 Poster: A snowHead
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I’ve about 6 weeks of skiing under my belt.
I would classify myself as an intermediate.
Very confident on wide blues, can occasionally get onto edges, but not routinely nor on steeper reds/blacks.
I’m planning on skiing for 5 consecutive weeks this season.
If i sprinkle some lessons in, how much of an improvement can I expect to make?
How much different is being able to ski every day for 5 weeks than a season where you can only ski when not working?
Thanks in advance!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If i sprinkle some lessons in, how much of an improvement can I expect to make?
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Impossible to predict. Way too many variables in play. With the right focus you can certainly make good improvements in 5 weeks.
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How much different is being able to ski every day for 5 weeks than a season where you can only ski when not working?
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Even more variables in play. In particular how much time they get on snow. But it's moot, it has no effect on you, who cares?
Get as fit as possible so you are ready to hit the ground running with long and consecutive days.
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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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@AlIre2024, You can expect to make a marked improvement.
Unless your first six weeks were without instruction, then your sprinkling of lessons will barely undo the unlearnt.
Any conscientious student will come on in leaps and bounds.
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I would advocate 5 consecutive weeks!
If you wish to harvest much improvement in your skiing, you need to do more than “sprinkle” of lessons. At your level, you’ll get the most improvement by quite a few lessons early on to set you up on a good path and use the rest of the season to practice good technique with some “sprinkling” of lessons. Or you may end up ingraining a lot of bad habits in that 5-week or season.
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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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@AlIre2024, if nothing else, you are going to have a good time.
I think the lessons bit is important or else you will just polish your bad habbits.
I don't think you should take lessons all the time, but at least half a day once a week.
Learning and improving new skills in skiing has such a great feel good factor.
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I would look at doing a three week block and then a break and then a two week block if possible.
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Is the week off just for a rest?
I will no doubt enjoy myself, but i really want to come away from it a significantly better and more confident skier
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Some people can make rapid progress by watching others. Or by looking at instructional videos and practicing. Equally, some people can ski for many weeks and achieve little or no "progress". It's impossible to advise without knowing more. How many lessons have you had so far? After 6 weeks skiing some people are really good. Others not. I've swum since I was 8 but not much better now than when I was 12!
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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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@Origen,
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I've swum since I was 8 but not much better now than when I was 12!
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Serious question, how many lessons have you had since you were 12 ?
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| musher wrote: |
@Origen,
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I've swum since I was 8 but not much better now than when I was 12!
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Serious question, how many lessons have you had since you were 12 ? |
I fall into the same general category. I had taken quite a few lessons since the age of 12. But I’m still not much better swimmer than when I was 12! (Some people can be rather good at 12. But let’s just say I’m not a good swimmer)
Some people are natural learners. Others not. Some people are natural in one sport but not another. I was pretty quick in learning many sports including gymnastic. But when it comes to swimming and skiing, I was a pretty slow learner. It took quite a few lessons in skiing to get me to proficient (black + off-piste) level.
Incidentally, both swimming and skiing are considered somewhat counter-intuitive.
Finding a good instructor, or one that “clicks”, is more important than the number of lessons.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Incidentally, both swimming and skiing are considered somewhat counter-intuitive.
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I'd agree for skiing but not so much for swimming, perhaps I chose the wrong sport 
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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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@AlIre2024,
You haven't said where you have skiied before, nor where (and what dates) you are looking at doing 5 weeks. One ski areas blues can be another's reds.
I'd advise taking lessons at the start of the 5 weeks - say each morning for the 1st 6 days, and see how you are getting along. You can always take more. Plus your instructor will know where to take you for your ability - important knowledge, especially in the larger ski areas.
5 weeks versus working a season. Some people work seasons for the money, some for the mountain time. If the latter then even in a short season European resort I'd expect the season to give more mountain time, though as always with skiing, weather, and especially snowfall plays a part too (as can injury and illness, particularly with longer stays in resort).
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| AlIre2024 wrote: |
I’m planning on skiing for 5 consecutive weeks this season. What a lovely opportunity! Where?
If i sprinkle some lessons in, how much of an improvement can I expect to make? Difficult to quantify, but I would hope significant
How much different is being able to ski every day for 5 weeks than a season where you can only ski when not working? I would think much better as you can be properly focused and concentrated. Also much easier to fit lessons in. |
From July 7 I've taken up tennis (a few lessons in the dark ages when I was ~12, so really a non player). I had 5 consecutive days of lessons to start, to establish the very basics, then 5 spaced every few days with practice with Mrs U in between, now were on weekly lessons and trying to fit an hour play in whenever days we can. That cadence seems to be working for me.
For skiing, I'd start with a week of half days (mornings ideally), then adapt cadence to how you feel. As you'll want spaces between to practice. Good instuctors will have you working on what's appropriate at each level and give you drills to work on. But also, you want free skiing for fun too!
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You know it makes sense.
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@AlIre2024, where are you off to this season?
If anything, at least skiing 5 weeks you'll see a variety of conditions and become more accomplished in those conditions.
Given 5 consecutive weeks of skiing, for me, I did this March/April 23, and I definitely saw improvements, but mine were probably a bit more marginal than yours, just because of our starting basis. As an intermediate, I would think you could see a real marked difference, especially if you're happy to do some drills outside of lessons, not just hooning around all day, although there is a time and place for that too 
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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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@swskier, Off to Les Arc. I may have a week before in the three valleys also. I'm not going to be able to do this every year as this coincides with some time off work, so my plan is to use this time to make every subsequent ski week once per year more shredy!
@Kenzie, My apologies! Austria a couple of times as a kid (zugspitz), then (for one week at a time), Les deus alpes, Val d'Isere, Cortina, Pas De la Casa, Val d'Isere, the Three Valleys
I'm pretty new here, is there a thread regarding best ski instructors in specific towns?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@AlIre2024, There's no specific thread for instructors in each town, however, there is a Les Arcs thread with locals/frequent visitors that might know someone suitable.
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=5338013&highlight=les+arcs#5338013
I don't know anyone in that area, so can't suggest someone, I would say though that perhaps the first week it might be worth going to a group ski school lessons. That'll give you a good start to your trip and things to work on, then maybe consider a private lesson once a week.
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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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how many lessons have you had since you were 12 ?
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Very few! That was my point, really. LOADS of people go regularly on beach/pool holidays and potter round in the water, enjoy it enormously, and remain poor swimmers. I lived for four years in Barbados and a couple in Fiji, and my swimming didn't improve because that wasn't my focus. When I learnt to sail, in contrast, as an adult, I had plenty of instruction, went through the RYA training scheme and read a lot. After one informal evening session - just a group of us "racing" very informally round a triangular course in Topper dinghies - one of the others, in the bar afterwards, asked me why I had been able to lap him. It was the tide - I was watching it all the time and pointing my boat accordingly. He'd given it very little thought. But he was very keen to learn and was on a steep learning curve. Next time we sailed together - many years later - he was a Yachtmaster Instructor, doing professional boat deliveries, and I was on his boat as a trainee, to brush up my very rusty navigation skills (all before the days of GPS and chart plotters......). My skills hadn't improved in 20 years.
Most people who've had as many ski lessons as I have are much better skiers. Some people are just more athletically capable than others! We've all been in group lessons where there is one outstanding pupil who just "gets it" every time and another who's hopeless and uncoordinated. I was generally in the mediocre middle. I skied with one visitor to our apartment who had never seen snow before that week but was a professional cricket wicket keeper. He dropped out of his beginner lessons very early in the week, asked what we were doing, asked questions, and in a couple of days was able to ski down an easy blue slope entirely on one ski. His natural balance and agility meant it was no problem to him - I'd been practising it for ages! 
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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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Most people who've had as many ski lessons as I have are much better skiers. Some people are just more athletically capable than others! We've all been in group lessons where there is one outstanding pupil who just "gets it" every time and another who's hopeless and uncoordinated
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It's a normal distribution curve. Most people are "average". Some learn a bit quicker or faster, but even a lot of that is much about other things than natural ability (e.g. good match with instructor teaching style, motivation etc.).
Of course an ex professional athlete is likely to have good balance and body awareness which will help. But they also tend to be extremely motivated, confident, strong-willed etc. They also are likely to have good baseline fitness which is going to help when learning.
Swimming is an interesting sport for comparison. Probably not dissimilar in some ways as most people start with lessons and then end up doing 7-14 days per year without any tuition or focus on improvement. Both hugely technical.
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@AlIre2024, Not wishing to burst your bubble, but if you're only using your edges occasionally, you're not an intermediate skier. My advice would be to get a block of lessons in your first week to really get a feel (and understanding) for steering your skis. Then build on that for the rest of your time there. Money invested upfront will make the rest of the trip much more worthwhile. Evolution 2 or Arc adventures come highly recommended.
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| Origen wrote: |
| Some people can make rapid progress by watching others. Or by looking at instructional videos and practicing. Equally, some people can ski for many weeks and achieve little or no "progress". It's impossible to advise without knowing more. How many lessons have you had so far? After 6 weeks skiing some people are really good. Others not. I've swum since I was 8 but not much better now than when I was 12! |
That's a great comment and very relevant. Back in the early '80s I was a typical Brit intermediate skier: leaning back, dodgy stems, skidding, carefree, pain free, too fast and out of control a fair amount of time and basically only really making use of half my skis.
I happened across a book (might have been called Ski the French Way) but it basically explained why a ski turns. It's blindingly obvious once you know. Basically if it has a fat tip and tail and a narrow waist then if you put it on its side and add pressure it forms a natural curve - the form of which is dependent on the dimensions of your ski (which is why skis are listed with a nominal turning radius). NB to pressure it means both the front and back and not just the back which is why instructors are always saying get your weight forwards.
Like almost every young skier I couldn't afford lessons, but once I'd learned this I focussed on it obsessively and in a matter of days my skiing started to improve. After a couple of weeks of this I was a transformed skier and showing my mates what I'd learned. I also took to talking to people in lift queues that I'd seen ski past me who were better than I was. You'd be amazed how generous people are if you just ask for help and advice on the lift. 9/10 times someone would spend 5 minutes with me for the first couple of hundred meters of a slope and just give me some tips before skiing off with their family or friends.
So I would say that if you read up on technique then focus on doing it over 5 weeks your skiing will transform. Add to that some lessons to iron out the bad habits and try to be objective about what you are doing when you feel it isn't working and when it is you will have a great time.
Best of luck.
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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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if you are keen to improve, listen to what your instructors say, and actively try to put into practice what they teach you then i would say you will make an enormous improvement.
rather than "sprinkle" lessons over your stay, if fiances permit i would take lessons (preferably privates) every day for the first week, then one a week for the next four, unless their is soemthing you particularly want to perfect.
from your description, in skiing terms, you are currently just above a beginner. you should get to top end intermediate if you are keen and work hard.
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| RedandWhiteFlachau wrote: |
| ... if you're only using your edges occasionally, you're not an intermediate skier. |
Aye, but that's pretty much everyone who's had an hour on the slope. More seriously I think 6 weeks - what's that, 36 days - is a very small amount of experience and the OP's going to need maybe 120 days or so to learn to ski. But another 30 days is going to be a significant improvement, if it's used well.
With me, some sports... I learn more by doing it for a while, then taking a break, so I can consolidate what I've learned. Other sports, banging away at it every day works best. Surfing I think is in the second category - I have to spend a week pounding myself into being fit enough to move forward with it. With skiing, Brits who do 6 days each year maybe forget what they learned the last year... where as Brits who go to the dry slope once a week regularly become expert.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Swimming is an interesting sport for comparison. Probably not dissimilar in some ways as most people start with lessons and then end up doing 7-14 days per year without any tuition or focus on improvement. Both hugely technical.
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The thing is, most people who go on ski holidays, or beach holidays, don't think of skiing or swimming as "sports". Sure, there are folk who go in for competitions, but there are people who do competitive walking and most people don't see "going for a walk" as a sport. You don't have to be a good swimmer, or skier, to enjoy it.
But once over that first exhilaratingly steep learning curve, comparatively few people see any need to "keep improving".
From my own observation it's simply not true that "you can't beat time on snow". Or not, at any rate, if technical improvement is the criterion of success. I spent a huge amount of "time on snow", including much of 15 seasons when we had an apartment in the Alps but there are loads of people who after 6 weeks of focussed learning are far better skiers than I. "Practice makes permanent" is a wise saying!
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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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@RedandWhiteFlachau, That's fair. How would you describe an intermediate skier?
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| AlIre2024 wrote: |
| @RedandWhiteFlachau, That's fair. How would you describe an intermediate skier? |
I would say somewhere around 5 tending to 6.
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You know it makes sense.
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I’m in no way an experienced skier, but for what it’s worth I would say to get as fit as you can beforehand. 5 weeks of skiing is an amazing opportunity so you want to make the most of it. I’ve always found that when I’ve been well conditioned before a ski trip I’ve enjoyed it much more.
You’ll be more physically capable of dealing with extended amounts of exercise, but also being fit means you can better mentally process any instruction you receive. You’ll also be more resilient to any injuries, which you definitely don’t want to impact on your precious time on the snow.
Use the pre-season wisely, build some leg and core strength. Get some muscular endurance and plyo stuff in and you’ll be setting yourself up to have a great few weeks. Very jealous! 
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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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@rickboden, Gotcha. Well, see, I can do that, i'm just not going to be carving down all the reds and blacks. I'm not trying to force fit myself to be intermediate, i get that it's a spectrum, what i mean is I can carve on nice wide blues, but my turns get much shorter and may push some snow on steeper reds/blacks, but I get down them.
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Poster: A snowHead
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From my own observation it's simply not true that "you can't beat time on snow". Or not, at any rate, if technical improvement is the criterion of success.
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The point isn't that time on snow will automatically make you better (although I suspect there is a decent correlation there). The point is you are never going to become particularly good at something you only do 7 days per year. If you want to become a very good skier you do need to at some point rack up some serious time on snow.
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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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what i mean is I can carve on nice wide blues
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I wonder. Not many people can, I reckon. I would like to think I could but having learnt to look back at my tracks I always see quite a lot of smudge in the middle! I recall watching an ESF instructor, from a chairlift. He was skiing alone and it was wonderful to watch, and to see his crisp tracks and transitions.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Tuition/technique is important (can come in many forms - face to face, videos, reading, watching, copying)
Mileage is important.
Why you are doing it is and therefore how much you want to learn is important.
I want to challenge myself skiing but I want to have fun most of all, I am not a competitor and have no attention of doing so. I love skiing with family and friends - and the banter, camaraderie associated with that. Best days are skiing some moderately gnarly off piste with decent/snow weather. I like to feel I am skiing it well and feel I am having more fun if skiing well. Some of least favourite days skiing were when I just didn't ski too well.
I've skied a couple of two weekers relatively early in my skiing careert, where I skied 15 days consecutively. One thing I remember is getting well into the second week it started to feel more natural to have skis on than it did to walk. But it's tough mentally and physcially to ski every day over such a long time.
One thing that occurs to me is the OP will be solo. I wonder if that won't be a little detrimental.
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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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In that situation I'd certainly want to do some "ski clinics" or similar, in a small group. I think it's quite difficult to maintain the focus on repetition and improvement on your own for any great length of time. But some people probabl have more self-discipline!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Layne, I’ll have friends joining at various points, but yeah will be riding solo for the majority. To be honest, this is something ive wanted to do for a long time so im not seeing motivation as an issue. One thing that could be a small issue is having the conviction to push when tired, but will cross that bridge.
TLDR for this thread, seems like you can pretty good with 5 weeks so long as you front load lessons and have some athletic ability/coordination
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One thing that occurs to me is the OP will be solo. I wonder if that won't be a little detrimental.
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First "season" there is so much novelty and excitement, I don't think motivation is much of a problem. Especially if you have a goal and really want to push yourself and improve. Even if OP starts to flag a bit he can likely push through the last week or two. (I actually prefer doing 2 months to a full season partly for this reason).
I actually think for OP goals solo might have some advantages. Know plenty of people where others have significantly lowered their time on snow.
Although I do accept that others can provide motivation and skiing with people better than you can certainly help push you a bit
Some is definitely personality though. My first season I did over 100 days the vast majority solo. I generally prefer solo. Other than touring/off-piste the non solo days tend to be with old friends who are not particularly advanced, where it's a nice day out cruising with some laughs and banter rather than pushing my riding.
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@AlIre2024,
I wouldn't bother having a week before in the 3Vs, on a cost basis if nothing else. 5 weeks accommodation would not be much more than 4 weeks, and you would be nuing a season pass for either 4 or 5 weeks. A week in the 3Vs would involve additional accommodation and lift pass costs.
You could always do away days from les Arcs to Espace Killy, Ste Foy, la Rosiere-la Thuile and the 3Vs. Your season pass may give you discounted day passes in some or all of them (depends on what local agreements are to be in place the coming season - ask on the relevant Snow Report threads to find if anyone knows).
Take advantage of your season pass to try & blag seasonnaire prices in bars and shops by going around them with your pass and introducing yourself.
I don't think you've mentioned your dates - hope you are avoiding the busy periods!
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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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The more you ski, the better you get.
Lose weight and gain fitness -- before you go.
An intermediate would expect to be advanced by week 5.
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@AlIre2024, you should make significant progress in 5 weeks. I now live in the mountains but before I moved here I’d been around 2 week a year holiday skier for around 10 years. I’d had a reasonable amount of lessons early on but some bad habits had crept in. My first winter here, I got out 2-3 days a week. When you can go regularly, you can take your time and can think things through a bit more. You can work on things and do your own drills. After about 6 weeks of being here, my stepson came out to ski. One of the first things he said to my OH (but not to me because he wouldn’t be compliment me directly!) that my skiing had improved a lot. I’d not had lessons, but if you are planning to then you’ll make great progress.
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