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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Hi folks,
thank you for your commiserations, they are much appreciated. Just to wish Easiski and all of you (whether on your first or second week) a wonderful time and please have a few runs and drinks for me! I am uncertain whether to follow the thread and Butterfly's blog or to switch off Snowheads for a week but guess I won't be able to do the latter! Especially as I'm not up to doing much else.
Aneira
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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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Well, the first lot of 1 weekers left today , but the next lot started to come in, more tomorrow and later in the week. I hope we keep this weather, it's lovely.
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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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Hi All,
Just wanted to say thanks for such a great week last week. Easiski's great instruction combined with the support and friendship of the rest of the group made for a really enjoyable week and has certainly got me hooked into skiing!
Today I started looking into glacier skiing for the summer - I like the idea of skiing in the morning and then cycling or something in the afternoon. I think Stevos999 is getting a little worried that our cheap UK summer holiday is going out of the window, but I am only looking! However, I am starting to see it as the perfect solution - he gets to have another skiing holiday and I get a holiday with a little more variety, refreshing/improving my skiing and confidence for next winter.
Now, if only we could win the lottery...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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easiski,
Please tell Butterfly I said, 'well done' - a great achievement. I hope Caistor Skier is OK after the crash - it sounds like she's getting a bit reckless now I'm not there to keep an eye on her
Let me just take this opportunity to heap yet more praise on easiski. I had a brilliant time last week, partly because the snow, weather & company were so good but mainly due to easiski helping me to rediscover the sheer joy of skiing. I spent much of the week skiing around doing my 'drills' (sorry, Charlotte) and looking rather silly, I suspect - bobbing up & down, waving my arms around, pointing in various directions, skiing on one leg, etc ..........and giggling like a kid with the thrill of feeling confident that I wasn't about to wipe out at any moment - almost regardless of how badly I was carrying out the prescribed movements
For those of you who don't know: although easiski gets a bit short-tempered when she's cold and barks at her pupils occasionally when they're naughty I think it's a price worth paying for expert one-thing-at-a-time tuition - none of that 'bend ze knees' rubbish. TBH I was fairly disillusioned with skiing (but hopeful ) before the trip but a few days with easiski has shown me I can still ski and that I still love it as much as ever. I'm now really looking forward to my next trip, whenever that is. Thanks, Charlotte
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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 just wanted to say that I'm glad everyone is has had fun and I hope those that are there this week are having a similarly great time. Well done all those that have made progress
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You know it makes sense.
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Megamum, Everyone has made progress!
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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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easiski = sensei you have my vote too.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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All those from week 1 that would like a DVD with that weeks lesson videos as well as richard/buterfly and my own (not all of chocolotebox i promise) pics and video clips please PM me an address to send them to. thanks. Liz (or anyone else) if you can e-mail me some of your pics i'll be able to put them on too.
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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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stevos999, have sent you PM re DVD.
Great to hear about the week 2 fun and progress. I hope the final skiing day of the trip for some will be really good- only wish I was there with you all
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It was windy today (see snow report), but in spite of this everyone had a good day, skied well, and are in one piece. I'm about to go off to the Blue Salmon for a meal with everyone. Glacier has to leave early in the morning, so we're eating early.
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Margaret, CaistorSkier & I are sitting in Grenoble airport bored and missing the snow. I'll do a trip report when home, hard from my phone! CaistorSkier admits to a little reckless skiing but only in lessons! I gave her some amusement by finding out the meaning of breakable crust!
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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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Late starter, Good to hear you and Mr LS are having great times skiing together
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Late starter, Glad you had a good day and hope you're feeling better too. Don't think I'd fancy Desmoiselles all the way either! I finally got home at 9.30 pm - our flight landed 40 mins early but it felt like a very long drive home after that - then I remembered I still have all CaistorSkier's clean clothes in my ski bag - oops!
Having had a cuppa and deleted nearly all the 400 emails on the system I am now thinking of bed and hoping for some good skiing dreams! Hope you have a good day tomorrow.
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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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With the near-nil access I had to the internet at Wengen, I had been wondering how you lot got on - glad the skiing went so well. The Blue Salmon, eh? So you ate well, too.
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So today's the last day - the final few will be leaving for home today and so I thought I'd try and put together a summary trip report from my personal perspective. If you haven't read the blog yet it's at hp57.blogspot.com and it has a series of photos with it, albeit taken on the phone so not all that brill. I've tidied it up a bit - removing extraneous linebreaks that had crept in from somewhere while updating via email..
This trip has been a fantastic experience for me. As most of you know I have not found skiing at all easy, but nonetheless found it addictive. My biggest issue is fear which breeds tension of course. Starting with a few summer lessons last June, I discovered that Easiski was someone who could inspire confidence in me. I have learned to trust her judgment implicitly - if she tells me to try something, no matter how unlikely I think it is, I can almost certainly do it. This started with the simplest of things, such as travelling very slowly on almost no slope while adopting different postures such as reaching down to my knees/boots and doing little "bunny hops" - I was certain I couldn't - but I could! Other confidence building events included the now infamous tennis court terraces (if you've read the blog). At one point it was terraces-1 Butterfly-0, but we sorted that out!
This has resulted in me trying things with more confidence, and therefore more chance of success and in turn that further feeds the confidence. Her method of breaking things down into appropriately achievable skill-chunks works for me and has given me a wider range of emerging tools with a broad base upon which to build. I am now able to do things like briefly lift my uphill ski while traversing - only for a second or so, but I can. I can do a parallel stop, I can sideslip (if tentatively), I can repeatedly flex ankles/knees whilst traversing and can flex in the second part of a turn having previously been 100% stiff legged. I have skied with more and more speed in safe places, such as whooshing up and down a little u-shaped valley in the middle of the Petites Cretes and that gave me the confidence to get up sufficient speed on the Route de Thuit to overtake some people and get right to the end of the last uphill section without poling.
Probably the most important thing is that, like many nervous people, my "default" actions that came into play on getting scared were wrong - instead of making my balance and line more secure, they made it less so. We are now well on the way, via a few simple strategies, to resetting that "default" to a set of actions which work. They still don't come automatically, but I am now at the point of often being able to take conscious corrective action when I feel the control going and that is very reassuring.
We all also learned that Easiski never gives empty praise. If you get praise, you've deserved it and are required to graciously accept it with a simple "Thanks" and agree you did well; negativity is banned!
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You know it makes sense.
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Butterfly, well done. Sounds like steady progress all round, under expert teaching from easiski
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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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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I want to say a Big Thank you to easiski, for her unending patience, brilliant instruction and encouragement and for giving me hope that I can continue to improve. Sadly Chillfactore cannot compare to Les 2Alpes but it will have to do for now. Like Butterfly, I found skiing addictive but the fear and tension just exhausted me. I still can’t believe that I managed the Tennis Courts – a ‘no way’ ran through my head when I first saw the terraces but a few words of encouragement from easiski, and before I knew it I was sailing down the dip . Distraction techniques definitely work on me! I still have to conquer my fear of chairlifts but at least I enjoyed my last ride with Butterfly, although the dismount was not as successful as I had hoped for . Falling over and getting up with minimum assistance was a positive experience and left me feeling very satisfied with myself!
Thank you to all my skiing companions for making my week so much fun. As many of you know it was a first time for a number of experiences and you all helped me through it. A special thanks to Butterfly, for organising the trip, AWOL, my flat mate who introduced me to the joys of vin chaud ! and Margaret, my skiing companion with whom I shared many adventures on and off the slope , also Caistorskier, and everyone else whom I met during the week.
I had to do some shopping this morning and walking across the car park I heard easiski,‘s voice ‘Stand up, Val’ and I automatically straightened up! Skiing does wonders for my posture!
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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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Butterfly, and everyone else, great reports sounds like a very successful couple of weeks. Butterfly I don't know when and how we will manage it, but I look forward to our next skiing adventure together with great antiicpation.
N.B. I haven't asked before, was it any different skiing on your own skis? Did you find it helpful?
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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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Megamum, I also look forward to skiing together again! Yes I did find it helpful confidence-wise, being on my own skis as I know that I know them now, if that makes sense, though I have to say that I did very well on those arranged for me by Easkski last summer. To be fair I am still probably not really good enough to notice that much difference between skis that would be suitable for my ability although we did have a session on things to do when testing out different skis in order to start comparing them.
I am planning to make a few visits to Chillfactore (Manchester) with Glacier & anyone else who might be about to strike while the iron's hot, so to speak and practise new skills!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sounds like a great success. Well done Butterfly,
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Butterfly, just finished reading your blog - thanks for sharing your experiences, it has been a great trip and I do hope we can all get together again soon.
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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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Richard E, definitely! BTW, did you note the ski servicing recommendation
Frosty the Snowman, pam w, thanks - I hope we can repeat it next year.
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Great week, brilliant company and fantastic skiing. Thanks all, especially Butterfly and Easiski for organising it so well
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