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crabjoe

Booting up
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Joined
Feb 3, 2020
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55
Location
Maryland
I was out to dinner with a friend when I mentioned that I wanted to hit the slopes this weekend. Her daughter stated she wanted to go because she had never gone and mom doesn't ski at all. To make a long story short, I agreed to take her. But here's the catch.. She doesn't want to take a lesson and wants me to show her. She's very athletic.

I figured I'd go through the basics.. How to step in and out of the skis, wedge, pizza, snow plow, weight forward, getting up from a fall, etiquette and blah blah blah.

Anyone have any suggestions? I've been teaching my 9yo to ski and that's gone fairly well, but I'm unsure how to deal with a teen that's not mine. Especially one that thinks she's going to be able to get up on the skis and just go, like she sees on tv. LOL

If nothing else, I guess I just need to try and make it fun for her and take lots of pix and vids so her family and friends can have a good laugh with her..

Thanks
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
13,549
Location
Great White North
Fake an injury... :ogbiggrin:
Good luck. I mean, you have the basics so it'll really be can she pick it up. A fella I know was skiing full green runs at Lake Louise after a half day lesson. Ya never know.
 

dbostedo

Asst. Gathermeister
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Don't discount just moving around on the skis on flat terrain .... shuffling, side stepping, picking one ski up then the other. Just to get used to having skis on. Then maybe side-stepping up a hill, and then herringboning up a hill, to understand how the edges work and feel. (Note, I'm no instructor... but I've seen beginner groups doing this stuff.)
 

cosmoliu

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Dec 6, 2015
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1,314
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Central CA Coast
I put my granddaughter in ski school @ 13 on her first day out some 7 years ago. Less than 2 hours later she texted me asking that I come get her because she was bored- she was mastering all of the drills on her first try and was standing around getting cold while the others did what never evers do. We negotiated that she stick it out for the remainder of the day and I promised that I would take her out myself the next day. I did that and we've never looked back. She can basically go everywhere I go now and has no glaringly bad habits. Sure, she'd be a better skier with skilled instruction, but this is how it had to be. So yes, your situation is not necessarily doomed to failure. And yes, she did several years of ice skating lessons as a pre teen.

Oh, one other thing: As a requirement that she ski with me in control, I told her from the get go that she had to be able to stop within two turns when told to do so. And I would spring that demand on her randomly during any given run. No stop, no ski. She balked once and we went directly to the bottom. Actually cut my own skiing day short. She toed the line after that.
 
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Don in Morrison

I Ski Better on Retro Day
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Nov 13, 2015
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1,418
Location
Morrison, Colorado
My stepdad taught me to ski in 1969 when I was 17. A week after that first trip, he bought me a dry-land lesson for first-timers on a 20-foot high plastic hill. I didn't learn anything new. That's the only lesson I ever had. I'm not particularly athletic, but I think I can credibly claim to be a level-7 skier. Lessons no doubt would have sped things up or made me somewhat more proficient, but that's not the path I took.

I tried to teach my 9-year-old granddaughter to ski and it didn't go well. I bought her a one-hour lesson on an indoor Ski-Dek and she's been doing really well since then.

Some people are constantly taking lessons and only improving slowly. People are all different. I can't explain it.

If the girl is an ice skater or roller blader she will definitely have a leg up on someone who isn't. A couple of my own kids used that experience to advantage when they tried skiing, without any lessons. They only tried skiing a couple of times and went back to snowboarding.
 
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crabjoe

Booting up
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Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Posts
55
Location
Maryland
I have a niece that skis that way...scares the beejezus out of me LOL

My son wants to do the same thing.. I've been forcing him to turn and stop by having him follow me. If I let him lead, he just wants to go fast and only turn or stop if somethings in his way.. scares the crap out of me too!
 

Pasha

i hiked the ridge... twice...
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Joined
Feb 11, 2019
Posts
843
Location
New Mexico
here is a gold mine video for first day on the ski:

things that a first timer must know: how to fall, how to get up, how to get the skis on, how to open binding if the heel is closed, side step up the hill, stopping with a snow plow, wedge turns... (I taught several beginners including my wife... we are still married).... you mentioned most of these in the OP
 
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