Geepers and Mike, et al.:
Bobby does not show the stay high drill like Gellie does.
So, I would always be late if I learned only from Bobby's video.
Bobby totally omits Gellie's discussion of how, where and when to edge which is part of employing the stay high movement on the how, where and when on the topography of an actual bump.
Bobby's short turns on the groomers are awesome.
Bobby's bump turns in the bump runs are awesome.
After watching Gellie's video, I see now that those two types of turns are totally, totally, totally different.
Which I would not have recognized but for the Gellie video.
Watching Bobby's groomer short turns, it is obvious that he is very, very, very actively making/creating forces by actively edging, pressuring and rotating.
The in-the-bump runs type of turns which Bobby actually uses and which Gellie also uses are more of a managing-forces type of turn and are much less an actively-created forces type of turn. I would have missed that without Gellie's video.
This is where bump topography and Gellie's tail pivot turn comes in.
Geepers and Mike, now that Gellie has taught me how to see it, I do see the tail pivot turn in both Bobby's and Gellie's bump skiing.
But Gellie actually talks about it as well as demonstrating it and running the video back and forth and drawing arrows and curved lines on the screen over the movement to show the edge pressure and rotation as well as the momentum which is created by the skier's mass and how, where and when that mass momentum is used to pivot both the tail and the tip on the bump topography.
If you want to see tail pivot in action, watch the Takao Insanely Fast Feet video above.
To my relatively inexperienced eye, which is now somewhat better educated by Gellie, Takao uses ONLY tail pivots in that bump skiing video and totally foregoes tip/entry pivots (and thus forgoes the speed reduction which tip/entry pivots provide). That is why Takao is skiing so friggin' fast in that video. My goal is not to ski insanely fast in the bumps. I have knees which I would like to preserve.
Bottom line: I love Deb Armstrong. And I really like her videos. An in-person lesson with Deb or Bobby would be awesome. An in-person lesson with Tom Gellie would be awesome.
But comparing video learning by patching together seven minute free videos on youtube versus Tom Gellie's high production value teaching progression videos?
Tom Gellie's videos are cheaper if you value your time and if you actually want to learn something. Period.
Gellie is clear, he shows every step in minute detail. He alternates between dry land in studio static demo and on snow dynamic demo. Each step logically builds on the prior step. That's why it is called a "progression." He no doubt has spent thousands of dollars on video cameras, computers and video editing software. And no doubt he has spent many thousands of hours staring at a computer screen editing his videos. And reshooting them when he wasn't completely happy with their first iteration.
I am also going to go out on a limb here. I could be wrong, but I don't think Tom Gellie was one of those skiing phenoms who started a ski discipline at seven years old and, thus, learned innately and intuitively how, where, what to do to ski great.
I think Tom Gellie went on a personal quest to learn to become a phenomenal skier and, in doing so, he used the scientific approach to examine how great skiers move on terrain to ski greatly, he analyzed those movements, he talked to great skiers in his Podcast Garden ski podcast, he experimented in his own personal skiing and actually learned what did and did not work and then thought about what worked and what didn't and why. He skied with and taught with all the big name Rookie Academy technical skiers in NZ and elsewhere. He taught thousands of hours and likely thousands of students. And (I surmise) because he came at skiing and teaching the thinking way, Gellie can and does transfer that knowledge effectively via video. Video teaching required a very specific skill set which Gellie clearly has which allows him to explain, teach and demo skiing in a very, very, very progressive and, thus, effective way on video.
Tom Gellie's goal, it appears to me, was not to become an Olympian but to become a phenomenal skier and teacher.
INHO, Tom has achieved that. And he deserves to be make an income from it.
Personally, I know that I like to be paid for teaching.
Sometimes I think that some of those videos on youtube are actually made to make everything look easier than it is just to create enthusiasm for the sport of skiing or for a particular resort or to obtain students for the profession, rather than to actually convey information. A good of example of this is the old PSIA "Go with a Pro" video series. I mean, really, it says what the video series if for right in the name...
You and Me versus Tom. Free market exchange of my money freely give in return for value from Tom -- one free man to another in the Milton Friedman or Ayn Rand sense.
* I am nowhere near the skier or teacher that Tom Gellie is. But this reminds me of what my ski school director confided to me on the chair when he hired me 22 years ago, "You know Tim the best skiers don't always make the best instructors." That person is now one of the Senior Directors at one of Vail's well known Colorado resorts. Personally, I think I can become a much better teacher watching Gellie's videos, so I am deducting the cost. Maybe his videos can make you a better instructor too.
