learning to ski

OK thanks for the advice - I have only had 2 hr lessons and that was spent mainly mastering the snow plough turns etc .... we did not get to parallel skiing Next time I go I will book in for a few lessons. It's good to know that it's easy to control speed when skiing parallel. I feel much more confident now. Thanks to all ...........

sharonbeas wrote:OK thanks for the advice - I have only had 2 hr lessons and that was spent mainly mastering the snow plough turns etc .... we did not get to parallel skiing Next time I go I will book in for a few lessons. It's good to know that it's easy to control speed when skiing parallel. I feel much more confident now. Thanks to all ...........

Hi Sharon, I don't mean to be rude but how did you come across in deciding that you would only need 2hrs of lessons ...... I have a mate who went skiing for the first time last year just for a long weekend had two lessons, this year he returned and he told me at least this year I don't need to have lessons !!!!!.
We spend a lot of time discussing helmets on here, but safety and enjoyment will come from having a full week of Group lessons it builds confidence and camaraderie and skills within the group.
You will have to part with a few quid I am afraid to get the best out of a weeks skiing 8)

The comment about skiing being counter-intuitive is spot on. You have to do things that you think will end in disaster, but it's the way forward.

Mrs Timeforabeer has been skiing for about 6 years now, starting when she was 39, and despite two ski trips a year and lots of personal tuition she is only really now (as in, Christmas and then last weekend) ditching the safety of the snowplough when initiating turns; she managed a tame, but long. black run this past weekend when a year ago she would have 'frozen' half way down. Getting confident, building rhythm, and spinning a lot of plates at once to get the technicals right is hard, but something I can relate to as I came to this great sport late.

Good tuition (in my experience, avoid any group larger than 6) is key for confidence and drilling home the odd things you have to do. Hope that helps.

I'm amazed that someone could have one 2 hour lesson in a weeks skiing. Or did I read that wrong?

Surely you have to have a full week of all day lessons to get anywhere?

I started to ski 12 years ago and had one week full on lessons, and by the time I came home I was parallel turning and not snowploughing at all. But I was still timid and unsteady, and it took a lot of mind over matter, throwing myself down things I didn't think i could do, a lot of patience from my other half and a couple of good friends before I was able to actually move on another step. But there are lightbulb moments along the way, and you only develop by skiing more and more.

First week I hated it to be perfectly honest. I expected to be able to ski properly straight away and then go out and smash 10 beers afterwards. Incorrect. It's a lengthy process and I feel. Lara something new every time I go, and I've been something like 20 odd times now.



Back to the original poster: book a full week of lessons, mornings and afternoons.

It sounds as though you have 'caught the bug', so my advice would be to book yourself in for lessons on your next trip.

I don't know if you have one of the indoor snow centres on your doorstep, (Chill Factore, Snow Zone, X-Scape etc.) but if you do, you could do a lot worse than have a lesson or two there. It may feel a little repetitive at first on the small, indoor nursery slope, but that would be your 'optimum' slope while you master the basics of parallel turns. By 'optimum' I mean 'steep' enough for you to build up just the right amount of speed that you require to make the turn without coming to a halt; but not too steep that you build up too much speed and the dreaded panic sets in. (Don't worry, we've all been there :lol: ). Many of these indoor 'fridges' do promotional offers and discounts at various times of the year, so if you aren't going again until next year, you could 'hang fire' and take advantage of an offer.

The 'counter-intuitive' comment certainly is spot on. Why on earth should I keep leaning down the mountain when it feels like I'm going to fall off it? We didn't evolve with six-foot planks strapped to our feet, so our survival instincts in this situation are just wrong. The 'plate-spinning' analogy is a good one too. None of the things we are being asked to do when making a parallel turn is difficult. The difficulty is in doing so many of them at the same time and in such a short space of time.The brain just can't keep up. :lol: That's where your 'optimum' slope comes in.

You love being in the mountains and are starting to enjoy skiing. That is the main thing. The rest will come. Think of the money you spend on a few lessons now as an investment in your future enjoyment. Use your 17 year-old son as an inspiration but don't be too harsh on yourself when you find you don't progress as quickly as he does. In truth, few of us would :lol: . Hope this helps and enjoy your new sport/hobby/obsession. :)

Aside from lessons, which are of course a given, another thing which helped me was to read up on the theory of skiing. Knowing what should be happening was basically enough to get me to do it. I have an excellent book called "The All Mountain Skier" which covers most things from parallel skiing upwards (powder, steeps, moguls etc.) which wasn't very expensive. I also read quite a bit online and found some great articles.

Whether this is any use to you or not depends on how you learn. For me knowing the theory really helps, especially as I now know (or can guess) what the drills in lessons are trying to achieve. However for some people this may be no use whatsoever.

Blindly following someone down a mountain copying what they do works less well for me as I tend to do what they ask and then forget the point of it 5 minutes later. Fortunately I had an excellent private instructor who's teaching method worked perfectly for me and got my basic technique right before I'd picked up too many bad habits, hence I progressed relatively quickly.

It's tricky for me personally to grasp the snowplough 'rut' as I was lucky enough not to fall into it. After 2 days of snowplough destroying my knees I was taught to parallel ski which clicked and I've never looked back. Even now I avoid it if at all possible – my very short turns are pretty effective, even on paths most people snowplough down.

Maybe private lessons may suit you better than group so you can learn at your own pace? It can't be easy trying to keep up with your son and sometimes seeing others taking to something more quickly than you can be a bit demoralising. After all, this is meant to be fun and with your obvious love of the mountains I'm sure you'll get there.

Best of luck :D

I can offer another illustrative anecdote here.
Earlier this season, I started a thread on here as a result of my frustration with my partner who was starting to believe that she would never ski to any significant standard, and was considering changing to cross-country. I turned to the forum for help as I did not see that this would answer anything, as my hope was that, one day we could ski the same slopes together.
As you would expect, there was lots of good advice, and one was to invest in private lessons, and to my relief, she agreed to get some lessons on a dry slope in the weeks leading up to our holiday. She came on well, and her speed and confidence increased such that she was happy with herself and looking forward to ski lessons in resort. Much joy for me!
We both decided that three days ski school would suffice this year, and we duly joined our respective groups after the grading session. Our first session was on the same slope, and we were able to meet for lunch. She was full of it! Loving it! That first afternoon, I was off to the more difficult slopes with my group, happy in the knowledge that she was progressing well.
I was later to be disappointed however, after meeting up at the end of the day, as she was struggling again, and indeed by the next morning she had decided that she was going to pull out of lessons. The problem was that she was being moved along too quickly - she's the type that requires a lot of practice to build up confidence, and being taken through steps too quickly did not suit her. She'd fallen, and had lost her confidence. She has still not moved on from snowplough turns!!! Now, I had hoped that she would be parallel skiing by the end of the holiday, and at least be able to ski a modest blue run with me. I have had to re-assess my ambitions for the future now, and have abandoned any hope that we will be skiing together, ever. She enjoys the skiing, but at her own level, and I have to accept this, and we think that next year the best thing for her will be one-to-one lessons for as long as we can afford. Everyone progresses at different rates, but being taught properly is key, so enrol in lessons whether in a group, or private. You cannot do without them

Huwcyn wrote:I can offer another illustrative anecdote here.
Earlier this season, I started a thread on here as a result of my frustration with my partner who was starting to believe that she would never ski to any significant standard, and was considering changing to cross-country. I turned to the forum for help as I did not see that this would answer anything, as my hope was that, one day we could ski the same slopes together.
As you would expect, there was lots of good advice, and one was to invest in private lessons, and to my relief, she agreed to get some lessons on a dry slope in the weeks leading up to our holiday. She came on well, and her speed and confidence increased such that she was happy with herself and looking forward to ski lessons in resort. Much joy for me!
We both decided that three days ski school would suffice this year, and we duly joined our respective groups after the grading session. Our first session was on the same slope, and we were able to meet for lunch. She was full of it! Loving it! That first afternoon, I was off to the more difficult slopes with my group, happy in the knowledge that she was progressing well.
I was later to be disappointed however, after meeting up at the end of the day, as she was struggling again, and indeed by the next morning she had decided that she was going to pull out of lessons. The problem was that she was being moved along too quickly - she's the type that requires a lot of practice to build up confidence, and being taken through steps too quickly did not suit her. She'd fallen, and had lost her confidence. She has still not moved on from snowplough turns!!! Now, I had hoped that she would be parallel skiing by the end of the holiday, and at least be able to ski a modest blue run with me. I have had to re-assess my ambitions for the future now, and have abandoned any hope that we will be skiing together, ever. She enjoys the skiing, but at her own level, and I have to accept this, and we think that next year the best thing for her will be one-to-one lessons for as long as we can afford. Everyone progresses at different rates, but being taught properly is key, so enrol in lessons whether in a group, or private. You cannot do without them

The importance that I can see is that it does not stop at lessons, you have to put into practice what you have learnt, I will give you an example ..... It will be very easy after Little W lessons to say right thats over follow me, we find out from the instructor what she will need to practice and we will work on that in the afternoon. That way it tends to cement into their head. Good luck and don't give up on her, as Tony as previously said everybody at sometime has that light bulb moment where everything makes sense and comes together. :thumbup: