Ursula
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
What’s wrong with that picture?
One of my last lessons last season was a 3-hour request lesson with a 9 year old girl. She started skiing when she was 6, had 2 season with ski school, (7 to 10 days a season), this was the year she was supposed to be able to ski with the family on green runs.
First day, the family stayed on our Mr. K. The girl did OK. Second day, the family wanted to change terrain and they ended up on green runs that had a little more pitch to it, and/or where a little on the narrow side. Long story short: the girl started to go straight in a wedge and would not turn anymore. Result: big wipeout! Next result: parents are screaming at daughter from behind: Turn, turn, you need to turn! Until the next wipeout. Repeat.
Friends of the parents are friends of mine, I got the phone call: would you teach a 9 year old that, after she had learned to turn for the last two years, now does not want to turn anymore? I said yes to the lesson.
Following day, we met just after lunch. She and I agreed to go to the slope she liked the most. Which was Mr. K. Off we went. On the first chairlift ride up I asked her about what she knows about skiing. She, very proudly told me that she knows how to make turns. You have to put a lot of pressure on the outside ski! That will make the turn. That is when I smelled the rat! (No offense to rats)
First run, she was allowed to make HER turns. Nice carvers! From one side of the slope to the other! Perfectly on edge! The only reason I could not stay in her rail road tracks was that my skis with 170 cm have a little longer carving radius than her 120 cm. But boy, she could rail those suckers!
Can you think ahead and imagine what happened when I gave her an imaginary corridor? She was only allowed to use half the width of the slope. What do you think: did she like it? If you guessed NO, you were right. She absolutely hated it. Half the width did not allow her to slow down at the very end of the turn, she had to go into the next, still carrying speed. And because she carved the PERFECT turn, she kept on picking up speed! She didn’t like to go fast!!! And her only means to keep it slow was a straight wedge down the fall line! (As a result, on steeper and longer pitches her legs just gave out on her! There was the wipeout.)
Now it all made sense to me. She and I had a little “skis off time”, sitting in the snow, talking, having a snack. She told me all about the last couple of days when she skied with her family. It was not that she DIDN’T want to turn! The turn she knew scared her to death! On the steeper and/or narrower slopes, her turn made her go to fast. It was time for a dance lesson. We danced the twist together, no skis on, flat boots on the snow. Turn the legs , not the upper body. She had a ball. Then we tried that with the skis on. I climbed up above her to show her, how I could turn my skis from side to side and slowly descent down the slopes in a very narrow corridor. Not a lot of edge, not a lot of speed. (She really liked the “slow” part!)
She gave it a go. I did warn her though that what she had learned first, might take over again, specifically if she would get scared. And yes, I was right, when she got scared, she started to carve again. But she recognized it and went back to her new “twist turn”.
So, why am I telling this story? Two reasons. First: Carving IS fun! However, if that is the only way you ski, stay on terrain you are comfortable with. Second: I would like to challenge all ski instructors to rethink their approach to teaching newbies, specifically children. Is carving REALLY what beginners need? Should they truly only rely on the ski design, combined with their weight and pressure on the skis, to control their destiny? Or should they learn to guide the ski in and out of a turn however THEY feel will fit the slope and their needs?
Ursula
One of my last lessons last season was a 3-hour request lesson with a 9 year old girl. She started skiing when she was 6, had 2 season with ski school, (7 to 10 days a season), this was the year she was supposed to be able to ski with the family on green runs.
First day, the family stayed on our Mr. K. The girl did OK. Second day, the family wanted to change terrain and they ended up on green runs that had a little more pitch to it, and/or where a little on the narrow side. Long story short: the girl started to go straight in a wedge and would not turn anymore. Result: big wipeout! Next result: parents are screaming at daughter from behind: Turn, turn, you need to turn! Until the next wipeout. Repeat.
Friends of the parents are friends of mine, I got the phone call: would you teach a 9 year old that, after she had learned to turn for the last two years, now does not want to turn anymore? I said yes to the lesson.
Following day, we met just after lunch. She and I agreed to go to the slope she liked the most. Which was Mr. K. Off we went. On the first chairlift ride up I asked her about what she knows about skiing. She, very proudly told me that she knows how to make turns. You have to put a lot of pressure on the outside ski! That will make the turn. That is when I smelled the rat! (No offense to rats)
First run, she was allowed to make HER turns. Nice carvers! From one side of the slope to the other! Perfectly on edge! The only reason I could not stay in her rail road tracks was that my skis with 170 cm have a little longer carving radius than her 120 cm. But boy, she could rail those suckers!
Can you think ahead and imagine what happened when I gave her an imaginary corridor? She was only allowed to use half the width of the slope. What do you think: did she like it? If you guessed NO, you were right. She absolutely hated it. Half the width did not allow her to slow down at the very end of the turn, she had to go into the next, still carrying speed. And because she carved the PERFECT turn, she kept on picking up speed! She didn’t like to go fast!!! And her only means to keep it slow was a straight wedge down the fall line! (As a result, on steeper and longer pitches her legs just gave out on her! There was the wipeout.)
Now it all made sense to me. She and I had a little “skis off time”, sitting in the snow, talking, having a snack. She told me all about the last couple of days when she skied with her family. It was not that she DIDN’T want to turn! The turn she knew scared her to death! On the steeper and/or narrower slopes, her turn made her go to fast. It was time for a dance lesson. We danced the twist together, no skis on, flat boots on the snow. Turn the legs , not the upper body. She had a ball. Then we tried that with the skis on. I climbed up above her to show her, how I could turn my skis from side to side and slowly descent down the slopes in a very narrow corridor. Not a lot of edge, not a lot of speed. (She really liked the “slow” part!)
She gave it a go. I did warn her though that what she had learned first, might take over again, specifically if she would get scared. And yes, I was right, when she got scared, she started to carve again. But she recognized it and went back to her new “twist turn”.
So, why am I telling this story? Two reasons. First: Carving IS fun! However, if that is the only way you ski, stay on terrain you are comfortable with. Second: I would like to challenge all ski instructors to rethink their approach to teaching newbies, specifically children. Is carving REALLY what beginners need? Should they truly only rely on the ski design, combined with their weight and pressure on the skis, to control their destiny? Or should they learn to guide the ski in and out of a turn however THEY feel will fit the slope and their needs?
Ursula