marzNC
Angel Diva
Did you do those lessons mid-week? What month?
I agree that doing the adult group lessons or a private in addition to Ski Week can be useful.
However, it does depend on the instructor assigned for a group lesson. My first trip to Taos, the schedule for me and Jason was Wed-Wed, so we didn't do a Ski Week. Decided to do a group lesson on Mon morning. Even though there were a lot of instructors at line up, including a schoolmate of mine who is an Examiner (level above Level 3), the two of us were matched up with a young man who was an ex-racer with no PSIA teaching credentials at all. It was his first season teaching and his first season at Taos. He was hired mostly to teach race clinics. Since I was more interested in a guide than a lesson, I didn't ask for a change. Didn't find out his background until the first chairlift ride. His career was cut short by a very bad backcountry accident. Bottom line is that while he was a great skier, and did a few drills with us (nothing new), what he didn't know nearly as well as someone with L3 certification was Movement Analysis. I doubt any L3, or even L2, instructor would've taken us to the double-black bump run that we finished off the lesson with.
I've worked with over a dozen L3 instructors in the last decade, both in the mid-Atlantic and at destination resorts out west. Can honestly say that I've always been happy with the experience, whether I had a personal recommendation for the instructor or not. I've also worked with L2 instructors with 15+ years of experience. I've learned from those lessons, but they weren't quite at the same level when it came to the making adjustments in their teaching during the lesson. Some were private or solo lessons, some were semi-private lessons with friends, some were group lessons.
