Do You Ever - Just Ski ?

Just because we spend hours thinking about skiing during the times when the hill is closed doesn't mean we don't just chuck it all and let 'r rip from time to time once the hill opens.

When skiing I do a bit of everything, from mindless skiing to focused effort to whatever strikes my mood at the time.  The "free" in free skiing has meaning after all.

ahhh, yes! As a reformed techno-crat, I just ski for the fun of it now. I actually find I ski better now that I don't obsess over trying to ski 'perfectly", I just try to clear the mind of all these thoughts and just ski.

 I'll admit that I'm guilty of spending too much time in the power corner, as I improve(trust me, improvement was/is necessary) but I'm learning to spend more time in the touch corner.  I've been told that  the touch corner is the best place to be!

I don't really get into the technical discussions, but I still think about technique when skiing -- I usually focus more on the "feel" part of the "sports triangle" when I'm free skiing, thinking about the way my tips are feeling out the snow, the way my edges are interacting with the snow. I usually don't worry too much about extension, flexion, unweighting, etc, when I'm just out having fun, but I'm really interested in the way my skis feel the snow.

I do when nobody's looking.

I just ski.  I'm not interested in the technobabble or spending a lot of time analyzing what I'm doing.  If I do anything analytical, I observe people skiing.  If I like what they're doing, I try to look like that and see how it feels.  Works for me.

 I'm an old guy and long time skier (60+ years) who tries to ski everyday during the season.  I'm not an especially good skier now and never was, but I enjoy the Hell outta sliding down the hill.  Sometimes I try a little of this or a little of that but it's just skiing.  Hope I can keep it up for some time.

Technical discussions may be dry and boring, but they are not "Technobabble" unless they are irrelevant. Even when an idea is considered "wrong" by some, I often find some elements in the back and forth arguments interesting and even applicable to my own skiing. There are lots of discussions I don't understand, and ideas I suspect not relevant or practical for my own skiing, but as a relative newbie to the sport and a Lurking Bear, I like the tech forums very much. "Just Do It" doesn't work for me when I don't know How to Do It. Skiing is not an intuitive sport for me.

I always have a lot of fun skiing with abandon, but the tech talks have added another dimension to my enjoyment: I can now have a good time even on a green slope trying to ski with good techniques. I no longer get frustrated when confined to easy terrain. And when I get to be at a bigger hill, I can ski faster, longer, and with more fun than I ever could before. One more thing: I enjoy watching the thrilling WC runs more because I can see some of what the tech guys are talking about.

I drill early in the season to refine and define movements . Like now when the snow is not deep this year and the woods are not filled in yet so drilling gets me in a good place in my skiing and allows for skiing without boredom. It's a focus , otherwise I'd realize  I'm just skiing edges, some bimps (small bumps)and groomers .
I put in my time now to build good skiing so that when the snow fills in I will enjoy it all the more and in the meantime I  do my best to absorb good coaching and reciprocal coaching with trainers . Pay attention around here you might learn something or a lot of something if you apply yourself.

Do your work , do your chores, reap the rewards you have sown with your training.  Call it what you will but I like it and recognize little comes without effort and conscious development of our skills. The greatest skiers work very hard at their skills even when built on a  wonderful  base of natural athleticism.

Well,

For the most part we just ski. Tech talk only comes out here and there. It really depends on who I am skiing with. If I am with my park then they try to find fun stuff to jump off and talk about it. If I am skiing with my ski instructor pals then the talk is a little more technical. If I am by myself. I just go have fun and I just ski.

Am I happy with my skiing ability?

Currently No. I am still working on picking up from where I left off last season (slow rebound this year). Give me a few more weeks and I may be much happier with my skiing ability.

Sorry, I can't agree with this.  They are technobabble when they are incomprehensible, which most of these discussions are to me.  I've been skiing for a long time and have a level of skill that gets me around OK but I have choosen to learn through mostly non-verbal means.  That turns most wordy discussion into "babble" from my viewpoint.  While they may be relevant, they mean nothing to me.

To me there is training time, & there is skiing time.  I tend to think more about technique when I am not skiing.  I tend to practice skiing when I am not on the hill.  I tend to hone my movements when I am on groomers.  I prefer to be off piste & just playing with the terrain & snow textures, that is when I let the unconcious take over so my training can do its job.

I always enjoy myself when I am on the snow.  I am happy with my skiing, but I am happier when I am progressing.

Thanks,
JF

I gotta agree.  I have read some of the instruction, MA, etc. threads, and I don't have the foggiest idea what you people are talking about most of the time.  Even when I understand all the words, they seem to be put together in ways that make no sense, when trying to describe a motion or action.

I pretty much always just ski, and I really enjoy it.

I often tell technically oriented skiers to chuck it all for a bit, let the skis run, fling the shoulders, push the heels, let them jet out, whatever for a few days.

Either it will loosen you up and allow for some real progress.......or it will take weeks to repair the damage.

I have no idea if that advice is good or bad, but at least it will get people out of a rut.

Do you take some of the technique threads and apply them on the hill? 
Yes.
Would it be safe to say that Epic has helped make you a better skier?
I think so, but perhaps I should explain a little more. The technique threads are not structured enough to be taken as ski lessons - they are most likely not meant to be. I learned skiing virtually from the PMTS books and DVDs. The discussions here (in addition to the PMTS forum) helps me see things more clearly. An immediate example that comes to my mind is SoftSnowGuy's post in a currently active thread on unweighting.
When some of the threads are over your head do you get in and ask some questions?Just think it is interesting to see how Bears use these sometimes very technical discussions.  I know there are times I don't get involved bec ause I don't want everyone to see I am an idiot.
I have no concern about my skiing ignorance. I even posted videos for MA. The nice thing about Epic forums is that a lot of technical folks participate (one may say it's a drawback because of the reduced signal to noise ratio, but I don't have a problem) and often my own questions are already asked and discussed. A few times I started a new thread to follow up a point of particular interest to me. Truth be told, I found some posters very confusing and I tend to gloss over their posts. I don't think I miss much when a thread is "over my head".
With a little homework to be familiar with the terminologies, acronyms and with a reasonable knowlege of physics, I can easily understand rigorous ideas and techniques (carrying them out on snow is an altogether different matter, unfortunately).

Fancy talks with ill defined concepts are nonsense disguised as "technical". Perhaps that's what you meant by "technobabble"? Yes, there is a lot of that, but also a lot of good stuff. Overall, for me anyway, the tech forums are the best parts of Epic.

I used to ski with a patroller, a Swedish women who really ripped.  I was sure she had a racing background, but she said, no she "just tried to ski well"  I'm not sure how she new what good skiing was , but she is now a very successful pro, a  big mountain freeskier, and a national champion.

I basically learned to ski by chasing better skiers down the mountain. I watched them and tried to do what they did. I'm a visual learner. Nearly everything came to me by osmosis. Any time I try to focus on the mathematical aspects of technique, I just get frustrated because of the lack of progress. If I just ski without thinking about the technical stuff, the things I need to learn just come to me through unconscious trial and error.  When something works, my body remembers it.

Even though I've been told I ski better than I walk, I'm nowhere near the best skier on the mountain. A whole lot of Bears could undoubtedly leave me in the dust, but I am satisfied with where I'm at, and I have a blast nearly every run. I'm still more comfortable with old school technique than modern technique, but it doesn't bother me. I just ski, and pretty much always have done it that way.

We have discussed this from several different angles,  so it must have some importance for some skiers.

I always come back to the paradox: learn sound skiing so that you can forget about it and just ski.

It's more fun to ski well, not perfect, not best or better, just well, so you can smile when you ski.

Last year my mantra was compact. This year it seems to be: make real turns. That's as far as I need to go for technical.

I disagree that a downhill or SG racer is not thinking about his technique because he is going to fast to think. I do a lot of gatekeeping, and it is my distinct impression that their mind is working as hard and fast as their legs.

Yes.  I definitely fall into this category.

I've always learned by watching, following, and mimic-ing those I felt were better than me in one way or another and went with it.   Technical talk about skiing movements generally bores me and I don't have much patience for it.  I used to spend time browsing the ski instruction forums here, but not anymore.

I do have a respect for those who can break down turn movements into detailed minutiae, but it's just not my thing.

On the cat tracks or a green going to the lifts will dink around, edging drills, slipping drills, a garland, even a mambo now and then.  What else are you supposed to do when fast is not necessarily a good idea?  When the hill gets steeper may think about completing a turn. 

When the snow gets good thind very technical thoughts like turn right or turn left. 

If trying different skis or something feels off, then there may be a techno thought or 2 to figure it out, but not for long. 

I can get technical but prefer the mental and feel part of skiing.

My skiing is like the Toby Keith song; 'I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good as I ever was once'.

I only began skiing around six years ago (I'm now 41), and I now have something like 55 days on snow.  I'm still coming up to speed, and expect to be for the rest of my life, but I'm also a bit of a technician.  I read some of the technical stuff on this forum - the ones that catch me from the subject line - and I've put a bit of it into practise. I did some reading for last season (August down here) and ran some of my own drills etc. for a few days before my friends showed up.  In fact I took a few days by myself exactly for that reason.  Still, for the most part, as soon as my friends arrive (most of whom are better skiers than myself - lifetime skiers) it would be a shame to be running pivot slips when I could be fanging around the hill chasing the hell out them and learning as I go.  There's certainly a lot more to skiing than just technique.  Having said that, a couple of times I've split from my friends and followed some complete stranger down the hill just because they've been doing such a fine job that I felt like I was learning just by watching them move.  Copped a ribbing for that I can tell you.  Does that make me a ski stalker?

Overall I might have one 'mantra' (or whatever) for the week when I'm skiing.  Something like "ski esses instead of zeds ... edge over and wait for it all to happen".  As soon as I learn about "park and ride" (from this forum) that might evolve to be "edge over progressively".  That mantra has changed each and every trip as I've been improving; the first first time out it was "just get down the hill without falling over".  I'm definitely improving, but often it's just a matter of being with the right people and having a ball trying to keep up.

For that matter, next time out I'm working on the "slow line fast" mantra.  Was going to be Whistler Blackcomb after the Olympics, but that's looking less and less likely.  Work gets in the way too often.

I have a personal approach about this stuff....

First I learn to execute; then I learn to perform.
Rinse, repeat.

"Execution" is highly technical and almost contrived; you 'force' your body to do things. Once your body learns these things (and the reactions to them) it can begin to blend them and select techniques and movements - ie you move on to "performance".

The technobabble is a result of a simple problem.... sharing sensations : another example: "please describe the taste of maple syrup"

Wine afficionados have the same problem - they talk utter crap about "earthy, strong nose and a magnolia bouquet"... but it means something to them (well, that example probably doesn't  )

@Tyrone : Whilst I'd love to learn just by watching and experimenting I have limited time on or even near snow - I have to use an imaginary slope and imaginary movements. Sometimes it is really hard as a large part of the babble needs you to try something, feel something and then say "ah, *that* is what they mean by un-weighting..... gotcha.... so now I should do that at the start of the turn... ok....*crash*.... hmm, maybe not so much next time".
(Which, BTW, is what happened a couple of years ago after your advice on jumps....)

My biggest problem is identifying a small handful of things to play with each trip and not being overwhelmed.

I will agree to a point.  I read some of the stuff in the instruction area and it goes over my head.  I'm an image person.  BUT, I've taken some personal instruction from some of the esteemed coaches who post in the EpicSki Instruction forums and WOW, these people are incredible.

That being said, I should get better about getting coaching then letting go. 

Spend more time in the touch corner TC!