 Poster: A snowHead
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I have been reading through the thread on why snowheads are taking lessons, enjoyable and motivating reading it is too.
I am an enthusiastic but not particularly competent skier of around 20 years experience. I have intermitently taken lessons however I have not done so for aroud four years.
My main reasons for not taking lessons are that I tend to go on holiday with friends and family and ski with them leaving little time for lessons. At my level I probably need several hours work to correct faults that are so deeply engrained into my skiing.
I was wondering what other reasons people have for not taking lessons.
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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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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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ssh, nice face fur. Glad to see that I'm not the only hairy snowhead.
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Kramer, can you believe how short those skis are? Good grief!
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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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My excuse is usually because I'm with the family, but is really because I get all worked up about it, will I be the slowest/stupidest/worst/ etc and hold up the rest of the class. Silly, because it sometimes truns out I'm not. And now my kids are older it doesn't matter anymore. We've even had lessons together recently. So, I've booked a 2 day Women-only course in Whistler this MArch, but i'm still thinking of reasons to cancel, (poor snow, etc) when what I really mean is am I fit enough?
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Helen Beaumont, you are as fit as you are, and the instructors and ski school can accomodate that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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ssh, Mrs Slikedges doesn't like lessons for the reason Helen Beaumont alluded to. If she joins a group appropriate for her level of skill, she feels hurried and f ears she's holding everyone else up. If she joins a slower group, she doesn't learn anything as she is already at a higher level technically.
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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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Helen Beaumont, Having skied with you, you're working yourself up for no reason. Once you've got forward you'll be better than fine - after all getting to the bottom first doesn't mean you've done it well does it? (boys thing). slikedges, clearly your mrs. and Helen should both come to the same group when I arrange the women's only week (don't know when yet, but it will happen). 
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slikedges, there you go! I can't imagine a better opportunity for your Mrs. and Helen Beaumont than skiing for a week with easiski! Book it!
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You know it makes sense.
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easiski, I'll be there if I can. Seriously though, I'm actually quite looking forward to my 2 days away from the boys.
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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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mesk1, fitness is always a part of skiing, at every level. The more fit we are, the more we can overcome. That said, in my opinion, good skiing is effective skiing, which implies a high degree of efficiency. So, especially with the improvements in equipment over the past few years, it is now possible to ski better with less effort than ever before.
The biggest need for fitness is in the length of the ski day and the amount of centrifugal force that one must resist in turns. The implication of this latter is higher speeds, high edge angles, and shorter turn radii mean greater forces and greater necessary muscle fitness.
All of that said, I believe that "reasonable" fitness for a given level of skier is all that's necessary to improve. Normally, improvement is refinement of one of the skills used in skiing (balance, rotary, edging, and pressure control), which can be developed and refined on gentle terrain with relatively low energy. Of course, taking those skills to the steep and deep implies the fitness to apply them in those situations.
Does that make sense? Is is helpful?
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Poster: A snowHead
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$ 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Incase my short post is unintelligible - I don't take many lessons simply becuase lessons cost money, and I don't have much money.
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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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easiski, We'd be onfor that, though our main deciding factor these days seems to be the slikedgelets! 
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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This year in St Anton I booked an instructor for a three hour private lesson on my second day. One thing that I'd forgotten is that when skiing one on one with an instructor you cover an awful lot of ground very quickly indeed. Especially when you have lift queue priority. The instructor decided that what I really needed to learn was long carving turns on black runs, and steepish off-piste, which was probably correct. Needless to say by the time that we'd done four black runs top to bottom non-stop, I was dying on my B2s, by the time that we'd finished the lesson, I was almost finished for the day. Private lessons really are worthwhile, but they are so much more intense than group lessons both in what you learn, and in how much skiing that you do, that unless you really are fit, two hours is about as much as is worthwhile. I certainly didn't learn much in my last hour.
I have a couple of friends who are ski-school averse, for one it is a combination of male pride and tightness, for the other she just seems to be happy to potter around on green runs going from restauarant to restaurant. I've tried persuasion, but now I just leave them to get on with it, and set aside one afternoon in the holiday for some social skiing.
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Alexandra, wrote:
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I want to look like a local.
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So don't ski. Go to the solarium, with your goggles on, so that you get a deep mahogany tan with white panda-eye patches. Wear the biggest orthopaedic knee-brace you can find, and sit in the bar all day telling war stories. 
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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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Acacia, an arm in plaster always goes down well in Whistler. Two arms if you're really going for the sympathy vote, and don't mind having to ask someone else to wipe your bum for you! 
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Acacia, ha! Not around here. We ski with knee braces around here. And, if the knee can't take it, we ski on one ski. We also know to use sunscreen (or we'll end up with skin cancer at 35!), so we tend to be less tan but the visitors are burned like lobsters, nose and cheeks.
Funny thing is, I can tell by watching someone carry their skis from the rack to the lift approximately how good a skier they are.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Funny thing is, I can tell by watching someone carry their skis from the rack to the lift approximately how good a skier they are.
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ssh, ah, but in order not to show certain young people up, I've been given detailed instructions on how to carry my skis around, to the nearest centimetre, hand/crook of arm position, angle of tilt, poles, nonchalant expression, load and offload methods, you name it. As a result I am the most accomplished non-professional ski carrier in the Savoie.
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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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PG, it isn't the position of the skis, it's more like balance, comfort in the boots, use of the boots (like, "have you been in them a lot?"), independence of various body parts, etc. I'm not even sure that I could explain it. But, I can tell.
However, PG, I bet that you're a pretty blasted good skier. Although you have to get out more to get better... 
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Yes - definitely part of it, looking comfortable. Have got lots of practice at looking 'right', mainly carrying other people's race skis around for the last few years - on and off the piste  . Not sure what it's done for my skiing though.
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You know it makes sense.
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ssh,
Seeing the way PG carrying his daughter Hannah's skis from race to race can you tell how good Hannah's skiing is?
Also not sure how is this related to the post title but please excuse for being thick as I am ignorant that one needs to take lessons to carry a pair of skis.
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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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Feeling sorry for herself tonight. Super G first run, puts left arm through gate early on, loses left pole and glove, completes course a la Bode, but with a very sore arm. Run 2, catches an inside edge, takes off, right arm goes through safety netting and gets trapped, body goes over the top of netting, and she swings round 360 degrees. Thought she'd put her shoulder out for a while. Needless to say, tomorrow's judo tournament is out of the question! Ah, the joys of ski racing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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saikee, my point is that it is really not too difficult to get a good idea of how well people will ski by watching them walk in ski boots while carrying skis. Does it tell one everything? Of course not! But, it is a good indication of whether they are just getting started, have been skiing a while but still have a lot to learn, or are pretty advanced. In the latter category, there is still much to learn, but it is more subtle and an instructor has a wider choice of terrain.
Skiing is about balance while moving. My friend Ric Reiter (a PSIA-RM examiner and long-time ski instructor, WC race tech, and lifetime skier) says this (in his best Spanish "Fernando" accent): "Skiing is like standing still... only faster!" Part of the challenge of balacing on skis is the limited movement afforded by the stiff plastic ski boots. One can see how people accomodate this characteristic by watching them walk in them. The added challenge of carrying something tends to amplify any balance issues, and they are the primary cause of most limitations while skiing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PG, I'm sure we all wish her a speedy recovery, sounds like a very painful incident
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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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PG, sorry to hear that! Wish her well from all of us. And remind her that some of us are looking forward to the day we see her on the podium at a WC event!
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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PG,
Sorry to hear Hannah misfortune in the race. Hope she recovers soon.
When I was skiing in Shamshak, Iran last month the piste was separated by a net so that the other half was used for racing. When the race finished skiers were crossing into the race area and part of the net collapsed lying about 25 to 35mm above the ground. I was stupid enough in thinking I could ski across it. The result was the torso passed ok but one ski got caught into the net and I ate some Iranian snow. You can tell Hannah to see if that makes her feel a little bit better.
My brother two sons have joinned a skiing club in Norway and my brother is driving around just you to serve as a taxi driver. He is buying poles with hand protectors, shin guards and all the rest of the gears that I could not dream of having. I can well imagine your problem can only be more so.
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pollittcl, now you've got us all imagining, you know!
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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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pollittcl,
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The male:female ratio in ski school is something like 4:1
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You mean the instructors, don't you, not the students?
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FAQ
and I still enjoyed her lessons.
Nice to meet 'em in a bar after lift-closing tho..... 
