Did I improve at the camp?? Maybe a little bit!?
Jim is either showing his usual modesty or is unaware that he is on the verge of a big breakthrough.? He was starting to live on his edges.? Don't take my word for it -- Midwif saw his video on the last day and was equally sure of his improvements.? Like a fine wine, good skiers improve with age.? We celebrated Jim's impending improvement with a chorus of "happy birthday to you" at the camp party on Monday night, and over the following week he delivered.? Midwif tried to distract him by flushing a gift from him down the toilet
, but nothing could deter Jim from his skiing destiny?
I spent much of the week redialing in fore-aft and learning to relax on new boots I bought the weekend before camp.? I replaced my old X-wave 10's with Nordica Speedmachine 130's in a smaller size.? It took a few days to get used to the extra stiffness, more upright cuff, and increased precision, but on day 3 I did a few extra runs with Max Sherwood to "clean out the carburetor" -- great fun laying them way over and sucking my knees? up in transition
?
I have good intellectual awareness of what's good and bad from a PMTS viewpoint, but half a year off snow had made my body forgetful and downright lazy.? The camp did a good job of resynchronizing the two.? The last touches of laziness were resolved at Loveland the weekend after camp:? on Saturday by moderate wind-scoured hardpack off the top of chair 2 (muscle memory instantly recalled strong CB) and in several inches of powder on Sunday (enough to add a real 3-D aspect.)?
Here's the answer to your real question:? of course you should go next year.? With a name like LivingProof, how could you not?? If you want to make nice with the natives, carry along some extra toenail and fingernail clippers.? The Dutch used glass beads to influence the original inhabitants of Manhattan, and you in similar fashion can use toenail clippers to buy influence and friends among skiers.? I saw lots of improvements in all of the groups at the camp.? Next year you could be one of them.
-todd
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