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

[dbostedo]

My new instructor...

... sounds great. Mind sharing the name (here or PM)? Since I've had a few and skied with a few more, I'm always curious.

 

[Marker]

... sounds great. Mind sharing the name (here or PM)? Since I've had a few and skied with a few more, I'm always curious.

Same instructor as myself and @socalgal! LF and I had a PM conversation, so I'm glad she is working out for her as well.

 

[Noodler]

Same instructor as myself and @socalgal! LF and I had a PM conversation, so I'm glad she is working out for her as well.

Interesting. So this is the same "good" instructor that gave you your list that was posted. That adds up...

 

[Marker]

The issues you describe above are not inherent to instructional groups where there are different levels of skill and different comfort levels with speed. They are inherent to the teacher, or at least in this case were. This guy did quite a few no-nos with our group, the worst of which was over-terraining us on Sunday in the middle of the lesson before he had time to evaluate us very well. The no-nos did not only result from his inexperience; there's more going on which I won't discuss. No names.

My new instructor is doing a great job with the different levels of skiers in our group. She waits until the group is all collected, as should any instructor, before talking. She does not privilege anyone in the group with extra attention. She rotates her attention from student to student, one at a time. She teaches the group one thing at a time, and explains why it's important to do. She works with us in baby steps, and chooses terrain that goes up in challenge in challenge determined by the growing comfort of the lowest level skier (a safety issue in ski instruction). She has not over-terrained us. She keeps checking that we all are comfortable with the next task, and gives us permission to not do it. I've been with her two days now and can see that there's a progression she's using that will lead us to skiing the peak before the week is over. She's a good instructor. As you say, the solution is to leave the group for another instructor if you don't like what's going on. Those in charge are happy to accommodate.

Note: if you're in a private group, you will have difficulty dealing with a bad fit. There are some people in my large SkiDiva group here in private ski week groups that are shifting around and I hear them talking about how that's working. It will work out, but it seems to be more of a hassle for them than it was for me. I did the ski-off.

Tell your new instructor I said hi. I was talking up Ski Talk and encouraging her to join for the instructors' forums and general stuff as well.

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

…. Example: I freakin' could not do the crab turn. I only started to get it by the end of the week. The one breakthrough I had came from @Pasha , who got it more or less right away. I don't even remember what he said now, but it was an "aha" moment for me. After that I thought of him as my cheat sheet buddy.

It was about looking straight down the fall line to prevent turning the whole body across the hill…

 

[ADKmel]

Just a mention on Taos private groups they are set up by the private group and yes they can request their favorite instructor- Private groups "should" know how each group member skis and the terrain they want to explore. Unfortunately some may have joined a private group based on casual conversations not really knowing how the others ski nor what terrain they wanted to ski.

I think it's great that you can switch groups either via the ski off or IF a private group will have you come ski with them- FYI- private groups can end up paying more than the ski off price if they have fewer members. I think Taos ski week weeds out skiing abilities/levels because it's a real deal MT. I'm a 3x Ski week participant and can vouch for ski week teaching old dogs new tricks!
Taos will up your game! It's been worth my $$ every time. I'm tired but happy tonight- the hot tub sure felt good after 18450 Vertical today!

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

I had two days on the snow after the ski week and I’m definitely doing better on bumps. And it looks like I am using new muscles: my adductors are definitely sore, specifically adductor brevis in picture below. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Sanity]

I had two days on the snow after the ski week and I’m definitely doing better on bumps. And it looks like I am using new muscles: my adductors are definitely sore, specifically adductor brevis in picture below. Any thoughts on that?

View attachment 159498

I've never been sore there mogul skiing, and I don't think I have particularly strong abductors. I would worry if your canting is off, such that the skis keep wanting to diverge. If you're constantly keeping the skis from diverging, and if it's tough to get knee angulated up on edge, then perhaps that's the cause.

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

@Sanity interesting point about canting - I’ll look into it.

could it be that I am not used to so many pivot moves throwing skis sideways?

 

[KingGrump]

I had two days on the snow after the ski week and I’m definitely doing better on bumps. And it looks like I am using new muscles: my adductors are definitely sore, specifically adductor brevis in picture below. Any thoughts on that?

View attachment 159498

Could be canting as mentioned above.

It could be you are using the adductor to engage the ski side edge instead of using the quad to push the ski in a lateral manner.

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

@KingGrump interesting. I’ve working on higher edge angles on groomers while im not in the bumps. So that may have activated “new” muscles.

the ski week instructor did not notice anything canting related in my stance. But he did mention something about it to another student. Proper check would require a drive up to Taos.

 

[Sanity]

@KingGrump interesting. I’ve working on higher edge angles on groomers while im not in the bumps. So that may have activated “new” muscles.

the ski week instructor did not notice anything canting related in my stance. But he did mention something about it to another student. Proper check would require a drive up to Taos.

Just for a quick look, pull out the liner, stand in the shells such that both legs are 90 degrees to the floor (i.e. not too wide, not too narrow stance width). The legs should emerge from the middle of the shells. I've had factory settings for boots be perfect, and I had one boot with a factory setting that was way off. It's hard to notice. I only discovered it because I experimented with changing boots in the middle of the day and was shocked to discover I couldn't turn nearly as well in the off boots. The body just adapts and compensates, and you get used to whatever you're doing, but your performance is off.

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

@Sanity I did the cuff alignment when I got the boots but will check again.

May be I’m confusing the muscles and it’s psoas or illiacus that I’m feeling. The feeling is in the groin near hip joint rather than down in inner thigh.

 

[applecart]

Sounds like the Psoas. It's a super-important muscle. Dr. Google can give you some exercises. I have issues as well.

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

When the instructor described the “hip shrug” , he said psoas is being used in lifting/lowering the pelvic/hip.

 

[tromano]

Question: Does anyone here find javelin turns easy to do?

Not hard.

 

[Sanity]

When the instructor described the “hip shrug” , he said psoas is being used in lifting/lowering the pelvic/hip.

What's the "hip shrug"?

 

[tromano]

Is this the movement your talking about?

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

What's the "hip shrug"?

See post #23 up in this thread

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

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...

www.skitalk.com

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

Is this the movement your talking about?

Yes. But on skis the range of motion needed to unweight a ski is very small