35

[Uke]

This will be my 35th season teaching skiing. Started as a small local resort then moved to top five destination resort, been there for over 30 seasons. Thought I might put down a few thoughts. I'm glad to hear what you think about my ideas but don't be offended if I don't respond a lot. I'm old, ornery and a little burned out after 20+ years of talking about skiing on line.

I guess I'll start with what I teach now.

A big share of my time is spent with adults who already ski. This is nice because they are moving forward they may have the brakes on but they are moving and I can work with that. On the easiest terrain available I will show them how to flatten one foot or the other and discover that they go in that direction. Flatten left go left, flatten right go right. I make sure that they understand that they don't weight that foot just flatten it. For those still skiing in a wedge that may be enough for more advance skiers flatten becomes Roll the Sole where the skier feels their foot roll across the sole from the big toe side to the little toe side. I'll point out that all we are doing is letting go of the snow with that foot (I'm teaching a release) and encourage them to feel how we naturally begin to ride on the other ski, actually on the big toe side of that foot. As we ski around I start to use ride ski and guide ski for the differing roles of the skis. Learning/exploring Ride and Guide is more than enough for the first lesson.

A little aside here. I've been using the phrase 'Ride and Guide' from before the advent of shaped skis. Back then it was right points right go right for the guide ski left points left. The other ski was the one you stood on and rode to where you wanted to go.

Pretty good, I wrote that whole thing and never used the word turn.

More later,

uke

 

[Uke]

Life being what it is it took me longer to get back to this than I intended.

We have cards that we are encouraged to fill out and give to our guests that are supposed to be a review of the lesson. Many instructors don't bother to use them because of the fact that there is no time in the lesson to fill them out. I hand them out after every lesson because I can fill them out in advance. One of our supervisors saw me filling out several while waiting for a lesson and ask how I could know in advance what I would be teaching. I explained that almost every student I encounter has learned to grab onto the snow surface make something happen. Few have ever learned to let go of the snow surface and allow the tool on our feet to function as it is designed to. When the student lets go with one foot (flattens the ski) they discover that the other ski will engage the snow surface and begin directing them in the new direction. No deliberate 'weight shift', edging, pushing or anything else that they have been told they "have' to do to 'turn' required.

Some will ask what percentage of students does this approach work with. In my experience all of them. I've taught this to thousands of students and can't really think of any who didn't 'get it'.

Will be back for more,

uke

 

[Steve]

Love it! The release is definitely a key concept and breakthrough focus.

For one season I used “let it go, man!” as a mantra to help my skiing.

 

[Uke]

Steve,

I remember a day in the early 2000's when I skied a foot and a half of fresh from uncut to soft bumps and mumbled 'release' several thousand times.

uke

 

[Uke]

I've always been aware of how word choice can affect outcomes in teaching situations. One of the first things I did in this regard when I started teaching skiing was to get rid of the word 'push'. Back then it seemed like almost all instruction at all levels involved that word. Basically, it was a push right for a left turn and push left for a right turn. I questioned that because I felt that in my best skiing and the best skiing the I saw there was no pushing on the ski. So I replaced push with brush in lower level lessons and started to use 'stand on the ski for higher skills. I pretty much eliminated that word from my lessons

I guess it was about a decade later that I took the stand on the ski idea further and started to ask my students to feel the ski pushing on them. I remember using the phrase 'when I ski I let my feet push me around'. Somewhere along the line I started to use the word direct instead of push for this idea.

I also seem to remember the idea of pushing off the ski. I traded that for extending.

Ask people to push on a ski and most will move the ski sideways. That movement of the object pushed seems to be wound up in the words meaning for a lot of people and I just don't want the ski pushed.

Seems like a lot about one little word.

uke

 

[Uke]

First year as an instructor you tend to be low man on the totem pole and jump at any opportunity to teach so when asked if I wanted to teach a five week Saturday children's program I jumped at the chance. Six neverevers, one six year old the others 8 to 10.

I followed the progression I had been taught and thing went fairly well the first morning and I was ready to take everyone up the lift after lunch. The youngest one had been struggling a little but had mastered stopping if not turning and I was sure I could get him down from the top of the Mary's chair.

The first section was the most challenging and at the bottom of that part it was important that the group go to the right. i collected the group about two thirds of the way down the pitch and told them I would ski down to direct them where to go. I called them down one at a time and made sure they were headed in the right direction.

The six year old was the last and I thought I might have to help him get down the trail to the right to get to the rest of the beginner run. Here he comes in a full lean back push the skis out power wedge controlling his speed but going straight. Rather than try to get him to do any of the things that we had been working on to 'turn' I just pointed down the trail to the right and yelled. "Point your toes that way.", and low and behold he came up a little out of the back seat narrowed the wedge a little and 'Went that way' to follow the rest of the class.

The rest of the way down I had the whole class pointing their toes where they wanted to go and that became to focus for the next four weeks. At the end of the program I had seven mostly parallel skiers making it safely down the blues.

Today I'm still telling people to point their toes/skis where they want to go and it still works. That focus allows students to better center themselves, discover how to ride the outside ski and ski with the brakes off.

I probably would have came to the idea of guiding the skis anyway somewhere along the line but I'm so glad that I found it that first year.

uke

 

[Tony S]

Flatten left go left, flatten right go right. I make sure that they understand that they don't weight that foot just flatten it. For those still skiing in a wedge that may be enough for more advance skiers flatten becomes Roll the Sole where the skier feels their foot roll across the sole from the big toe side to the little toe side. I'll point out that all we are doing is letting go of the snow with that foot (I'm teaching a release) and encourage them to feel how we naturally begin to ride on the other ski, actually on the big toe side of that foot. As we ski around I start to use ride ski and guide ski for the differing roles of the skis. Learning/exploring Ride and Guide is more than enough for the first lesson.

Like this. Enjoying your recap.

 

[Wendy]

I’m enjoying your posts, @Uke .
The “release” part of the turn has been key for me in tackling tougher terrain.
You sound like a great person to take a lesson from!

 

[LiquidFeet]

I'm enjoying this thread too. Keep 'em coming, @Uke.

 

[Chris V.]

I'll point out that all we are doing is letting go of the snow with that foot (I'm teaching a release) and encourage them to feel how we naturally begin to ride on the other ski....

Yes, it's been said many times by those who really get it, but it bears saying repeatedly in all different contexts. Emphasis here on "ride" the ski. The skier needs to be moving with the skis--then the release is all that's needed to start them turning the other way. (Sorry, had to say "turn.") If the skier isn't moving with the skis, is doing a big tail skid, it won't work so well. Good stuff, Uke.

 

[Coach13]

I really like everything I’ve read here and especially the “no push” thing. In my own skiing I can use my level of leg fatigue to judge the quality and efficiency of my skiing in a given day for just that reason

BTW @Uke, I don’t know where you instruct but I’d like to in case I ever get a chance to hook up for a lesson.

 

[Uke]

More forward than sideways. This is one thing that comes up in almost every lesson I teach. Its not a movement or skill or fundamental. Its a concept and a sensation.

I usually bring it up right after the student discovers what just releasing the functioning edge of the ski and allowing the ski design to function does. I ask them to compare the feeling of how the ski interacts with the snow to how it felt in their previous skiing and develop the awareness that the ski is tracking more forward and less sideways. I point out that the ski is made to function best when moving along its length. Depending on the student we'll spend any where from a couple runs to half a day working on standing on the ski and feeling how it interacts with the snow.

This is about when I bring up that the students body is also moving forward through a series of curves instead of going from one sideways braking move to another.

More forward than sideways, an essential for recreational skiing.

uke

 

[LiquidFeet]

...I point out that the ski is made to function best when moving along its length. Depending on the student we'll spend any where from a couple runs to half a day working on standing on the ski and feeling how it interacts with the snow....

I'm enjoying reading your posts. Your pace is perfect. Keep them coming.

You are fortunate to have long lessons which enable you to spend half a day on one sensation. Here in New England, at the mountains where I've taught, private lessons are sold as 1-hour sessions, and group lessons are 1.5 hour sessions. A 3-hour half-day lesson would be such a luxury.

 

[Uke]

LF,

When I moved from Brighton to DV I spent the first half of my first season adjusting to the longer lessons. At first it was something of a challenge to take a lesson that I had been presenting in an hour or hour and a half to spread it out to several hours or even several days. I learned a lot about how to pace things and how to tell if a student was ready for the next step.

Another point about longer lessons and getting to work with the same student for extended periods was I began to develop a better understanding for how the parts I had been teaching in short one off lessons fit together (or not) to help a student progress to being a better skier.

uke

 

[LiquidFeet]

I don't think there's any advantage in one-off one hour privates over whole day lessons. But alas those longer lessons are not to be where I teach. A skier can of course buy a number of one-hour privates and stick them together. That's been done. Unfortunately there's no financial advantage for doing that since it's not promoted.

 

[freeskier1961]

some of my understandings open for scrutiny by those who are more qualified than I, all opinions welcome. I have been skiing over 45 years and am not an instructor but have received instruction from a number some of the best in Canada.
80 percent of skiers are in the backseat to some level
the correct centered stance is paramount to progress
only skier themselves can confirm a centered stance, can appear to be when sometimes not
maintain intimate contact shins with the tongue of boot
avoid hollow back, leads to backseat
roll shoulders will help round the back which allows femurs to rotate freely in hip sockets (my aha moment!)
hands forward
I found that once my stance was correct by employing much of the above, I quickly progressed to skiing difficult terrain effectively with more fluidity and less effort as opposed to just surviving it
mine 2 cents all opinions critique welcome!!

 

[4ster]

80 95 percent of skiers are in the backseat & inside to some level

FIFY^

You pretty much nailed what I have found in 40+ years of ski teaching.
"The skier is back & inside with a stiff outside leg. They lack upper/lower body separation & independent leg action."
I would actually coach exam candidates to use this when they were stumped doing movement analysis, add some turn shape observation & odds would be stacked in their favor. Of course the analysis is simple compared to coming up with an effective personal prescription for an individual, that is where @Uke 's years of experience come into play

The hollow back syndrome is a very difficult one to overcome & one of my peeves. There are alot of great skiers who get away with it but the fact is that skiing works much better when you develop a stance where all the body parts work independently.

 

[freeskier1961]

4ster, Do you think the great skiers with hollow backs, my situation for many years but far from great are in truly in an anatomical friendly balanced stance? I have found that eliminating the hollow back, not always easy was revolutionary for my progress and skillset

 

[4ster]

4ster, Do you think the great skiers with hollow backs, my situation for many years but far from great are in truly in an anatomical friendly balanced stance? I have found that eliminating the hollow back, not always easy was revolutionary for my progress and skillset

Julia Mancuso is always the first that comes to mind for me. She ended up with career ending hip issues, were the two related .


To answer your question... No I do not think they are in an anatomically ideal stance, there has to be compensations made elsewhere.

 

[Uke]

Been a while. Wanted to start this post several times but have avoided it because its about a career spanning very convoluted journey. Something of a long strange trip.

Willing to bet that my first ski season was 71/72. First day was a total disaster. Second day I had a friend of a friend who was taking a ski instructor training course use me as a crash dummy for an hour or so. After that I was on my own.

I survived, and in the process developed a unique way of looking at skiing that stayed with me to this day. Grooming was unknown then and every slope steep enough to ski had bumps on it so a short speed control turn was what was needed. Most self-taught skiers accomplished this with a up move followed by a massive stem to 'dig the edge in' finished with whipping the inside ski around and out of the way. For some reason my body learned that the whipping move of the inside ski could somehow drive the redirection of the outside ski.

As I progressed I refined this idea and ended up with the mental cue of making a circle with the tip of my left ski to turn left and a circle with my right tip to turn right. I ended my five or six seasons as a skibum skiing black bumps and powder at Alta.

About 12 years later I was doing seasonal work and the thought occurred to me that I might give teaching skiing a try (I had become a very occasional skier) so I signed up for a instructor training class and started teaching. After getting over all the info thrown at me in the class I recalled the tip circle thing and tried it one day. It still worked and I felt that it took me to a new level.

I built up my nerve and asked the skischool director if he had ever heard of anything like that? He said no but was curious enough to take a run with me and see just what I was talking about. Explain, demo and try and it worked for him too somewhat to his surprise. Explaining my idea to him on snow was when I first remember using making a circle with the foot rather than the ski tip.

Thirty-five years later and I'm still talking about the inside foot. Wording has evolved from the circle thing, through pointing, flattening, tipping and now guiding. Somewhere along the line "ride ski,guide ski" came along and stuck..

I've kept this focus in my teaching for one reason. It's always worked. With all ages and all skill levels. Thirty-five years and I can't think of a student who didn't get it and improve. I admit that for a long time I was puzzled as to why it worked as well as it does (I think I understand why now), but it worked and so I kept trying to refine it.

The world of ski instruction is and always has been very outside ski focused so I have always been viewed and a bit of an odd duck by all but my students.

uke