One old guy's opinion.? I have pretty much stopped visiting the PMTS forum, even though I am a BIG believer in the value and approach of PMTS, because it seems to frequently become a very much us versus them battle.? In person, Harald is a very calm and friendly person, but that's not always the person on the forum.
Not that many years back, I was clearly what Lito Tejada-Flores referred to as a "Terminal Intermediate".? A friend recommended his three tapes (and they helped), but from that I found Harald's books.? His first two books were an eye-opening revelation to me.? They not only explained the whys of the movements that he was proposing, but he also explained the reasons behind much of the "other stuff" that I was hearing, and he did it all in a style that was easy for me to comprehend and associate with muscle memory.? I have never had a good PSIA lesson.? The instructor skis away and says "do this" with no explanation of how to do it, what muscles to use, or why we are doing that drill or where it fits in the overall scheme of skiing; and there was never any consistency from one mountain or even from one instructor to another.? I learned more from Harald's books even before I got back on the snow than I ever learned from the 5-6 'ski resort' lessons.? And even more importantly, for someone that is now almost 60 years old, the PMTS way of skiing instantly relieved a lot of the strain on my knees (coupled with shaped skis, of course).
However, I believe the real strength of PMTS is the consistent movement patterms that get you from where you are to parallel carved turns, and it doesn't matter if 'where you are' is a never ever skied before or a 10 year skier that never made it past terminal intermediate and still skid turns and or initiates with a bit of a stem christie.? Once you get to parallel turns and skiing with your feet, I don't believe you need to continue to drink the cool-aid, that you can begin to include other stuff.? Gary Cassara wears a PMTS badge on his shoulder, but he raves about his bumps class with John Clendenin, who is a black certified PMTS instruction but has a different bump technique than what PMTS teaches.? Gary likes John's method much better, but for building a skiing foundation I believe that Gary will always recommend PMTS movements.
The DesLauriers (sp?) have a slightly different all-mountain style, although they too are PMTS certified and what I've seen of their stuff certainly has a similar movement base as PTMS.
I'm not sure about the categorization of insider vs. outsider.? Frequently 'outsider' seems to be someone who is suggesting that at the higher skill levels PMTS isn't any better than XYZ.? That may be true, but I personally don't care because the strength of PMTS is getting you past that 'all too common intermediate plateau' that XYZ may have fostered in those initial movement patterns based on the wedge.? Sometimes the 'insider' seems to be people that agree with Harald, PMTS is the best way for all levels of skiing, but I don't believe that either.
However, I firmly believe that the PMTS approach for anyone not able to ski well is BY-FAR superior to PSIA lessons (which isn't really an approach, it's a tool bag left to the instructor to choose from), and will be much cheaper.? And I believe that the level of skills assessment and review in a Harald Harb camp is far superior to anything I've seen in PSIA classes and is well worth the money, and this is especially true of the green and blue-dark blue camps.
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