Do you still take ski lessons

[cwmscm]

I enroll my children in ski lessons and I have taken a few myself lately. I am trying to figure out if I want to take more lessons or if I am happy with the way I ski now. I know that there is always room for improvement but I have so few days skiing every season that improvement is difficult.

I was wondering if other divas take lessons when they go on ski trips and if so, do they think that the lessons have always been worthwhile.

CWMSCM

 

[BackCountryGirl]

I've been an instructor for five years, and I go to training clinics at my mountain and instructor clinics elsewhere as often as I can -- both to help my teaching and my skiing. Before I began teaching, I always took lessons when on vacation. In part, because I usually went on trips with my daughter and taking a lesson was a way for me to learn the terrain and meet people. If you have a home mountain, there is nothing better than linking up with an experienced instructor who knows you, your strengths, and your weaknesses, and who can provide you with consistent feedback over the long haul.

 

[SkiNurse]

Actually I've never taken a lesson...I had a boyfriend years ago that was just a great teacher.

I would really like to take a lesson...I know I have some bad habits and I would like to work on consistency especially in the bumps.

Why haven't I taken a lesson?? Just too lazy to commit!

 

[Jenny]

I like lessons and try to take one each year. (We don't ski nearly as often as some of you, so one works out good.)

If/when we go out west, I plan to take a lesson, too. It helps me get comfortable and makes sure I haven't forgotten anything from the prior year!

 

[num]

Yep. I love lessons. Never had a group lesson though, only privates. Around here a one hour private works out great, and the hills are very short, so it's actually many, many runs in that hour. Elsewhere, I can see wanting to go a bit longer. I've never had an instructor cut a lesson off when we're in the middle of a concept, though. They've always been well structured to get things done in the time we have, or go a bit over until we can end on the note they'd like to. I think it's great for my skills, and for a hill that I don't know, it's a great way to find which runs I'm the most comfortable on, where to go for a challenge, and if there's anywhere I just don't like.

 

[itri]

I haven't in a couple of years, but definitely would like to take some more. I think, if nothing else, a good lesson can help keep you sharp. For me, I would love to get a couple more lessons to improve my bumps technique. I've broken through to be able to actually ski them, but I know it's not pretty!

 

[Sheena]

Even though I am somewhat of an advanced skier, I take lessons whenever I can. Usually to get tips on certain conditions or techniques. This year during the first weekend or so of February when it was absolutely dumping, and I just happened to be at Snowbird, I signed up for a powder lesson. - I figured no matter where I was going to be skiing that day, it would be powder, so I might as well embrace it and get some good tips.

It turned out to really help my skiing overall, and helped me overcome some of my ski fears, and learned that I could do a lot more than I give myself credit for.

 

[CMCM]

I like to splurge on a couple of private lessons each year. I ALWAYS learn things, plus, a good instructor pushes me more than I tend to push myself. I get to go on runs I don't usually have the nerve to try on my own!

 

[Daria]

We (DH and me) take a full day private lesson at least once each year just to tune up and learn about the latest "stuff". It also helps that the instructor is a good friend and we look forward to having the day to really catch up. It keeps us sharp and helps to keep from developing bad habits

 

[sbskier]

I do take lessons. I ski with a season long program, which meets Sat and Sun mornings mid December until the end of March. Generally Saturday is lessons and Sunday we play.

Also, DH is a ski instructor and he is always giving me some advice.

 

[abc]

I was wondering if other divas take lessons when they go on ski trips

I don't really do so much "ski trips" since many of my skiing days are one or two days on a weekend (or sneak out of work in the middle of week). So my answer may not apply.

and if so, do they think that the lessons have always been worthwhile.

Not "always".

I found it's not all that easy to find a good lesson plan. So, unless I know a good instructor, I don't bother taking my chances to do "random" lessons any more.

I'd say half of my past lessons were of little use. Picked up "tips" here and there. Some helped, others not so. It's much less expensive to get those "tips" from whoever I skied with, and no less helpful. Though with a good instructor, the difference is night and day...

The main issue is instructor. Some are good but many are so-so. Sure, they can tell me what I'm doing wrong but I knew some of it already. It's HOW to correct it that's eluding me. And for that, it takes a good instructor.

Let's face it, instructors. Once a beginer had gotten the basics, it takes a lot of milage to get the "concepts" into muscle memory. Sadly, while putting on the milage without supervision, a lot of bad habits got ingrained into the muscle along the way! But, unless the learner has unlimited funds, few can afford supervised "pratice" full time! So in the end, getting rid of those bad habits takes a very precise eyes and lots of coaching experience. More than half of the instructors just don't have it.

And that's reason most "intermediates" don't return to school any more. A few wasted lessons (time, which is often more precious than money), it's bye-bye ski school!

 

[dloveski]

I tried one this year---

I ski with lots of great skiers who give me tips and informally coach me, but have had only one real lesson in almost forty years---my very first day of skiing. Since then, it's been figuring it out, but mostly just cruising and enjoying and being mentored by others.

So, this year, I deided to get serious. My brother gave me a gift coupon for a group lesson at Alta. I am so glad I did not have to pay anything---because it was a huge waste of $$$ (and my time). The instructor (a young guy) just didn't care. We startd with two of us in the lesson---but they added three other ladies from another group of beginners---upgrading them to a higher level---thus downgrading us. One of these ladies was not much beyond the stem christy stage and SLOW, we ended up waiting for her most of the time. I took a little shot off trail and the 'instructor' asked me to hold up and stay with the others.

I almost bolted from the whole gig, but I hate to be rude.

I will be reluctant to take any group lesson ever again--at least at Alta. It was like a crap shoot---like maybe if I was the weaker skier in with a bunch of hot skiers, the experience would have been different---but how do you know? The instructors did not take any time to really figure out what we needed. No women instructors were available that day (I asked). Two of us were really disappointed that day---my fellow student from the UK said we had been 'downgraded' and herded into a generic lesson.

How do you get a group lesson that works for you? Especially, it seems, at Alta? The next day, I observed a 'group' lesson while skiing alone off Ballroom. The instructor would ski down the bumps with two lady students behind him---he would wait for them, but not WATCH them ski down---and then blast off when they got down. How useless is that? No observation, no tips, no feedback?

I'll take my chances on my own and save $$ or upgrade to a private. But then, what if that instructor is a loser too?:Cry::Cry:

 

[cwmscm]

I've had good luck with instructors at lessons, although I've felt with group lessons that sometimes they've put some people who downgrade the level of the group. Usually, the instructor gives me at least one thing that works to help me out.

I guess it is really important to get a recommendation about who to request for a lesson.

 

[altagirl]

I do, but I generally go to ski camps, not just regular lessons - so it's a full couple days of skiing, video analysis, etc. And I tend to know (or at least know of) the coaches ahead of time, so that makes it a pretty safe bet that I'll learn a lot.

 

[Shellski]

Yes, usually a couple per year at our home mountain, privates with our regular instructor.

 

[SnowHot]

I never took a lesson during the 20-something years I skied until I attended ESA Stowe in December 2006. ESA and the instruction began a transformation in my skiing that I can't describe.
I plan on attending one of the ESA Events this coming season as well.

 

[SouthernSkier]

I usually take one private lesson a year. If they weren't so expensive, I'd take more. But with lessons at many resorts in the $450 to $500 range (with tip), I just can't afford to take much more.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Well....many/most know my circumstances :D Married my ski instructor after my first season of skiing. Personal/private lessons were somewhat hard to come by in those busy teaching years (28 consecutive ) -- so he began to specialize in the "30 second tips" where non-paying customers (moi) were concerned - on request, of course, never unsolicited.

He is now inactive/semi-retired from this endeavor, the regional day requirements being simply too grueling to manage in conjunction with The Real Job (and pay scale barely covers gas anymore). So we do critiques of one another, he always managing a tiny tip that very often, if properly implemented, breaks bad habits before fully ingrained. And somehow can always manage that level of objectivity that comes with so many years of teaching. Just an ace mogul instructor, though - the best. And it only took me 33 years to "get it!"

 

[Shellski]

The instructor would ski down the bumps with two lady students behind him---he would wait for them, but not WATCH them ski down---and then blast off when they got down. How useless is that? No observation, no tips, no feedback?

Don't judge an instructor on that basis - my instructor definitely has eyes in the back of his head, I have kept my eyes glued to him the entire way down a run, and to my eyes he didn't turn his head once, and at the bottom reeled off 'we need to work on this, this and this..'

Maybe he just knows me too well by now..

 

[vanhoskier]

I take at least one lesson a year. There's always something to work on. And since getting good bump lessons where I live is hard to come by, I'm going to a summer camp to learn moguls.

There's a great freestyle coach at my local hill, and I plan on working with him once a week next season.