What you learned at Taos ski week (or any other recent lessons)?

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

Taos ski week was a cool experience. It was a blend of lessons and mountain guide. We spend the first three days playing with race type turns chasing Tod the instructor. Following him in a single file was definitely fun and educational. As Tod said: follow me and the turn will teach you something. There were bumps the Taos way too. Tod got sniffles on day four and we got Tom and some fresh snow. So lessons switched to navigating the steeps.

Here are my memory joggers from the weeks tips, trick, and drills:

1. Hip shrug to initiate release
2. Crab turn
3. Firm up the pole plant and retract. 45deg sweep with the wrist
4. Tip inside foot slowly, wait for the skis to carv
5. Slide or ski on the inside ski
6. Body position for moguls: Ready to pounce like a cat
7. Hands forward
8. Don’t look at the skis or too close to the skis
9. Squat down while skiing mellow pitch and jump up
10. Racers keep poles down at knee level
11. Soft edges in bumps, steeps, and soft
12. Use side of the bump to make banked turn. Slowly.
13. Kong fu turn aka zero speed turn
14. Close the ankles: toes up to stay iut of back seat in bumps and steeps
15. Enter gnarly runs not at the gates but a little past the gate and cut back
16. And of course @KingGrump wisdom on skiing effortlessly and gracefully.

 

[mdf]

For me the most valuable thing about lessons is the feedback.
Some days things work well, but other days they just don't and some bad old habits come back.
It's key to have someone recognize and say "that thing you were doing? you're doing it again."

For example, one day I wasn't feeling confident on the steeps, for no particular reason, but it was making me hang back from committing down the hill during initiation.
As I forced myself to stop leaning into the hill, my instructor pointed out that even though my body leaned down the hill, my head was still tilted back away from the hill. I had no idea.

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

@mdf remided me of another tip from the week: chin down when getting ready for the turn on the steep. And chin goes first down the steep turn - if I remember the phrase correctly. ymmv

 

[Noodler]

Quick question: I noticed that quite often the Taos instructors lead the line of students and the students are skiing so closely behind, that when the instructor stops, they don't get to see much of the students' skiing. Did I miss where the instructors spend more time watching the students? How was the balance between demonstration by the instructors and analysis of your own skiing (and providing the follow-up feedback)?

 

[graham418]

^^^ Follow me can be a very useful tool for students. Usually for just one skier at a time. You get to see footwork , feel the timing, etc. Once you get too far away , it loses effectiveness

 

[tromano]

Felt like I got a good chance to experiment with the taos method for bumps and take that into some more steep mogul terrain than I usually see at my home mountain.

 

[dbostedo]

Quick question: I noticed that quite often the Taos instructors lead the line of students and the students are skiing so closely behind, that when the instructor stops, they don't get to see much of the students' skiing. Did I miss where the instructors spend more time watching the students? How was the balance between demonstration by the instructors and analysis of your own skiing (and providing the follow-up feedback)?

I think it was a pretty good mix... we did a short turns follow-me where the goal was to not catch the person in front of you... to do skidded short turns and control speed, and the instructor set the pace. Since we spent (or I did especially) the week learning to skid/slarve/slide more in the bumps, this was very useful to me.

I think the thing I liked best was that we also talked tactics in the bumps to a larger extent than I've had before... when you're on top of a nasty or trough-y big bump, what are the options for dealing with it. In past lessons it's been more about the turns, and less about where you can turn and how to control speed doing it. (Probably because we were working on more basic turns and easier bumps before, and got a little more advanced this time.)

I will also add that I think I got more out of this ski week than any of the other 3 I've done (maybe with the exception of my first one)... though of course if I retain it remains to be seen.

 

[Noodler]

OK, two responses that don't actually get to the heart of what I was asking. How was the actual analysis of your own skiing and do you feel you got enough feedback?

 

[dbostedo]

How was the actual analysis of your own skiing...

Good

...do you feel you got enough feedback?

Yes.



More specifically, tips for me were to stand taller and keep my legs looser - I tend to crouch and stiffen in bumps. And that I'm too quick getting on edge, which was keeping me from controlling speed as well as I could. It's certainly not nearly as much personal feedback or observation as you'd get with a private 1-on-1, but over 6 days I think there was a reasonable amount.

 

[mdf]

Quick question: I noticed that quite often the Taos instructors lead the line of students and the students are skiing so closely behind, that when the instructor stops, they don't get to see much of the students' skiing. Did I miss where the instructors spend more time watching the students? How was the balance between demonstration by the instructors and analysis of your own skiing (and providing the follow-up feedback)?

It sometimes seemed like they weren't looking that much, but our instructor was able to give each of us individual, spot-on feedback. So he must have been looking sometimes.

There were some runs where our instructor went ahead and set up on a good viewing position before we skied. But others we just skied. I think he was going for a mix of "graded" and "ungraded" runs. And there were a few runs where he picked out one of us and one issue and gave that person repeated feedback after every sequence of turns. ( They can also get a surprising amount by glancing back as they ski.)

We progressed through a series of issues, usualy one at a time, through the week.

On a side note: When @Tony S switched into our group midweek, the instructor was unclear about what he wanted us to try on the very first run, leading to a misdiagnosis of Tony's skiing. So Tony asked him to look again while he was clear on what he was supposed to do, which fixed that problem.

 

[mdf]

Towards the end of the week, my issue was improving pole tap location in the bumps.(It's more about where the poles aim before they touch, though where they touch matters more. EDIT- meant to say "too" not "more") I didn't quite get it before the week was over.

(Me: "yeah that helped." Him: "it would have helped even more if you did what I asked you to do.")
Oh well, next time...

In hindsight I wish I had done a slow-motion (or even stop-and-go) run through the bumps, repeatedly asking "is this where my hands should be now?"

Poles are strange. I'm talking here about changing from OK pole usage to better pole usage. But on those days when I feel like I have forgotten how to ski, one of the key indicators is my arms. Then my arms feel wild, and my new outside arm gets stuck behind me. I'm sure its a secondary indicator of the root cause, but it sure is a clear indicator.

 

[tromano]

Quick question: I noticed that quite often the Taos instructors lead the line of students and the students are skiing so closely behind, that when the instructor stops, they don't get to see much of the students' skiing. Did I miss where the instructors spend more time watching the students? How was the balance between demonstration by the instructors and analysis of your own skiing (and providing the follow-up feedback)?

My group almost never did that except by accident. Most of the runs we skied 1 at a time.

 

[Noodler]

Towards the end of the week, my issue was improving pole tap location in the bumps.(It's more about where the poles aim before they touch, though where they touch matters more.) I didn't quite get it before the week was over.

(Me: "yeah that helped." Him: "it would have helped even more if you did what I asked you to do.")
Oh well, next time...

In hindsight I wish I had done a slow-motion (or even stop-and-go) run through the bumps, repeatedly asking "is this where my hands should be now?"

Poles are strange. I'm talking here about changing from OK pole usage to better pole usage. But on those days when I feel like I have forgotten how to ski, one of the key indicators is my arms. Then my arms feel wild, and my new outside arm gets stuck behind me. I'm sure its a secondary indicator of the root cause, but it sure is a clear indicator.

Yeah, pole usage can definitely be a "make or break you" element in bump skiing. An interesting self-diagnosis drill is to do a baton-balance exercise where you hold the poles about midway down the shaft and don't actually plant them while you ski bumps. This allows the skier to see if they have sufficient balance without "leaning" on the pole plants (typically a blocking plant). Figure out if you can ski bumps with a pole "tap" versus a "plant".

 

[Noodler]

My group almost never did that except by accident. Most of the runs we skied 1 at a time.

Must have been one of the few that instructed in that manner.

 

[dbostedo]

Yeah, pole usage can definitely be a "make or break you" element in bump skiing. An interesting self-diagnosis drill is to do a baton-balance exercise where you hold the poles about midway down the shaft and don't actually plant them while you ski bumps. This allows the skier to see if they have sufficient balance without "leaning" on the pole plants (typically a blocking plant). Figure out if you can ski bumps with a pole "tap" versus a "plant".

Along those lines, I was really struggling to slide and not edge, and getting really locked up on day 1. So my instructor made me side slip the whole bump field without poles. I struggled mightily and fell a couple of times, but I think it was very instructive.

 

[mdf]

He was saying to point the outside pole at where the next pole tap will be very early. "No, even earlier." I think the point is to keep your shoulders square to the fall line.

On the other hand, if you are trying to go really slow in the bumps, the "open the door" pole style helps with that.

As you ski a more direct or rounder line the pole usage adjusts accordingly.

 

[dbostedo]

...the "open the door" pole style helps with that.

Someone asked my instructor about that, and he wanted us to plant early and ski past the pole, rather than plant back behind your boot in the "open the door" type. I think a similar effect/rationale, but planting early means you have to be prepared earlier too. And since we were working on skiing the bumps slow but not stopping even if you had to shop and side slip, that was helpful.

 

[Jersey Skier]

Along those lines, I was really struggling to slide and not edge, and getting really locked up on day 1. So my instructor made me side slip the whole bump field without poles. I struggled mightily and fell a couple of times, but I think it was very instructive.

Sounds like he was trying to punish you. I tend to set an edge to keep my speed in control and that exercise would freak me out.

 

[dbostedo]

Sounds like he was trying to punish you.

Not at all.

Being on edge in the bump means you can't really control speed. At least for me... even when I thought I was brushing, I was really up on edge and don't have good edge control. An consequently I couldn't make more than a turn or two without going faster than I wanted, and/or having the skis run away from me and getting back.

 

[KingGrump]

Quick question: I noticed that quite often the Taos instructors lead the line of students and the students are skiing so closely behind, that when the instructor stops, they don't get to see much of the students' skiing. Did I miss where the instructors spend more time watching the students? How was the balance between demonstration by the instructors and analysis of your own skiing (and providing the follow-up feedback)?

The usual answer is instructors have eye in the back of their head.

On almost any turn with a decent finish out of the fall line, the instructor can do a quick glance and see quite a bit. Most of the gross issues are very apparent. Those get addressed first. The fine tuning comes later.