Sunday 30 December 2018

Beginner Skiers Plans:


Snow Ghost

Beginner Skiers Plans. 

There are two types of Beginners, those that have never tried downhill skiing Plan 1, and those that have Plan 2.  

Plan 1:  You are a New Skier  

1 to 3 below are preparation before going to a ski hill. 4 to 7 are the lessons you perform at the ski hill.  
  1.  Download my manual and read the first section on beginner preparation. This section of the manual has enough information to get you to the hill.
  2.  Look at the video and read the second section on of the manual describing the lessons.
  3.  Go to a resort and rent your equipment. Make sure your boots are comfortable and don't hurt.
  4.  Find the beginner hill and start at lesson 1. The first lesson is about mobility and practiced on flat land. Spend about 15 minutes on each lesson.
  5.   Follow lessons 2 to 4 on a gentle hill. 
  6. Try lesson 6, about speed, on a cat track hill. This could be the last part of beginner hill where you can go straight down.
  7.  Repeat the lessons until you do them with confidence.
Comment:    Lessons 2 and 4 should be performed very slowly, almost stopping. Lessons 3 and 5 should be performed slowly at first then gradually increasing your speed with each repeat. By increasing you speed in lesson 3 you will increase your stopping ability. By increasing your speed in lesson 5 and shortening your distance between turns you will find it easy to ski with yours skis parallel.

Plan 2:  You are : Starting Again
                 
                 You are equipped and you can make snowplow turns, but you want to advance. You must start again because several new concepts are added to the beginner program as you will soon discover.  
  1. Download the manual
  2.  In section 1 read about boot fit. 
  3. In section 2, lesson 1, Start with Stationary Balance in Feel Your Feet
  4. Follow the lessons in order as each lesson is a prerequisite of the ones following.  

Note: 
Lesson 3 is training one leg at a time. One leg is doing most of the work and the other is controlling the direction straight down the hill.  It is the best way for a beginner to stop and it is about a critical skill (Pivoting). 
Lesson 4 is about initiating a turn by pressing on the inside portion of the ball of your foot. This is the easiest and least energy using way to steer a ski.

Comments:
My lessons are really simple exercises for learning the 5 basic skiing skills. Each lesson emphasizes a particular skill. Lesson 6 is a test of speed and confidence. 
Spend about 15 minutes on each lesson. Don’t look for perfection first time. Repeating the lessons several times until performed flawlessly. 
At some repetition, during lesson 5, both skis should remain parallel during the turn and the end of one turn is the start of another.
The lessons are how I teach skiing. My manual has the extras comments you get during a lesson from me.