How do you define skill level?

I think I have a fairly decent spill maybe once a week. If you aren't falling you are definitely not trying hard enough :twisted:

I fall probably once a day on average, but never on a piste, only in the park or off piste!

I only fall when I'm under a busy lift.....

Admin wrote:


But there's no right answer. There's just so much to learn and so many different disciplines... and many people are "Experts" at say piste skiing but hopeless when it gets fluffy. And I've followed some very scruffy (style-wise) dudes on twin-tips who turned out to be stunning in the park - what use is a perfect carve technique when you're doing an inverted grab 10 feet up??? 8)

Exactly. Those US team people who were falling over in powder, can hardly be described as intermediates (who compete on the WC circuit). It would appear that many people think that if you can't ski powder, you can't ski. It would be like saying Lance Armstrong is not an expert cyclist, if he couldn't do a two foot bunny hop on a mountain bike. So as the Snow and Rock guide intimates in #8, there is some degree of specialisation at advancing levels. For that reason, we now have specialised skis.

Trencher

Pablo Escobar wrote:I think I have a fairly decent spill maybe once a week. If you aren't falling you are definitely not trying hard enough :twisted:

and that's almost a more important reason to be fit, than the actual skiing. Confidence that you'll survive a good spill is a big help in improving.

Trencher

Transferable skills are a good thing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRfMG9GF98

Daron Rahlves appears to have switched discipline and has scored himself some reel time in the new MSP flick.

Pablo Escobar wrote:Daron Rahlves appears to have switched discipline and has scored himself some reel time in the new MSP flick.

He has an impressive section in Dynasty too. Big mountain lines at World Cup speeds :shock: Great stuff.

As for specialisation at higher levels, I'm not wholly convinced. I do know that the French ski clubs, push their children onto the off piste, on GS skis. I have seen it, and I know one of the parents of a child who came up through the French system to become a member of the GB Childrens Alpine Team. The kids will ski anything (on anything).