Embarassed rolling eyes
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
My take from this thread is that there is very little difference between the two camps in terms of underlying techniques. In a way, I think the participants are furiously agreeing.

The differences seem to be to do with how those techniques are taught, and I think they may be down to market demand. It could be that the typical American punter is on a one or two day break, and while recognising his/her own need for instruction, does not want to detract from the 'fun' of skiing turns down the fall line in their limited time on the slopes. OTOH, perhaps the typical European punter is on a week's holiday and is prepared to sacrifice some of the 'fun' element in the short term to work on individual underlying techniques in an isolated way - to maximise the fun in the long term.

The latter is certainly what I'm looking for in instruction - interspersed with spells of 'putting it all together', taking me a little out of my comfort zone now and again, and one or two good old fashioned blasts, of course!
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Quote:

correct way to teach a snowplow


May have been said in jest, but sadly incorrect teaching in the beginning leads in later life parallel skiing in the form of:

1. Tail sliding
2. Heel pushing
3. Bracing


Quote:

typical American punter is on a one or two day break


My clients range from 1,2 days, 1,2 weeks, and up to 11,15 weeks Instructor courses.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
veeeight, We're past that now and into the proper techniques of pushing fruit up yer bum. There will be a complimentary thread in 'Equipment Reviews/Questions' on the issues of fruit preparation and appropriate surface care, i.e. ....

How to de-tune your prickly pear.
Are Kiwifruit hairs directional?
Starfruit, worth the effort?
Cherries aren't just for girls. ... etc.
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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!
Quote:
and now he is being torn apart by the rabid dogs who hate all things non-European.
Just reread the thread and there is no sign of that whatsoever, imv.

To whom were you referring, Fox?
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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.
Masque wrote:
Are Kiwifruit hairs directional?



...and is there anything more embarrassing than going out with kiwifruit hairs caught in your teeth?
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
PG, quit your yapping, I can not be bothered to argue with you.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Wear The Fox Hat,
Quote:
and now he is being torn apart by the rabid dogs who hate all things non-European
I see, just the standard, unsubstantiated nonsense designed to provoke then.
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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.
Wear The Fox Hat, I haven't done any tearing, indeed V8 was doing the tearing of me and made a particularly offensive remark at the end of the last page. I never mentioned the Atlantic, the PSIA, the CSIA or BASI - others have done that. I found a situation (3 times this season) that I found alarmingh, and commented on it. I asked for information and clarification when Rusty Guy decried traversing - I never got any answers. If other ski teachers won't expain their position, how am I supposed to understand it? [/end]
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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
easiski, sorry, the implication that this was a continental battle was made earlier, but the point I was trying to make was that from the very first post, a question was asked of how things are done in North America. Now, in that question, there was no case of who was right or wrong, but by asking, the following posts then turned into taking sides, or so it would appear to me.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

If other ski teachers won't expain their position, how am I supposed to understand it?



I have, by explaining the approach I take w.r.t. skills.

Now would be a good time for a moderator to step in and bring this to the swift burial it deserves.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Wear The Fox Hat, fine by me, benefit of the doubt and all that - so perhaps you would either retract your description of some participants as
Quote:
rabid dogs who hate all things non-European
- or substantiate.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I got taught sideslipping last night and couldn't do it, so probably wasn't taught in France (though to be honest, can't really remember).
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
luckysmartie wrote:
I got taught sideslipping last night and couldn't do it, so probably wasn't taught in France (though to be honest, can't really remember).


that's far better than playing with fruit.
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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?
If so many peeps want this thread to end, STOP reading and STOP posting on it. Or do YOU just want the last word. This is aimed at .....

Oh forget it,, does anyone know the one about 3 men, a farmer, a farmers daughter and a multi-fruit tree?
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beeryletcher, I just know that V8 cheats 'cos he liquidises his fruit before insertion, though his technical use in a high ratio of tomatoes is to be lauded Evil or Very Mad
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Masque, that could lead to some of V8s TACTICAL TRAVERSING to the bog before his inSIDEs SLIP. Laughing Twisted Evil
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You'll need to Register first of course.
I have just returned from the BLAM. My traversing skills were most definitely put to good use, most days as I was skiing steep stuff (for me) and between rocks, trees and avalanche debris. I can't imagine how I would have coped without being taught years ago, to maintain my height and position when crossing a slope.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
beeryletcher, hear hear, this one is definitely past its sell by date
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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!
Just going back to Easiski's original point. easiski, Prepare to be appaled again.

I'm not sure what Sideslipping and Traversing are. I've had 7 days tuition in Bulgaria, 6 hours on a dry slope and about 6 hours in LDA.

I can now get down a black run, well the Alberto Tomba in Bankso at least and in theory, I know how to carve, in practise, I skid a lot.

So is traversing where you ski across a slope at right angles to the fall, staying on the uphill edges ? Perhaps cos your level route crosses a downhill run. There's a bit in Borvets where a snaking green run crosses a red run...a bit alarming for beginners.

And sideslipping, would that be letting youself slip down the slope with skis at right anles to the fall, again trying to control speed using uphill edges. I have tried that but didn't think it was too much fun so gave up, I hadn't thought that it might one day be useful.

PS> just noticed that there are 6 pages on this post, I only read to the end of page 1 and thought that was it.
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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.
mike.healy, about right. You didn't miss much!
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
mike.healy, Practise these skills each time you go skiing, I was using them both last week alternately traversing and sideslipping around avalanche debris in a river bed gully in La Plagne.
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