Is this skiing or a terrible beginner lesson?

[dj61]

...and said in order to turn you COMPLETELY turn your head to look back over the shoulder you want to turn and just keep looking over your shoulder........Repeatedly I would turn my head all the way over my shoulder, start going super fast in that direction, she would then start screaming "KEEP YOUR HEAD TURNED COMMIT TO THE TURN, COMMIT"

You may be right, @dj61, but I don't think so. I assumed the instructor was telling @skiquestion to look left, back over the left shoulder, for a left turn, and vice versa for right turn. I think this is what he was being told to do because she paired up "keep your head turned" and "commit to the turn" when he let go of the turn too soon and took off downhill out of control.

But if the instructor was saying look over the right shoulder for a left turn, then that's a start for teaching a student to not rotate the torso along with the feet/skis. I haven't run into this instructional cue for teaching upper-body-lower-body separation. It's an odd one because it starts with the head instead of the feet. Instructors come up with many ways to teach separation.

However, the big issue for beginner adults in a first lesson is teaching them how to turn both left and right, to bring themselves to a stop by turning, and to control their downhill speed by controlling their turn shape. Many instructors leave turning with separation for a later lesson.

Fully agree.

 

[Magikarp]

So me and my wife went skiing for the past time this past weekend after experiencing 30+ New England winters and dreading each one. We figured having something to look forward to may be helpful. We wanted to take a beginner course, so we booked a beginners lesson at a small mountain that was pretty cheap, $100 for a 2 hour lesson, lift passes, and all the rental gear. It started off pretty terrible from the start. Mind you, the package we bought had capital letters DO NOT BOOK THIS PACKAGE IF YOU HAVE EVER SKIED THIS IS FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS. So we get there, and nobody shows us how to put the boots on. When I politely asked a staff member to show us they gave an exasperated sigh as if this was a huge bother and hastily buckled up our boots without really explaining what they were doing. Already I'm like huh, not really that beginner friendly but whatever. We get the skis and helmet, and they don't give us the poles, and tell us to go out to the hill to the instructor. So I'm thinking alright maybe the instructor has the poles.



We get out to the instructor, first thing she does is essentially scold us like we were 7 year olds who tied their shoes wrong about how our boots were done. Anyway, this isn't my first customer service experience, so right off the rip I accepted that they were dicks all around but I wasn't going to let it get in the way of my time or my ability to learn and brushed it off. HERE is where I'm really curious of whether we got a terrible lesson.



My wife and I asked if we needed poles for the lesson. She stood there in thought for about 7 seconds before saying an unconvincing "eh, I guess not". I don't know much about skiing, but I do know that the poles seem fairly significant. First thing she showed is how to put on the skis and then had us shuffle around in a circle on them. Cool, makes sense. She then took us to a small hill where I assumed she wanted us to practice going down and stopping with the South Park episode in my head (french fry, pizza, french fry, pizza). No, she wanted us to learn turning without first learning to stop. Again, sure, I'm no expert so lets do it. The way she taught turning just...seemed wrong. First, we had no poles, so she had us hold our arms out as if we were holding them. Then she pushed us down and said in order to turn you COMPLETELY turn your head to look back over the shoulder you want to turn and just keep looking over your shoulder. I know I'm new to skiing, but I have seen skiing before, and people generally look like they are looking forward...where they're going. Repeatedly I would turn my head all the way over my shoulder, start going super fast in that direction, she would then start screaming "KEEP YOUR HEAD TURNED COMMIT TO THE TURN, COMMIT", and before I ran into something I would just fall down because she didn't teach us how to stop. She also would not tell me a strategy on how to get up (I knew I would fall, I didn't know it was so hard to get up), and when I asked "hey what's the easiest way to get up?" she said "Don't fall". Cool. I'm a strong guy, no body builder but I'm decently strong, and getting up off the ground with no help is REALLY difficult. She would just stand over you, not even lend you a hand, and just say "nope not getting up that way, nope that won't work". Anyway, I basically started just popping a ski off and hobbling my way down.

We did this for essentially an hour and then the lesson was over. My wife and I throughout the day would ask "what did we do wrong there?" and she would just say "Don't know". Is this what a first time lesson is supposed to look like?? Did we just choose a cheap mountain and a cheap lesson and get what we paid for? Do you really learn without poles and without learning to stop?!



Just any thoughts on this experience from skiers would be helpful. I fell on the magic carpet which was super embarrassing as well because...surprise surprise when I asked how to do it she just said "just get on".

If you ever come to Vancouver, Canada, I will give you a lesson that will make you forget your bad experience here faster than you can say "french fry pizza!"

 

[justplanesteve]

The hardest thing about coaching a hockey player is getting them to modulate edge angles. They can hook things up and move with their skis pretty much immediately if they've played a lot.

If the idea is to coach a wedge, initially the "hardest" thing can be re-wiring their brains from the immediate trained response to throwing legs wide so they can circle & charge in any direction on the ice in a fast response situation. Older kids/adults figure it out fast with all their other skating skills. Young ones can present almost as dyslexic for a few cycles as you work toward a means to get them to feel the ski version of where to put the toes/heels. They are quick on their feet, though and more or less arrive with independent legs.

Your new instructor will teach you how to get those turns to work with a much better technique than looking over your shoulder.

I never even considered that option for turns.
In fact was not aware that for other reasons, it was a habit of mine upon arriving back on the slopes.
I drove my poor favorite L3 practically to distraction before understanding what i was even doing (stand up and look over my shoulder at the end of every half dozen turns instead of staying down and completing that turn), and caused him ongoing further frustration as i worked to change unconscious behavior. I've been hit from the back or side in so many situations, not only on the ski slope, but on construction sites, that i spend a lot of time when in motion reviewing my 6 o'clock especially with students in tow.
IOW, don't get started, for whatever reason.

 

[kevblah]

So me and my wife went skiing for the past time this past weekend after experiencing 30+ New England winters and dreading each one. We figured having something to look forward to may be helpful. We wanted to take a beginner course, so we booked a beginners lesson at a small mountain that was pretty cheap, $100 for a 2 hour lesson, lift passes, and all the rental gear. It started off pretty terrible from the start. Mind you, the package we bought had capital letters DO NOT BOOK THIS PACKAGE IF YOU HAVE EVER SKIED THIS IS FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS. So we get there, and nobody shows us how to put the boots on. When I politely asked a staff member to show us they gave an exasperated sigh as if this was a huge bother and hastily buckled up our boots without really explaining what they were doing. Already I'm like huh, not really that beginner friendly but whatever. We get the skis and helmet, and they don't give us the poles, and tell us to go out to the hill to the instructor. So I'm thinking alright maybe the instructor has the poles.



We get out to the instructor, first thing she does is essentially scold us like we were 7 year olds who tied their shoes wrong about how our boots were done. Anyway, this isn't my first customer service experience, so right off the rip I accepted that they were dicks all around but I wasn't going to let it get in the way of my time or my ability to learn and brushed it off. HERE is where I'm really curious of whether we got a terrible lesson.



My wife and I asked if we needed poles for the lesson. She stood there in thought for about 7 seconds before saying an unconvincing "eh, I guess not". I don't know much about skiing, but I do know that the poles seem fairly significant. First thing she showed is how to put on the skis and then had us shuffle around in a circle on them. Cool, makes sense. She then took us to a small hill where I assumed she wanted us to practice going down and stopping with the South Park episode in my head (french fry, pizza, french fry, pizza). No, she wanted us to learn turning without first learning to stop. Again, sure, I'm no expert so lets do it. The way she taught turning just...seemed wrong. First, we had no poles, so she had us hold our arms out as if we were holding them. Then she pushed us down and said in order to turn you COMPLETELY turn your head to look back over the shoulder you want to turn and just keep looking over your shoulder. I know I'm new to skiing, but I have seen skiing before, and people generally look like they are looking forward...where they're going. Repeatedly I would turn my head all the way over my shoulder, start going super fast in that direction, she would then start screaming "KEEP YOUR HEAD TURNED COMMIT TO THE TURN, COMMIT", and before I ran into something I would just fall down because she didn't teach us how to stop. She also would not tell me a strategy on how to get up (I knew I would fall, I didn't know it was so hard to get up), and when I asked "hey what's the easiest way to get up?" she said "Don't fall". Cool. I'm a strong guy, no body builder but I'm decently strong, and getting up off the ground with no help is REALLY difficult. She would just stand over you, not even lend you a hand, and just say "nope not getting up that way, nope that won't work". Anyway, I basically started just popping a ski off and hobbling my way down.

We did this for essentially an hour and then the lesson was over. My wife and I throughout the day would ask "what did we do wrong there?" and she would just say "Don't know". Is this what a first time lesson is supposed to look like?? Did we just choose a cheap mountain and a cheap lesson and get what we paid for? Do you really learn without poles and without learning to stop?!



Just any thoughts on this experience from skiers would be helpful. I fell on the magic carpet which was super embarrassing as well because...surprise surprise when I asked how to do it she just said "just get on".

In reading about your experience, it mirrors very closely to the experience that my wife and I had at our first timers ski "lesson" earlier this year. By any chance, did you go to Wachusett also?

Poor experience and instruction aside. I felt I got my $129 worth, as it included the boot rental, lift ticket, and "lesson". While the lesson didn't teach me how to ski at all, it did help ease me into being on the slope as a 32 year old that's never skied before. My wife and I frequently laugh about that sorry excuse of a first lesson that we received. But 15 days on mountain later, we are comfortable skiers now and we didn't let that poor first time experience get in our way.