Intermediate vs Advanced Skiing

[Mike King]

I don't know, years ago skiing with Bob Peters at Alta he stopped to help a woman wedge turning in a foot of cut up powder on an advanced trail. No huge fat skis as this was 2003. How she got there was beyond me as it was near the end and was no simple matter. It was def not intermediate terrain but not real steep.

At Big Sky in 2009 there were people wedge turning on fat skis in pow down one of the less steep Headwater chutes at Moonlight Basin. Still near 40deg.

Since Mikaela's zipper bump skills are questionable, like Bode's, they are merely advanced level skiers. Not expert. ....

I don’t know about your level 3 exam, but in RM wedge turns are a task that may be examined. The point is a wedge turn can be performed with edge, pressure, and rotational control that accesses ski performance, but that’s not intermediatie technique, it’s expert technique.

Yesterday we skied terrain that required falling leaf and pivot slips through an entrance to a couloir that was 50degrees and about 190cm wide — I was on a pair of 180s. I don’t think intermediate technique would’ve made it. And the consequence of a fall was pretty high — 1500 vertical feet of slope with rock bands and cliffs all over 40 degrees.

 

[Seldomski]

How can someone not want to ski faster with higher g-forces and better control?

One of my own personal barriers to advancing is represented above. I didn't want to ski faster. So when I took lessons learning railroad tracks or basic intro to carving, I was not motivated to go further or really explore the idea more. When on edge, I felt increased acceleration and speed. I am 210lbs, so last thing I want is to go fast down the hill. The amount of damage I can cause is considerable. What I did not know then is getting comfortable on edge and using them appropriately can also bring more control in steeper terrain.

So I do think this is a barrier for some 'advanced intermediates'. They don't actually want to go fast. But when being introduced to carving (railroad tracks), speed happens. To train the feel of a locked edge, you may need to go pretty fast on greens before being able to apply that same sensation in a short turn on a blue while traveling at a slower speed.

 

[Josh Matta]

I don’t know about your level 3 exam, but in RM wedge turns are a task that may be examined. The point is a wedge turn can be performed with edge, pressure, and rotational control that accesses ski performance, but that’s not intermediatie technique, it’s expert technique.

Yesterday we skied terrain that required falling leaf and pivot slips through an entrance to a couloir that was 50degrees and about 190cm wide — I was on a pair of 180s. I don’t think intermediate technique would’ve made it. And the consequence of a fall was pretty high — 1500 vertical feet of slope with rock bands and cliffs all over 40 degrees.

so you have less than 10cm of tip lead when across the hill?

 

[Seldomski]

Just scanned this thread and I don't think that ski boots have been mentioned.

In my experience, it is rare for a true advanced level skier to be renting boots. A good fitting pair of boots is extremely helpful, perhaps even essential, for advanced level skiing. Rented boots and/or poorly fitting boots can handicap your skill development.

 

[Chris V.]

so you have less than 10cm of tip lead when across the hill?

A good skill to have! Sometimes it's merely a building block of good skiing. Sometimes it's essential.

 

[Mike King]

so you have less than 10cm of tip lead when across the hill?

Certainly not much. And it was a convex surface so the skis were very bent. The guide,, a lightweight, had only his tips and tails touching.

 

[Mike King]

Just scanned this thread and I don't think that ski boots have been mentioned.

In my experience, it is rare for a true advanced level skier to be renting boots. A good fitting pair of boots is extremely helpful, perhaps even essential, for advanced level skiing. Rented boots and/or poorly fitting boots can handicap your skill development.

Improperly fitting and aligned boots are a big reason why a lot of beginners never take to the sport in my opinion.

 

[Steve]

Concave?

 

[Josh Matta]

shaped like a half pipe. Mike do you have pictures?

 

[Erik Timmerman]

shaped like a half pipe. Mike do you have pictures?

Just picture Hourglass.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Well lol I wasn't feeling so expert this morning but I couldn't feel my toes either. By the afternoon I think I linked some turns when I wanted to. But it wasn't the big colour. Nothing wrong with being an expert intermediate haha.

 

[Mike King]

shaped like a half pipe. Mike do you have pictures?

I skied it twice. The second time, I thought about pictures, but was focused on the task at hand. When we went in today, there were a large amount of tracks across the fall line and I thought it might have been they were packing it, but came to the realization that others had skied to the crux and decided to sidestep out. It was a long way uphill to get out,

The terrain at W/B is real and intense. More intense than anything I’ve skied at Jackson, Snowbird, Big Sky, or Highlands. That being said, I think a guide is really useful and, for some of these lines and entrances/exits, mandatory to avoid being cliffed out.

Mike

 

[Josh Matta]

whats the run called?

 

[TheArchitect]

It would be great to start seeing some video examples illustrating some of points here. Any chance of that happening? I'd love to see what some consider to be intermediate and advanced intermediate.

 

[James]

I don’t know about your level 3 exam, but in RM wedge turns are a task that may be examined. The point is a wedge turn can be performed with edge, pressure, and rotational control that accesses ski performance, but that’s not intermediatie technique, it’s expert technique.

You'll have to elaborate. I'm not clear on exactly what you're trying to convey.

 

[Mike King]

whats the run called?

I don’t know — it’s the guide’s secret “heli run,” so named because it has untracked snow long after everything else. We skied it yesterday afternoon — the storm was the day before and they opened spankys at the end of that day. There were no tracks. We skied it again this afternoon and we had left the only tracks in it.

 

[tromano]

I always thought the big difference was one is sucking at a higher level than the other.

 

[Mike King]

You'll have to elaborate. I'm not clear on exactly what you're trying to convey.

There’s maneuvers that we associate with beginners or intermediates that may be executed at an expert level. The ability to manipulate and control edge starts to take one out of the intermediate zone into the advanced zone of skiing.

 

[James]

There’s maneuvers that we associate with beginners or intermediates that may be executed at an expert level. The ability to manipulate and control edge starts to take one out of the intermediate zone into the advanced zone of skiing.

Yes, but how exactly is that related to Rocky Mt wedge turn examinations, assessments?

 

[Mike King]

It is a task that may be examined on the level 3 exam.