Becoming an effective Skier - Five Essential Points

Lily White,
How nice to read your post!

It reminded me of one of the most beautiful ski scenes I have ever seen.

When my children were small, I skied at a local family oriented ski resort and every year we had a "family" ski day ! On one such a day,,a family brought their great grandfather who could barely walk, never mind bend over to get ski boots on!
The grandchildren sat him down and they put on his skis. Then his children ( parents now) helped him on the skis!

A transformation accorded in him ! First uneasy,,then graceful turns down easy run finally long slow graceful turns with 10-15 family members following behind, like a flock of geese flying south! Happiness shone his path like a brilliant sun!

His smile told all skiers on the slopes that his family had done "the right thing",,for we were all initially critical of this family! We thought they were risking his life, his limbs bringing him to ski! We were wrong !

I love the statement, "constant gentle pressure"! Great way to teach anything!
I call it,,"the slow, imperceptible raising of the bar" ! I often do this when I have some skier who is "afraid of speed" ! I ask him/her to just focus on my back. To trust me and follow me 3 meters behind IN MY EXACT tracks ! I ski slowly to gain trust of person,,,,then once they know I will never pick hard spot, tough spot, steep spot,,,,,I will slowly increase speed on easy flat sections! After 3 hours we are cruising all easy slopes at speeds they would never do alone! A little faster, a little tidier, a little more efficient ( and with style and elegance )!
The most important part,,is to enjoy experience. To be patient in the learning curve and to pick slopes for your ability.

I have a confession Lily,,several years ago I could not walk to my car, let alone ski! I thought I would never ski. I was very timid the first time I drove to ski center ( after a tune up ), since my wife and children had hidden my skis ( they did not want me to ski for at least one year)!
I know how it feels not knowing what will happen when you "ask" those skis to turn.
You can all do it,,if you believe in yourselves!

The challenge is picking a right time ( with lots of sun, few skiers and easy slope)!

Progress is measured in that smile,,rather than the speed, the technique!
The limitations you have are but mental. Truly ! I teach "handicap" skiers who have no legs, barely can see or have coordination issues! They are all experts to me! It is not the ski slope that defines an expert,,it is what is in the heart !

There is no doubt you will soar one day and on that day you will think, "yes Icarus felt like that" !

Here is my "gentle pressure" to you Lily ! Push yourself just that little more,,,you can do it" The reward will be great !
Then send us a picture of your smile at the bottom of the slope, as you get the gold metal from your husband/boyfriend/coach/instructor!

It will happen !

Icarus

Thanks for the encouragement! I rarely have to hunt for a smile ever but skiing makes grin even harder than normal.
If ever you saw me on the slopes you'd know it! My helmet is covered in daisies and if my balaclava is showing it has mouse ears!

Read this just for you Lily,
That is your goal..to become a ski instructor,,,soon !

"Many of the people visiting Deer Valley have never skied before, or haven't hit the slopes for a while and want to rediscover their skills.

Whatever the case may be, Letitia Lussier is game ( she is 70 years + ).

"I've been skiing with some of the families for over 25 years. I'm down to grandkids," Lussier said about the ski instructor job she has held at Deer Valley since the day it opened in 1981. "I feel like part of the family with a lot of them. I look forward to seeing them again and meeting new members."

Lussier came to Utah 30 years ago from the Northeast, where she had been working at a resort, and realized her friends were not exaggerating.

"Utah, by far, has the best snow," said the +70 year-old, who has skied around the world. "It is one reason why I came here, and it is the reason I stayed here."

That snow, coupled with Deer Valley's reputation, brings people to Lussier. And like every other employee at the resort, she takes her job seriously — particularly with people new to the sport.

"When I get somebody just learning to ski, no matter their age, I really pour my heart into the lesson," she said. "I want them to be comfortable and fall in love with skiing. It is such a wonderful thing — something you can do your entire life with family and friends or just yourself."

The reward is not only for the student.

"My favorite is the people who have never skied before. I get to the opportunity to see them learn and develop an appreciation of skiing for what it is," she said. "It is a great reminder about why I love it."

Lussier says it is her patience, perhaps fine-tuned through decades as an artist, that helps her resonate with anxious skiers.

"I love the challenge of someone intimidated, scared or trying to get over a bad experience," she said. "I enjoy working with them and motivating them to a place where they are ready to take the next step. I feel like I'm able to break things down into tiny increments of what that particular person needs."

And that is what the Deer Valley mantra is all about.

This resonates, she sounds like a great lady.
I am welfare officer for the local disabled soccer club and manager/trainer in a bar, both are multi-generational. I have a long way to go with my skiing, but that's cool, I enjoy the challenge, people and scenery on the journey.(I make no apologies if that sounds trite, it's true!)
With such a crazy work ethic (65 hours average) I don't know how to sit still, activity holidays allow me to relax and force me to accept that sometimes you have to give up control, that your not always right, that you can learn from the most unlikely source, that no matter how well you prepare things don't always go ok, you learn a lot by watching and listening, that it is fun to f*** up and theres no shame involved, that sometimes your best can be someone elses worst and that is fine! Love it, love it, love it!

Lilywhite,
First WORK is not work when you love what you do ! You will see,,soon you will have all the time to do what you want!

Practice those 5 above items!

Then you can become like that Utah Instructor!

Imagine a "second" career in skiing !

I am meeting all sorts of individuals who "discovered" skiing at a later age ( too busy making lots of money or trying to get that "prestige" title ) and all say they wished to discover the pleasure of skiing earlier!

You have ! You are ahead of the "game" !

Cheers!

Pavel

One of the most important lessons I've learned is to accept that everyone has bad days. If it's one of those bad days, I now just try to work on stuff that I know I'm not good at. That way I don't feel I suck at something I know I can do better. The "in the zone" day will just have to wait.

Unless you ski for a living (instructor, racer or rescue team etc) then the term effective skier is almost irrelevant.

For most of us there is only one reason to ski - enjoyment. Yes you have to be effective enough to be safe but beyond that effective should be replaced with enjoyably.
For some enjoyment means getting better but the flip side of that is that you have to come to terms with how to deal with getting past your peak.

I took up skiing after giving up playing competetive sport & wanted to do something I would never be good enough to do competetively and thus only do for enjoyment and to motivate me to exercise to keep fit enough for it.
I'm happy to improve but not at the expense of enjoying my holiday.

andymol2 wrote:Unless you ski for a living (instructor, racer or rescue team etc) then the term effective skier is almost irrelevant.

For most of us there is only one reason to ski - enjoyment. Yes you have to be effective enough to be safe but beyond that effective should be replaced with enjoyably.
For some enjoyment means getting better but the flip side of that is that you have to come to terms with how to deal with getting past your peak.

I took up skiing after giving up playing competetive sport & wanted to do something I would never be good enough to do competetively and thus only do for enjoyment and to motivate me to exercise to keep fit enough for it.
I'm happy to improve but not at the expense of enjoying my holiday.

Perfectly put Andy. I only took up skiing at 31 some 12 years ago now. I wanted to be good at it, and wasn't, and after having a full week of lessons where I spent 3 days wanting to kill my instructor and then it all clicked into place once we started parallel turning, I realised the only way I would improve and become "good" at it was to go more often and keep trying to push myself to do things I struggled with. I have to say experience has been my best teacher, and now I will happily ski anything with a reasonable amount of confidence. There are brilliant moments, there are bad ones too, usually when I try the things I'm not experienced at - for example skiing switch, skiing powder or off piste, but on a piste I only get annoyed with myself sometimes when I find I'm not biting an edge or kicking out of a turn as I would like to.
But skiing has for me become something I thoroughly enjoy and I never want that enjoyment to go away. It has also become something of an obsession as well I have to admit, and whilst I am still young and agile enough to do it, I want to do as much of it as I can afford it. Twice a season most seasons, sometimes 3 - this has really enabled me to push on and become better and more confident. I think the once a season skier would struggle to develop as much, so I'd encourage anyone to ski more than the once a season if at all possible, hence why I always try to get cheap deals to go!

Andy though puts it perfectly for me.