1. Been four weeks in total. Probably only managed about two - three hours a day. Increased this on last trip. That's good. You're making progress.
2. Yes I tried there but still having issues even going to the top of the indoor slope! Sounds like fear. Don't go to the top. Work on building speed on the terrain where you have more confidence at first. You can do that on the bottom half of the slope. Your goal can be making turns while going faster on the least intimidating terrain, and slowing down from that faster speed, and stopping on command after slowing down. Do this over and over and over until you are totally secure feeling, until you don't lose the wedge at all, and until ou are totally bored. Keep speeding up, and when you can't get your skis to go any faster, sneak up a little higher, and go slow again. Repeat! This is how you can build confidence. It's a matter of knowing that you can with safety trust your movements and your skis will do what you ask them to do.
3. Yes in group and individual instructors. They often say it is a confidence issue! I think they are right, but no one can manufacture confidence out of thin air. Work on building confidence at higher speeds on the terrain you can manage now. This is Mermer's "lower the task" approach.
4. Had rental boots to begin with but have bought my own now and was virtually pain free on last trip which was at Christmas and this increased my ski time. Did have serious issues previously with calf pain but not this time. Just a bit of burning sensation under toes. Glad to hear that you don't have pain. The burning sensation under your toes may be from Morton's Neuroma. A bootfitter can make custom footbeds that can make that pain go away. If the burning doesn't go away, read up on Morton's Neuroma, and go ask a bootfitter in a ski shop to make custom footbeds that will make it go away. This usually works.
5. Only one pair of socks thermals were slightly in the boots yes. Good. One pair of socks is perfect. But take the thermals out of the cuffs and clamp the cuffs against your sock-covered lower legs. You need that contact to be snuggggg! The snugger they fit, the more control you have over your skis with your feet and lower legs. Even if the thermals have a loop to go under the foot, you can shove them up, loop and all, and let the loop bunch up around your lower leg above the boot. You won't suffer from more cold down there when the thermals are outside and above the boot, I promise.
6. Sore quads mainly but not too bad last trip. Sore quads are a sign of being in the back seat. This comes from caution (aka fear). It's natural. Assume you need to continue to fight the unconscious and very VERY strong urge, to pull your body back behind your feet. When you do this, you'll end up hip-on-snow. Skiing requires a new way of balancing, and we have to train our bodies to do that new thing. It feels very insecure at first.
7. Yes rented. I asked for skis a little lower than my chin this time. Good! Keep doing that.
8. I had poles but I did put them aside which I actually found a lot easier to deal with. Indeed yes, it's SO MUCH EASIER to learn to ski without poles. However on all my freezes I have had poles yes. So ditch the poles. They don't offer the protection people think they do. They mess with people's heads and cause new skiers to wobble their arms around, which throws them off balance and makes them fall down. Poles also shut down the mind's ability to pay attention to what the feet and legs are doing, because the brain is so used to focusing on what the hands do all day long. I'm an instructor and teach beginner adults. This is a very common thing. Get rid of the poles! Leave them at home.
9. Yes snowplough ski's do wobble when at the higher speed. This can be because you get overly cautious at speed and move your body back behind your feet. Work on hovering your weight over the fronts of the skis.
But losing the wedge can also be caused by boots-too-loose. Both of these causes are quite common.
Loose boots work like a loose steering wheel. "Loose" means the boots can be too wide, they can be too tall over the foot, they can be too long, and the cuffs can be too loose around the lowest part of your leg, just above the ankle. When any of these are in effect, there will be a lag time between when your foot/leg moves and when your ski moves. That can allow the skis to do what they want without your permission during that lag time, and once they start doing that the snow grabs them and you've got naughty skis wobbling around with a mind of their own. If you visit a bootfitter to get custom footbeds, ask about the boots fitting correctly. Can get to parallel but again only on the really easy two second and it is over slope. Can turn fine on the almost flat slope! So you are working on skiing parallel. Great. But don't worry about staying parallel yet. Moving back and forth from wedge to parallel is fine at this point in your development. There is no shame!
10. No I wasn't cold at all. Good! Cold can shut down people's awareness of what their feet and body parts are doing. I teach in New England, where it gets very cold, and see people shut down when they are underdressed. There's a saying: There is no such thing as too cold to ski. There's just underdressed to ski. Glad you are well-covered.
A few more questions.
11. Did you buy the boots from a shop where a bootfitter chose the boot for you?
(If so, did the bootfitter take the liner out and have you put your foot into the plastic shell,
barefooted, to check the fit? This is called a shell-check. It helps the bootfitter make
sure the boot's shell matches your foot in all three dimensions, length, width, and height.)
12. How do you slow down?
13. How do you stop?
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