Poll How has the age you started skiing affected your skills?

[jseeski]

Think of all the people who are firmly convinced that you have to push the tails up the hill to initiate a turn down the hill. That's what they think they're seeing when they watch someone ski, even someone who doesn't actually ski that way.

Then there are those (often the same people) who believe you have to pick up the inside ski in order to ski parallel.

What people think they're seeing, and what is actually going on are often two different things. Also, consider the Dunning-Kruger effect.

It is said that practice makes perfect. No. Perfect practice makes perfect.

 

[Crank]

Think of all the people who are firmly convinced that you have to push the tails up the hill to initiate a turn down the hill. That's what they think they're seeing when they watch someone ski, even someone who doesn't actually ski that way.

Then there are those (often the same people) who believe you have to pick up the inside ski in order to ski parallel.

What people think they're seeing, and what is actually going on are often two different things. Also, consider the Dunning-Kruger effect.

It is said that practice makes perfect. No. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Someone that I would consider a good skier not only does not do the things mentioned above, they can see when someone is doing them. It doesn't take years of MA training to spot good skiing, or bad habits. Perhaps it takes years of time on skis? Perhaps all of us here talking about skiing ad infinitum have those analysis skills through osmosis.

Now on finer points of ski technique I am sure that I have no clue from watching someone, nor how to improve my own skiing. However, it is not hard to tell if a skier has fundamentally sound technique.

 

[4ster]

The few who disagree, like you, who credit quality training for their rise in skill level, are not common, not in this thread at least.

I am with @Kneale Brownson on this. Although starting young set me up for success later on, real understanding & skill development didn't happen till I began teaching.

When you have the maturity to realize that skiing doesn't improve your skill set, but that deliberate and purposeful practice does, you improve. Starting at an early age will give you a certain amount of body awareness, but that could also probably be developed on a skating rink, in gymnastics, Martial arts, etc

Yes, there needs to be some structure to your practice to reach personal goals.
Now that I am not teaching I spend most of my days skiing with the local "All Mountain" crews. These are folks who have skied forever, ski 100 days a season & are great athletes. Most of them have had no formal training yet they are great skiers & ski all conditions & slopes fast, without much thought. Their perspective of skiing is much different than mine & until they met me I don't think they gave technique a second thought. Funny thing is that although most would probably not pass their L3 skiing without some formal training, they would leave many L3's in the dust on a typical ski day.

I ski today way better than I did when I got my LIII.

Me too !

 

[Ogg]

I started when I was 17 a couple of weeks after my father and stepmother tried it for the first time in the Poconos and were hooked. I did a few ski weekends in HS and a student trip to Heavenly my first year of college. After that I didn’t really ski again until I was in my mid 20s. I had gained about 80 lbs with a sedentary lifestyle. My father who was a complete ski junkie at this point did not like seeing me like that so he decided he was going to get me into shape and teach me how to ski at the same time, drill Sargent style. I dropped most of the weight that first season and learned how to use my edges. My 2 much younger half brothers started around the same time I did but they were 3 and 5 at the time and reaped the benefits of my father’s obsession. They both ended up in the KMS freestyle program and are far better skiers than I will ever be.

 

[Tony S]

It doesn't take years of MA training to spot good skiing, or bad habits. Perhaps it takes years of time on skis? Perhaps all of us here talking about skiing ad infinitum have those analysis skills through osmosis.

Now on finer points of ski technique I am sure that I have no clue from watching someone, nor how to improve my own skiing. However, it is not hard to tell if a skier has fundamentally sound technique

I totally disagree with this. I cannot tell you how many times I have sat on a chairlift with a veteran crappy skier, listening to him enthuse about the awesome turns of another veteran crappy skier below. Models are like data: Garbage in, garbage out.

 

[HardDaysNight]

I totally disagree with this. I cannot tell you how many times I have sat on a chairlift with a veteran crappy skier, listening to him enthuse about the awesome turns of another veteran crappy skier below. Models are like data: Garbage in, garbage out.

Agree. It’s certainly true that athletic, enthusiastic skiers can train themselves to get down all sorts of terrain at high speed and with great panache but poor technique. They have become very good at bad skiing! To be honest I’ve never met a really skilled, technical skier who didn’t receive decent professional training at some point in his career.

 

[Tricia]

Yes, there needs to be some structure to your practice to reach personal goals.

I can't remember if it was @Bob Barnes or @Weems Westfeldt who said...
Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent.

 

[Crank]

I totally disagree with this. I cannot tell you how many times I have sat on a chairlift with a veteran crappy skier, listening to him enthuse about the awesome turns of another veteran crappy skier below. Models are like data: Garbage in, garbage out.

Perhaps I misstated what I meant when I said we have those analysis skills through osmosis. But a good skier can spot good skiing vs heel pushing, can spot some flowing down the hill vs someone having trouble initiating the next turn. Sure we all know skiers who have been at it for years and have not really progressed. We have discussed their "fun" levels in a recent thread.

 

[Blue Streak]

It doesn't take years of MA training to spot good skiing

That depends entirely on your definition of “good skiing.” The problem lies in the wide disparity of opinion in that regard.

 

[Posaune]

I've skied for 55 seasons (I think, gettin' old here). I only had lessons once when I was in Jr. High and we had a Saturday ski bus to Ski Acres (now Summit at Snoqualmie Central). We worked on stem turns. I've been serious about the sport all along, but I haven't gotten into the instructor jargon. I was on ski patrol in my 20s and I watched and skied with a lot of very good skiers then and since. People that know tell me I'm a good skier. I'm not really concerned with how good, though. I enjoy it and feel comfortable skiing almost anywhere in most conditions.

I didn't want to write the above, but it seems like the instructors need to know how good you are. Can we stop this trend toward turning this into an instructors' thread? Start one over in the appropriate forum.

 

[Pete in Idaho]

I guess it doesn't really matter and 99% aren't interested but what the heck here goes.

Started skiing when I was 25yrs. Not earlier, no money and basically alone without any friends who skied. Then my wife and I taught our neighbors how to water ski one summer in Sacramento. So to get even they bought us rentals and took us snow skiing. Went to Soda Springs on a Tue. 52 yrs ago. Tue special $2.00 lift ticket and $2.00 lesson. Soda Springs is at Lake Tahoe. Even though it was a "global warming" year and the snow sucked (I guess) since there was a lot of ice. Both wife and I fell in love with skiing right away.

A few years later took up racing and started skiing better. Raced in Tahoe, Colo, Oregon, Utah, Australia and Chile made some lifelong friends and skied a lot. Was an instructor in Tahoe at Homewood. Wife and I ran the International Firefighters Winter games for 23 years, a 5 day event. Was president of Code 3 ski club for years which was a fire/police race club. Retired and moved to Idaho and was instructor at Silver Mt. for 5 years. Now I just ski.

lHad a hard time becoming a decent powder skier but am there now. I hate now and through the years doing drills. I have always remembered Newfydogs statement back on epic, "I am ok with my skiing". Thats where I fall at this point of my life. However I still do take a private lesson each year from a friend who is an Examiner level instructor. Sort of a tune up for the season.

Oftentimes I wish I would have learned earlier in my life but can't complain too much. Wore out my ski bucket list; heli, cat, Chile in August etc. and now to ski off the top of Silvers Wardner peak in 6" or more of powder when I am 80.

Good skiing to everyone this year.

 

[SierraLuLu]

I first skied at 7. As a child I never got past the longer green slopes as I had no training after my first day. But when I picked up skiing again at 26, I found I was able to pick up where I left off. I did have an innate sense of balance and feeling for the snow, like riding a bicycle, that a friend on the same trip whose first day it was did not have. I think it would have been harder for me to pick it up from scratch, but as an adult I improved considerably quicker, partially thanks to some informal lessons from my now husband and a few much better skiers than me, and partially thanks to an increased sense of drive and urgency that I simply did not have as a child.

On another note, I was not a fearless child as the stereotype holds. I had a very potent fear of steep slopes and losing control. So being able to conquer those fears as an adult that I have held since childhood is quite satisfying, especially when I was able to return to the hill where I learned (Northstar) and skied terrain I never thought possible there.

 

[firebanex]

If you started skiing as a child, do you think this gave you an advantage in building skills simply because you were young?

I started when I was about 3years old and never stopped. I had the advantage of both of my parents being on Ski Patrol and one also a PSIA instructor, plus a decent kids race program at my local mountain. I've ended up a very good skier with minimal bad habits to change because I had so much early teaching that I didn't have a chance to develop any real bad habits. I really do think it gave me a huge advantage in learning.

However, with learning everything at a young age, I have difficulty trying to teach others to ski better simply because I know how to do it, I just don't know HOW I do it.

 

[Blue Streak]

I have very good friends whose son married a Norwegian girl and lives in Norway. Over there, kids start on Nordic skis as soon as they can walk. My friend, who is a ski instructor, is amazed at how easily they adapt to alpine skis after growing up on Nordic skis.
If I had a kid, I would have them playing on on Nordic skis every time it snowed.

 

[4ster]

I have very good friends whose son married a Norwegian girl and lives in Norway. Over there, kids start on Nordic skis as soon as they can walk. My friend, who is a ski instructor, is amazed at how easily they adapt to alpine skis after growing up on Nordic skis.
If I had a kid, I would have them playing on on Nordic skis every time it snowed.

In my utopian Ski School everyone would begin I’m Nordic skis.

 

[Uncle-A]

I think it comes down to you are athletic or not and there are different levels of athletes. There may be less fear in the younger crowd when starting but overall lessons and practice will only take the non athlete so far.

 

[Blue Streak]

I think it comes down to you are athletic or not and there are different levels of athletes. There may be less fear in the younger crowd when starting but overall lessons and practice will only take the non athlete so far.

Sad, but true.

 

[Bruuuce]

I didn't pick up a pair of skis until I was in my 20's and I can definitely see the advantages of starting early. When you are really young it is play so you don't think about it. You just ski. I had a friend who is a great golfer talk about that. He learned to shape the ball by playing with his friends. He said he's not sure if he'd do it nearly as well if he "learned" it formally.

I'm now a decent skier, but I'll likely never be as good as some I ski with that started at 5 (or earlier). It just is so much more natural for them. I need to think about what I'm doing (like SB's dirt biking example) but they just ski.

 

[ADKmel]

" I'm not really concerned with how good, though. I enjoy it and feel comfortable skiing almost anywhere in most conditions"

^^^^ THIS- Safety and Fun anywhere on the Mt is Only way to ski!

 

[Tricia]

Went to Soda Springs on a Tue. 52 yrs ago. Tue special $2.00 lift ticket and $2.00 lesson. Soda Springs is at Lake Tahoe. Even though it was a "global warming" year and the snow sucked (I guess) since there was a lot of ice. Both wife and I fell in love with skiing right away.

Soda Springs is the longest running ski resort in the Sierra, and its till affordable.
https://www.skisodasprings.com