realskiers

1. To the original point, I think it's cool you guys are working hard to make PMTS more influential.  More power to you.

2. I really like Josh's beginner lesson...can you really get all that done in 1.5 hours with a group???   What can they ski when they are done?

well it depend and it works for MOST people. Yesterday with a 18 year old boy from Puerto Rico, and 24 year old girl from down under it worked great. The girl who was far more coordinated and did nt do anything extra was easily matching basically right after the edge change, the guy was making narrow gliding wedge turns and was having issue because he kept trying to twist his upper body because well he is a guy and doesnt know how to move. They were able to ski the easy chairlift competently in one hour and were more refined by the end of the lesson.

today I had one middle aged guy from Mayalasia, and he had trouble walking with his ski boots on and was easily out of breath walking 20 feet while carrying his skis. He clearly was bring much less to the table than the younger folks yesterday. I would love to see someone try to teach someone that un atheletic a DTP lesson.  straight runs where a challenge it took us 1.5 hours for learn how to glide straight, glide straight in a wedge, and then do tipping only gliding wedge turn aka the crab walk.

luckly for you guys with the exception of Welch and Sol vista you never have to deal with trying to DTP someone that sucky at moving


Here's my bigger question, and it's for all the adult learners out there (you guys who skied as kids and came up through race programs are an entity onto yourselves):  Do you really think you learned nothing of value from your earliest levels of instruction??  Clearly, you all stuck with skiing and probably got to explore quite a bit of the mountain?  I find it funny that people resent moving like advanced beginners and low intermediates when they were advanced beginners and low intermediates.  I don't ski they way I did 10 years ago, but I can't say those proto-years had no value as I gained comfort, control and the ability to explore the fun side of the mountain.   If I hadn't been given some tools to take into the off-piste very early on in my skiing, I would have quit.

does 19 count as adult learner? IMO it doesnt. Kids are any ody that hasnt forgotten how to play, and adults are those that have forgotten. With that said I sucked, I sucked really bad. I hated lessons. I still hate most lesson. To be honest very few people out there have much to offer me and those that do are harder to ski with. Luckly those that do help me Bob Barnes, Doug Stewart, Dave Merriam, Terry Barbour dont need much time to impact a difference.

My own thoughts on the progression:

a. The PSIA Beginning: Hey, you got to get on and off the lift, you got to realize that your feet aren't glued in position and you have to discover there are a lot more fun places to explore on the mountain than the learning groomer.  Foot work is great, but if you can't stop that upper-body over-rotation, squatting and all those upper-body gross balance inhibiting compensations that novices constantly fall back on, you'll never never connect with your feet and ankles.   You need speed control, and you need it to work places other than the flattest of learning groomers.  PSIA, I think, does a fairly admirable job of getting people what they need to get out and ski (all things considered, that people are not always ready to make commitments in gear, time and money).

first there is no "PSIA" beginning. We are free to teach how ever you see fit. My run down was my most case scenario. With young(or young at heart) super atheletic kids who have dynamic balance I will quite often teach DTP. Usually based on 1000 steps.  to today when I was for sure teaching a wider wedge but had no choice. I could of told the guy to just go home and work out and trust me i want to say that. My hope is loving skiing will cause people to work out.

b. PMTS/CLedenin/Deslaurier/Lito Other name brand camps:  Since no one signs up for these camps until they've become low intermediates it is not surprising that these methods do a great job of moving low intermediates to High intermediates.  After a few years of getting my gross motor movement comfort under control on big hills, I found great benefit in these models (collectively the 'ski with your feet/ankle' models-using modern ski design-sans rocker-to it's fullest...sort of).  And, these guys get a lot of folks to the High Intermediate level-and I've been watching MA videos on the PMTS website for years, those guys who are long time campers have done a good job of becoming advanced intermediates (and that's not a knock, advanced intermediate is pretty good).


c. Expert Skiing......Takes more.   You need all the moves.  Some will argue over the definition of expert skiing, but I think the old PSIA line is fairly tried and true:  All terrain-All Conditions (and that includes modest air ability: 6ft vert in tricky conditions/ 10 ft in good conditions and good landing zones).  And not just surviving all conditions and terrain, but handling it with smoothness and speed control and enjoyment (we all know it when we see it).  A smooth and sure footed run down Paradise and MRG, even in icy conditions or Kinsman's Glade at Cannon when the coverage is questionable is no problem for an expert skier.  I'm not there yet, but I ski regularly with true experts and I'm getting ever closer.  Truth to tell, a private lesson from Josh Matta would probably do a lot for guys in my position.

There is nothing that you should 'throw away' from your learning.  I think the pmts-style instruction is a great addition, it's good folks will be able to incorporate it as they move from low to high intermediates, and it will pay dividends if they ever get beyond that (which few will, of course), as will other things they hopefully learned and continue to learn as they progress.