My first day of the season was Dec 1 at Winter Park. After that I took one lesson a few weeks later, and have been skiing a total of 10 days this season. I was definitely a green skier to start the season, (1) having only skied a few times in my life before (once in Jackson Hole, then in Ohio and Pennsylvania) but I don't really count those since it was years between each, and (2) being 4 years between December and my last time on skies. Since then, I've become confident on intermediate runs, skied a lot of black and even double-black runs, skied a bit of powder and bumps, and overall improved quite a bit. I didn't really have any expectations coming into the season, but now find myself getting impatient with progress, and want to be able to ski anything in bounds... and immediately please, no questions asked.
I think, after this year, that skiing is probably the hardest sport I've really enjoyed and tried to get really good at. I used to be a really solid tennis player, and that came pretty natural to me. Mountain biking and even rock climbing, despite a small fear of heights, seem to be the same. Baseball and basketball took practice, but I feel were far easier to become fairly proficient in... I don't know if that counts though since I was pretty much doing both from when I could walk. Skiing, on the other hand, takes a lot of patience for me, and is very mental in the sense that the slightest loss of confidence results in a bad outing. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm pretty new to it and have come a long way in less than 4 months. Dude, keep your chin up and have fun!
Yesterday I forgot that message, and as you can see on youtube here (Darren is the voice of optimism and gracious albeit undeserved praise), powder defeated me by a landslide. Being out with co-workers was a blast, but it took me until our last hike of 3 on the ridge (wow, am I out of 14ers shape!) to feel good enough to get aggressive and ski well on a steep (meaning low-30s degrees) powder slope. That run was clearly not on film. Then I shudder watching the video and looking at my form. I was nervous with an audience and a camera (especially being really new to deep powder) but wanted to prove that I was a decent skier. The result was a far cry from the successes of weeks past. I get annoyed with people who beat themselves up a lot, but I have to admit I was that guy yesterday. Loveland is a very nice mountain, and I hope to go back next season to redeem myself. 3 days in Steamboat are coming up in 2 weeks, so hopefully I'll have much better videos to show then!
In short summary, here are the 5 main tips that I think have helped, and will continue to help me in the future, should I finally decide to abide by them:
- Ski with your shins pressed against the front of your boots, and your weight on the balls of your feet rather than on your heels. Lifting toes helps reinforce this. It's easier to turn when you're in this stance, visualizing moving your weight back and forth from the ball of the the big toe to the ball of the little toe. You know you're doing it wrong when your leg muscles do the work of keeping you up instead of your skeleton (tired quads and calves mean bad form).
- Parallel doesn't necessarily mean touching... In other words, boots shoulder width apart is not bad, despite popular belief.
- Keep your hands out in front of you with elbows bent, and use your pole plant as an indicator of a turn. What you're essentially doing when you plant your right pole is committing to a right turn. This also helps balance.
- Lean forward and be aggressive in your stance. Your upper body should be perpendicular to the slope, with your skis always facing as downhill as possible.
- Wear thin socks once your boots are padded to your feet to leave room for warm air that your feet heat. Otherwise the warm air escapes your boots and your feet get cold. It even helps to loosen your boots on the lift to make more room for air. For cold hands, make a fist with your fingers in the main wrist compartment, and alternate hands.
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