 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi
I am new here and was hoping to pick up some specific tips on a personal mission f mine.
I have decided to devote the next three to five years of my life to becoming absolutely the best competition skier I can be. I have been lucky enough to come into some money that has made it possible for me to devote some time to this while working only occasionally. I was basically hoping you snow heads could help me work out where to start.
So, I am probably an upper-intermediate skier. Decent technique and pace but nothing special. I have never actually raced since leaving university, and I only did a little there. I'm not going t say exactly how old I am but, suffice it to say, i am well in my thirties.
What I want is to become an absolutely crack downhill racer or skier-crosser - probably the latter would be more my style as I like the short course format and head to head competition. There is no limit to my ambition, but we will see how it goes. I ideally would like to find a way of making a long term living out of skiing. If i can turn pro as a racer, I will - I am old to be thinking of that, but I do happen to believe the role of age in athletic performance is over-estimated, and frankly what I'm worried about is whether I'm talented enough not whether I'm young enough. I am quite fit but not athlete fit, and I'm not naturally particularly athletic.
My question for you guys really is where do I start on the road t becoming the best skier I can be? Firstly, what type of coaching should I seek at this stage and are there any intensive courses that people would particularly recommend? Secondly what types of competition should be seeking out as I try to prove myself as a racer? How do amateurs make their way up the ranks? You guys are really my first port of call on this. I'm particularly interested in how one gets not competitive skier cross and what the "ladder" is. I'd generally be keen to hear from anyone who has started late in skiing and achieved a serious competitive standard. I am absolutely not bullsh@tting you when i say my ultimate goal is to rep the UK at the x games and winter Olympics. But first things first...
Thanks for any help. Good luck to any flamers...
Monts
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hi Montles, welcome to Snowheads..you're not female and play the violin by any chance? 
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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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Montles, welcome to snowHeads! I wish you luck in making your dreams come true, but won't be holding my breath.
gatecrasher, is Vanessa Mae still trying to become a competitive skier? I don't blame her for trying, after all, she's achieved extraordinary 'success' as a violinist without being a top-drawer player.
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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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I think we need to see video of you skiing to make some kind of sensible response. 
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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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Pedantica, love to see her in a cat suit! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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1. Move to somewhere you can ski every day.
2. Ski every day.
3. Invest in a full-time coach, personal trainer and manager.
4. Lose 20 years of your age.
5. Have a very robust back-up plan.
Good luck!
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Join your local ski race club, ski as much as you can and not just in race courses but all the mountain. Find a ski coach you like and work with them on your skiing and your strength & conditioning.
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| Montles wrote: |
| I have been lucky enough to come into some money |
Is it enough to by a time machine?
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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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| II wrote: |
| Montles wrote: |
| I have been lucky enough to come into some money |
Is it enough to by a time machine? |
May also need to purchase some oversized gahooner implants! But good luck with it... 
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this person has got to be a troll, if not best to give your money to someone sensible who wont let you spend it all on a crazy idea,
failing that perhaps pasting on TGR they'll have some good advice for you,
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Montles, If you are really serious then try to find some way of getting a passport for a country without many skiers.
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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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I've been skiing 30 years and I'm in my 30s. There's not much on the mountain that I can't get down confidently, even if I'm lacking a bit of style sometimes.
I used to race at uni and I currently cycle around 100 - 150 km a week.
I have a sport-scientist who's assisting me in getting my fitness levels up and improving my performance in both cycling and skiing. (I'm going for an assesment tomorrow to check out my VO2 max, body composition and metabolism)
I'll never be good enough to even contemplate competing at the level you're talking about. Even if I started now, with what sounds like a stronger base than where you're coming from, it would take a good 10 years of committed work to get to the stage that I could think about qualifying for such events. However, in 10 years we'll both be in our 40's and trying to competing against people with more experience, a higher level of fitness and at least 10 years younger.
I think your goals are unrealistically ambitious, but that's not to say you couldn't get competent to the stage you could compete in smaller local or national competitions.
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Wow. Explosive thread growth. Unrealistic and ambitious are my middle names!
I actually have a passport for somewhere they're not very good at skiing, as it goes...
Age is not a factor IMO. The reason skiers retire before 40 is they get bored or injured. As for experience, there are hugely competitive skiers aged 16 who've barely been skiing ten years.
Any more? An explanation of how the competition ladder works, from the gound up, is what I'm really after.
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You know it makes sense.
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| feef wrote: |
| Even if I started now, with what sounds like a stronger base than where you're coming from, it would take a good 10 years of committed work to get to the stage that I could think about qualifying for such events. However, in 10 years we'll both be in our 40's and trying to competing against people with more experience, a higher level of fitness and at least 10 years younger. |
Why would they necessarily be fitter? Not that I deny my ultimate goals are wildly ambitious. They'd be equally so if I were 15, however. I may fail, but that's my business. My question is where does one start becoming a very, very serious skier indeed? I'll take it from there.
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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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Start the FWT Qualifiers, great bunch of people, travel the world and risk you life for real.
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Poster: A snowHead
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If you want the quick answer take a course with JJC training at least one of whom IIRC has competed in a bit of skier cross - they'll be able to show you how much you've got to do and even help you with a plan.
If you want a sensible answer move somewhere snowy - do heaps of skiing and lessons then spend the money you've got on hookers, blow and heli skiing. You'll get more pleasure that way.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Montles, strength and fitness decline with age.
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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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Montles, "The reason skiers retire before 40 is they get bored or injured. As for experience, there are hugely competitive skiers aged 16 who've barely been skiing ten years. "
Evidence?
I think you are on a bit of a losing wicket.
"well into your thirties"? You will have to have been a world class athlete to even get your ISTD instructors cert now never mind being competitive at any Europe class level, IMO, YMMV.
I'm not being dismissive, I know a goodly number of rather excellent, very experienced skiers who wouldn't even dream of suggesting that they might be capable of what you're thinking.
But good luck anyway.
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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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| Montles wrote: |
| feef wrote: |
| Even if I started now, with what sounds like a stronger base than where you're coming from, it would take a good 10 years of committed work to get to the stage that I could think about qualifying for such events. However, in 10 years we'll both be in our 40's and trying to competing against people with more experience, a higher level of fitness and at least 10 years younger. |
Why would they necessarily be fitter? Not that I deny my ultimate goals are wildly ambitious. They'd be equally so if I were 15, however. I may fail, but that's my business. My question is where does one start becoming a very, very serious skier indeed? I'll take it from there. |
Because it's nature for the body's performance to start to degrade by the time you reach your mid-twenties to early thirties. IF you're in your peak before that, then you can delay the loss. If you aren't at your peak, you're fighting an uphill battle and will never get to the peak of what your body could have attained. You'll be competing against those who are finding it much easier to reach that peak.
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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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What about Speed Skiing? I would have thought (perhaps wrongly) it was something you could pick up easier when older. You need extremely large balls though (as you do for skicross/downhill).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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CH20, fat bob, thanksm am checking those out.
Rob - not significantly, before 60. Age related performance depletion isn't usually why athletes retire.
I continue to acknowledge that I am not being realistic. I am deliberately choosing to pursue fantasy. But I'm going to pursue it very seriously indeed.
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World class athlete to get an instructor qual???
WTF?
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| Montles wrote: |
| Rob - not significantly, before 60. Age related performance depletion isn't usually why athletes retire. |
Sorry mate, you're just plain wrong.
I really like your ambition, it's great to see someone who wants to take their skiing as far as they possibly can. There's a lot of info on snowHeads that you could tap in to such as ski instructors and coaches you can work with, courses you can do, places to ski etc. But to be perfectly blunt you're going to miss out on that advice if you insist on sticking to your rather silly ambition of racing at national level, starting from a mid-30s holiday skier.
Stick up some video of you skiing and tell where you're based and you'll get some serious advice.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Wed 1-08-12 21:25; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Montles wrote: |
World class athlete to get an instructor qual???
WTF?
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World Class? Probably not. But one element of the top level instructor's certification is a GS race at approximately Olympic qualifying standard.
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Montles, if you've got the cash... nothin wrong with following your dream no matter how unrealistic, go for it I say!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Well it's a quandary really. I am more than happy not to bang on about a hugely ambitious goal that is a long way off at present, and I agree with you that that might alienate people. But it is nonetheless my goal to do what I have described, and I don't want to spend time doing things that don't - theoretically at least - work towards it.
I am browsing the forums though. I won't have any footage of me skiing until I come back from Argentina at the end of August. I am based in the uk currently but would relocate to the slopes full time for training. My work is writing, and i can work anywhere there's a laptop. So if I needed to work I'd do it from the mountains.
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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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Montles, And there you have it, stay away from "Club Piste Cliqué Bullshite" get yourself on the Freeride circuit where your enthusiasm will be lapped up. The UK is poorly represented and the Freeride guys compete upto and around 40ish. There's no "snobbery" or closed doors like Piste skiing, no under class that will try stand in your way, as you'll find knocking around "techincal" and "instructor" forums.
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| Quote: |
one element of the top level instructor's certification is a GS race at approximately Olympic qualifying standard
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Is this "scaremongery" still doing the rounds? 
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You know it makes sense.
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CH2O, am I wrong?
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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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rob@rar, Lets put it this way, you would be surprised at many that do pass. Albeit, in writting and on paper, your "ambiguous" statement holds a little water.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Montles wrote: |
Well it's a quandary really. I am more than happy not to bang on about a hugely ambitious goal that is a long way off at present, and I agree with you that that might alienate people. But it is nonetheless my goal to do what I have described, and I don't want to spend time doing things that don't - theoretically at least - work towards it.
I am browsing the forums though. I won't have any footage of me skiing until I come back from Argentina at the end of August. I am based in the uk currently but would relocate to the slopes full time for training. My work is writing, and i can work anywhere there's a laptop. So if I needed to work I'd do it from the mountains. |
If I had that sort of time and money, I'd be more inclined to go for something like a mountain guide qualification. Certainly far more 'useful' and would probably expose you to a much wider variety of terrain, people and experiences.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Cheers guys. CH20 thanks for the encouragement.
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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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Montles, There are plenty of race training camps running in places like Tignes pre season. Book into one of those for 6 to 8 weeks (which is not uncommon for Instructors who are training for GS) and see how you get on. Some camps will use 'calibrated' racers on 'proper' race pistes which should give you a reasonable indication of how fast you are compared to world class racers.
Most training is GS based although that's not all bad as it will give a good technical grounding.
After that find a central Valley and indulge in the local\national race scene for the season. If you smoke the locals you know you are on to something 
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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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feef, phew, for my money, old francs, that's a harder prospect that that proposed.
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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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| CH2O wrote: |
| rob@rar, Lets put it this way, you would be surprised at many that do pass. Albeit, in writting and on paper, your "ambiguous" statement holds a little water. |
Perhaps, but equally I know some people who have missed it (by a narrow margin) despite being strong skiers, especially if you compare them with intermediate holiday skiers.
But back to my original point, is the Eurotest pass roughly equivalent to the Olympic qualifying standard or is that just an urban myth?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If I had unlimited time and money I'd heli-ski the best powder in the world rather than dedicate myself to racing, of whatever kind.
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rob@rar, Galena here I come. And maybe AK
+++++++++
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| under a new name wrote: |
rob@rar, Galena here I come. And maybe AK
+++++++++ |
Indeed, and I'll be joining you if my numbers come up 
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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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rob@rar,
If it is then i've met some very talented wasters in my time, I don't think it actually hits many of the "average joes" expectations of what Olympic Standard is.
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Point more serious, I know a number of very good skiers of late 30s to over who could probably have gone full cert 15-20 years ago but do not feel that they could, for whatever reason.
If you think you can get the level of fitness and technical capability all strength to you. I do not believe it is impossible, I do think it will be more difficult than if you were born in an alpine nation and have competed in whatever discipline but at a high level since you could walk.
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