Proud ski dad here

[LiquidFeet]

Airplane Arms: At the end of the old turn, switch the arm positions so that the downhill/new inside arm is up and the other arm is down. This will actually start the turn by default. It edges the skis and causes angulation, which directs pressure to the new outside ski.

Pat the Dog: Same thing, only with only one arm - the new outside arm (uphill arm at the start of the turn).

Angry Mother: Requires more balance control; is advanced since the arms are not out providing help like for a tightrope walker's arms. Do this one later when he's comfortable with the other two.

 

[LiquidFeet]

The confusion comes with thinking in terms of downhill/uphill instead of inside/outside. Unfortunately it's easier to think about uphill/downhill because you can see which is uphill and which is downhill with your eyes. Inside/outside requires referring to an invisible model of C-shaped turns inside your head.

At the start of a turn, the downhill side is the new inside side.
At the end of a turn, the downhill side is the current outside.
That's confusing. It means you need to identify which part of the turn you're talking about when you use downhill/uphill. Tooooo many words, so people leave them out and misunderstanding abounds.

Throughout the whole turn, the inside stays the inside. And the outside stays the outside. At first, it's the "new" inside, then just the "inside" etc.

It's always less confusing to use inside and outside, as long as you attach "new" to each of the terms at the start of the turn. If you don't, the old turn nomenclature gets confused with the new turn stuff.

 

[crgildart]

I still remember that day for both my kids, now about 10 years ago. @Old boot was there when the older kid navigated the first REAL green on his own.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Another thing you can do with him is have him ski across the hill, facing the trees, between turns. If he spends time between turns doing this, then the "between" time will become evident to him. He'll also notice that he slows down during this part.

That's when he needs to switch arms, when he's going across the hill. It's the end of one C shaped turn and the beginning of the next.

Going across the hill is called "completing your turns." If you can get him to embed this as a habit, he'll be able to control his speed as the pitch of the terrain gets steeper. That time spent going across the hill slows the skier down. He won't feel the need to go into a braking wedge if the speed catches him by surprise and feels scary. You don't want that to happen.

In fact, completing turns deletes the need for a wedge and helps promote parallel skiing. Speed control comes at the end of every turn without the wedge.

 

[Ivan]

Another thing you can do with him is have him ski across the hill, facing the trees, between turns. If he spends time between turns doing this, then the "between" time will become evident to him. That's when he needs to switch arms. It's the end of one C shaped turn and the beginning of the next.

This is called "completing your turns." If you can get him to embed this as a habit, he'll be able to control his speed as the pitch of the terrain gets steeper. That time spent going across the hill slows the skier down.

Okay, I think I see what you mean. I was confused because here, for example, the term "airplane turns" is used for the exact opposite. But when I try what you are saying off the snow, I can see how taking the inside arm up causes angulation. Will try this on the snow next time.

Good point about completing turns. To do that, I would need to make him let me ski in front of him. Yesterday he wanted to be in front, but I'll work on that. Thanks again!

 

[LiquidFeet]

The NEW inside arm goes up when you are going across the hill. That's the downhill arm at that point. Later in the turn, when going in the other direction, that same arm will be uphill.

It's so easy to get confused.

You two are doing a great job having fun together. He's going to love skiing for life.

 

[Jilly]

You got it @Ivan - go have some fun. You may need to lead, but follow the leader is so much fun to both of you. Make him stay in your path for those turn completions.

Look at this too! Some it too advanced right now, but the hand up and the other on the hip is just a different placement of the airplane turn or pet the animal.

 

[LiquidFeet]

^^ Excellent!

 

[Ivan]

You got it @Ivan - go have some fun. You may need to lead, but follow the leader is so much fun to both of you. Make him stay in your path for those turn completions.

Look at this too! Some it too advanced right now, but the hand up and the other on the hip is just a different placement of the airplane turn or pet the animal.

This is really great, thank you! This forum has been a great place for getting advice on teaching my son how to ski. My dad taught me 25 years ago (and my sister a couple of years later), but since then the technique and gear have changed, we now live in different countries, and my sister and I were older when we started skiing, so it is difficult to rely on his experience. It's great to have a place to ask questions and receive advice.

You two are doing a great job having fun together. He's going to love skiing for life.

I definitely hope so. I grew up in Russia but then moved to the US in 2012 with my wife. My sister moved to France a couple of years later, but she still tried to coordinate her winter vacation with our parents so that they could ski in the Alps together. I'd say that for me, that's the most important thing about skiing: having something that the entire family enjoys and does together.

 

[Ivan]

Here is another update:

It seems that the airplane drill (with the inside arm up, not down) is kind of working. I think my son is gradually figuring out how to load, edge, and carve the outside ski.

P.S. The second part of the video is not as good as the first one, because I was skiing in front of him with my GoPro on my back. Sort of difficult to film when you cannot see what you are filming.

 

[Jilly]

 

[LiquidFeet]

He's got it! Cement this into his learning, then you can build more precision onto it.

You'd be surprised how many adult learners can't get this right. They keep losing the rhythm with their arms and what was once a new-inside-arm lift morphs into a new-outside-arm lift and they don't know the arms got switched. They can't keep the arm switches going at the same rate as the ski turns. Funny, huh?

Proud dad!