Several of us were in ski weeks at Taos, as described in this thread:
https://www.pugski.com/threads/taos-mini-gathering-2019.11408/
[MOD EDIT : For anyone who doesn't know the format, a Taos Ski Week consists of a 2 hour group lesson every morning for 6 straight days. It starts with a "ski-off" on Sunday where you're placed in a group based on making 6 or 7 turns down a sort intermediate slope. There is opportunity to change groups in case of error.]
I would like to start a discussion about the ski weeks --
what did you learn? Was the mix of teaching vs terrain exploration vs "just skiing" appropriate? More or less teaching? Balance of talking vs demoing vs following?
How was the terrain level? How well matched was your group? Did you think there should have been a secondary sorting after the initial ski off?
First off, we had enough advanced / expert skiers that we could have made a pre-selected group, or at least most of one. But since we all skied together in the afternoon, that probably would have been too much togetherness.
I was in one of the top-level groups. For me, the biggest thing I worked on was line choice. I noticed that I could ski without getting out of breath when I was closely following the instructor (steep trees and/or bumps), but not when choosing my own line.
We hiked. First, to Wild West Glade. The run itself was fun but pretty mild. The traverse into it, however, was just feet away from the edge of big drops. That was scary and I would not want to do it on my own. Another day we hiked to Treskow, which had good trees followed by an untracked exit apron. Wow! A third day, we hiked to ski the lightly stirred powder on Juarez (I think), which was a ton of fun. Several of our class members refused that third hike ... even though the earlier days proved they were better hikers than me.
There were some specific technical topics we covered. We did the Taos "open the door" pole plant with associated round bump line -- I had done that before, but had lost the knack. When carving groomers, we worked on pulling back the inside ski (reducing tip lead) and engaging it. (Combined with short-leg-shorter-leg.) I had read about that, but never seriously tried it. Wow! It works. @Tony S , who was following me, said "I've never seen you ski like that before." We talked about lifting the toes in powder. I think the idea is to pressure the tongue without taking weight off the heels. That cue doesn't do anything for me, but it seemed to for some of the class.
We did not do video. We did not do individual motion analysis. One of our classmates whispered to our instructor that she wanted more individual instruction. I didn't really pay attention to whether she got it when I wasn't looking. Another classmate remarked to me, as we were saying goodbye, that he also expected more instruction. At first I agreed with him, but on further reflection I don't think it was too far out of balance. Maybe a little more "formal" motion analysis....
As Tony noted in the gathering thread this is branched from,
The other issue near the end was how much people wanted to be challenged. For some reason, the woman I referred to above decided on the third day she didn't want to ski trees! After skiing them, apparently OK, on the 2nd day. This put a real cramp in our terrain choices. I think we would have finished bigger otherwise.
Overall conclusion -- pretty happy, but not perfect. I will do another Ski Week in a future year.
https://www.pugski.com/threads/taos-mini-gathering-2019.11408/
[MOD EDIT : For anyone who doesn't know the format, a Taos Ski Week consists of a 2 hour group lesson every morning for 6 straight days. It starts with a "ski-off" on Sunday where you're placed in a group based on making 6 or 7 turns down a sort intermediate slope. There is opportunity to change groups in case of error.]
I would like to start a discussion about the ski weeks --
what did you learn? Was the mix of teaching vs terrain exploration vs "just skiing" appropriate? More or less teaching? Balance of talking vs demoing vs following?
How was the terrain level? How well matched was your group? Did you think there should have been a secondary sorting after the initial ski off?
First off, we had enough advanced / expert skiers that we could have made a pre-selected group, or at least most of one. But since we all skied together in the afternoon, that probably would have been too much togetherness.
I was in one of the top-level groups. For me, the biggest thing I worked on was line choice. I noticed that I could ski without getting out of breath when I was closely following the instructor (steep trees and/or bumps), but not when choosing my own line.
We hiked. First, to Wild West Glade. The run itself was fun but pretty mild. The traverse into it, however, was just feet away from the edge of big drops. That was scary and I would not want to do it on my own. Another day we hiked to Treskow, which had good trees followed by an untracked exit apron. Wow! A third day, we hiked to ski the lightly stirred powder on Juarez (I think), which was a ton of fun. Several of our class members refused that third hike ... even though the earlier days proved they were better hikers than me.
There were some specific technical topics we covered. We did the Taos "open the door" pole plant with associated round bump line -- I had done that before, but had lost the knack. When carving groomers, we worked on pulling back the inside ski (reducing tip lead) and engaging it. (Combined with short-leg-shorter-leg.) I had read about that, but never seriously tried it. Wow! It works. @Tony S , who was following me, said "I've never seen you ski like that before." We talked about lifting the toes in powder. I think the idea is to pressure the tongue without taking weight off the heels. That cue doesn't do anything for me, but it seemed to for some of the class.
We did not do video. We did not do individual motion analysis. One of our classmates whispered to our instructor that she wanted more individual instruction. I didn't really pay attention to whether she got it when I wasn't looking. Another classmate remarked to me, as we were saying goodbye, that he also expected more instruction. At first I agreed with him, but on further reflection I don't think it was too far out of balance. Maybe a little more "formal" motion analysis....
As Tony noted in the gathering thread this is branched from,
Tony was in my group after the first day. We had a woman who comes to Taos multiple weeks a year and always does a ski week (and still needs it). We had a local man who seemed to be there because his friend needed some instruction. He did not appear to need instruction himself. When we got into bigger terrain, he asked where we were going and then led the way, so our instructor could watch technique and sweep.
The other issue near the end was how much people wanted to be challenged. For some reason, the woman I referred to above decided on the third day she didn't want to ski trees! After skiing them, apparently OK, on the 2nd day. This put a real cramp in our terrain choices. I think we would have finished bigger otherwise.
Overall conclusion -- pretty happy, but not perfect. I will do another Ski Week in a future year.
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