Demo ski recommendations for rapidly advancing beginner?

"Jay Levitt" wrote in message
...

Naturally; I realize that if I were turning properly, the length of the
ski wouldn't be a big impediment.

Achh. There's no properly. There's only what you want to
do with the mechanics of skiing. Use them any way you want.

It's wedge addiction man, like LAL said as well. It's the long
asked question, "how do I match skis?".

I was just mentioning my lack of
progress so far, since it's going to be a big decision point for buying
skis right now.

Just buy some "intermediate" labeled ski. Something someone
talks about as "for those ready to take that next step", etc.
All it is is softer, so easier to turn and control. But it won't
hold as well on ice or at higher speed, still no big deal probably.
On ice you probably would be just as happy to skid anyway,
and speed won't be the biggest issue for a while.

The thing is, you probably won't *find* a really advanced ski
in the typical "ski department store" anyway, and in that
situation, you could just buy whatever they have in the two or
three hundred dollar range. You could probably demo many
of these as well.

(Naturally, by next season, if I don't have that
licked, I'm taking up bowling instead.)

Nonsense. Never talk like that. Please.

The boot issue has made matters worse, because I haven't done more than
three runs in a row with any given configuration! Shims, heel lifts,
new boots, new footbeds, new skis, wrong skis, you name it.. I just
don't have enough muscle memory yet.

Nah. The boots and lifts and skis and beds and all that crap
really don't make all *that* much difference. There's nothing
"stance" wise that you can't make up for with technique. I
threw all my footbeds away, set that cants all back to neutral,
and now the fanciest thing I use is superfoots. That said though,
canting set on the boot might help in giving up a big toe edge
of the inside ski.

at the end of my last
lesson, I was cruising down doing perfect parallel turns on both sides;
I just haven't locked that in to the point where I can do them every
single time out.

You really have made uncommon progress in case you didn't
know. But relax. Nobody makes a perfect turn every time
out.

Yep, that works no problem, and I try to use the muscle memory from that
to lessen the weight on my right foot.

Really? Someone told you to try picking up the tail of the
inside ski while *leaving the tip on the snow*? Who gets
the gold star?

This one was really the key to understanding what a right turn should
feel like for me.

Someone explained/showed you lead change? Where *have*
you been getting this info?

The reason I ask is, these aren't the standard run of the mill
well accepted "mainline" USA progressions or drills. They're
not even *in* the Aspen Alpine Instruction Manual.

Although, I do keep mentioning that the magic turns thing
seems to be catching fire. A three step progression to parallel,
and teaching to the mechanics of skiing as opposed to a "form".
That's why I say, it isn't stance (although a minimally effective
stance is a must), it isn't form, it's the mechanics of skiing.

And who decides "correct"? Everyone has a different story.
It changes every year.

What's "correct"? The backseat style of the 70's?
The heel push style of the sixties?
The hunched over style of the 30's?

Ask any two instructors and what's "correct" will
sound different.

You're coming closer to reality with "relearn", except, a
person can never unlearn anything. They can only add
to what they know and do.

No "should", no correct, no unlearn, unteach, or bad habits.
No such thing.

Such thinking is counter productive in instruction except
when it comes to self feeding of the ego of the instructor.

The only things that exist are the mechanics of skiing.

So, what were all these "bad habits" (by the way there's no
such thing as bad habits either)?

"LePheaux" wrote in message
...

"foot2foot" wrote in message

There is no such thing as "wrong", no such thing as "right".
There are no such things as "unlearn"

Bull****.
as a self taught skiier from an early age in Alaska living on a hill.
I had some terrible habits.
the only reason I got better was from learning CORRECT form.
that big boy is called unlearn, or to be grammitically correct to
re-learn.

"Black Metal Martha" wrote in message

I love your advice! It's helped me a lot with my skiing. I have 160s
and from some of the posts, at 5'5" they may be too long for me, but I
like the longer length, especially now that my speed is up, my control
is much better. When I bought them I wanted a ski that I could use when
I got better, not just as a beginner ski because I know I won't have
the money to buy another pair anytime in the near future.

Martha

Thanks Martha. Are there any issues you're trying to solve
at this time, or breakthroughs you're after, or such?

You work at Red Mountain?

"VtSkier" wrote in message
...

As for clothing, I have three jackets I wear, other
than my red mountain uniform jacket. One is red also
but that's mostly a spring shell, another is blue,
but the style is kind of dated, so the one I wear
most is black. All of my pants are black. My helmet
and gloves are black. If I had the voice, I could
probably pass for Darth Vader.

VtSkier

foot2foot wrote:
"Black Metal Martha" wrote in message

I love your advice! It's helped me a lot with my skiing. I have
160s
and from some of the posts, at 5'5" they may be too long for me,
but I
like the longer length, especially now that my speed is up, my
control
is much better. When I bought them I wanted a ski that I could use
when
I got better, not just as a beginner ski because I know I won't
have
the money to buy another pair anytime in the near future.

Martha

Thanks Martha. Are there any issues you're trying to solve
at this time, or breakthroughs you're after, or such?

Nope, I'm just working on what I know I need to do. It's coming
together nicely. I had some great, great runs the last couple of
weekends.

Martha

"Black Metal Martha" wrote in message

Nope, I'm just working on what I know I need to do. It's coming
together nicely. I had some great, great runs the last couple of
weekends.


And curious I am. What you know you need to do is...

?

foot2foot wrote:
"Black Metal Martha" wrote in message

Nope, I'm just working on what I know I need to do. It's coming
together nicely. I had some great, great runs the last couple of
weekends.


And curious I am. What you know you need to do is...

?

I'm not going to get into everything, but I'm working on things I've
learned here and elsewhere.
Just know that my skiing gets better every time I go up.

Martha

VtSkier wrote:

It doesn't sound like your are ready for high performance
skis quite yet, but you are getting there quickly. A good
entry level shaped ski that you rent will get you quite
far, especially when conditions are good.

Another possibility, if you really want to buy, is buying something used
for the remainder of this season. That'll get you through the steep
part of the learning curve, and also see your ability, preferences, and
skiing style develop to the point where you can make a more informed
decision about a higher-performance ski. Then you can do the clever
thing, wait until summer, and buy some new '05 skis at a wicked discount!

--
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield, other days you're the bug.

In article ,
says...
Yep, that works no problem, and I try to use the muscle memory from that
to lessen the weight on my right foot.

Really? Someone told you to try picking up the tail of the
inside ski while *leaving the tip on the snow*? Who gets
the gold star?

Well, not exactly. I can't say I was specifically leaving (or not
leaving) the tip on the snow. But if my right ski is dragging, then
removing it from the snow was the obvious extreme case of how to fix it,
and finding the happy medium is just finishing the job.

This one was really the key to understanding what a right turn should
feel like for me.

Someone explained/showed you lead change? Where *have*
you been getting this info?

Private instructor named Natalie at Perfect Turn/Sugarloaf; my three
days with her did wonders for me. She's been *teaching* there since
1972, and skiing there since the 50s. If it were any closer I'd make it
a weekly appointment!

FWIW, Perfect Turn in general doesn't keep you in the wedge once you're
past the never-ever lesson; we started talking about parallel turns in
my first green-level group lesson (which otherwise was a miserable waste
of time).

--
Jay Levitt |
Wellesley, MA | Hi!
Faster: jay at jay dot eff-em | Where are we going?
http://www.jay.fm | Why am I in this handbasket?

In article ,
says...
Nah. The boots and lifts and skis and beds and all that crap
really don't make all *that* much difference.

Honestly, for me, with my messed-up mechanics and kinethesis, they
really do. For the first time, I can balance on one foot, and my knees
don't touch when my boots are flat. Unless you're severely pronated
too, I don't know that you can imagine what an amazing advantage that
is, especially with a tight hip to begin with.

--
Jay Levitt |
Wellesley, MA | Hi!
Faster: jay at jay dot eff-em | Where are we going?
http://www.jay.fm | Why am I in this handbasket?