 Poster: A snowHead
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kevindonkleywood,
Yes. When you boil it down, it's what you actually can do that counts, not how long you've been trying to do it, whether successfully or otherwise. I agree that InsideOut's levels are helpful in describing competence markers.
rob@rar,
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Doesn't stop me having fun, of course, nor striving to get better...
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Agreed. Why else would I submit myself to being tortured, insulted and bankrupted by you and Scott and still come up smiling? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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in my experience those who talk about ability level are hellbent on the idea of being 'better or worse than x person,'... 'faster or slower than x person'.... at the end of the day you'll find the best skiers / boarders are the most humble and as others have hinted at the better you get the more you realise there is to learn... I watch a World Cup skier and think 'how' yet I have skied all my life and earn a full time living from teaching skiing and snowboarding.
It is interesting to note I have trained people for ski instructor exams and experience means nothing as far as performance is concerned... as they say practice (experience) makes permanent not perfect. Last season I had a guy who had done 4 weeks skiing before turning up for a seasons training for his BASI 1 and 2 exams in Val d'Isere... everybody else on the course considered themselves highly experienced (experts).... yet these same people had fallen into the trap of TOO much free ski time and not enough focused learning therefore bad habits abound. Anyway by the end of the gap course the guy with 4 weeks experience FLEW through his BASI Level 1 and 2 exam with flying colours and others really struggled yet some of them had 2 / 3 times more slope time than this individual.
THE IDEAL candidate for Level 1 BASI training is a person who only has modest amount of experience so they can be moulded... that is not to say all others are excluded but making the changes required is easier when a person has not get too many bad habits ground in!
Of course when it comes to versatiilty in differing snow / weather / off-piste conditions then experience counts but in these cases it is the experience of knowing how to adapt what you already have that counts rather then a different technique as such.... for this reason someone with a LIFETIME of skiing experience can often make a GREAT instructor due to their vast knowledge of the sport... yet their own technical ability can often hold them back cause their are underlying issues that have never really been ironed out... mountain guides are a classic example - many of them are lets say average at skiing (they will freely admit that most of them)... yet they can tell you with almost certainty how the snow will ski on a particular face - the skills set of technical ability and 'mountain' experience differ!
Do I consider myself experienced - 400 weeks ish on snow, 6000 hours + teaching, 12 countries, dozens of pairs of skis, boards, boots etc - NO because I too am still learning and every day something new comes up. Do I consider myself in a position to offer others advice, yes but certainly I am not the oracle on the matter.
What I would say is that there is a difference between 'getting down something' and getting down it in control, with ease and versatility... hence ill always ask someone where their comfort zone is on the mountain - that is THEIR real ability level.
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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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Steve Angus, top post. 
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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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Experienced is when you have watched world class athletes do things that are seemingly impossible and you are completely humbled by the realisation of how utterly average you are and how unremarkable you ever will be...
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Totally. I've had that exact same conversation recently with a L4 trainer (who to me is a ski god!!) about how bl**** scary downhill looks.
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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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Steve Angus, Fantastic post.
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