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(Low) intermediate skier - had my first chance to demo skis recently. What else should I try?

marzNC

Angel Diva
I tried to focus on both looking where I was going and doing rounded turns instead of skidded Z shaped turns - it seems I can one or the other but not both :P when I'm looking down the hill I can't seem to focus on my skiing enough to round my turns, and vice versa! Skiing sure is a lot of components to remember (body position in terms of how the joints are bent and stacked, upper body position/direction, proper weight distribution on legs, fore-aft weight distribution, initiating turns properly, ending turns properly instead of just skidding and jumping into the next turn ;) ), i'm slowly getting there though! Good to know I'm far from the only one finding it a challenge to put it all together :smile: I do see a LOT of people who look like they're skiing like me out there!
As any good instructor knows, it's impossible to work on everything at the same time. The trick is to learn enough to know which fundamental to focus on initially, along with more than one way to practice correctly. Given your obvious interest in improving technique, more mileage will pay off soon enough.

From your review of the skis you demo'd, your sense of what works and what's less fun is pretty good.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
....
I tried to focus on both looking where I was going and doing rounded turns instead of skidded Z shaped turns - it seems I can one or the other but not both :P when I'm looking down the hill I can't seem to focus on my skiing enough to round my turns, and vice versa! Skiing sure is a lot of components to remember (body position in terms of how the joints are bent and stacked, upper body position/direction, proper weight distribution on legs, fore-aft weight distribution, initiating turns properly, ending turns properly instead of just skidding and jumping into the next turn ;) ), i'm slowly getting there though! Good to know I'm far from the only one finding it a challenge to put it all together :smile: I do see a LOT of people who look like they're skiing like me out there!

Most people (maybe all people ???) can only focus consciously on doing one thing at a time (by "thing" I mean stuff like what you listed above). This fact impacts how a skier improves. If there are multiple things you are consciously working on improving, you can focus on them consciously only one at a time. And you're right, there are SO MANY things to focus on. So how's a determined person to ever get all this stuff embedded in muscle memory so none of them require conscious attention?

There are several approaches.
1. Alternate; do five turns with one focus, then five turns with a second focus, for an entire run or more. Or do the same thing with three focuses.
2. Next run, work with another set of focuses. This way you can cover a lot of the things on your list in a few runs. Repeat all day. Do not do a run without a focus; if you do, you'll just be reinforcing the old habits that you want to replace. The earlier in your skiing career you do this process, the easier it will be to replace unwanted habits with wanted ones. It gets much harder as you embed the unwanted habits more deeply over time.
3. If alternating from one focus to another, in each run, isn't working for some reason, work with only one focus during a run. But it's real hard to maintain that focus. Count your turns as you do it so your mind doesn't wander off and forget it was supposed to be concentrating on this thing. That wandering-off thing is common.
4. Skiing with any kind of focus, consistently, is difficult. There are lots of things to distract your attention in every run, especially when you are a new-ish skier. Often you may find yourself at the chair, realizing that you stopped focusing on your chosen task at some point up the hill. Congratulate yourself when you realize you lost your focus! Don't feel bad. You've just regained your focus. Pat on back is called for.
5. If you want to improve as fast as possible, never ski without a focus. Skiing with friends makes this difficult. Recognize this fact and adjust your goals on each run. Try to maintain an intentional focus of some sort even though friends are always distracting you.
6. Eventually, interest in working on a new focus will get strong, while the old things you've been working on no longer hold your attention. What to do with the old stuff that's sorta getting more intuitive, but not good enough to stop attending to? It's time to bundle two of the old focuses together, to make them into one focus. You'll find that some things "want" to be bundled together, at some point. Doing this halves the number of things you are working on. Does this sound really analytic? Yup, I know. It is. But you offered a list in your post that I'm responding to, so I'm betting you are game for this intensive and analytical approach. Many skiers are not willing to do this kind of mental work to improve.
7. You'll find that certain movement patterns automatically "fix" other things on your list without you having to focus on them specifically. If you are the kind of person who keeps skiing notes, you'll notice this over time.
8. You'll know you've succeeded in embedding a thing on your list above when it happens unconsciously even when you are startled or cautious.
9. Best of luck! Enjoy the journey; it's all a journey.
 

fgor

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Most people (maybe all people ???) can only focus consciously on doing one thing at a time (by "thing" I mean stuff like what you listed above). This fact impacts how a skier improves. If there are multiple things you are consciously working on improving, you can focus on them consciously only one at a time. And you're right, there are SO MANY things to focus on. So how's a determined person to ever get all this stuff embedded in muscle memory so none of them require conscious attention?

There are several approaches.
1. Alternate; do five turns with one focus, then five turns with a second focus, for an entire run or more. Or do the same thing with three focuses.
2. Next run, work with another set of focuses. This way you can cover a lot of the things on your list in a few runs. Repeat all day. Do not do a run without a focus; if you do, you'll just be reinforcing the old habits that you want to replace. The earlier in your skiing career you do this process, the easier it will be to replace unwanted habits with wanted ones. It gets much harder as you embed the unwanted habits more deeply over time.
3. If alternating from one focus to another, in each run, isn't working for some reason, work with only one focus during a run. But it's real hard to maintain that focus. Count your turns as you do it so your mind doesn't wander off and forget it was supposed to be concentrating on this thing. That wandering-off thing is common.
4. Skiing with any kind of focus, consistently, is difficult. There are lots of things to distract your attention in every run, especially when you are a new-ish skier. Often you may find yourself at the chair, realizing that you stopped focusing on your chosen task at some point up the hill. Congratulate yourself when you realize you lost your focus! Don't feel bad. You've just regained your focus. Pat on back is called for.
5. If you want to improve as fast as possible, never ski without a focus. Skiing with friends makes this difficult. Recognize this fact and adjust your goals on each run. Try to maintain an intentional focus of some sort even though friends are always distracting you.
6. Eventually, interest in working on a new focus will get strong, while the old things you've been working on no longer hold your attention. What to do with the old stuff that's sorta getting more intuitive, but not good enough to stop attending to? It's time to bundle two of the old focuses together, to make them into one focus. You'll find that some things "want" to be bundled together, at some point. Doing this halves the number of things you are working on. Does this sound really analytic? Yup, I know. It is. But you offered a list in your post that I'm responding to, so I'm betting you are game for this intensive and analytical approach. Many skiers are not willing to do this kind of mental work to improve.
7. You'll find that certain movement patterns automatically "fix" other things on your list without you having to focus on them specifically. If you are the kind of person who keeps skiing notes, you'll notice this over time.
8. You'll know you've succeeded in embedding a thing on your list above when it happens unconsciously even when you are startled or cautious.
9. Best of luck! Enjoy the journey; it's all a journey.

Brilliant, thank you! This sounds like a perfect strategy. It's quite overwhelming having so many things to focus on and as you say it's *very* easy to lose focus and find yourself at the chairlift, having just given up halfway down and charged down with any old technique :P

Point 9 is so important too. Improving is a long journey and it's easy to be frustrated when you're not making any obvious progress, and you see people sailing down the hill making beautiful smooth round linked turns!
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@fgor, you sound like me 16 years ago when I started skiing. Know that it takes a season (or two) sometimes to get a new movement pattern embedded, so you do it without thinking about it. Some can be moved into the "intuitive" category more quickly. The earlier in your skiing career you attack some particular thing of this sort, the shorter the time to embed it. Keep at it, and post on this forum about your progress!
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I just skied some "liberty 76W's Frozen cord in the morning spring bumps in the afternoon, these skis are a blast and amazing!!
 

Pixie Perfect

Certified Ski Diva
Do you know whether they all had the same demo bindings? Sometimes the weight could be in the bindings. But, you can probably also look up the various skis online to see what the weights are. Most manufacturers will list the weight in g for a particular length.
I know the BP 88 had Salomon Warden. I think the Endless Luv is sold as a system (w/ Marker bindings) not flat.

I know one of the skis I demoed had Look bindings because I liked how easy my boots snapped into the Look. So I believe both the Yumi and Experience had the same binding (Look) but I just messaged the mountain to double check!
 

fgor

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@fgor, you sound like me 16 years ago when I started skiing. Know that it takes a season (or two) sometimes to get a new movement pattern embedded, so you do it without thinking about it. Some can be moved into the "intuitive" category more quickly. The earlier in your skiing career you attack some particular thing of this sort, the shorter the time to embed it. Keep at it, and post on this forum about your progress!

I absolutely will! Unfortunately I didn't get to ski this past weekend as my local mountain ended up being closed due to weather (excessive wind followed by excessive rain. come on!!!), however I may get a mid-week ski in shortly. If I do, I'll be there at the same time as some more demo companies - C6, Blizzard and Nordica. So hopefully the weather plays nicely :smile:
 

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