I DID IT! (apologies,
@Skier31 - I completely forgot about this thread and your generous invite in the 3 months in between!)
Well, the B4B Clinic was the best ski money I've ever spent. By Day 2 my biggest problem was fixed - FEAR. The gentle, relaxed, s-l-o-w approach taught in the clinic was exactly what I needed. The morning of Day 1 was spent on drills, i.e., primarily side slipping and skidded turns that would be needed to "drift" in the bumps. My stance also got miraculously fixed - I needed to be more upright w/a longer leg (femurs). Frankly, it has even helped my groomer skiing.
By the afternoon of Day 1 we were already in the bumps. We started on some blue runs and our instructor threw in a black run or two. He likes to teach skills on easier terrain, move to tougher/steeper runs, and then move back to the easier terrain. After doing my first black bump run the blue runs seemed a piece of cake - which was his aim.
I know the literature and videos of B4B focus on describing green/blue/black lines, and while this was explained by our instructor, we didn't spend much time at all practicing it. My group (3 guys and me) seemed to fall into appropriate line choices simply based on what we learned about technique (for me - drifting, looking early to the next turn, staying tall) and using the bumps and deeper snow to control speed.
Day 2 was our second day on short "learning" skis. Mine were a 147 Volkl RTM. We did another mix of black and blue terrain all day and took some narrower trails. There wasn't a whole lot of stopping and talking though there was meaningful instruction. We skied and skied and skied - all of us in my group had previously described our learning style as "watching and doing," which was one of the reasons we ended up in the same grouping.
Day 3 involved some additional drills - pivot slips and falling leaf, but most of the day was spent skiing a variety of black terrain. We were back on "normal" skis at that point. The night before, my instructor came with me to the rental shop and we talked about skis that he thought would suit my skiing needs and ability. He wanted me to try the Volkl Kenja, but they didn't have an appropriate length, so I ended up on the Yumi in a 154 (he's a huge Volkl fan). The Yumi's were soft and playful and ideally suited to learning bumps (IMHO), so I was happy. They were pretty sloppy and floppy on hardpack, however.
Day 4 was devoted to skiing and having fun. We skied almost exclusively black terrain and mixed up some runs we'd already done with a few new ones. We also practiced handling big changes in terrain w/o stopping (or screaming in terror), i.e., sudden and dramatic changes in pitch. The idea was to always be skiing in balance and in control so that terrain changes didn't upset rhythm or result in increased speed. We did this a couple of times on a run that I never in a million years would've skied if I'd seen it first or stopped at the pitch change. It looked even more horrifying from the lift, which is why our instructor didn't point it out until we'd already come down it.
The 4-day clinic was capped off with a nice happy hour where everyone was presented with a "Ski For Life" hat that I will cherish. I still had a day to myself to ski and I spent the whole time skiing bumps and seeking out bumps. No way would I have thought that possible before this experience. My "style" leaves much to be desired and I still tend to do some turn "shopping" on steeper stuff, but the fear is GONE and I'm now using a different "F" word when encountering bumps - FUN!
