The upper-cert "gap"

[markojp]

Age and certs... I think I was 52 or 3 when I passed L3. In PNW, the physically most taxing L3 task are jump turns. Yes, you'll break a sweat, but like all other tasks, efficient movements and accurate DIRT are easier. Oddly enough, I can still do mad and lots of accurate jump turns. Austrians did them to us as kids and they stuck. But honestly, if your jump turns weren't killer, but everything else was on, you'd be fine in an exam. I'm not really sure they're necessarily a task that has a load of value, but I could argue both sides. All that said, I have one friend out here who got his pin at 70. I will say as a rule of thumb, if one shows up for an exam having only 10-20 ski days under your belt that season and 40-50+ lbs overweight, it's going to be tough no matter the age.

Another critical missing piece in the L3 prep equation is simply directed free skiing. We clinic ad nauseam, but forgot to just ski. Mileage brings fluency. FWIW, at our hill, there are significant differences in pay for every level, and gratis lift passes for L3 at another local area. It's long since paid for itself... this season will be #10 in PSIA.

 

[Loki1]

I second what markojp said. It isn't about the age of candidates its about their physical preparedness at any age. If you are physically fit and have good mobility, you should be able to perform up to the standard. The main thing I see, in exams, holding candidates from achieving the standard is their adaptability and versatility. Specifically the ability to change movements to create different outcomes on demand. When I was training in the early 90's for my level three, the standard was explained to me as the ability to ski anywhere, anyway, anytime. If you can ski and understand skiing this way you can teach anyone that walks up to take a lesson. That was the mentality of attaining level 3 at my first ski school. This mentality not only set us up as trainees to look at all aspects of skiing as equal and something to be understood and trained, but also more importantly gave us a mindset that motivated us to continue to train hard throughout our carreers regardless if we achieved the cert levels or not. Now, I don't personally agree that that is the standard, but it prepared me mentally for what I should train for. It told me that a showing one certain technique, even at a very high level, wasn't going to cut it in the exam.
Too many candidates show up with the ability to ski a certain "way"(technique) at a very high level but without the ability to change that "way" on demand or due to conditions or terrain. They are also too focused on the ONE move that will get them over the hump and passing. The other piece that markojp touched on is the fact the most canidates think that clinicing will get them there. I always ask those in my clinics, going for exams, what their training plan is for certification. 95% say they are going to clinic a bit and do any required clinics, then go give a shot. They aren't thinking about their skiing outside clinics or designated training times. They aren't out challenging themselves in the areas that they are struggling with. And to echo markojp's point, they are rarely freeskiing, alone or with others that will challenge them. These are all vital to achieving the adaptability and versatility it takes to achieve level 3.

 

[Mike King]

I second what markojp said. It isn't about the age of candidates its about their physical preparedness at any age. If you are physically fit and have good mobility, you should be able to perform up to the standard. The main thing I see, in exams, holding candidates from achieving the standard is their adaptability and versatility. Specifically the ability to change movements to create different outcomes on demand. When I was training in the early 90's for my level three, the standard was explained to me as the ability to ski anywhere, anyway, anytime. If you can ski and understand skiing this way you can teach anyone that walks up to take a lesson. That was the mentality of attaining level 3 at my first ski school. This mentality not only set us up as trainees to look at all aspects of skiing as equal and something to be understood and trained, but also more importantly gave us a mindset that motivated us to continue to train hard throughout our carreers regardless if we achieved the cert levels or not. Now, I don't personally agree that that is the standard, but it prepared me mentally for what I should train for. It told me that a showing one certain technique, even at a very high level, wasn't going to cut it in the exam.
Too many candidates show up with the ability to ski a certain "way"(technique) at a very high level but without the ability to change that "way" on demand or due to conditions or terrain. They are also too focused on the ONE move that will get them over the hump and passing. The other piece that markojp touched on is the fact the most canidates think that clinicing will get them there. I always ask those in my clinics, going for exams, what their training plan is for certification. 95% say they are going to clinic a bit and do any required clinics, then go give a shot. They aren't thinking about their skiing outside clinics or designated training times. They aren't out challenging themselves in the areas that they are struggling with. And to echo markojp's point, they are rarely freeskiing, alone or with others that will challenge them. These are all vital to achieving the adaptability and versatility it takes to achieve level 3.

@Loki1 I agree in part and disagree in part. The disagreement is about all you need is to be physically prepared. I don't know what division you are in, but the level of athleticism required to perform some of the tasks is not simply a test of fitness -- it also requires substantial athleticism. What tasks, you might ask? Well, the standard of bump skiing requires a pretty high level of athleticism. Spiess turns requires a pretty high level of athleticism. Dynamic short turns requires a pretty high level of athleticism. And the fact is that not only does athletic performance decrease with age, but injuries also limit athletic performance. I've had 5 shoulder dislocations, have a torn PCL, torn labrums in both both hips, and a few other chronic issues.

On the issue of versatility, I couldn't agree more. Expert skiing is about versatility. Examiner calls for late pressure exchange? Ought to be able to do it. Asks for pressure exchange before edge change? Ought to be able to do it. Calls for white pass turns in the bumps? Ought to be able to do it. Asks for single leg spiess turns (Charleston) -- well, maybe get a pass on that. Asks for flex to release followed by extension to release? Should be able to nail that.

In my own case, I became an instructor primarily to improve my own skiing and set skiing at the level 3 standard as the measure of whether I had achieved what I aimed to do. I'm not a full time or even a part-time instructor; I'm a peak part time instructor generally only teaching holidays and spring break. Well, I also fill in whenever they need me. I enjoy teaching, but I need time to train and work on my own skiing. And, yes, I do realize that teaching is also a useful element to improve my own skiing since it is a key component of forming, testing, and destroying your own belief system about skiing mechanics and movements.

I'm lucky that I train with some of the best instructors in the world. That has been the biggest boon to my own teaching as I think I've developed a much more robust and solid understanding of skiing at all levels and I've been able to use the diagnosis, prescription for change, drills, and teaching styles to be a more effective instructor.

All this being said, I don't want to take work from those who have made teaching skiing their profession. I recognize my role, which is to help out when needed.

Mike

 

[Loki1]

Mike, I guess it depends on if you have a different definition of athleticism as opposed to physically preparedness . I guess in mind they are a bit one in the same in this example. If you can ski bumps then I guess you have the athleticism but if you can’t ski them at a level that is required for level 3, is that a lack of athleticism or physical preparation? Either way you will fail. I know plenty of people that can ski bumps but not at a level 3 criteria. It’s not the athleticism that holds them back it is their technique and/or their fitness. Also those that are working toward any cert but especially level 3 must have a self awareness that is very accurate. This might be what you are referring to when speaking of athleticism. No one can pass without it.

 

[Mike King]

@Loki1 there's a loss of physical capability as one ages, particularly after the 60's. It includes loss of balance, slowing of the reflexes, loss of flexibility, and often development of chronic conditions such as arthritis and old injuries limit the ability to perform certain movements. Certainly some of those can be mitigated by physical training, but the losses are real and can diminish athletic performance. In my case, the chronic injuries are most limiting, with torn labrums in both hips and a significant amount of arthritis in both knees.

There's a timing battle here. No doubt that good technique minimizes physical effort as well as the strain it places on body. But developing the technique can place stress on the body that the diminished athletic performance doesn't allow. So, passing Level 3 as one transitions into the "golden years" becomes more difficult.

In my case, I didn't start teaching until I was in my late 50's. My technique was an accumulation of dead ends, and I've spent my last 7 years pretty much rebuilding my skiing from the ground up. My coaches and trainers think I'm close to the Level 3 standard in my groomed skiing. I've been relatively disciplined in not skiing a lot of terrain while in this process as I didn't want to feed bad habits. Now that I have a much better idea and capability to use ski design I'm in the process of re-introducing terrain to my skiing and I think I'm having a fair amount of success. So, if Covid allows us to have a ski season, I'm looking to sit my level 3 exam this season.

Mike

 

[Nobody]

@Loki1 there's a loss of physical capability as one ages, particularly after the 60's. It includes loss of balance, slowing of the reflexes, loss of flexibility, and often development of chronic conditions such as arthritis and old injuries limit the ability to perform certain movements. Certainly some of those can be mitigated by physical training, but the losses are real and can diminish athletic performance. In my case, the chronic injuries are most limiting, with torn labrums in both hips and a significant amount of arthritis in both knees.

There's a timing battle here. No doubt that good technique minimizes physical effort as well as the strain it places on body. But developing the technique can place stress on the body that the diminished athletic performance doesn't allow. So, passing Level 3 as one transitions into the "golden years" becomes more difficult.

In my case, I didn't start teaching until I was in my late 50's. My technique was an accumulation of dead ends, and I've spent my last 7 years pretty much rebuilding my skiing from the ground up. My coaches and trainers think I'm close to the Level 3 standard in my groomed skiing. I've been relatively disciplined in not skiing a lot of terrain while in this process as I didn't want to feed bad habits. Now that I have a much better idea and capability to use ski design I'm in the process of re-introducing terrain to my skiing and I think I'm having a fair amount of success. So, if Covid allows us to have a ski season, I'm looking to sit my level 3 exam this season.

Mike

This.
I'm also in the mid 50 now, began the journey 4 years ago (fall 2016) , and while the first year a considerable rebuild of my skiing from ground up had to be taken in, the following years have seen a constant refining of technique and an increase in PT.
This said, I've been close to hte L3 minimum standard since the very beginning of the L3 phase, but there is always this elusive exercise or two (not the two legged jump turns, those have been, so far - bar one case, a "stronghold" of sort upon which I can count to get the grade it is needed to score a pass) that keeps me below the overall pass score.
And as Mike here says, with each year, athleticism standard becomes harder and harder to attain, even if, during my L1 clinic and exam the standard I could propose was pretty low (coming for a very, qualitatively and quantitatively speaking, low season), still managed to pass, and have been working hard at PT to keep or better improve it. Still it is undeniable that aging is a factor to be considered. In may ways. Examiners, for once, could question (maybe not intentionally or consciously) such an aging person motivations ("will he/she ever teach?") and also reward lower scores, an unconscious bias at best, but people are people, and skiing is a subjective activity, he skiing that is being done outside gates, that is because there the clock is the judge; but in freeskiing, a lot of subjective parameters enters the fray. Subjective (to the examiners) can work for or against the candidate(s), of course; in my case at least, I can't help but have this nagging thought, that it is working against me. Not that I think of myself as an absolute best at skiing, far from it, but I feel like many other factors conjure and sum up with my defects, dragging me backwards instead of propelling me forwards

 

[T-Square]

A couple seasons back during Member Schools Meeting in RM there was some talk, about creating a L3-coaching designation. Essentially it was for those able to pass the MA and teaching, but perhaps due to injury (or a lifetime of skiing) some of the skiing tasks would be waived for that cert. The idea was that like a coach who may not be able to out ski the athlete they are training, they were nonetheless expert at analyzing movements/techniques/skill etc. and then are able to design drills etc. to address that area.

I don’t know what ever became of that concept but for some this might be a way to recognize their ability to do MA and teach at that level, but are unable to get the pin because their knees couldn’t take the stress of training for Leapers or one of the tasks Required.

I know this would expand the levels, but it seems imprudent to take someone at 9/10 of that level and not have a recognized place for them when there is a need for such professionals.

That was the Master Teacher certification in PSIA-E. I got mine in 2003. The requirements were Level II and then 13 courses (20 days) of training with exams In each course. I learned a hell of a lot during that time. Upon completion you had attained all the Teaching Requirements for Level III. For those of us older participants who did not have quick feet it was a great alternative.

It morphed into the Advanced Alpine Educator Program. https://www.psia-e.org/ed/alpine-education/alpine-advanced-educator-program/

 

[Eric@ict]

Not an instructor, but I do drink with one...
To those of you who started the journey and question whether it is possible to make L3 and what that means. Ive been skiing since for 38 years. First lesson (teenager) was a group and we got to snow plow and off we went. 20 years later I took a private lesson with my daughters so they would be taught the right way and not by me who has learned how to NOT kill myself going down a hill. Once again, 1/2 day produced how to snow plow and have a nice day. My daughters went skiing many more times and learned the bad habits I didnt want them to. 6 years ago, I started a path to learn how to ski. Ive hired an instructor who I think is an L3 but dont care, twice each year for a full day of private lessons at Breck. He told me on our last lesson while we were recapping where I came from and where I am today, he was worried I was going to kill myself on our first lesson. He says I am a solid 7 and very close to an 8 on their scale. How this affects me is, when I come to a new trail, I dont stop to see if looks scary or not. I just ski like I have been taught.

As a student, I dont care about the level of instructor. I only care about the ability to transfer the knowledge and for me to receive a value. That value translate to my increased ability to enjoy the mountain. I applaud those that continue their education in this sport. I hope my story gives some insight from a student. While we age (Im 54), I know better technique allows me to ski better, longer per day and for more years. If you cant make the L3 for what ever reason, know you are making a difference in someone's life and helping them safely enjoy the sport. Thank you instructors for what you do and keeping people like me safe and out of the hospital. I have had to admit, I cant do everything I once could because of age (GRRRR), so I must find new ways to fill the tank of satisfaction. So you cant make a L3. Have you transferred your knowledge to another person who might be a level 3? I have mentored many people who have moved on to Directors and VPs and up. I take pride in knowing I was part of their lives and education for fulfill their dreams.

 

[markojp]

This.
I'm also in the mid 50 now, began the journey 4 years ago (fall 2016) , and while the first year a considerable rebuild of my skiing from ground up had to be taken in, the following years have seen a constant refining of technique and an increase in PT.
This said, I've been close to hte L3 minimum standard since the very beginning of the L3 phase, but there is always this elusive exercise or two (not the two legged jump turns, those have been, so far - bar one case, a "stronghold" of sort upon which I can count to get the grade it is needed to score a pass) that keeps me below the overall pass score.
And as Mike here says, with each year, athleticism standard becomes harder and harder to attain, even if, during my L1 clinic and exam the standard I could propose was pretty low (coming for a very, qualitatively and quantitatively speaking, low season), still managed to pass, and have been working hard at PT to keep or better improve it. Still it is undeniable that aging is a factor to be considered. In may ways. Examiners, for once, could question (maybe not intentionally or consciously) such an aging person motivations ("will he/she ever teach?") and also reward lower scores, an unconscious bias at best, but people are people, and skiing is a subjective activity, he skiing that is being done outside gates, that is because there the clock is the judge; but in freeskiing, a lot of subjective parameters enters the fray. Subjective (to the examiners) can work for or against the candidate(s), of course; in my case at least, I can't help but have this nagging thought, that it is working against me. Not that I think of myself as an absolute best at skiing, far from it, but I feel like many other factors conjure and sum up with my defects, dragging me backwards instead of propelling me forwards

FWIW, as a trainer helping people preparing for L3, I can say that age has no bearing on how I see, evaluate, and coach. I do ask all clinic participants to let me know if there are any medical or injury issues that might affect their skiing. I DO understand the feeling that as an older candidate, you're onna shorter leash. I did my L3 at 51 and failed miserably my first try, and also wondered if the perception of age played a role. In retrospect, it was absolutely my skiing. It got sorted, and the passing exam experience was actually fun at 52.

One of the single biggest 'fitness' issues that holds people back is simply carrying a lot of extra weight. If you're (third person) 25+ lbs, it's just harder to do anything, even if athleticism is in good order. Core strength and mobility/flexibility can be improved with work as well, and these are also often overlooked and under trained in L2 having trouble getting to L3.

@Nancy Hummel , any advice and motivation for weight loss you can share? I know you've been successfully whittling down 5 lbs at a time under threat of having to wear a Bears jersey in your FB profile pict.

 

[Nobody]

FWIW, as a trainer helping people preparing for L3, I can say that age has no bearing on how I see, evaluate, and coach. I do ask all clinic participants to let me know if there are any medical or injury issues that might affect their skiing. I DO understand the feeling that as an older candidate, you're onna shorter leash. I did my L3 at 51 and failed miserably my first try, and also wondered if the perception of age played a role. In retrospect, it was absolutely my skiing. It got sorted, and the passing exam experience was actually fun at 52.

One of the single biggest 'fitness' issues that holds people back is simply carrying a lot of extra weight. If you're (third person) 25+ lbs, it's just harder to do anything, even if athleticism is in good order. Core strength and mobility/flexibility can be improved with work as well, and these are also often overlooked and under trained in L2 having trouble getting to L3.

@Nancy Hummel , any advice and motivation for weight loss you can share? I know you've been successfully whittling down 5 lbs at a time under threat of having to wear a Bears jersey in your FB profile pict.

I did not want to steer away the conversation from the main point, so , apologies, but I DO feel I'm on a short(er) leash.
Trying to get back on track, more or less, now...
I cannot really say that I failed miserably each time. Maybe once yes, but what is really frustrating is the realization of being so close and yet that close, it's not enough.
Hence, again, soon I'll have to decide wether to continue to bang my head against the wall or to cut the losses.

As for the "extra payload"..funny you mention 25(+) lbs...since May I have lost 20ish lbs, nothing to do with skiing; rather a family decision, dictated also by the shelter in place.
Still I hope it will positively reflect on my skiing, who knows (one of the conditions or challenges I posed to the nutritionist was to shed weight without losing muscle mass, so far this "goal" has been met), I have skied only two days in July since, too little to say what effect the weight loss has had (of course I do frequent a gym...)

 

[Nobody]

Again, I am thankful for all the replies, it has nad is helping greatly, by providing different point of views and relaying on other', both coaches, examiners and candidates experiences...I've greatly appreciated this conversation. I hope it will continue.

 

[Mike King]

@Nobody, what will you set as a goal if you give up? Seems like you are close, so a bit more effort might get you across the finish line!

Think about a plan for the season to get you there. What are your weaknesses and how will you address them? What drills will you do each day? What free skiing foci will you have to progress? If the issue is the euro test, then what race camps will you do, and what training in and out of gates will happen and when?

I found the article in the Aspen Times about being inside Mikeala Shiffrin's training bubble to be very interesting in two respects. First, her focus -- she doesn't waste any vertical distance -- there's always something she is working on and her discipline and work ethic is unreal. Second, her focus on training the technical skills, even those at a low level. You can find a link to the article here: inside-shiffrins-training-bubble.20402

I'm thinking of doing the same thing. Make a plan. The journey is long, we've spent a fair amount of time, energy, and money on it. But now is the time for focus on what is necessary to get us across the line...

Mike

 

[Disinterested]

My general perception of RM level 3 candidates (and candidates at the RMT level also) is that, despite there being no clear guideline that says it anywhere, there is wiggle room in the assessment criteria that candidates who have some difficulties with the more athletically demanding tasks can leverage successfully.

Take bumps: It is pretty well known that at L3 bumps is where most people aren't successful and where the largest number of people struggle to get through the skiing assessment as a whole, even if they can get everything else. Prima/Pronto/Look Ma at Vail, Golden Spike or Drunken Frenchman at WP, Sodbuster in Aspen Highlands, with an expectation that the candidate be able to ski a variety of tactics in that terrain.

If I am training candidates, it is my recommendation that you be able to as direct a line as possible in that terrain as well as a rounder, more controlled line. You should hold yourself to a high standard.

In reality, when these tasks are assessed, the biggest task is to demonstrate a great enough degree of versatility. If you can ski with a high degree of accuracy and manipulate your directness just enough on request, even if that doesn't take you all the way to zipper line, that very often is enough, even though you haven't put the question of whether you can ski those runs all the way in the fall line to the test. That especially is true if you ski those runs in Vail in April on a bad snow day when most of the ed staff aren't going to be skiing in the fall line. They'll be impressed if you can ski it in a deliberate way and then ride the bucking bronco on the next section a little more, without letting yourself get bucked.

That's really a long winded way of saying that mechanics are the primary focus, and that you should prepare to use a variety of tactics your mechanics can support. There's just as many young guys failing because they think the game is to only ski straight in the fall line and then they explode. The task description may well be 'fall line bumps' but the on hill conversations those guys on the staff have are just as often things like 'would I feel bad putting this person on the hill with an 8/9 group and watching them ski it from a lift?'.

I think the examiners give people down the hill more a little more leeway on the accuracy, as long as they hold together over the course of the run, and they're harsher on the accuracy with people who are more deliberate.

 

[Nobody]

@Nobody, what will you set as a goal if you give up? Seems like you are close, so a bit more effort might get you across the finish line!

Think about a plan for the season to get you there. What are your weaknesses and how will you address them? What drills will you do each day? What free skiing foci will you have to progress? If the issue is the euro test, then what race camps will you do, and what training in and out of gates will happen and when?

I found the article in the Aspen Times about being inside Mikeala Shiffrin's training bubble to be very interesting in two respects. First, her focus -- she doesn't waste any vertical distance -- there's always something she is working on and her discipline and work ethic is unreal. Second, her focus on training the technical skills, even those at a low level. You can find a link to the article here: inside-shiffrins-training-bubble.20402

I'm thinking of doing the same thing. Make a plan. The journey is long, we've spent a fair amount of time, energy, and money on it. But now is the time for focus on what is necessary to get us across the line...

Mike

Hello @Mike King, I have been "struck" (positively) by your post and had to think it over quite a lot!
If I give up, I think I will be back at "just" skiing, keeping up the days as now but skiing withthe family and maybe some GS training every now and then, and all freeride that I can possibly have. But certainly will not devolve nearly all my free time, nearly all seasons, to skiing (and thinking about skiing) as in the past. It will be a total loss for me (of time, effort, money, mental effort) , but if I can't climb "upward" this step...maybe is for a reason.
As said, I have no firm plan. This past month of september I passed the theoretical exam, so I'm "down" to "just" two main hurdles, the GS timed coruse ("the race", a much toned down ISIA test/ Eurotest) and the skiing portion of the exam itself (the "exam" properly said is not only the "ski off", it is divided in 4 parts: Teaching, Racing, Practical and Theory)
Eurotest is not, technically speaking, part of the exam, but in order to be able to instruct here, I will have to pass that too.
In any case my plan has not changed since passing L1 :
-Be as fit as possible by also training at a gym (begun with twice a week and am now at thrice a week), asking not only for generaly ftiness but skiing specific fitness
-If not able to go out and ski, do some alpine inline (I'm an inline instructor with the Italian FISR federation, not much active at instructing recently due to lack of time availabilty) attempting to mimic the drills.
-BTW I "dream" about every single move each damn day, even when sitting at my desk for work...picture each drill in my head.
-My weaknesses? Basically every new exercise the commission can come up unexpectedly; last exam it was medium radius turns on the same ski, which means that on one turn it was the inside ski, and on the next one the outside ski, never tried that before the exam and was thrown mentally off balance by it, did not fare that badly - still below the pass mark, but what sunk me was not scoring enough on long turns on one ski and long turns - two drills I had scored ok the previous year and not scoring a good mark on my stronghold, the Short turns and related variations, where I was awarded "just" a pass...
-Now that I put it in writing, I can say that "consistency" is my weak point, if only I'd be able to perform consistently in LT and variations, ST and variations (here with somewhat better than just a "pass" marking).
-As for the Racing portion (Eurotest included)...I am not a racer, and it shows, so it will be an hard bone to chew, I would need at least a full season/full season and a half (including glacier training in the summer) and that was my plan at the beginnin, of specifically training only in GS. So as long as I will not pass the technical skiing portion, I will have to train for that too, taking away resources (as previously said, money, time, mental resources) to the racing" portion of the process... I tried that last season, part time GS training and part time technical training, but the two are, at least at my present level, in antithesis, so training in one is detrimental to the other, alas (and this, I fear is what caused the bad mark in the LT...a remark -"you were too static"- from the examiner makes me think this could be the reason I failed, compared to last season, this portion)
Anyway, since last summer (2019) I started to train specifically in GS with a race coach (whom is also a National Instructor) at my "local hill" and GS trained at every possible opportunity (which were not many frankly speaking, but enough to bring my GS technique from "sad horrible disastrous state of affair" to "sad disastrous state of affair"...the road here is long and winding, but if, or better said once, I will pass the tech portion, I will be able to concentrate unto it.

Anyway, Mike, I will root for you!

 

[Loki1]

Nobody, I want to ask you a question. When you are thinking of different tasks, what is your focus? You said consistency is your weakness but I think what you meant to say is adaptability. You mentioned that you struggle with new exercises the commission comes up with? it makes me wonder what your focus is with the new exercises.

 

[Mike King]

@Nobody, excellent news! Here's sending you positive thoughts for your success this season!

Mike

 

[Nobody]

Nobody, I want to ask you a question. When you are thinking of different tasks, what is your focus? You said consistency is your weakness but I think what you meant to say is adaptability. You mentioned that you struggle with new exercises the commission comes up with? it makes me wonder what your focus is with the new exercises.

Hello Loki, I am not able to reply to the question "what is your focus", my language limits show here, I fear. I cannot grasp what you mean asking the question. Apologies.
As for consistency and adaptability, you are right, adaptabilty (as in : to be able to respond immediately to a request to correctly perform to task something unknown or nearly so by pulling together different pieces of other exercises) must be also then considered a weakness of mine. But not completely, it depends, as an example, we were asked to perform an exercise which is a mix of two ones (short turns with inside ski lifted and then same ski, now on the outside, lifted). Well then, everyone thought we would all be taken by surprise, as it is, nearly everyone was able to decently perform it, me included.
Short turns on one leg, though, took me all four exam attempts to reach the "pass" score (countless hours doing it on skis, plus simulating exercises at the gym. Strangely enough, what with me being a south paw, am performing that much better on the right leg...go figure) As for LT, my scores were good at the beginning and at the fourth attempt went south...others exercises had the same wavering profile, this is what I mean with consistency. To score always the same mark (or improve and keept at least at that level) at each exam; personal, weather and snow conditions notwithstanding. At only one I am able to constantly score the minimum "pass" score, the ST. But again, I reach only the minimum pass score, thus it is not providing me a big enough peg onto which to build a complete exam pass score.

 

[Pierre]

I agree with the physical fitness part of passing a level 3. I also agree with the age part. I still ski well above the standard but I would not call my skiing particularly athletic. I have got two guys right now, one 55 yo and the other 66 yo. Both of them can ski it but don't come back with the pin. They turn into old men or something. I am starting to notice perception and some balance issues.

Over the last five years my skiing has improved substantially. My skiing has gotten very smooth and clean with round well finished turns. My turn size has gotten smaller. I can carve a turn at 4-5 meter radius. The comments I receive from other people is not "your skiing is athletic" or "you ski with power" or "you are a badars skier" No, what I hear most often is " Why don't the laws of gravity apply to you?" People sometimes say it with a tone in their voice. I have no idea what they mean by that and I have not heard that comment about other peoples skiing. I hear it pretty consistently so their must be something different in the way that I ski.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Pierre, is that you? Pierre from EpicSki? If so, welcome back.

 

[Pierre]

Pierre, is that you? Pierre from EpicSki? If so, welcome back.

One and the same. Been very active in Bikepacking lately.