Ski Coaches: Where do you start with New Adult skiers?

A good friend took up skiing (at the age of 59) last season-and just about everyone on the hill (instructors, patrollers, friends) gave him lessons, tips, demos etc.  And of course, for better or worse, he got info from all different angles  He's doing pretty well, but it's got me thinking-where do you guys start with a Novice, or very low beginner adult learner?  What are the most important skills to have from the get go?  And what typically takes do your clients fgind hardest to master in the first year or two of skiing?

And now that my friend is an advanced beginner (or very, very low intermediate) what does he work on this season?

Liam

Thank goodness skiing is not as bad as golf in this respect. If golfers got advice from "everyone" they'd go nuts. It's probably time for your friend to start thinking quality vs quantity.

Instructors trained in PSIA methodology teach skiers of all levels to develop 4 basic skills: Balance, Edging, Rotary and Pressure. Balance is the most important. In the first lesson, we give students exercises to develop all four skills. As students progress, lessons may focus on enhancing a specific skill. But please understand that we teach movements (not skills). In my experience I have not found any one thing that is hardest to master in the first year or two because people with so many different life experiences take up skiing. Some people get it right away, some people struggle, some people need step by step coaching and some people just need mileage.

Instructors try very hard to not approach lessons with a cookbook formula (e.g. every advanced beginner should work on "x"). We'd rather ask your friend where he wants to go with his skiing (point B), look at how he currently skis (point A), then draw the line to map out what it will take to get from point A to point B. Many students at this level will simply say they want to "turn better". In reality, that may translate into skiing more efficiently, smoother, faster or more comfortably skiing steeper terrain. But those things could just as easily require working on equipment or emotions as teaching different movements. We used to say that advanced beginners were working on transitioning from wedge christies to parallel turns. Shaped skis have given us many more options for how skiers can progress from beginner to expert. Finally, not everyone has the desire, time or money to become an expert skier. It may be that the best thing for your friend to work on this season is simply "having fun".

Look at your friend's stance and balance.  Is he balanced with his center of mass (somewhere in the abdomen) mainly over the front of his outside foot?  If so, other things can begin working for him.  If he is back on his heels or leaning defensively back toward the hill, nothing will work right.  Look at him from the side.  Are his heels behind his hips?...good.  In front of his hips?...he must pull his feet back.  Is he heavy on the inside ski?...gott'a get that one lightened up and probably pulled back at the same time.  Are his feet about femur-width apart?...good.

Does he twist his arms and shoulders in the direction of the new turn to crank his skis around?  Ask here about ways to cure his "rotation."  Is he too straight and tall?  Ask about ways to teach him angulation and counter. 

Above all, try to determine the one thing he needs to improve on the most, and work on only that one thing at a time until he usually gets it right.  It does him no good to get 14 different tips from 8 different people, or whatever, and master none of them.  If he buys a lesson, have him tell the instructor that he wants to learn just the one most important thing for him and get it right, and nothing else today.

And, are his boots and skis right for him?  One low lever skier I know has skis that are way to stiff for him.  They hinder his skiing, but try telling that to his "expert" wife.  I've sent low level skiers back to the rental shop for boots two sizes smaller...nothing was going right for them and they were wobbling inside their boots.

Balance...... and a love of gliding/sliding.

I try to put folks on terrain where they never have a concern about having to stop. It is remarkable how well students will do if they can slide twenty feet down a slope and slow down on a flat spot without doing anything themselves.

"I try to put folks on terrain where they never have a concern about having to stop. It is remarkable how well students will do if they can slide twenty feet down a slope and slow down on a flat spot without doing anything themselves." (from Rusty Guy)

Too bad few ski areas have novice areas that allow for this. This is mentioned in two "how-to-ski" books I have, one published in 1958 and one in 1966. I have taught never-evers on a such as slope and I agree that the effect is amazing.