Jeannie Thoren events

[ski diva]

Anyone from the Portland, OR or Seattle, WA areas? REI & Dynastar Skis are sponsoring what they're calling a "ski workshop for women". I guess it is, but it's really a promotional event for their equipment -- which doesn't mean it's all bad; just be aware that that's what it is, before you attend. Anyway, the feature Jeannie Thoren, who's a noted women's clinician. So if you're interested, here are the details:

Dynastar Ski Workshop for Women, 11/1/2006 7:00 PM REI Portland
A free, two-part workshop taught by Dynastar athlete and equipment guru Jeannie Thoren.
Part I: Free Clinic Wed, November 1 at 7pm ~ Portland, OR. REI Jeanie will teach you how women-specific gear can help increase your performance while shredding down the slopes.
Part II: Free Personalized Gear Fitting Thursday, November 3 from 10am-1pm ~ Portland REI. Come back Thursday for a personalized ski fitting. From Jeannie! Priority fitting goes to those who attend the workshop.
Location: Portland REI
Contact: (503) 221-1938
Cost: Free
Registration Required? NO.

Dynastar Ski Workshop for Women 11/2/2006 7:00 PM REI Seattle
Same description as above, but Part I is November 2 at 7PM, and Part II is on November 4 from 10AM thru 6PM.
Location: Seattle REI
Contact: 206-223-1944
Cost: Free
Registration Required? NO.

 

[Jilly]

She has a gal here in Canada called Jeanette Hamer that does her seminars on women's skiing. It was excellent. So if the Jeannie is going to be there and you're in the area sign up and GO!!

 

[ski diva]

More on Jeannie Thoren:

https://www.jeanniethoren.com/

I've read about her in Ski magazine. She really looks terrific.

In fact, you can see her entire appearance schedule here:

https://www.jeanniethoren.com/on-snow_clinics.htm

 

[Little Lightning]

This past Thursday, Jeannie Thoren was at the Denver REI. I've been a member of her choir since she started promoting her theories about the differences between men and women skier's in the 80's and 90's. I also met the author of "Women Ski" Claudia Carbone. Her book was my bible before the advent of shaped skis.

Anyway, Jeannie Thoren is in her early 60's and looks very good. She doesn't quite look like the grandmotherly type but, as she admits, she has gained weight. I guess I expected her to be more like the athletic looking types that REI brings in for their snowshoe clinics.

Her talk consisted of explaining the processes she used to discover the needs of women skiers (specifically herself). After college she didn't make the US Ski team so she decided to go to Europe for a year. She stayed for 4 years and dated ski instructors. Because they were always telling her how to ski, and she couldn't seem to do it "their way" she started paying attention to what was different for her. Along the way she discovered how orthotics, canting, heel lifts and forward binding mounts improved her skiing. It was all trial and error based on what was not working for her.

There were slides to back up some of her statements, specifically differences between male and female anatomies.

She talked for about an hour and a half about her discoveries then spent 15-20 minutes promoting Dynastar skis and Lange boots.

It looked as if everyone in the audience signed up for her boot fitting session. I didn't because I just got new boots and they were fitted by Kim at Outdoor Divas.

Jeannie still teaches and is very passionate in helping women become comfortable with the sport, mainly through helping them understand how fine tuning their equipment can help them become better skiers.

The sad note is that Claudia Carbone was run over by a snow boarder at Breckenridge and pretty seriously injured. The boarder did not stop. She has not skied in 2 years.

Kathi

 

[Jilly]

Did she show that slide from the Nordica print ad? It's the naked male and female in boots and medals (stragetically place). It really shows the different in the anatomy of the legs of the sexes. That's the day I put heel lifts in my boots. And that was at least 10 years ago if not longer. Jeannie was the first to promote the difference between men and women skiers. "We are not small men!!

 

[Little Lightning]

Yes, and she also showed how tap dancing shoes and ice skates have heels on them, to get the skater and dancer more on their toes.

Kathi

 

[volklgirl]

I, too, have been a Jeannie desciple since 1980-something. I saw her again when she was here in Grand Rapids last month. Her seminar is getting more and more informative and polished each time I see it. It's really too bad that she no longer does the traveling demo thing. I understand it, though, now that she works for Dynastar/Lange (for those of you that have the Exclusive Legend or Exclusive boots - that's her project). However, any of you who haven't experienced this have truly missed a great experience. She used to do 2-3 day clinics with a presentation on Friday then 2 days of demos from her u-haul filled with womens and juniors skis, boots, poles, goggles, helmets, etc and lessons with PSIA instructors. It was an incredible chance to try performance-oriented skis without any male prejudice involved! You'd never hear her or her husband Tom tell you any ski or boot was 'too much for the little lady'. They'd just let you take it out and try it for yourself. All her stuff had moveable bindings so you could decide for yourself if you needed your bindings mounted forward. She also did a 1 day 'alumni' seminar for those that have done her regular clinic and just wanted to hang out with her and demo equipment.

 

[Snowsong]

I'm also a Jeannie alumni. Almost didn't read the Ski mag. article because it was titled "ski like a girl." Like many of you, I was outnumbered on the slopes and skiied with the guys. You also didn't want to hear that you threw or ran like a girl if you played sports. After reading the article, I went to one of her talks, and then to a clinic. I never skiied with all women before and I had a blast. What sold me was that she got everyone "dialed in" and then skiied that way. Then she took all that away and put you on your equipment. I had trouble skiing on my equipment, and I had good stuff. The other thing that sold me was observing how quickly the women in the clinic improved once they had a good fitting combined with lessons. I miss being able to demo all those skis! I wish my mt. had a boot fitting facility where I could refer my lessons. I think anyone, male or female, could benefit from a good bootfit and alignment. I also had the opportunity to ski with Jeannie a few times outside the clinic where she really let loose. She may be 60, but CAN SHE SKI! I hope I'm half the skier she is. I also use her information (with her permission) in our women's clinics at my area to help educate them what a proper fitting and aligment, along with lessons, can do for their skiing. Now I'm proud to say I "ski like a girl" :D

 

[Lynn]

I met Jeannie Thoren briefly prior to one of her clinics in N.J. She immediately said that I should get heel lifts.
To be honest, anyone saying that EVERY WOMAN needs heels lift is like saying 'men ski better than women".
Every skier deserves an individual analysis of their alignment. I had a lift put in 'pro forma'. When I had a real analysis done of my alignment, I did not need a lift. I needed canting in addition to my flexible footbeds.
I throw this in the mix to keep all on their toes.

 

[marta]

I too am an alum from one of her on-snow clinics. Dramatically changed the way I ski. I had all new gear and none of it was working for me. Added lifts, moved my bindings, plus other tweaks, and I shot out of a cannon.

But I'm not putting lifts into my new boots just yet, until after I've skied them to see if I really still need them. Not sure if they fixed a problem with my old boots, a problem with my skiing at the time, or a problem with my anatomy. Not a universal fix for everyone, but many do benefit positively. It's certainly a cheap enough experiment.