Just an update: had my first private 1 on 1 lesson with a new instructor and OMG I LOVE HIM. He is much more technical than my previous instructor and I appreciate that. I'm not trying to bad mouth my previous instructor by the way, he is a wonderful guy and suggested a great ski destination for skiiers of my family's calibur, but I did not realize what I was missing!
While on the surface, I heard many of the same things - too far forward, need to get tips uphill, the difference was that he actually asked permission to adjust me because I thought I was imitating his stance, but I was not at all really. Man, I was really hunched forward guys. He had me doing drills on skiing with my hands up, another one he called a thousand steps where we stepped through all the turns, and side slips to downhill to edge and back again to make parallel short turns and control speed through them. It was so tiring, but GUYS I DID IT!! I was successfully making short parallel turns on the steepest green run by the end.
Turns out I was really really far over my skis and even when I thought I was standing up straight, I was still leaning much too far forward in an aggressive stance, which made dive bombing everything really easy which was the opposite of what I wanted. We also went over foot placement in side slips including going backwards - because I am still not putting enough weight on my heels due to my habit of leaning too far forward.
Interestingly, he noted after our lesson that if he had been my instructor from the beginning, he'd have done direct to parallel with the type of habits I have. I didn't even know direct to parallel was a thing. I guess the wedge is becoming too much of a crutch? Or maybe it's cause I like speed? I dunno.
Another thing I learned - I had a lousy bootfitter. He asked me where I had gone and I told him the name and asked if he knew them. He said no, but he knew where not to recommend to anybody now
. He told me he also has hard to fit feet and had gone to Whistler to see someone with a G name (sorry can't recall), but he knew that might be out of the way for me right now. He did show me how to tighten what I had on.
As soon as I got home, I decided to make an appointment for a signature fit with the Seattle Flagship EVO since I live in walking distance. This is their high priced boot fitting and offers modifications, inserts, heat molding and boot exchanges even in used/modded boots for the entire year. There seems to have been a cancellation Monday morning and I scooped it up cause all the other appointments are 3 weeks out. Work be damned, lol.
Does anyone have any experience with EVO boot fitting?
The other thing I did when I got home... called up Crystal Mountain to request another lesson with this instructor! He reminded me that we are all still learning - and he said he even still takes a ski lesson each week as his continuing education even though he's been a ski instructor for over a decade - there's always more to learn. So thanks everyone for accompanying me on this journey and supporting my learning even at my age. I've been lucky enough to find others who are "x years young" and who are also "still learning". It's really encouraging!
