Lessons on artificial snow: Yes or no?

[EdithP]

What is going on between the first and second videos in terms of your focus or change?

This was one lesson. The first ten minutes I had just for myself, skiing as I best learned how to date. The second part, we were learning new stuff. Meaning: how to get your skis on edge, how to get your ankles, lnees, hips in the process and to feel how the skis are turning differently when on edge. This is taking quite a while, I am slow with this as with everything else. But I started to feel I was getting somewhere.

I actually think your stance should be somewhere in between the two for most low angle groomers.

Absolutely true. It should. But I do not manage as yet. Hopefully I will get there with more practise. It is better on snow, but far from perfect.

Are you right handed? Most right handed skiers also favor their right leg and that is my guess from watching your beautiful turns.

Spot on again. My left leg is an issue. But , it used to be more, so the direction is forward. It is very much my focus, and occasionally I succeed. Not yet regularly, though. And thank you for finding a kind word too .

What are your current technical focus points? How do they translate to real snow?

My chief objective now is to learn to turn both skis on edge simultaneously and symmetrically. My instructors teaches me to do a skidded turn with continuation on edges and then perhaps we can progress to turning on edges all the way.
How it translates to real snow? I have recently had a real snow ski trip. It was a very good experience. Everything I have learned on the carpet just translated right away. The muscular memory of those hundreds of hours on the carpet just took over . I have one video on actual snow (it is hard to film on piste, unless someone is an accomplished skier who can also film while skiing) and to my eye it looked like much better than any I had from previous years. I may try to post it.

 

[EdithP]

OK, but how do you edge effectively on the carpet would be my issue. Skidded vs carved is either edging the ski or not edging by flattening the ski. But I do see some of that in the first video. Watch your position of the skis related to each other. There is a little wedge motion in there.

Apparently it is possible to edge the skis on the carpet. It has a softer, pliant surface,(while being hard underneath) in which you can leave traces with your skis. I have been told to watch those traces to see if my skis were edged, if momentarily
As to my wedging. Yes. still on the to do list. On the carpet it is very difficult to keep your skis properly parallel. I do much better on snow. But, sure, there is plenty for me yet to do.
Maybe you would like this video taken in Capital Ski last year. Even if the talk is is in Polish you can see plenty of lesson material, including, I think, that exercise I did at the bar. (I remember you saying you may soon have access to carpet skiing?) . BTW, most of the people you see doing those awkward snoploughs are very good skiers, who are using the carpet for the first time . They all say that the carpet skiing is harder and getting skis on edge is harder too. And they all wonder too how it will translate to snow eventually . What would your opinion be?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Awesome! I am not kidding when I say that you will make a great instructor if you go that way. Your progress and understanding are fantastic.

 

[EdithP]

Awesome! I am not kidding when I say that you will make a great instructor if you go that way. Your progress and understanding are fantastic.

OMG. What do I say. And thank you - that was most unexpected.

 

[EdithP]

I am so excited. Finally going to have lessons on snow. Tomorrow I am setting off for Italy together with other students of Capital Ski ski school for a whole week with 4 hours instructions daily. I so wonder how this may jump my skiing to a new level. And there will be filming and analysing in the evenings (slightly nervous about those). So I should finally be able to show you how two full years of carpet lessons will translate to the real thing (or not?) . Will post. And anyway Alpes will be beautiful for sure . Please wish me luck.

 

[scandium]

I am so excited. Finally going to have lessons on snow. Tomorrow I am setting off for Italy together with other students of Capital Ski ski school for a whole week with 4 hours instructions daily. I so wonder how this may jump my skiing to a new level. And there will be filming and analysing in the evenings (slightly nervous about those). So I should finally be able to show you how I manage on snow after two full years of carpet lessons. Will post. And anyway Alpes will be beautiful for sure . Please wish me luck.

That sounds awesome! Best of luck

 

[Jenny]

Have a great time! And don’t be too hard on yourself - I imagine it’s going to feel different and might take some adjustment.

 

[liquidfeet]

I am so excited. Finally going to have lessons on snow. Tomorrow I am setting off for Italy together with other students of Capital Ski ski school for a whole week with 4 hours instructions daily. I so wonder how this may jump my skiing to a new level. And there will be filming and analysing in the evenings (slightly nervous about those). So I should finally be able to show you how two full years of carpet lessons will translate to the real thing (or not?) . Will post. And anyway Alpes will be beautiful for sure . Please wish me luck.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[EdithP]

After my six days' worth of lessons in the Dolomites (a part of Italian Alps). in a village called Livigno.
Some observations:
1. The biggest difference between real snow skiing and the carpet skiing is the absence of the turning force therein. So I have only now experienced it for the first time, it being first time I was able to generate sufficient speed to feel it during the turns. It was a fun feeling, especially when I remembered Lito Tejada Flores description of "leaning on an air pillow". I have always wondered what may provide that support when one is hanging outside the base of support, and now I have finally experienced it.
2. The carpet practise does much for balance training. While learning to lift the inside ski when traversing the carpet had been difficult and elusive for a long time, when I have finally got this, I found out that doing it on snow is child's play by comparison. The carpet vibrates under one's foot, creating an additional obstacle, while the slope is blessedly stable.
3. Learning on the slope is very effective in teaching to handle the steeps. The angle of the carpet inclination is adjustable, so I had many occasions over the last year to try how it feels to be on a steeper "slope" than I would think comfortable. And I was surprised to experience no qualms when steeper slopes appeared . I may not have been able to take them with much grace, but at least they did not phase me this time. so I happily did the red runs (you would call them harder blues or easier blacks) but I have also got one genuine steep slope now "under my belt" of 70% (or 45 degrees) inclination. TBH, when our instructor pointed it out the first day and said we would all ski down it before we were done, I did not believe him. And on the last day, we all went down it like happy little bunnies. It was not , in the end, so much different to milder slopes, given the we chose ourselves what degree of traverse we were ready for.
4. I would say that the carpet practise has indeed done away with two great barriers I had in skiing: the fear of speed and the fear of steep. Meaning of course, a great leap forward in tolerance of either, not ny magical disappearance of normal self preserving emotions!

I have now completed two full years of weekly (or twice weekly) skiing . I don't think I would have been able to reach my present level (whatever it may be) if I could only do those two, at most three , short ski trips per year on real snow. I have now entered my third year, hoping to be able to do carved turns by December. Or at least partially carved turns, maybe even with more aesthetically pleasing appearance?. Boy, were those two years full of discovery!

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Amazing! A testament to you, your perseverance and your coaches.

 

[EdithP]

and your coaches.

Absolutely, totally, every which way. I have never before had instructors like those who work at my indoor centre. The fact is they all have degrees in physical education, beyond straightforward instructor training and it makes them wonderfully efficacious. The degree of dedication that they show makes us learners want to respond in kind, adding to which those long months of working together produces a chemistry that would be hard to find in any other setting.

 

[EdithP]

Dear Divas, I just realised it is almost a year since I last posted - though I continue to lurk. As the skiing season is nearly over (though some of my friends have just set off for Italy) and many of you will be wondering how to spend the summer months to stay in the skishape for the next winter. I wanted to reiterate how very much I recommend making use of the carpet skiing (if that is the only alternative to nothing at all, sure). I am now in my fourth year of learning at the rolling carpet centre. When I started , I thought I was close to intermediate level, but was very quickly put wiser : I started with finding it really hard to do stem Christies, it may have taken a year before I could shift my weight to one ski. My accumulation of all bad habits in the skier's dictionary, plus generally poor coordination, and everything you can name that works against one's dream of becoming a decent skier seemed like an impenetrable wall for a long time. Decent: meaning ability to ski Alpine resorts comfortably and stress free, together with friends who are all of them very seasoned skiers. Call it too ambitious, perhaps, and I have often wondered myself. But without keeping my eyes on some goal that seemed maybe slightly too ambitious but rather doable, I do not think I could stick with the amount of frustration . (I vented much of it here). I am bringing it all up because perhaps some of you may be in a similar place and begin to despair. Don't. Persistence really brings results. It may take much much longer than what I can read on various skiing discussion groups, but definitely things are moving forward. This is a clip from my last lesson, I am learning using edges and getting to carving. Far cry from my first videos posted here.

 

[EdithP]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1093510748619372