Ski camps: best bang for the improver's buck?

[Yepow]

Yeah, I'm a BPS member and have considered the academy--the real issue is getting video of your skiing (plus being able to get realtime feedback from an instructor rather than 24h later). The time I most have to actually WORK on my skiing I'm skiing alone and without a partner to take video. I know it's theoretically possible to stop strangers and ask them to video you but between the giving them your phone, the asking, the getting any kind of decent video.... I have an insta360 too but I suspect it just won't work out well.

 

[Mike King]

Yep, getting video is an issue. I did use an Insta360 and was able to get some decent footage for analysis.

https://firebasestorage.googleapis....ia&token=4cd245b8-e033-4e5a-808a-273c319bd876

(That coaching was from Sam Robertson, a former WC super G specialist who, unfortunately, has left BPS).

One guy in the academy found a local guy who will periodically ski with him and use a go pro on a chest mount to film. He pays him a small amount per run to do so. Another better option is to get one of your ski buds to signup with you -- then you can take video of each other...

Mike

 

[Zirbl]

Yep, getting video is an issue. I did use an Insta360 and was able to get some decent footage for analysis.

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/us-videos/o/original/dLDMLSuXuv1peHIK8mfT.mov?alt=media&token=4cd245b8-e033-4e5a-808a-273c319bd876

(That coaching was from Sam Robertson, a former WC super G specialist who, unfortunately, has left BPS).

One guy in the academy found a local guy who will periodically ski with him and use a go pro on a chest mount to film. He pays him a small amount per run to do so. Another better option is to get one of your ski buds to signup with you -- then you can take video of each other...

Mike

Might be thread drift, but it's summer and I'm curious: was the cause of your left knee position not "thinking about it", and did "thinking about it" produce the desired effect?

 

[Mike King]

Might be thread drift, but it's summer and I'm curious: was the cause of your left knee position not "thinking about it", and did "thinking about it" produce the desired effect?

There's a couple of issues there. First, I have a torn PCL in that knee and wear a brace -- I think that sometimes leads to a lack of knee angulation. Second, I've got a twisted tibia which leads to a natural bowlegged position. When I ski well, I ski from the lower leg and that is something I'm working on in my skiing. When it becomes autonomous I suspect this issue will not be present.

 

[Chris V.]

Harb Ski Systems one-week camps at Arapahoe Basin offered throughout the year.

Just a caveat...their Web site hasn't been fully functional and informative of late, so you'd be best off making a personal inquiry as to scheduled camps and space availability. Also run in Austria.

 

[DavidSkis]

Looking at the Fernie program a few things pop out:

• 45% of participants are British, followed by 25% Aussies. 5% are North American. This looks like a majorly gap year type of program, which is fine, but may skew focus to fun times rather than hardcore improvement. A lot of improvement happens by dialing back on terrain and working on fundamentals.
• Max 7 participants means fairly large groups that won't all fit on a chair for conversation. (Not terrible but may not be extremely personalized instruction.)
• Every group has a weakest and strongest skier. A good instructor can create a good learning experience for everyone in a mixed group. The problem is when the group is over-terrained, or when participants have unmet expectations (e.g. you want a bump lesson but your compatriots only want groomers). If you have expectations upfront, state them so that you get put in the correct group. (Hint: if you say you want bumps, this will put you with stronger skiers.)

Whistler appears to have devoured their camps.

The other option for you is to consider doing instructor certification. The CSIA level 1 is available in SK and you'd probably learn a lot about skiing as well as opening up the possibility to teach someday. Assuming the course is offered at a local hill, you'd spend far less than on the Fernie trip and you'd save on vacation time. You'd also be eligible to then take the level 2 skier development training.

I've found the training that's been available to me as an instructor and through my instructor connections has exceeded anything I've ever gotten through the general public channels. (That said I've had many poor training experiences as an instructor - but at least the options multiply!)

 

[Yepow]

Looking at the Fernie program a few things pop out:

• 45% of participants are British, followed by 25% Aussies. 5% are North American. This looks like a majorly gap year type of program, which is fine, but may skew focus to fun times rather than hardcore improvement. A lot of improvement happens by dialing back on terrain and working on fundamentals.
• Max 7 participants means fairly large groups that won't all fit on a chair for conversation. (Not terrible but may not be extremely personalized instruction.)
• Every group has a weakest and strongest skier. A good instructor can create a good learning experience for everyone in a mixed group. The problem is when the group is over-terrained, or when participants have unmet expectations (e.g. you want a bump lesson but your compatriots only want groomers). If you have expectations upfront, state them so that you get put in the correct group. (Hint: if you say you want bumps, this will put you with stronger skiers.)

Whistler appears to have devoured their camps.

The other option for you is to consider doing instructor certification. The CSIA level 1 is available in SK and you'd probably learn a lot about skiing as well as opening up the possibility to teach someday. Assuming the course is offered at a local hill, you'd spend far less than on the Fernie trip and you'd save on vacation time. You'd also be eligible to then take the level 2 skier development training.

I've found the training that's been available to me as an instructor and through my instructor connections has exceeded anything I've ever gotten through the general public channels. (That said I've had many poor training experiences as an instructor - but at least the options multiply!)

Yes, it does attract people coming overseas. The average age is around 40 tho (the gap year programs are like the 11 week ones, and they are indeed teenage drama and alcohol poisoning.)

I ultimately decided NOT to register in the camp for a few reasons--possibility of oversaturation (and at Fernie, I think I'm more concerned about saturation with rain than instruction), likelihood of something not going right and making me need to come home with thousands invested in this already (family sickness, homesickness, work emergency, injury, ...). I had thought and discussed with @geepers some on this as well and yes, pursuing my CSIA L1 and L2 also made sense to me. The L1 looks like I can pass it now, given the L1 training I've seen in SK, and then would like to take L2 dev training for sure (I don't want to instruct right now but that's fine, got that same perspective on improvement from several folks).

 

[LiquidFeet]

I've found the training that's been available to me as an instructor and through my instructor connections has exceeded anything I've ever gotten through the general public channels. (That said I've had many poor training experiences as an instructor - but at least the options multiply!)

^^This. Well stated. Matches my experience exactly.