Learning Surface?

A snowHead

I am going on my first skiing holiday in March where the experience level of the group will be fairly high, I am therefore looking to get to a reasonable standard beforehand so I don't slow down everyone else too much.

My previous skiing experience is very limited, I have done the "Learn to Ski in a Day" course at Tamworth a year or two ago and got to the recreation standard, skied once at Milton Keynes about a week later and things stopped there.

About a week ago I did a beginner lesson at a local dry slope, it was a cheap offer through Groupon that I thought might let me work out where I needed to start this time around. The lesson was much more focussed on the very basics than I was expecting but I came away just about remembering how to snowplough turn.

I am eager to continue my progression but a bit unsure of the best method to do so. I have a couple of dry slopes within 15 miles of me (Bracknell and Aldershot) and artificial snow at Hemel (about 35 miles away). At the moment I am of the mindset that the cost benefits of dry slope skiing (both of lessons and travel) might be the way to go for the moment, maybe making more trips to Hemel a bit further down the line. What would you do if you were learning from scratch (almost) and in my situation?

I have also noticed that Bracknell and Aldershot are two different surfaces (Perma-Snow and Dendix respectively, I did my recent lesson on the latter). Is one preferable over the other or am I so new that it wont matter?

A snowHead

blawford, personally, I am a fan of dry slopes as a relatively cheap, outdoor way of gaining and refining technique. (Also, I hate being cooped up in a fridge). If you get the basics on the dry slope, then transferring these skills to snow is relatively easy (although the snow will run quicker). I think that the advantage of several lessons on a dry slope for the price of one at a snowdome will stand you in good stead.

Dendix is less forgiving (for falls) than Perma-Snow, which is a smoother surface. Personally, I prefer Dendix as I get the sensation of edging and gripping much better - but have the bruises to show when I didn't get it quite right!

Whatever you do, I am convinced that lessons before March are a great idea for you. You will get much more from your holiday. And think about taking lessons on snow when you are out there (at least for a few half days). Nothing prepared me for the exhiliration of being in the big mountains on my first holiday - and it was that that got me hooked (at the tender age of 42).

One final thing - do not be worried about 'holding peple back'. If they are kind and understanding friends, they will make sure that the pace is one that you are comfortable with - and if they are experienced, they will be sympathetic to the fact that you are just starting up. Of course everyone wants to challenge themself - but there is no point in attempting to throw yourself down slopes that are beyond your technical ability. That can be frustrating, tiring and, potentially, sore.

Hope you have a great time

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

blawford, Welcome to Very Happy

's.

The most consistent pointer to high performance is the number of hours you spend practising. Skills learnt on plastic are quite transferrable to snow, so I would keep going to Aldershot (Dendix) -- as the more you do, the better you get.

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blawford, Practice Plactice Practice but make sure you get some tuition in there too. Either of the surfaces will be ok but my preference is for Dendix for doing drills

Im sure the local dry slopes will have block lessons and 'improver groups' that would be worth asking about

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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blawford, hi there and well done for finding snowHead

. Assuming the "b" stands for what I think it does, I guess I was your instructor for that lesson!

Dendix is in some ways a much harder surface to ski on that snow, but in others easier. The easier aspect is that it's the same every time - it doesn't get ruts or scrapes, and doesn't get mogulled up. It's less slippery though (although that's combined with being tougher to get grip from a ski edge), so it's way less forgiving of bad balance and pressure control and you have to work much harder at keeping the skis doing what you want them to do, and so a very good surface to develop good habits on! I skied on the surface at Bracknell a few years ago and thought it was truly horrible - it's got even less grip than Dendix and it really does feel like Bambi on ice - so not anything I'd rush to repeat, and from what I hear the matting is in a dreadful state now.

Yes, the beginner lessons we give at Aldershot are deliberately very focussed on the basics and getting the acquired skills embedded before moving on too quickly. The experience those who designed our course have is that really working on balance (and that is what that first beginner lesson is all about) at the beginning pays dividends later on, and we as instructors just have to make sure it's not too much like grunt work. The principle is that if we can get you doing the basics right, then they'll be still right when you're putting them together in a more refined manner for the more advanced "techniques" - rather than battling to just about hang on to those complicated movements. The more I ski the more I realise that skiing is about 80-90% balance, and no more than 10-20% "technique" - but by balance I mean making sure that all the bits of your body are in the right place at the right time, so it's no small task.

In your case the fact you had already done a course before meant that that was really a revision lesson for you - so you probably bypassed the novelty aspect and noticed more of the grunt - but I think it was worthwhile revision as your balance and posture improved noticeably during the lesson (but still needs a bit of work). As I think I said at the time, I think you can probably miss out the next level of the course and jump straight to our level 3 as soon as possible. Given that you were previously at snowplough turn level, it will still be revision to some extent - but should get those snowplough turns properly back, with further work on getting that balance and posture right, and I think will help you avoid slipping into bad habits (of which there's always a danger). Following that I'd suggest you get as much solo practice as you can, and then take a level 4 lesson by early/mid-Feb to get onto parallel turns. In that lesson you'd also be getting on to the top ramp section of the slope, and although it doesn't look scarily steep from below, it really requires you to have very good muscle control to ski well.

Hemel does give you the real snow experience, complete with lumps and bumps etc., and that would be good in its own right. But it does cost about 3 times as much as a dry slope. At your level, given that you made a reasonable job of the plastic (occasionally some find it just too difficult to cope with), it's really just a matter of getting hours under your belt, as ski and kevindonkleywood said - and a dry slope will give you way more for your money. I ski a lot at both Aldershot and Hemel (and the day job gets in the way of more in the mountains Sad

), and there are times when plastic does hold you back, but this is not one of them.

So, without trying to sound too much like I'm giving you the hard sell - if you're trying to get to a point where you'll be holding your own with the others on your trip - get that level 3 lesson with us as soon as you can, several hours practice to embed those snowplough turns, a level 4 to get to parallel and steeper, and then as much practice as you can get in before your holiday. A trip or two to Hemel would not go amiss once you're back in the groove, but I think is unnecessary for the next month or so.

(The slight wrinkle there may be that the level 4 group courses don't run all that often - once people get to solo practice level, their interest in lessons does rather drop off Sad

. If there's not one convenient, then the private lesson route's an alternative. Can be quite pricey for a singleton, but if you can find someone else to share a lesson with - maybe someone you met on the level 3 course - it works out about the same as a group lesson)

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

Thank you for the advice everyone, seems to have backed up what I was thinking about sticking to dry slopes giving me good value for money while not being detrimental to learning compared to the artificial stuff at the level I am currently at.

Help!!

Learning Surface?

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