 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello, I had my first ever week of skiing in Morzine a couple of weeks ago (at the grand old age of 31! Can't believe I never realised this world even EXISTED before, but so, so glad I do now) and did really well for the first few lessons and could get down blue slopes awkwardly but without falling over by the end of the third day - then I kind of stopped. Could sometimes do parallel turns, sometimes not. My ski instructor told me not to be discouraged as skiing is a learning curve with lots of plateaus - but I was still a bit discouraged. Going back to Chamonix next week for a long weekend and what I want to know is: will I get any better (ie, master parallel skiing!), and can anyone recommend a ski school? I had an excellent instructor from L'ecole de ski francais in Morzine but some of my friends who learnt to snowboard didn't have such a good teacher.
Skiing is really great, isn't it?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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mrsangel, welcome to SnowHeads. Yes it is isn't it? Very pleased you had such fun.
You will get better - but sometimes it does take time (and sometimes you won't actually notice the improvements yourself, although others will). We tend to recommend Evolution2 in Chamonix - but for no particular reason - it's just the school that it was suggested we recommend. We were supposed to take some lessons ourselves there and with the ESF, but didn't have the time. Maybe early season next year.
It helps if you explain exactly what you want and expect, including required language, aims and objectives, your tolerance of fools level, etc. Reception at Evolution 2 certainly seem very efficient.
You might also want private lessons instead of groups (unless that's what you were doing anyway...)
Have fun!!
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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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Yes, me and my brother, who's better than me, are going to have a couple of private lessons. I reckon that will help lots.
Loads of the ski school in Chamonix were well expensive but Evolution 2 isn't so bad. It's good that a lower price isn't an indication of lower quality!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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mrsangel,
Welcome to snowHeads.
Glad you've got the bug. The learning curve is very steep to start with, but as you get better, your perceived progress will be slower, but it will still be progress. You will have good and bad days, good runs and bad runs. most important thing though is to have fun. Chamonix is a great town, very different to Morzine. I'm sure you'll love it and good luck with the lessons.
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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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mrsangel, Welcome to SnowHeads. It's like learning anything new, you need lots of practice and proper instruction. With that you will improve and continue to have fun.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
will I get any better (ie, master parallel skiing!)
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Well, yes and no. You will definitely get better if you are keen and have a good instructor, but you most definitely won't master parallel skiing in a week and a weekend. One of the great things about skiing is that you can keep on getting better almost indefinitely if you want. Enjoy the process; it's the getting there that is so satisfying. Once you can happily turn nicely on blue runs you will want to be able to cope with steeper runs, or more difficult snow, or bumps, etc etc. There's stuff in Chamonix that hardly anyone can ski well, and brilliant skiers everywhere you look. The key thing is not to stop having lessons. I have skied with people who have been doing it for 20 years and are no better now than they were 17 years ago.
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mrsangel,
I stated when I was 35!
If you live near a dry slope or a snowdome/xscape type facility it's worth having a few sessions there through the year. It makes all the difference when you get back to the mountains as it stops you regressing and keeps you learning....if a little slowly...through the year.
I found this really useful between my first and second holidays in the mountains.
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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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mrsangel,
I can't help with the learning curve I guess everyone is different and mine certainly has not been a smooth one. In fact at the moment it is flat.
With regards to the ski schools I have just come back from Chamonix. We had a guide from Evolution 2 who was excellent and I believe they have a lot of English customers. I also had a lesson from an instructor from ESF in Argentiere who was also very good though his English was a little more limited.
Personally I find that as far as individual instructors go there is often as much difference within schools as between them. Though some schools offer much better class sizes than others; if taking private lessons this is obviously not important.
Hope you have a great time.
PS It is also worth finding out where the best snow is and having your lesson there as there were big differences in snow quality in the different areas.
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I'm a new starter too and almost 50! After one week when the weather was against us - got about 2hrs a day in - I am still not a happy bunny on blues! I am hopefully off to Tignes for 3 days end April and my goal is to be a bit happier on steeper bits of blues, not just trying for all I am worth to put the brakes on by digging my toes through my boots and skis - it doesn't work, I know, but that doesn't stop my trying!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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mrsangel, Welcome to SnowHeads. I started at the age of 44 and, 15 years later, I'm still learning. There will be times when you feel that you are not getting any better - that's a natural part of the learning process. Be patient with yourself, keep practising and you will improve. Unfortunately, I have never skied in Chamonix so I can't recommend a ski school but I agree with hellfiresliding, lessons on a dry slope in between trips to the snow certainly helped me.
Have a good weekend in Chamonix.
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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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Thanks for all the tips and advice folks! OK me and my bro are going to give evolution 2 a go, and maybe l'ecole de ski francais too - will report back!
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Oh yes - I had a big fight with my boyfriend (who's a really good snowboarder and has been doing it for years). Just as we were getting on the Eurostar back to London, after my first week of skiing which went pretty well but was tough, he said blithely 'you did really well babe. Of course, the one time I tried skiing, I could parallel ski by the end of the first day.' He still doesn't understand why I went MENTAL at him!
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You know it makes sense.
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And he's STILL the boyfriend???
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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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...and does mrangel know about him?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ha ha - well he looks hot in his snowboard gear!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'm another convert, having just been to Tignes for the first time earlier in the month, and have been kicking myself ever since that no-one ever dragged me to the slopes before...! I think I did ok, similar to the originator of the thread, skiing blues with reasonable confidence and speed, mostly parallel turns by the end of the week. I've invested in some boots as I'm sure to be going again (salamon xwave 8s I think), and didn't seem to have as much aggro as some people have on here getting them to fit properly!
The thing is I can't wait to go again, but the only vague possibility of going anywhere is late April in the week running up to the Bank Hol. Is there anywhwere worth going then or should I sit tight? Are the snowdomes any good in this country? I did have a couple of dry slope lessons before I went away which to be honest were awful, so unlike the real thing I wonder if it would be worth going again to keep your skills up?
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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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brian
brian
Guest
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pompeymanc, loads of skiing still on offer in the alps in late April, but aim for somewhere with plenty above 2000m to be on the safe side. Loads of this forum are off to Val Thorens for the EOSB at the end of April, see the snowEvents section of the forum for that.
Never been to a snowdome but it can't hurt practice wise. Dry slopes are good for you as well, if not always exactly great fun but not so bad when they're cold and wet. If you can ski well on plastic, snow should be a dawdle !
Oh and welcome to s.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Wow... quick replies on here! Thanks. Val Thorens had been suggested to me as a possibility which I'll have to investigate further. As for the dry slopes.. well there is one nearby if all else fails, and having learned a bit on the real stuff I guess I might be better than my first faltering efforts when I barely knew how to put skis on...!
As for the boots, it was the much maligned S+R shop who did it, but they were very helpful, went back on 2 different occasions and was told both times I was a 29.5 (which I think is right for someone with size 11.5 feet), which were a snug and comfy fit with the moulded inserts... 
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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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pompeymanc, I too have nearly a whole week's experience under my belt! I'm going to Tignes for 3 days 23-26th April - with MountainSun chalet Les Melezes in Tignes Les Boisses at £75 fully catered inc airport transfers! Flights are £50 from Luton. As far as I know there is still availability. Their offer lasts until 6th May I think.
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mrsangel, have as many lessons as you can afford, for ever. There will always be room for improvement, and the potential for fun will increase the better you get.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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mrsangel, I started skiing in 2005 at the grand old age of 46. Mr DS has been skiing for over 30 years, so I had some catching up to do. It helped that I could ice skate well, but in the end the thing that made the big difference was getting really good lessons from BASI (British Association of Ski Instructors) instructors, usually BASI trainers or BASI Level I (top level) instructors. I had lessons at the Snowdome in Tamworth where I live before I went for the first time, and that was helpful, as I was able to link turns and ski parallel before I went. I've now done 9 weeks skiing, plus a lot more at the Snowdome, and the confidence and experience is still building. The key things for me have been to get good technique from the start, and now to get more experience on different snow, on different slopes and in different conditions.
I am a great advocate of the BASI system, because all instructors teach more or less the same curriculum, whereas Mr DS's experience of Austrian and French instructors is that they more or less do their own thing. You may be lucky and get a good instructor, you may not. If you can find a British ski school, you will get skills and lessons that are coherent between different resorts and instructors. They are more expensive (usually) but at the age of 48 (now) I can't faff around, so I'm happy to pay the extra to know I won't be told one thing by one instructor and the opposite by another one.
I know I'll always need lessons and always need to improve. Don't worry if Mr Angel told you he could ski parallel by the first lesson - so what? A lot of people ski parallel badly and others do very nice controlled snowplough turns. What matters is building your confidence properly and gradually. I have crises of confidence daily when skiing, but I find that if I set myself a task to do something new each day I'm out there, I make progress - this could be tackling a steeper slope, tackling powder, skiing in poor light or a whiteout, going faster, being more fluent and linking turns better on steep pitches, skiing faster while maintaining good technique, or trying a run through gates. It looks like a big task when you start off, but just a little bit every day, good instruction, and time to practice in between lessons, and before you know it you will be skiing just fine.
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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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Thanks for the advice again. I did the Reading half marathon yesterday (in one hour 59 mins and 50 seconds, so 10 secs under my sub 2 hours goal!) so I am hoping my knees will be working again by Thurs, as I will need them for skiing. At the moment, I am walking like I've been cavity searched...
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You know it makes sense.
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If I could do neat, effective linked snowplough turns on a blue I'd be ecstatic!! I felt my blood boiling the other day, when having a post ski coffee- this bloke, think he was called Onker, P.L. was giving me unsolicited advice about how people should be taught parallel from day 1, cos he managed that himself, untaught! He reckoned teaching snowplough artificially holds people back so they need more lessons and end up paying out more!
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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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I don't want to turn this into an anti-men rant but why is it always the fellas who boast about being able to parallel ski from their very first non-lesson (as they're too naturally good to need to be taught, natch)? We women are far more damn honest about our abilities! Maybe we should lie more, if we're not going to get caught out...watch out for 'so anyway, when I was skiing down a black run, BACKWARDS, to save a small child from falling into a crevasse...'posts from me when I get back from Chamonix next week...
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Poster: A snowHead
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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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| Quote: |
I don't want to turn this into an anti-men rant but why is it always the fellas who boast about being able to parallel ski from their very first non-lesson
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In my experience it is the women, by the end of the day/week, who consistently out perform the men in my sessions.
I had a 73 year old woman ski the bumps with *far* more fluidity and speed than the 2 30 something-year-old guys in my group the other week, they were just getting more and more frustrated with themselves.
The difference? She listened, and tried everything I asked her to do. They believed that their strength and yoof would take them through........ by the end of the day they were puddles of sweat, whilst the 73yo lady was still cruising through the bumps!!
Was well funny to watch! 
In general, women have better technique than men, but they also have a larger mental obstacle to overcome with speed, steeps etc.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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"Ripe old age of 31" indeed! I started learning at 56. Shouldn't be any problem for a youngster like you.
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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.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pompeymanc, I got my boots fitted by Will at S+R in Manchester and he got them bob-on. Skied in them for 3 and 1/2 days at the weekend and they felt fantastic (he expanded the shell, moulded the inserts, gave me custom footbeds). Guess we've got a good branch up near us.
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[quote="veeeight"]
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In general, women have better technique than men, but they also have a larger mental obstacle to overcome with speed, steeps etc. |
I think you are right - men try and rely on strength to get them through, and women listen and try things out. I've found this not just with skiing, but with other mixed activities I've tried, like motorcycle track days. In the latter the women tend to ride with much better technique, but they have the mental obstacle of the speed/bends.
Mental obstacles are really difficult to overcome, and I have major failures of confidence at times when confronted with an icy/rocky/bumpy/all three together black run. I am also happy to ski down a blue/red quite fast, but put gates in the way, and I turn into a beginner again.
I'm lucky that Mr Docsquid believes in lessons as much as I do, and does try and listen and do what the instructor says, but having said that, he is still diverging his ski tips at the end of a turn just as much, despite several lessons (including the bungee cord trick) trying to drum that habit out of him 
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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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a.j., most women I know seem to be pretty good dancers, whereas all of my feet are left. That's not fair either 
What is the difference do you think? For me and dancing I think it's embarrassment. What is it with you and skiing?
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FAQ
At least 3 pro snowheads are coming for just that job.
