Your "Aha!" moment

[mintzcole]

Shifting my weight on legs like I'm pedaling a bike. Although, I'm going to have to attempt ski tipping that has been discussed. I have been working on one leg turns and slip pivots after my lessons at Killington but this ski tipping drill sounds like it might help me smooth my turns out even more!

 

[Iwannaski]

Came by to drop in a kinda aha moment today. Daughters had a 2 hour lesson, so expert snowboarder friend (normally carves at ~35mph) and I (cautious at ~22 mph) went to home hill, after 2-3 days of rain and warmer temps.

I skied on a day like this in 2021, and then again in 2022. In 2022, I want to say I did 2 runs and called it an evening - it was so hard.

Today, it was a hard go of it. ALLLLL the pass holders were talking about the challenging conditions. Chopped up and mashed potatoes. Huge divots from falls, etc.

Y’all. It was hard, but it was doable and kind of fun (until it got crowded with 20-somethings who were careening down the hill). My last two runs I began getting into my own head, but my skis were also reflecting a need for a rewax, so it was suboptimal.

But, I felt like what clicked today more than it has all season is the absolute importance of ankle flexion. AND, the max speed difference between me and friend was 1 MPH. (She didn’t go faster than 23…LOL)

 

[JayZeeSquared]

I just had an aha moment yesterday while I was out. I've been watching a lot of videos where I kept on hearing to get away from leaning into the hill. I was on a skied out run and kept on slipping. I realized that I was leaning into the hill so shift my position to be more forward over my skis and WOW! I felt so much in control.

I came across this thread: https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...emember that if you're,of the snow behind you.

Now I just need to work better on my pole planting to be even more in control.

 

[Trailside Trixie]

I had so many aha moments from last January until now. I was skiing with a coach last weekend who gave me some great tips for pole planting in a more aggressive style and it definitely works when I need to charge down a steeper part and not shop for real estate. I am feeling pretty good these days. I have a blue to black clinic at Magic this weekend and a PSIA update clinic Monday/Tuesday of next week and I'm actually psyched for them instead of nervous as hell. I obviously still have lots of improving to do but I feel like I'm on the other side of the hump now.... I kinda wanna ski with everyone I've skied with in the past years to redo their memory of my skiing. In a very humble meaning way I feel like now I can finally ski...........

 

[MermaidKelly]

So far, my biggest aha was "J-turn" Last year I was struggling turning down bunny slopes, and stopping. A lift attendant told me to focus on making J-turns. Just turn uphill until you stop (or almost stop). After that revelation things started working a little better for me, and I was more in control.

 

[TiffAlt]

Several things came together for me in sequence during the same day on vacation last month:

1. That I was sitting on my heels instead of properly dorsiflexing in my boot - you need to use the whole foot, different parts during your turn

2. That "too far forward" was me crouching to get forward while in the backseat (revelation right after to the heel issue above). With my feet more flat and less heel dominant, I was able to get forward without the extreme crouch.

3. Hop turns and/or toppling FTW on steeps especially when it's 3D snow

While the weather wasn't great at Mt Bachelor, the powder turned chewed up crud and poor visibility really felt like it unlocked some problems in my skiing! This is going to sound scary as hell and it was at the time, but in the poor visibility, I accidentally wandered into some black terrain without knowing it and as I was going down, constantly revising what I felt wasn't worked, it just clicked.

Now I'm not advising anyone to over terrain themselves - I think I was just lucky that I had a moment of clarity then. I had actually known all these points before, but they were all separate in my head if that makes sense - I wasn't putting them together. Being in that situation really made me use the "toolbox" to review what I knew about skiing and myself. And I guess I figured out fore-aft trying to get myself down (or at least I think I did, who knows, maybe I still suck).

 

[liquidfeet]

Several things came together for me in sequence during the same day on vacation last month:

1. That I was sitting on my heels instead of properly dorsiflexing in my boot - you need to use the whole foot, different parts during your turn

2. That "too far forward" was me crouching to get forward while in the backseat (revelation right after to the heel issue above). With my feet more flat and less heel dominant, I was able to get forward without the extreme crouch.

3. Hop turns and/or toppling FTW on steeps especially when it's 3D snow

While the weather wasn't great at Mt Bachelor, the powder turned chewed up crud and poor visibility really felt like it unlocked some problems in my skiing! This is going to sound scary as hell and it was at the time, but in the poor visibility, I accidentally wandered into some black terrain without knowing it and as I was going down, constantly revising what I felt wasn't worked, it just clicked.

Now I'm not advising anyone to over terrain themselves - I think I was just lucky that I had a moment of clarity then. I had actually known all these points before, but they were all separate in my head if that makes sense - I wasn't putting them together. Being in that situation really made me use the "toolbox" to review what I knew about skiing and myself. And I guess I figured out fore-aft trying to get myself down (or at least I think I did, who knows, maybe I still suck).

This is a description of a true Breakthrough, with a capital B. Congrats!

 

[Lmk92]

Several things came together for me in sequence during the same day on vacation last month:

1. That I was sitting on my heels instead of properly dorsiflexing in my boot - you need to use the whole foot, different parts during your turn

2. That "too far forward" was me crouching to get forward while in the backseat (revelation right after to the heel issue above). With my feet more flat and less heel dominant, I was able to get forward without the extreme crouch.

3. Hop turns and/or toppling FTW on steeps especially when it's 3D snow

While the weather wasn't great at Mt Bachelor, the powder turned chewed up crud and poor visibility really felt like it unlocked some problems in my skiing! This is going to sound scary as hell and it was at the time, but in the poor visibility, I accidentally wandered into some black terrain without knowing it and as I was going down, constantly revising what I felt wasn't worked, it just clicked.

Now I'm not advising anyone to over terrain themselves - I think I was just lucky that I had a moment of clarity then. I had actually known all these points before, but they were all separate in my head if that makes sense - I wasn't putting them together. Being in that situation really made me use the "toolbox" to review what I knew about skiing and myself. And I guess I figured out fore-aft trying to get myself down (or at least I think I did, who knows, maybe I still suck).

#Goals

I am number 2

 

[scandium]

The series of gradual improvements appears to have been much helped by more days on snow last year - but it is still frustrating finding my old habits creep in any time the snow is ungroomed, less than ideal, or the slope is steep. Last year was the first year I had direct instructor feedback about how to use the inside ski more to help with turn initiation and I think that has improved things a lot on the groomers at least!

 

[EdithP]

My big AHA moment came recently ( I am learning to get away from skidded turns into carved turns, if only silghtly carved at present). I noticed an analogy between standing on a swing and making it move by flexing and extending your legs, and an edged turn which you motor by flexing and extending your legs.

 

[Rashika]

I still like reading and re reading this thread cos I'm always getting more out of it!
It's nice to be at the beginning of our season so I can work on a few of these ideas. I find myself going through the list as I ski:
-Tongue-shin ( that still makes me laugh)
-weight more forward over the skis rather than back
-j turns
- standing taller, hips open
And lots of others...

 

[EdithP]

This AHA moment should have surfaced before and I think it is telling that it has not. And I certainly should have written about it a long time ago from my own perspective, and again it is very telling that I did not. Namely, that skiing in its above rudimentary form really is NOT easy to learn (exceptions will always apply and especially for those under seven years of age). I am seeing posters beating themselves up for "still" not being able to do this or that in spite of .....(fill on your own). I have been like that myself, still lapse into it from time to time, but in general have found this AHA moment liberating: SKIING IS DIFFICULT (thank you @liquidfeet for reminding me of it on many occasions). I think we have been carefully trained by the skiing industry to say otherwise. By which I do not mean actual deception, but a process like this: when you are repeatedly told skiing is easy to learn (which you will be) you will expect a quick and natural progress. When experience shows new skiers otherwise, they quickly quit, thinking it is not for them. That leaves in the field only those with a quick grasp and thus is the belief reinforced. However, for most of us less blessed and above seven (how about forty seven? fifty seven?) it will be hard. Also hard to admit, in the world in which everybody, from your buddies to instructors assure you it is an easy and quick process. When I finally accepted that learning skiing is hard and probably for me will always be because it IS A HARD SKILL TO ATTAIN, plenty of my frustration fell off. And my enjoyment and appreciation of every little bit of progress increased ski high. So I decided to share this liberating though , too obvious that it is .

 

[Rashika]

Actually yes 100% agree with this and I felt a fair bit of this today. We have just done a couple more days skiing and there were moments when I felt like I was just taking a step or two forward and then a step back and feeling a bit down about not getting further ahead. Trying to explain to my 14 year old who is doing great and going forward in leaps, that his mum is old and definitely no little ski bunny and at times just damn scared of taking risks that could really hurt, is kinda difficult!
Yup skiing is really hard ( and the conditions at the moment are not easy according to my partner) and yet I keep trying and I should b actually feeling great that im still doing it... Part of me does feel that and part of me feels I should be better by now.
So maybe I should just remember the stuff that I did do today that made feel like I was improving , like playing along the fresh powdery jib line (just a tiny bit) after my partner and son had done it all day or doing some actually ok turns thru some firm stuff ( let's forget about the soft snow afterwards that threw me all over the place lol)... I should just think of those small improvements and forget those moments when I stuff it up a little.
Yup skiing is hard but I'm gonna keep trying cos I really do love just being out there, the views ( piccie attached) and the cool memories being made with my kids and partner are just worth it... And I am slowly but surely improving.

 

[scandium]

This season has started with a couple of cues that work well for me:
- focussing on the weight being on both ball and heel of foot rather than just "shin to boot"
Apparently I can do shin to boot with all my weight in the back seat.
- being more active at "pulling my skis back" at certain points in the turn to keep my weight over them, again this cue seems to work better than trying to bring my body forward over the skis

 

[NWSkiGirl]

Maybe everyone else already knows this, but I never realized how my number of days on snow each season affects my skiing. Lots of days on snow leads to more confidence and doing harder terrain! If I’m not skiing a lot, I’m not feeling as confident.

 

[cmleider]

Maybe everyone else already knows this, but I never realized how my number of days on snow each season affects my skiing. Lots of days on snow leads to more confidence and doing harder terrain! If I’m not skiing a lot, I’m not feeling as confident.

I feel this! I learned to ski for the first time when I was 27 (now I'm 40). That first year my life circumstances worked out they I was able to ski 60 days they season, I was a very solid advanced intermediate skier by then. The next few years I barely got 30 days in each season and I just seemed to plateau in my ability and confidence. I find that if I can get in at least 40 days where there are a few consecutive strerches of at least 5 days then confidence and ability continue to grow. I've also learned like 90% of my ability is based on my confidence!

 

[VickiK]

@cmleider , yes, the head game is real, so is ski time or ski mileage.

I started skiing in my late 20s too. Now I'm 66. My average # of days is consistently so low that over the years, I felt like my ski ability was going backward. I became plagued by a fear that I'd injure myself. Physical conditioning/prep became really important but didn't really fix it. Taking lessons, specifically a Taos ski week, was great. That stopped me feeling like I was going backwards, skills wise, that at least I was maintaining a status quo.

 

[Tundra]

I feel this! I learned to ski for the first time when I was 27 (now I'm 40). That first year my life circumstances worked out they I was able to ski 60 days they season, I was a very solid advanced intermediate skier by then. The next few years I barely got 30 days in each season and I just seemed to plateau in my ability and confidence. I find that if I can get in at least 40 days where there are a few consecutive strerches of at least 5 days then confidence and ability continue to grow. I've also learned like 90% of my ability is based on my confidence!

I am newer to sking and this year was the first year I dedicated the winter to learn. I got about 20 days on the snow and it made a huge difference in skill and confidence. I am still very much a beginner but with more time on snow it helped me bounce back from my "bad" days of sking.

I use to go once or twice in a season then not go for years. How could anyone get better with that little amount of time on snow?

 

[Nedgirl]

Maybe everyone else already knows this, but I never realized how my number of days on snow each season affects my skiing. Lots of days on snow leads to more confidence and doing harder terrain! If I’m not skiing a lot, I’m not feeling as confident.

This. I teach skiing at Winter Park, and get a lot of people who do one week-long ski trip for the year. No amount of lessons will make up for days on skis -- it's the only way to get good technique down and make you confident.

 

[marzNC]

This. I teach skiing at Winter Park, and get a lot of people who do one week-long ski trip for the year. No amount of lessons will make up for days on skis -- it's the only way to get good technique down and make you confident.

Agree.

However, what I learned a decade ago is that lessons and practice at a small hill (under 100 acres, runs take 2-3 min to finish), it is possible to improve fundamentals in a way that makes a noticeable difference at big mountains during a 1-week ski trip. In some ways, can be easier to decide to practice fundamentals at a small hill on 100% snowmaking coverage with no off-piste terrain.

My favorite instructor at my home hill, Massanutten, mostly skiing there or in WV when he was working towards PSIA Level 2 and Level 3 exams. He was a small business owner who only skied a couple days a week and had little time for ski vacations. Took a bit longer for him to pass, but he did after many, many short runs. He is ALWAYS practicing when free skiing.