Ski turn initiation, Sliding or carving

Ian Wickham wrote:Far too many people are hitting the slopes without adequate instruction they chance injury to themselves and others and it seems to be more prevalent in recent years which ties into my recent comments,
I do find it quite amazing that people can use the words " If you are not hurting anyone on the hill" which I think is the whole point.

I think the implication is that the person has enough control for the situation, and is careful. I see people, and especially kids, take a beginner lesson and then ski way beyond thier ability to be safe. It's a sad fact that some people are going to be irresponsible on the slopes. If they took ten lessons, they would still not know thier limits, or forsee the consequences. I think of it as "amusement park mentality". They are looking for the cheap thrill, rather than the satisfaction of skiing well.

AllyG wrote:

Tony_H wrote:

AllyG wrote:I have been criticized for having too many lessons

Ally

Thats actually incorrect. I said you should try to enjoy your ski holidays more, instead of having lessons all day every day.

Tony,
Since you brought it up, this is what you actually said (page 6 on my slalom video thread):

'Isn't it time you stopped taking lessons Ally, and tried to enjoy yourself skiing?'

I have tried to explain, that I do actually like having lessons (most of the time anyway) and I do enjoy myself during the lessons. I like the challenge of learning new things and the satisfaction when I do finally crack whatever it is I'm trying to learn. I am not criticizing you for learning out on the slopes with your friends. We just have different ways of learning and enjoying ourselves. And I would very much like to learn to ski slalom.

Ian,
To be quite honest, although I'm sure lessons will help the situation, as you say, I don't know that lessons will actually stop some people from ski-ing like idiots. I mean, they may well be very good skiers, but they may still go too fast for their skill level/piste conditions/weather conditions/number of people on the slope etc. etc. and be a danger to themselves and other people.

Ally

Ally, I think you have missed the point you can't stop idiots skiing like idiots but you can teach people at least the basics of skiing, over the last couple of years I have seen so many near misses
which have happened to people close to me and others on the slopes, it becoming obvious that there are some people skipping lessons maybe through cost or some idiotic opinion that they are able
to teach themselves.

Trencher wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:Far too many people are hitting the slopes without adequate instruction they chance injury to themselves and others and it seems to be more prevalent in recent years which ties into my recent comments,
I do find it quite amazing that people can use the words " If you are not hurting anyone on the hill" which I think is the whole point.

I think the implication is that the person has enough control for the situation, and is careful. I see people, and especially kids, take a beginner lesson and then ski way beyond thier ability to be safe. It's a sad fact that some people are going to be irresponsible on the slopes. If they took ten lessons, they would still not know thier limits, or forsee the consequences. I think of it as "amusement park mentality". They are looking for the cheap thrill, rather than the satisfaction of skiing well.

You will never prevent irresponsibility but we can use this forum to encourage people to use the lesson system, I really do not think some of these people understand the consequences of their stupidity,
what do you get for manslaughter these days 5 to 7 years, enough to completely ruin some ones life .

AllyG wrote:I am not criticizing you for learning out on the slopes with your friends. We just have different ways of learning and enjoying ourselves.

Ally

I dont quite understand this. What you have said suggests to me that you believe everyone should be in lessons every time they go skiing, and that those that don't are teaching themselves, and are potentially a danger to others. Is this right?

Tony,
I used the word 'not' as in 'not criticizing'. How much clearer could I have been?

Ally

Hi all, Just thought I would let you know how I got on with my lessons in Soll a few weeks ago! I had two, 2 hour lessons during the week from a school called blacksheep ski school! they are online so check them out! I do think the lessons proved to be worth the money and I did enjoy the experience.

However, all the self study stuff I have done so far has been very valuble too, as I was able to understand the intructor and get more out off the lessons. So I was in a better position to understand things like anglation, flexing, and leaning away from the mountain etc.

The funny things was that my ski intructors boss only happend to be Klaus Mair...small world hu! I did mention to her that I already had his dvd and was great!

anyway, the ski Instructor helped me with some flaws in my skiing they were, Shoulder rotation, feet two far apart in the short turns, not enough up and down movment, lack of rhythm, and turning to sharp.

So my ski instructor sorted me out by : keeping shoulders facing down the valley, keeping feet more together, flexing more up and down using the ankle flex, more rhythm using pole plant, and counting like 1234 then turn, and to shorten the turns count to 123 then 12 etc so the turns become quick.

I think learning to ski varies from person to person, and I tend to ski how I would drive on a road for instance when i drive in a built up area lots of people and cars,, slow slow slow, and when there is no traffic ie early morning and on a motorway I can go a little faster.

When I drive I'm very respectfull of others, and very aware and able to anticipate other drivers actions. And two this day I have never caused an accident touch wood!!!! I take this onto the slop when I ski, if the slopes are busy I keep to a nice steady speed ie below 30mph, and before you ask how do I know my speed that because I have a divice that tells me that :)

and I aways look up the slope when I turn to see who's coming and pull over if need be to let the speeders fly by, then I wait for a gap and then proceed downward, If I want to ski fast I will wait for a large gap so there is no one around. Or I do night skiing this is something you can do in Soll, and the slopes tend to be very quiet. This is something I have learnt not by intructors but simply common sense and respect for other people.

So for me self study and a couple of lessons worked for me. I will be going out to Courchevel Next year and I can't wait but I will still have one or two lessons (one or two hours) and the start of the week just to help me keep my form.

Andi282 wrote:So for me self study and a couple of lessons worked for me. I will be going out to Courchevel Next year and I can't wait but I will still have one or two lessons (one or two hours) and the start of the week just to help me keep my form.

So here's a question. Is better to have lessons on the first day, or to wait a day or so ?

If I hadn't skied for a year, it would take me a day to get comfortable again. If I took a lesson that first day, I wouldn't get as much out of it as I would still be blowing away the cobwebs.

I follow your program Trencher. As I only ski once a year, I always have a couple of morning lessons but usually on day 2 & 3. This lets me blow the cobwebs out and try to get the legs back in as best I can on day 1 before going for the lessons. I was still very rusty this year by the time lesson day came but after a couple of runs doing exercises to improve my turns it all came back to me. By the end of day 3 I'd advanced from last year's successes and felt ready for more challenging runs and that's all I want to achieve, just a small progression year on year.
My annual snow holiday includes doing some skiing, it's not all about the skiing.