I just discovered the skidiva website and wanted to introduce myself. I'm 38, have two daughters, and recently returned to skiing after 10 years off. I stopped during law school and started again last year when my older daughter started taking ski lessons at age three. This year she's already riding up the blue lift and hopping over little bumps in the terrain park. Last year I bought new boots and had custom footbeds put in, and bought a set of used demo skis off ebay, 149cm 2005 Volkl 724 Gamma EXS. I'm 5'2 and 115 lbs, and I can ski backwards in them if necessary to coax toddlers down the hill. They feel infinitely quicker and lighter than the rental skis I had tried and pretty forgiving if I catch an edge. They do sometimes chatter a little at higher speeds, and they are much better on groomed surfaces than when I try to venture off-piste. When I used to ski on my old straight skis I skied both blue and black runs, but not double blacks, although never with much elegance. Since I've only taken a handful of lessons in my life and never really learned to carve or to use shaped skis, I thought it would be good to try a couple of private lessons.
We've been skiing at Tahoe Donner recently because of the cheap tickets and inexpensive ski school for the kids. I signed up for a private lesson at the beginning of January and described myself as a strong intermediate, so they assigned me what they described as one of their upper level instructors. He was a Czech guy and the whole experience was terrible. First, he insisted on skiing on the bunny slope, even thought I told him I usually skied on the blue or black runs. Then he couldn't explain the difference between technique between the old style skiing and shaped skis, probably because he was too young to have skied on straight skis. He basically thought my whole position was wrong and told me that I needed to take more private lessons with him because "I wouldn't progress if I kept switching around instructors." Later I whizzed past him taking a group of men who were laboriously traversing their way down what they call a black run at Tahoe Donner. I guess he didn't think they needed to spend any time on the bunny slope.
I asked around and got the name of an instructor who was supposed to be better and tried again this weekend. It was fabulous. She was a tiny Japanese/American woman probably in her late sixties who coaches the kids ski team and still races. She said she's known as the "racing grandma" because both she and her grandson (17) race and that she loves the adrenaline. She was able to explain the differences in weighting between the old and newer skis, and told me I was a good skier who just needed to fine tune some things. We focused on flexing the boot more, and on keep my upper body looser. We also working on making more big turns and really finishing each turn and holding it for a couple of beats before starting the next turn. I felt like I was finally starting to carve and that my confidence level jumped considerably. She said she would describe me as a level 6 skier but that I could progress up to Level 7 pretty easily. You can bet I'll be seeing her again.
We've been skiing at Tahoe Donner recently because of the cheap tickets and inexpensive ski school for the kids. I signed up for a private lesson at the beginning of January and described myself as a strong intermediate, so they assigned me what they described as one of their upper level instructors. He was a Czech guy and the whole experience was terrible. First, he insisted on skiing on the bunny slope, even thought I told him I usually skied on the blue or black runs. Then he couldn't explain the difference between technique between the old style skiing and shaped skis, probably because he was too young to have skied on straight skis. He basically thought my whole position was wrong and told me that I needed to take more private lessons with him because "I wouldn't progress if I kept switching around instructors." Later I whizzed past him taking a group of men who were laboriously traversing their way down what they call a black run at Tahoe Donner. I guess he didn't think they needed to spend any time on the bunny slope.
I asked around and got the name of an instructor who was supposed to be better and tried again this weekend. It was fabulous. She was a tiny Japanese/American woman probably in her late sixties who coaches the kids ski team and still races. She said she's known as the "racing grandma" because both she and her grandson (17) race and that she loves the adrenaline. She was able to explain the differences in weighting between the old and newer skis, and told me I was a good skier who just needed to fine tune some things. We focused on flexing the boot more, and on keep my upper body looser. We also working on making more big turns and really finishing each turn and holding it for a couple of beats before starting the next turn. I felt like I was finally starting to carve and that my confidence level jumped considerably. She said she would describe me as a level 6 skier but that I could progress up to Level 7 pretty easily. You can bet I'll be seeing her again.
