 Poster: A snowHead
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Evening ...
This year i'm taking my folks to the Alps with me for the main reason to look after my little lad while Mrs. Kersh and I go and tear up the piste  While my Mum is quite happy looking after no. 1 son, my Dad wants to learn to ski. He's 65, not very fit and has skied before but a loooooooooong time ago (he took me on my first ski holiday to Tomintoul in 1986).
I'm trying to persuade him to go to the Snowdome in Tamworth for some beginner lessons which hopefully he’ll take up as he only lives about 10 mins away from the place. My plan was following lessons in the Snowdome to take him to resort and teach him myself from there. However, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who told me you can't teach beginner to ski on French pistes, does the same apply in Austria? As I understand it, I’d get chucked off the piste for doing it in France.
Also, with Christmas coming up, are there any books I could buy him to help him learn faster?
Thanks
Kersh
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Kersh wrote: |
| However, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who told me you can't teach beginner to ski on French pistes, |
Your friend was wrong. Nothing stopping you from helping your Dad improve his skiing when in France or anywhere else AFAIK.
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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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rob@rar, thanks. It sounded like tosh to me which is why I came here! 
Cheers
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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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| Kersh wrote: |
rob@rar, thanks. It sounded like tosh to me which is why I came here!
Cheers |
The only exception to this are locations like snowgardens for little kids which tend to be the preserve of the ski school which pays for and operates the facility. If the lift and piste are on the piste map you are free to do what you want providing you don't pass yourself off as an instructor and charge for your services.
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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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Any ideas for books?
Cheers
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Kersh, I think a DVD would probably be a better option, although not as good as a lesson with an instructor. I can't imagine beginners making much progress from reading books. Of the DVDs I've seen few leap out as being particularly suitable for beginners, but you might want to look at Beginners and Beyond.
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| Quote: |
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who told me you can't teach beginner to ski on French pistes, does the same apply in Austria?
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Certainly not true in France, and I doubt v much whether it's true in Austria. However, handing him over to a good instructor for private lessons would be better for both of you.
I'd say certain sorts of beginners can learn quite a lot from books. I learnt to sail a dinghy commuting from East Croydon to Victoria and it really worked; I got in a dinghy in Salcombe and knew what to do!! I could envisage myself gybing downwind before I'd ever got in a dinghy (reading Swallows and Amazons from the age of 6 helped....) But I am a very analytical and theoretical sort of person - most people just learn in a much more direct way. I can't recommend a good beginners ski DVD though if you find one I'd like to know about it. We used to have a video years ago with a man in a yellow one piece suit singing "Tea for Two".
I'm sure you know that getting a bit fit and strong will be critical. Hill walking, cycling, stretching, lunges etc etc etc.
65 is plenty young enough to learn to ski. I learnt to snowboard (not well, I have to say) at 60.
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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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| Quote: |
take him to resort and teach him myself
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Oh God.
Give him to a proper instructor. Or did you want to be excised from the will by the end of the week? 
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Lizzard, his limit is likely to be fitness rather than whatever I tell him. For the first couple of days, an instructor could be a complete waste of money. If he takes to it then yes, send him for some 1-2-1 instruction.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Sounds like a recipe for falling out with him to me.
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Kersh,
| Quote: |
For the first couple of days, an instructor could be a complete waste of money.
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If he's one-one then a good instructor will surely progress him at a pace comfortable to your dad  . I'm sure wherever you're going there will be someone on here who can recommend a decent instructor.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Kersh wrote: |
| For the first couple of days, an instructor could be a complete waste of money. If he takes to it then yes, send him for some 1-2-1 instruction. |
I disagree. The first couple of days on skis are probably the most important you have in development terms. Make sure you don't waste them. Get in front of an instructor who knows what to look for and can help you make the right movements right from the very start.
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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 tried to teach my cousin and a friend (both 60+) a few years back. It wasn't a success. My mistake (I think) was that I didn't find the proper beginners' slope for them. We were in Westendorf and on a slope with a rope tow for uplift. That wasn't good for beginners. Later I found another slope about 100 metres away, again with a rope tow but this time with the gadget to put behind your backside, making life easier. There we made more progress but the damage had already been done. Particularly if your dad isn't that fit, you want to make life as easy as possible for him, so very easy slopes and a chairlift, if possible. Having skied a little before may help a good deal.
Are there really ski holidays in Tomintoul? I thought the road was always blocked when there was snow
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Poster: A snowHead
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pam w, I just re-read S & As. read pretty much all the Ransome books. Love them 
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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 took my mum on her first ski holiday at 60, she had private lessons for a week ( which I paid for) and got on really well. We went back the next year and she got the same instructor but it didn't go so well. He expected her to take up where she left off and took her onto a blue slope which terrified her. She didn't want to ski again after that so I tried to help her a little. I took her to a very, very flat bit and we just walked up it and slide down, I got her linking snowplough turns after a bit but the key was to be really, really patient. Personally I get a lot from lessons but they are pretty expensive and I can understand how some people don't want to spend loads, my mum felt she was wasting money on the second lot of lessons she had and was much more comfortable with me helping her.
I would say if you do this don't even think about going near a lift on the first day, pick a little slope, walk up and ski down. If your dad can control his turns and finds this boring then take him on a lift. In my opinion most people who try to teach friends completely underestimate how scary it is to be a beginner and to be taken up an "easy" slope you're not sure how you're going to get down.
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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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| lynseyf wrote: |
| I would say if you do this don't even think about going near a lift on the first day, pick a little slope, walk up and ski down. If your dad can control his turns and finds this boring then take him on a lift. In my opinion most people who try to teach friends completely underestimate how scary it is to be a beginner and to be taken up an "easy" slope you're not sure how you're going to get down. |
Couldn't agree more. The biggest problem from teaching friends and family tends to come because people want them to do too much too soon. Partly because you can already ski and think the basics are very very easy and partly because you don't want to spend your holiday walking up and down the beginner slope, so before they are ready they get taken up the nearest lift and pushed way beyond their limits. It is understandable to a degree, you will have paid a lot for your ski holiday and you want to ski. This is why getting lessons is the best course of action for everyone. You get to ski, the beginners learn the correct technique on appropriate terrain for their ability, with someone who has experience of teaching beginners. It is a lot easier to learn a new skill than correct a bad technique; another reason why it is best to have lessons with a qualified instructor from the get go.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I agree with the foregoing - if you have 4 days and want only 2 days with a lesson, make them days 1 and 2. Or maybe 1 and 3. But all 4 would be much better. Going up a chairlift on day 1, without an instructor.  Daftest thing I've heard in a while, frankly. You need an almost flat place, just to walk about, sidestep, etc etc. If that's up a mountain you need to go up a gondola. It is, as they're all saying, extremely difficult to empathize, as an experienced skier, with a total beginner. Ok for some ballsy 22 year old beginner who will make rapid progress and fall over and jump up again happily, but not for an OAP.
I met a very keen 64 year old beginner last winter - the father of a Belgian guy I've skied with a few times. He went in the complete beginners group - found it a bit slow (he's a strong walker and very determined man and there were a few of those giggly annoying girls in the group) but he got on v well and was one of the strongest in the group. We met him after the lesson and had a picnic rendezvous which was either a short drive or one drag lift and a green run away. I was all ready with the car, but he insisted he wanted to ski and his son was encouraging him, so off we went. He fell off the drag once, so got a bit tired. Then we got him up the top and started down the green. He started going a bit faster than he could snowplough. Fortunately he held his nerve and started going at warp speed down the green - he was a big guy..... We just hared down after him - I knew the piste had a good long flat run out, and he eventually stopped. It was frankly quite terrifying - it was fortunate that he kept his nerve and there were no 4 year olds in his track. No way could he have stopped or steered. It was crazy. He carried on with the lessons all week (was promoted to the next group up from Day 2) and did v well, but it could all so easily have ended in tears that first day - he could have killed a child, no problem at all. When we caught up with him he was shaking - and that was one of his key fears - I could have crashed into a child, he kept saying.
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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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Ok, so I put this on here to get some pointers and I trust you guys so I'll go with that. I agree that I probably will get written out of his will after 3 hours. I'll get onto the ski school then. Not sure i'll be paying though lynseyf!
Thanks
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