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- Dec 21, 2015
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Listen to chris V and book him on a lesson. he knows whathe is talking about.
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I think Jay is right where you would be expect him to be at this point.
This is one of those topics on which the instructor furnishes the introduction, and the student figures out a lot more for himself. I believe ski instruction is like that. Students figure out about 95% of it on their own. And they have to--there's so much. Instructors teach only 5%. But that 5% is pure gold. Choose wisely.
Skiing with a rigid body cancels out the possibility of learning anything new,
^^^Great post. Agree with all of it! I haven’t been watching this thread so I hope 53 doesn’t mind my asking how many days on snow he’s had and how much instruction. No ulterior motive, just interest.
Respectfully, I disagree. Flexion and extension is something I like to start practicing early, early, early, maybe the afternoon of the first day on skis. I don't mean that I'll try to instill some precise flexion and extension pattern through the turn cycle. It starts with simply learning to make adjustments to small terrain variations. It's a great habit to get into. And not hard, at the introductory level. This is one of those topics on which the instructor furnishes the introduction, and the student figures out a lot more for himself. I believe ski instruction is like that. Students figure out about 95% of it on their own. And they have to--there's so much. Instructors teach only 5%. But that 5% is pure gold. Choose wisely.
This ties in strongly to terrain based teaching, which is THE BEST THING EVER.
Upper-lower body separation is fundamental. Good introductory lessons get a student stable and balanced. 53 is stable and balanced. What are you going to work on next?
If someone had told me multiple paragraphs of things to work on it right when I first started it would have gone right over my head. All the advice above is fabulous and super helpful however, if Started at 53 is anything like me than what he needs is time, lessons, patience, more lessons and just frankly mileage.
Sure, I don't disagree, one step at a time. I don't mean go out and do everything I say the first morning. Maybe helpful to have a road map though. Everyone learns at a different pace. Find your own. Above all, have fun with it. That's the whole point, isn't it? The one thing I DO like to see in every student is practicing good movement patterns, starting at the most elementary level. No dead end or counterproductive pathways, please!
Turns out today was my last ski day of the year. In a nutshell I sucked today. Conditions were not great as the snow quality varied greatly not just from run to run, but within the same run. It was warm the past two days and there were a lot of mashed potatoes in some areas.
Yesterday was actually scary as there were a lot of out of control skiers, yeah one nearly took me out. As @Lorenzzo told me today at lunch, I ski slow for my ability. But.... I ski in total control speed wise.
Today I had moments of good skiing, as in 5 good turns followed by 3 bad turns, followed by...... I was just very inconsistent. It was disappointing to say the least.
Today was also a serous reminder of the danger of our sport, I saw two large areas of blood on different runs, I saw (from a lift) a person right after they hit a tree and were not moving at all, I witnessed one life flight and heard there was another at DV today. We, as in DV, had a fatality a couple days ago, and possibly two today. I post this as there were a lot of out of control skiers out there, so as a public service announcement.... BE CAREFUL out there.
Thanks to @Chris V. for your tip, you and others ( @LiquidFeet ) have given me some great stuff to start next seasons skiing. Chris, I did do some singing on the slopes today and was swinging my arms about like a guy who has lost his marbles.
Conditions were not great as the snow quality varied greatly not just from run to run, but within the same run. It was warm the past two days and there were a lot of mashed potatoes in some areas.
I did do some singing on the slopes today and was swinging my arms about like a guy who has lost his marbles.
Spring conditions are extremely challenging, even for pretty experienced skiers. So - DO NOT evaluate your skill, especially at this point in your skiing, by how you ski spring conditions! And especially during spring break. Dodging out of control skiers doesn't make anyone's turns prettier.