CORRECTING FAULTS
Upper Body Position
Weight Transfer
Sitting Back
SKI SCHOOL
Is this right? Isn't ski school supposed to teach us how to ski? How can it be a negative influence?
It is quite true that with skiing there must be some sort of a teaching process, but there can often be a lot wrong with
ski school. A system that initially sets out to help and encourage, can actually handicap those who want to use it.
Now of course I am generalising, and let me say, before I am shafted on the end of a ski pole, that I have come across
many superb teachers, whose methods are a credit to the system, if only the system was not bogged down with so much technical emphasis, and
an unassailable belief in its own importance. The ski school has unconsciously adopted the light bulb syndrome. Invent a perfect light bulb
and the manufacturers would soon be out of business. Invent an efficient instruction system, and most novices would only need a week at the
most, with an occasional coaching session for a morning each holiday. Instead what often happens is that a pupil is bombarded with an
appalling mixture of conflicting instructions delivered by different teachers, who don't speak the same language as their class. Perfectly
executed movements are demonstrated by an immaculate, yet inarticulate, bronzed Adonis, who is really only in the resort to notch a few up
on his belt. It is hardly surprising that I meet skiers who have been in and out of the ski school all their lives like hardened recidivist
cat burglars going in and out of prison.
The ski school must exist, and its main purpose should be to show its pupils how to learn. The learning process
itself should then be developed by the pupil on his own, clocking up the miles, and presenting himself with attainable challenges. Of course
the ski school is also there to provide other services such as guiding and kindergartens, but it is the very teaching methods that concern
me here. If you find as a pupil that you do not understand an instruction, or find it impossible to carry out, and cannot get the teacher to
show you how, then you must question yourself: 'Is this doing any good? Am I any wiser? Am I wasting money? Should I not go and buy a copy
of 'Secrets of Better Skiing?'’ Well you don’t need to now because it’s free!
It is easy for me to say 'caveat emptor', but how can a buyer beware if he is ignorant of the pitfalls? A beginner is
going to find this practically impossible, but it will be a lot easier for beginners and better skiers alike if they can find a good
instructor. There is wisdom in looking for impartial advice from someone who can tell you where to find the best instructor, or the best ski
school, or even the best resort for what you want.
I have thought for some time that ski instruction should include theoretical considerations,
which could be discussed at the end of a hard day’s skiing in a cosy little hut at the bottom of the mountain with a
large mug of gluwein! The instructor produces a boot and a ski and actually tells you what they are about and how they work. Perhaps he even
tells you about different kinds of snow, how to avoid avalanches, other skiers, and everything else that cannot be readily discussed out on
the mountainside. For every pupil this would be part of any weekly ski course, and would give them an idea of their surroundings and the
stuff they were skiing on.
PUTTING A BEGINNER ON THE RIGHT TRACK
I have often heard people trying to teach their friends and wives and relations to ski without any idea what they were
talking about. I certainly didn’t. It was always pretty obvious that the pupil didn’t either, and I wonder how many of these pupils went on
to become skiers or whether they just gave up.
Sometimes out of frustration for the system, or because romance may be in the air, you, the better skier, will have the
urge to teach a beginner yourself. Now I am not recommending this as always being the best way, but I can hardly say don't do it.
After all, by the time you have read this little tome, you will be an expert won't you? It is as well to run through a few basic
rules if you are going to teach someone to ski or just going to give them some advice.
Remember that a beginner will invariably be in a state similar to shock. He will be able to take very little in by
way of technical guff, and everything will have to be shown by demonstration. Even the act of putting his boots and skis on will be
difficult.
Keep your vocabulary to a minimum and keep it simple. Work out simple key words to show how it should be done. Always
encourage. Always say: 'Do it this way'. Never say: 'Don't do this'. 'Don't do that.' It is too
confusing.
In short, always make positive statements. If necessary point out a fault by demonstration with a careful
explanation of what the pupil is doing wrong, followed by the correct method. Do repeat movements and exaggerate them if necessary. Be
patient. Make exercises simple for the pupil and increase his challenges gradually. Be sensitive to his needs, and think long and hard about
the way you are going to explain something before you start to explain it. Try to remember how it was for you when you were a beginner, and say it how you would like it to have been said. Finally, if you don't like teaching or don’t
think you can do it, don't teach!
You may just be wondering why this book is turning into a ski instructors' manual, but unless you are going to resist the
irresistible by imparting your own knowledge to somebody else, then you may as well be aware of the pitfalls. Going back to what I said at
the beginning of this section, I have heard instructions from amateur teachers that a rubber-limbed orang-utan would find difficult to do.
Things like 'Bend the lower shoulder towards the back of the ski', 'Point the upper ski downhill' and 'Lean back!' could severely impair a
beginner's progress.
If you can understand why these instructions will not really work, then perhaps you may make a teacher! Working out how
you would explain a movement to somebody else is no bad thing at all, as it can help you to understand what you are doing, and
get you to think while you are doing it! Beware, however, of doing it at a friend's expense.
HOLIDAYS, MONEY AND MOTIVATION
The length of your holiday must affect your progress, and the more you ski the better you should be. As most people only
ski for a week nowadays, there is never a great deal of time to get into your stride. It really boils down to how you rate skiing; the best
skiers on the mountain, apart from the natives, are the ones who do it for one or two months a winter. They are either rich and can afford
the time, or else they have thrown everything into skiing, and discarded everything else except the old two-tone VW camper.
It is possible, however, that if you are highly motivated, you can be in tip top ski condition the minute you step into
your skis, and it may only take an hour or so to get the feel back. To do this you will have had to spend at least a couple of months
working out with your own exercise programme, but it is possible!
Of course there are priorities on a ski holiday; if the main priority for a particular person is comfort, followed by
good food, relaxation, and skiing, in that order, it stands to reason that if he were to put skiing on top of the list, followed by
relaxation, good food, and comfort, then his motivation would be that much stronger. His money would last longer too, and he could spend
longer skiing. This all sounds a bit simplistic, but if you are really keen, you will overcome little problems like lack of time and money.
Whacking another week on your holiday, staying at a cheaper hotel or in a friend's apartment, and organising the holiday yourself, should
save you a bundle. Telephone your boss towards the end of week one, with a feeble excuse about an obscure mountain virus, or avalanches
blocking the approach roads.
CORRECTING FAULTS
This is something that I have left till last. Every other ski book I have come across seems to treat this particular
subject with a lot more consideration than I can bring myself to contemplate. By the time you have read this far, and if you have managed to
avoid suffering from a brain seizure or total overload, then it seems to me that you will know how to correct any faults that may arise off
your own bat. It also contradicts my philosophy of never saying ‘No! Don’t do that!’ when I should be saying ‘Do this’,
meaning to a great extent that if you do ‘this ‘ you will avoid doing ‘that’! Understood?
However, in order to make sure that you do understand perfectly what I have touched on already I may as well mention a
few things again. Basically we’re just looking at the same issues from a different angle.
Upper Body Position
Let’s start with the upper body position when doing short turns We’ve seen that if your upper body swings in towards the
mountain at the wrong time the skis are quite likely to swing round after it and you may accidentally start coming down the mountain
backwards. It is unlikely that you do want to do this as you won’t be able to see where you are going and could quite easily run into
someone. The reasons for doing it are what we should really tackle. If these don’t exist neither will the problem. It seems to me that a
misplaced desire for self survival may be the reason for turning inwards. Often the downhill shoulder comes up too in an ‘Oh no you’re not
going to get me’ sort of attitude. The mountain will get you if you turn your body into the hill! So mantra number one is Face
down the hill doing short turns.
Weight Transfer
As your technique speeds up, and you start to do short linked turns at the speed of light, the instruction ‘apply weight
to outside ski’ sometimes gets given by your brain half a
second too late as you start the turn. The uphill ski, instead of turning all the way, rides over the downhill one, which has also
started to turn but not as much. By this time the instruction ‘apply weight to the outside ski’ has been received loud and clear by your
lower leg but it’s too late. You are now well into the fall line with skis crossed not knowing whether you are Arthur or Martha.
As we have discussed elsewhere it is quite possible for you to turn on the uphill ski, but you need to implant the
instruction ‘weight downhill ski’ into your brain until it becomes a reflex action first, and believe me it can take a long time when you
are not thinking about it! I crossed my skis a hundred times back in the seventies when Parablacks were fashionable. These were four inch
high plastic bridges that fitted onto the top of the skis at the front; as the upper ski tried to cross the lower one it was stopped
momentarily by a Parablack, and hopefully gave enough time to avoid the problem. They worked well and I have seen them around occasionally
nowadays, so if crossing your skis is a problem, stick some on. But at the same time remember the second mantra and say it whenever you need
to at every turn ‘weight the downhill ski’, or if that’s too much to say every time just ‘left ski’ ‘right ski’ ‘left ski’ ‘right
ski’, meaning of course ‘transfer weight’.
Sitting Back
This mostly happens on ice because of fear, in the bumps because of computer malfunction, and in powder snow because
someone has told you to do it. I can understand the fear on ice but remember that the skis won’t work unless your weight is in the right
place, and on ice this is especially true. If you sit back very little of the ski edge will be cutting into the ice, but with your
weight over the middle of the ski, or even slightly forward, then you will have the control you badly need. You must make a positive
decision, ie: this is ice and I must keep my weight forward - say it out loud if necessary - ‘Ice! Keep weight forward!’
The easiest way out of this is to apply the driving analogy ie: keep your hands in the bottom of your line of vision at
all times until you have got it right, as though holding the steering wheel of a car in the short turns, or, if you are doing long fast
turns, as though you are holding the handlebars of a motorbike with your uphill shoulder slightly higher than your
right as you come round in the turn.
RETURN TO CHAPTER START
GLOSSARY
RETURN TO CONTENTS
CHAPTER 10