realskiers

I must be a better skier than most of you, because I have three sets of "skills".

I have proactive skills -- that's the way I would like to ski.
I have reactive skills -- that's when my proactive skills (or my confidence in same) isn't sufficiently developed or refined.
I have survival skills -- that's when I realize that I'm over my head for the current combination of terrain and snow conditions.

JBotti posted excerpts from a racer talking about skivots.  She said they don't practice them, but they do get used in "desperate" situations.

That's where I am. I think I am always balancing two goals.  One is skiing well, but the other is skiing  and enjoying places where I don't ski well. (and the third is safely getting out of places where I'm not enjoying being there).  For me, it would get very boring to only ski those slopes that I can do with good technique -- but something inside of me does require an understanding and a goal of how I should ski.

And I can easily identify with Liam's story of his wife. I have a friend whose husband is on the National Ski Patrol. After 35 years of marriage to a very good skier, her primary ski satisfaction criteria is being outdoors and not falling.  Completely doesn't care about technique.

And I can somewhat identify with the young skier on wide boards.  His primary goal is skiing the steep/deep as quickly as possible. Probably, like my friend, doesn't care much about technique. Whose to argue with that goal, even if it isn't the way we approach the sport. as long as they obey the basic rules of skiing and do no harm.