Struggling...

A snowHead

I am just back from 3 wonderful days in Courmayeur. The weather was great, hotel great. The only thing I felt spoiled it was my skiing.

To put it bluntly, I think my skiing is rather “crude” and does not feel “fluid like” or effortless”. I also sometimes feel as if I am skiing on a “wing and a prayer”! It just doesn’t feel right. My partner says I am doing fine and that I am managing to come down everything, except off piste and moguls (which I am not interested in anyway). I don’t want to manage to come down the mountain, I want to try and do it properly; I think he thinks that if I am coming down the mountain, its ok. My partner is Italian, was brought up in the Alps and has been skiing from a very young age – he can ski anything and has never had a “formal” lesson (what I mean is that he has had one actual ski lesson, 3 years ago, and has basically only ever taught himself or by watching others/friends.

I am not a scared skier and will attempt almost anything except off piste and moguls (although I don’t like really narrow pistes and I am always a bit wobbly on the very first run of the day, particularly on the first day of a holiday). I just feel that my technique really leaves a lot to be desired and that I struggle with the basics; I sometimes feel as if I am skiing out of control, which is not good. For example, I was coming down a slope, making wide turns, I made a turn then just sort of kept transversing the slope and came to a stop at the edge (when I should really have just kept turning and kept in control). This is really basic stuff and I should know what to do. I was really annoyed with myself and don’t really know why I couldn’t have just kept turning. I just seem to lose it sometimes and my technique (if I had any in the first place) goes awry. I think that I should be further on than I am. I also sometimes feel that I struggle with basic stuff such as where to put my weight, how to turn (I have managed to get out of the habit of looking at the tips of my skis – I used to do this as I was scared they would cross over). I have started to get into the habit of pushing my big toe into the corner of the boot in order to initiate the turn (fantastic advice from Easiski). What I am trying to say is that I feel I struggle with the basics but can ski through fresh powder and some steep slopes without too much trouble (although, I may not be doing it “textbook”).

Incidentally, my last holiday was in February in Bardonecchia and we went to Sauze d’Oulx for one day (11 Febuary) and, even if I say so myself, I felt that I was skiing really well. I suppose I can do it, but it all seems to go wrong most of the time.

I have “studied”, if you like, the theory of skiing through a combination of lessons, looking at others and, more recently, I bought a Warren Smith DVD and book. I do try and adapt my technique to suit the conditions, terrain, etc. For example, the last day in Courmayeur was fresh powder (which was lovely) and I knew that I had to adapt by not leaning forward so much but leaning more on the tails.

I have had lessons (both group and private), some of which have been beneficial and some of which have been useless (useless meaning frustration on my part as not being able to do what was asked and also useless meaning that the Instructor, to my mind, was not interested or not explaining things properly). Further lessons would probably only be good, but only if the Instructor was spot on (Easiski – can I come and stay with you all next winter and be super skier supreme!!!!!). Although, Instructors can only take you so far, then you are on your own; they are not there with you all the time.

I need to go for a lie down now after typing all that!!!

A snowHead

jb1970, find a good instructor and stick with them.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

jb1970, glad you enjoyed Courmayeur...

If it's any consolation there were a few runs I didn't cope so well with; Des Eves and Diretta, probably just because they are black and I have a pathological fear of black piste markers. Dzeleuna, did it one day when it was pisted absolutely fine and another day when it wasn't and had to resort to snowploughs! The steep bit at the bottom of Youla where it joins up to the top of Gabba, let's just say that's a bit too steep for my liking!

The point is, we're not all expert skiers. Some may wish to be in which case further tuition is a good plan. But some like me are just happy bimbling about the mountain at their own place soaking up everything the mountains have to offer. If you're not a danger to yourself or others, where's the problem...?

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Maybe you're as good as you're going to get.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

What skis did you have? How much do you weigh? How fit are you?

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jb1970, not much advice to give I'm afraid, other than take regular lessons from reccommended instructors, and get lots of practice in between.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

jb1970, a bit of a plug for Scotland but the best advice I can muster seeing as you're in Glasgow is to take time out to put in a few odd days every year at some of the Scottish ski centres. Take the odd day off work or a few weekends out & occasionally grab a couple of hours with one of their instructors. We have some great instructors at home e.g. Ryan at Glencoe who has really helped my two boys & Paddy who worked there last year gave me some excellent tips whilst we did laps of the Fly Paper and Baileys. The group lessons at Nevis and Cairngorm have helped my boys too.

Basically, for all the books, technical advice and video instruction that you might hope to benefit from, there's no substitute for actual time on the mountain. If you can put in a week or two of odd days here and there in between your weeks away, you will be 'ever ready' and soon be skiing the socks off those soft Southerners. wink

After all it is free

rob@rar, The problem is that his partner wants to go to different places all the time. Sad

jb1970, I had hoped you'd sorted all this out. However I think that after all the discussion earlier in the season, you will have to get some 'hands on' help. something is clearly not right and it's not possible to put it right on the internet. I suggest: 1) you buy Fastman's DVDs (at least the first 2), and 2) you do as pam w, suggests and come to the skills clinics for one of the weeks. All the details are now on my website. Very Happy

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jb1970, rob@rar's talking sense, but then he has a vested interest wink

.

From a punter's POV:
a) find a resort you both like enough to take a proper holiday, not just a couple of days.
b) Find a good instructor. This means probably British (because of the verbal/non-verbal communication), highly qualified and, unfortunately though not necessarily, expensive. Just tell yourself it's a wise investment that will pay off for years to come. If you don't know anyone, ask around on snowHead

for recommendations.
c) Take at least a week but better 10-14 days hol with 3-5x 2 hour lessons with the same instructor.

The main thing is you have the passion to do it. It's not your job to figure out what you're doing wrong, leave that to the professionals. And we'll have no more at that "anything except off piste and moguls" talk - that's just in your head. Learn to ski properly and the different terrain becomes just a smorgasbord ( rolling eyes

) to pick from depending on your tastes for that day. Trust me. Toofy Grin

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rob@rar, how long to drive to Hemel Hempstead from Clapham Junction? (Entirely 'Without Prejudice' you understand! wink

)

You know it makes sense.

Hurtle, no idea, but I'm sure it would be well worth it Smile

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

If you are serious ( and based on your complements of charlotte) then it sounds like an early or late season intensive 3-5 days with Easiski may well do the trick....

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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kitenski, there might be some people who think he's being serious and maybe even knows what he's talking about rather than trolling, so probably best that somebody puts the record straight.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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II, I'm sure that most people drop back a bit if they haven't skied for some time, I know I do. That applies to many, many things, not just skiing. But to assert that you need at least 14 continuous days on snow to make any progress is patently absurd. I've never skied for that long in one go. The most I've skied continuously is about 10 days and I can ski OK.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

rob@rar, you can ski a whole lot better than me and most people on this site.......... (I'll find what I'm looking for and post later)

After all it is free

rob@rar,
found it
from my ski blog...

Day 1.
First day of the year... Was ski for a pound day.
4"of fresh snow over a very very hard base.
Skied like a bag of spanners

Day 2.
Bit stiff after yesterdays effort. Snow was better and acutaly remembered how to ski (sort of)
Eagle, Grouse, and Snowy owl open

So thats 2 days just getting back into the swing of things... Certainly not back to the same standard of the end of last season.... but getting there.....

edit....
Day 23.
2" of fresh on a hard base. Cold with a moderate breeze Quite busy skied badly all day.

(so I guess its not just the first 2 days that are hard) Laughing

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II, indeed, here's a line from my blog dated 27 October 2007: The good news is that I haven't forgotten to ski. Always a worry at this time of year! I remember the day well, timing was all over the place, I was in an unfamiliar pair of boots which took a lot of getting used to, I was too apprehensive to put on a pair of race skis making do with something a bit more forgiving and I was in despair until lunchtime. But things came together, and I had a good week of instruction which helped sharpen up my short radius turns. So the (usual) paranoia on Day 1 was (as usual) unwarranted.

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jb1970, From what you say, I suspect part of your "problem" is in stuffing your head full of things you have read that you ought to be doing with this bit of you and that bit of you, then beating yourself with a ski stick because they are not coming together into a flowing satisfying skiing style. It sounds a bit like my golf - too many "swing thoughts" at a time and physical coordination goes.

A good instructor will work on the elements of your skiing and give you drills you can do on your own in order to achieve that critical bye-passing of consciously thinking about what you have to do. You build each element into your "muscle memory" through a) understanding what to do (your instructor helps here) and systematic practising (which is down to you). In the first instance, do your actual practice on easy slopes: you learn little by hurtling on the edge of control down a steep slope! A good instructor will also help you with dubious ideas in what you have picked up from reading etc - such as weighting the tails of your skis in deeper snow. Puzzled

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ccl, very good advice. It's easy to get confused by/follow too many tips from instruction DVDs or books (I speak from experience). It might be a relatively simple change that's needed to make big progress with your skiing, and a decent instructor should help you focus on what is important to your skiing rather than a scattergun approach inevitably taken by the instruction DVDs.

In my experience people who've started to learn to ski later in life are often the ones who like to devour lots of books, DVDs and technical information, whereas those who learnt as children preferred to continue to develop through "doing" exercises, copying the instructor etc. Certainly I found this the case when I did my instructor training. Anyone else noticed this?

You know it makes sense.

beanie1, I notice a big difference between skiers who like a thorough 'technical' description of what they are trying to do, and those who like an exercise to do or to try and copy a demo. Hadn't really noticed any correlation with when they started to ski, although my teaching experience is pretty limited.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

My skis didn't work on the first day.

A snowHead

Stop skiiing, you SUCK. Laughing

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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jb1970, NNNNNnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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jb1970, I'm fully aware of your gender preferences, hense the post.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

jb1970, I've been in a plateau with my skiing for a couple of years now and it was really getting me down, i've had private lessons, group lessons, even went to South America last summer with Snoworks to try and sort it and none of this did anything other than make very slight improvements.

So for my trip to Jackson i concerntrated on improving fitness to see if that helped, it didnt majorly.

Then i met Ed from the JH Mountain Sports School and in half an hour he had made a vast difference to my skiing, just by explaining things in a different way, it finally clicked. I skied with him for 2 days solid one on one and my skiing from the first morning with him to the last afternoon is unrecognisable. Tree skiing always filled me with fear but i was flying through the trees off some of the black runs off the tram by the end of my time with him. Moguls were suddenly fine, no need to panic and powder a dream.

It was a true epiphany for me and i cant thank him enough. The change i had to make was radical, and it isnt embedded yet, so i'm going to have to fridge it once a week til next season to try and retain what i learnt.

So if you have found an instructor you can relate to and works for you, stick with them.

jb1970, http://www.easiski.com/SpecialCourses.html Don't be depressed. Plan for June/July and M can come with you if he likes - plenty of other Italians around! wink

rob@rar, Aah - but have you seen Fastman's DVD? It's a totally different animal. (and no reply needed from the Zoo).

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Struggling...

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