alison wong
Angel Diva
Day 2 - Monday
More mishaps - I left my helmet and goggles at the condo. This is what happened when your mind was pre-occupied about something else, you became absent-minded. I had to rent a helmet, Eunice lent me her goggles. I did not have time for warm up again today because the line at the rental shop was long.
More limbo - I saw the ski school supervisor (same person that ran the ski off) and explained my situation. He seemed to be impatient to listen to what I had to say. At first, I was told I’d be in Karen’s group, then I was told I could have the option to do another ski off to be evaluated. I spotted Karen (name tag on instructor ‘s jacket) and spoke to her. She seemed confused and annoyed at the same time when I told her I’d be in her group and haven’t skied any blacks at Taos…. She said something like: “well, I already got 7 and I expect my group to be able to ski blacks here…” (sigh) She and her group then took off to the bottom of the ski off place waiting to see if new students will be assigned to her group.
Here I am, back at the ski off line up. The supervisor saw me and asked: “I thought you are with Karen?!” Me: “Apparently I am not, so here I am again….” He seemed more annoyed… I don’t know if I confused him or he confused me. Anyway, I did the ski off again and Karen approached me this time: “you are with me.” …. Could this day be more confusing and frustrating?
I wonder if Jean Meyer were running the ski off, things would be smoother and less confusing? This is my 2nd year doing the ski week here and I could only reference from my last year’s experience. From what I recall, the whole process was smooth and no confusion last year, and Jean was running the show!
Karen’s group has 7 students, including 2 other divas (@Gidget415 , @Yamaste ) and me. It was a larger group than my last year and yesterday’s class.
I tend to reference things from the first experience. Dano was my instructor at Taos ski week last year. On the 1st day of class, he listed few housekeeping rules: always stop downhill from the person next to you, if you fall, it won’t cause any domino’s effect and make others fall with you; never ski pass your instructor or your classmate in front of you. I followed these 2 rules whenever in a group lesson.
With Karen’s class, I am not sure if she has any housekeeping rules since I wasn’t in her 1st day’s class. Also, I noticed her students tend to stop uphill from others…. so I decided to ask and mentioned about stopping uphill vs downhill. Her reply was: “Dano was more strict, and I am not like that. With your level, I expect and know you have control on where you stop.”
We worked on the basics on groomed trails, lower/upper body separation, pole plants. I was feeling underwhelmed from this day’s lesson. Prior to Taos, I did off season training at Inside Ski, skiing on carpet to work the fundamentals with my Ski Liberty instructor. In a way, I am anxious to move on, ready to learn new things that I can’t get from practicing on skiing carpets.
I remembered a discussion with my friend, who used to ski, about the value to ski with someone who is better than me. I always think it can be stressful and overwhelming. I have to ski faster to keep up, often times I become flustered because I focus my attention on trying to keep up and pay less attention to my forms & turns. The way my friend explained: if a better skier skis with you, the person will pick an easier line for you to follow, especially on mogul runs. You can learn how to choose lines and read terrains by skiing with someone better than you. You should take up the offer if someone offers it. If anything, it helps you to look ahead and not down….
Following her advice, whenever I was behind my instructor, I tried to ski her line, mimics her lateral movement, and pay attention to her pole planting. I am skiing much better this season and manage to be in sync with her turns the entire run most times (last season, I was only able to follow my instructor for few turns and then I got out of sync.)
I spent the afternoon skied with @Susan L, Eunice, Diymom and MarzNC. I requested Susan to take me to lower Stauffenberg, the trail I’ve wanted to visit since last year. But it was not open when I came last season. Stauffenberg and Firlefanz were pratically empty in the afternoon, both are wide and long blue groomers. During the lift ride, Susan explained a bit more about the mountain and chair lift layout…. calling out which runs are usually groomed, which ones have bumps and how the lifts are connected, between front and back side of the mountain. Thanks again Susan!
For my work project, I worked quite late after we got home. The project was almost done, still need to check errors and perform validation. If all went well, I could turn in tomorrow.
Lesson learned:
1) Check Lost & Found if you forget to bring goggles / helmet/ gloves., they may let you use / borrow.
2) Different instructors have different rules. It is better to ask (respectfully) and never make any assumptions.
Day 3 - Tuesday
Eunice’s instructor from last year, Derek, offered to do a warm up run with Eunice in the morning. I never skied with Derek but always wanted to, I invited myself to tag along. It was also good to see what run instructors choose for warm up before the class. He took us to Bambi. He commented that I am flexing too much on my boots and asked if my boots were too soft. Me: “It is hard shell, 110 flex.” He then adjusted my boot buckle and said: “You have strong legs and for your next purchase, you may want to consider to get men’s boots.” (sigh) Another instructor brought up an issue with my boots. What’s the deal?!
Today was better than yesterday. We started the lesson with more pole planting exercise, pivot turns, learn the difference between pole planting on groomed terrains vs moguls.
She then took us to ski our first bump run, it was a run off Lift 4 on the right. These are smaller bumps in a not very steep terrain. She gave us few tips to start. Don’t know why, my other ski tended to lag behind when I was skiing bumps, one ski went downhill and another was not coming along. I felt frustrated as I was the only one in my class had this issue.
We lapped around this run 2x and 2nd time around, I cheated by lifting my other ski to “bring” it over. Karen said we should not lift out skis on bumps. I knew I was cheating and it did not escape her.
One thing she said today really ease my mind and released me from getting frustrated at myself. “All you need is the mileage at this point and I understand you guys don’t get to ski bumps very often. Therefore, I want to give you as much chance to practice as possible while you are here this week.”
I came to the realization that, for skiing, after I know the theory, I need to practice countless times to get the right feel for it.
After I put my mind at ease, I ski better on the subsequent bump runs. My other ski came along, no need to lift the other skis, they both went together as one, more smoothly. My turns on bumps are not elegant or smooth, I still had to shop every single turn, stop and reset to figure out where my next turn / line should be.
Two things I learned from Karen found to be very useful. Use pole planting on moguls to initiate turns; divide a big mogul to two sections so it is less “overwhelming”. I know I will retain these 2 tips for a long time…..
There was a tech talk at 4:30 pm at St Bernard and I really wanted to go. But I decided to go home and finished my project. Glad I skipped the talk, because I was able to turn in my project. This was a huge burden on my chest when I started this vacation. I was just happy and relieved that I can finally lift it off my chest. I could focus skiing, for real.
Day 4 - Wednesday
Before our class started, I asked Karen’s feedback about my skiing. Overall, my stance looks good. When I ski bumps, I need to be more deliberate in pole plants and be committed to my turns.
She said we need to learn how to engage our uphill ski as well as downhill ski when skiing bumps, we need to feel our uphill skis more. In order to appreciate the uphill ski, she had us do this drill, lifting downhill ski while traversing across the hill. I have not yet gotten the feel for “engaging” “feeling” the uphill skis on moguls, I need more mileage and still have long ways to go…
We did more bump runs today. Karen took us to this blue mogul run called Lone Star. Once you get on this trail, you are committed and no option for bailing. I was a bit nervous going in.
I had trouble initiating turns on moguls, I was not decisive and committed to start a turn. I learned from our lesson to call out the command: “Plant, turn” to trigger each turn. It worked for me and I would say it out loud “plant”, “turn” before each turn.
I skied with Gidget415 and another classmate in afternoon, we went back to ski the same bump runs that we did in the morning. It was helpful because they felt easier as I repeated them few more times.
I also ventured into my first real tree run: Japanese Glade. Thanks again Gidget415. Snow in the trees are surprisingly good and manageable, not icy as I thought.
I mentioned to Eunice about the tree run and asked if she’d be interested to go with me the next day.
Eunice: Are these trees tall?
Me: Yes, they are, but they are not tight trees, and the trail is short and not steep. You can exit out to the other side easy.
Eunice: At Big sky, they have this area where trees are about our height and they are wide apart. I’d prefer trees like that…. When you go to Big Sky, you can check it out.
I guess that’s a “no” for Eunice to ski the Japanese Glade.
More mishaps - I left my helmet and goggles at the condo. This is what happened when your mind was pre-occupied about something else, you became absent-minded. I had to rent a helmet, Eunice lent me her goggles. I did not have time for warm up again today because the line at the rental shop was long.
More limbo - I saw the ski school supervisor (same person that ran the ski off) and explained my situation. He seemed to be impatient to listen to what I had to say. At first, I was told I’d be in Karen’s group, then I was told I could have the option to do another ski off to be evaluated. I spotted Karen (name tag on instructor ‘s jacket) and spoke to her. She seemed confused and annoyed at the same time when I told her I’d be in her group and haven’t skied any blacks at Taos…. She said something like: “well, I already got 7 and I expect my group to be able to ski blacks here…” (sigh) She and her group then took off to the bottom of the ski off place waiting to see if new students will be assigned to her group.
Here I am, back at the ski off line up. The supervisor saw me and asked: “I thought you are with Karen?!” Me: “Apparently I am not, so here I am again….” He seemed more annoyed… I don’t know if I confused him or he confused me. Anyway, I did the ski off again and Karen approached me this time: “you are with me.” …. Could this day be more confusing and frustrating?
I wonder if Jean Meyer were running the ski off, things would be smoother and less confusing? This is my 2nd year doing the ski week here and I could only reference from my last year’s experience. From what I recall, the whole process was smooth and no confusion last year, and Jean was running the show!
Karen’s group has 7 students, including 2 other divas (@Gidget415 , @Yamaste ) and me. It was a larger group than my last year and yesterday’s class.
I tend to reference things from the first experience. Dano was my instructor at Taos ski week last year. On the 1st day of class, he listed few housekeeping rules: always stop downhill from the person next to you, if you fall, it won’t cause any domino’s effect and make others fall with you; never ski pass your instructor or your classmate in front of you. I followed these 2 rules whenever in a group lesson.
With Karen’s class, I am not sure if she has any housekeeping rules since I wasn’t in her 1st day’s class. Also, I noticed her students tend to stop uphill from others…. so I decided to ask and mentioned about stopping uphill vs downhill. Her reply was: “Dano was more strict, and I am not like that. With your level, I expect and know you have control on where you stop.”
We worked on the basics on groomed trails, lower/upper body separation, pole plants. I was feeling underwhelmed from this day’s lesson. Prior to Taos, I did off season training at Inside Ski, skiing on carpet to work the fundamentals with my Ski Liberty instructor. In a way, I am anxious to move on, ready to learn new things that I can’t get from practicing on skiing carpets.
I remembered a discussion with my friend, who used to ski, about the value to ski with someone who is better than me. I always think it can be stressful and overwhelming. I have to ski faster to keep up, often times I become flustered because I focus my attention on trying to keep up and pay less attention to my forms & turns. The way my friend explained: if a better skier skis with you, the person will pick an easier line for you to follow, especially on mogul runs. You can learn how to choose lines and read terrains by skiing with someone better than you. You should take up the offer if someone offers it. If anything, it helps you to look ahead and not down….
Following her advice, whenever I was behind my instructor, I tried to ski her line, mimics her lateral movement, and pay attention to her pole planting. I am skiing much better this season and manage to be in sync with her turns the entire run most times (last season, I was only able to follow my instructor for few turns and then I got out of sync.)
I spent the afternoon skied with @Susan L, Eunice, Diymom and MarzNC. I requested Susan to take me to lower Stauffenberg, the trail I’ve wanted to visit since last year. But it was not open when I came last season. Stauffenberg and Firlefanz were pratically empty in the afternoon, both are wide and long blue groomers. During the lift ride, Susan explained a bit more about the mountain and chair lift layout…. calling out which runs are usually groomed, which ones have bumps and how the lifts are connected, between front and back side of the mountain. Thanks again Susan!
For my work project, I worked quite late after we got home. The project was almost done, still need to check errors and perform validation. If all went well, I could turn in tomorrow.
Lesson learned:
1) Check Lost & Found if you forget to bring goggles / helmet/ gloves., they may let you use / borrow.
2) Different instructors have different rules. It is better to ask (respectfully) and never make any assumptions.
Day 3 - Tuesday
Eunice’s instructor from last year, Derek, offered to do a warm up run with Eunice in the morning. I never skied with Derek but always wanted to, I invited myself to tag along. It was also good to see what run instructors choose for warm up before the class. He took us to Bambi. He commented that I am flexing too much on my boots and asked if my boots were too soft. Me: “It is hard shell, 110 flex.” He then adjusted my boot buckle and said: “You have strong legs and for your next purchase, you may want to consider to get men’s boots.” (sigh) Another instructor brought up an issue with my boots. What’s the deal?!
Today was better than yesterday. We started the lesson with more pole planting exercise, pivot turns, learn the difference between pole planting on groomed terrains vs moguls.
She then took us to ski our first bump run, it was a run off Lift 4 on the right. These are smaller bumps in a not very steep terrain. She gave us few tips to start. Don’t know why, my other ski tended to lag behind when I was skiing bumps, one ski went downhill and another was not coming along. I felt frustrated as I was the only one in my class had this issue.
We lapped around this run 2x and 2nd time around, I cheated by lifting my other ski to “bring” it over. Karen said we should not lift out skis on bumps. I knew I was cheating and it did not escape her.
One thing she said today really ease my mind and released me from getting frustrated at myself. “All you need is the mileage at this point and I understand you guys don’t get to ski bumps very often. Therefore, I want to give you as much chance to practice as possible while you are here this week.”
I came to the realization that, for skiing, after I know the theory, I need to practice countless times to get the right feel for it.
After I put my mind at ease, I ski better on the subsequent bump runs. My other ski came along, no need to lift the other skis, they both went together as one, more smoothly. My turns on bumps are not elegant or smooth, I still had to shop every single turn, stop and reset to figure out where my next turn / line should be.
Two things I learned from Karen found to be very useful. Use pole planting on moguls to initiate turns; divide a big mogul to two sections so it is less “overwhelming”. I know I will retain these 2 tips for a long time…..
There was a tech talk at 4:30 pm at St Bernard and I really wanted to go. But I decided to go home and finished my project. Glad I skipped the talk, because I was able to turn in my project. This was a huge burden on my chest when I started this vacation. I was just happy and relieved that I can finally lift it off my chest. I could focus skiing, for real.
Day 4 - Wednesday
Before our class started, I asked Karen’s feedback about my skiing. Overall, my stance looks good. When I ski bumps, I need to be more deliberate in pole plants and be committed to my turns.
She said we need to learn how to engage our uphill ski as well as downhill ski when skiing bumps, we need to feel our uphill skis more. In order to appreciate the uphill ski, she had us do this drill, lifting downhill ski while traversing across the hill. I have not yet gotten the feel for “engaging” “feeling” the uphill skis on moguls, I need more mileage and still have long ways to go…
We did more bump runs today. Karen took us to this blue mogul run called Lone Star. Once you get on this trail, you are committed and no option for bailing. I was a bit nervous going in.
I had trouble initiating turns on moguls, I was not decisive and committed to start a turn. I learned from our lesson to call out the command: “Plant, turn” to trigger each turn. It worked for me and I would say it out loud “plant”, “turn” before each turn.
I skied with Gidget415 and another classmate in afternoon, we went back to ski the same bump runs that we did in the morning. It was helpful because they felt easier as I repeated them few more times.
I also ventured into my first real tree run: Japanese Glade. Thanks again Gidget415. Snow in the trees are surprisingly good and manageable, not icy as I thought.
I mentioned to Eunice about the tree run and asked if she’d be interested to go with me the next day.
Eunice: Are these trees tall?
Me: Yes, they are, but they are not tight trees, and the trail is short and not steep. You can exit out to the other side easy.
Eunice: At Big sky, they have this area where trees are about our height and they are wide apart. I’d prefer trees like that…. When you go to Big Sky, you can check it out.
I guess that’s a “no” for Eunice to ski the Japanese Glade.