Hello,
just started skiing this year. I have been twice to Whitetail but as such have been confined to the two lower bunny slopes. The main reason for this is my technique. I have completed both level 1 & 2 lessons (they were no problem)and as such I don't look completely out of place but I have one stumbling block and that is I am still in the stem christie (wedge ) turns which keep me from trying steeper slopes (i.e. sidewinder & snowpark) ps I am around 225 lbs so gravity is not my friend.
Part of my problem stems from two issues
1) I start a turn say to the right by putting my weight on the left ski(left shin). As I turn in i have a habit of pulling some of my weight back on my back ski and off of the downhill ski which as you know puts me as a candidate for having my skis slide out from under me (which has only happened once) and,
2) with my weight lifted slightly from the downhill ski and onto my uphill ski it makes it very difficult/near impossible to turn the uphill ski or pull it even with my downhill ski.
There is a chance that I may go one more time this year on a weekday and I would like any advice on how to :
a) correct this early bad habit of putting my weight on my uphill ski when turning and
b) what do I need to do to get closer to skiing parallel and out of the wedge and be able to ski the longer greens (sidewinder & snowpark)
I have 1 free lesson each time I go so should I :
1) take a level 3 lesson for 1.5 hours and hope the instructor is helpful? so far I do OK in lessons and ask a lot of questions but it really depends on who you get. last time the level 3 instructor next to me was only asking for those who could already ski parallel.
2) just get lessons from my friends going with me who insist that I can learn faster with them? ( this has not clicked yet although they swear by their skill/advice - umm "jumping into parallel" anyone?)- this is some of their advice.
3) Just say f**k it and go down one of the two longer greens anyway and just hope i pick it up as I burn my upper thighs up in my beginner stem christie wedges?
I hope to pick something up this last time if I go because I am afraid that I am going to forget everything and have to start over in level 1.
I should also say that I am always going to be a conservative skier no matter how good I get and will only have fun if I am in control.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

A weekday lesson there would probably give you personal private-lesson style service. My 2 cents says no brainer, especially if it's free.

....and yes, by all means go down Sidewinder. Maybe the length will help

Marshall are you skiing down the hill in more or less a straight line, changing direction slightly and stopping with a wedge or are you able to turn your skis across the fall line and stop?

The wedge is not holding you back from skiing more difficult terrain. Keep your feet under your hips don't let them get too wide or you will end up locked on the inside edges; When you start a turn to the right think about flattening the right(inside) ski and letting the tip of the left(outside) ski chase the right tip. Forget another lesson until you get some mileage, just go out and ski and have some fun.

Make turns, use the width of the trail and practice stopping with your skis pointing across the fall line, never pointing down the hill. Make sure you are in the good athletic stance you were taught, keep your hands up, look where you want to go and have fun.

What Jimmy said and in other words, your problem is from not completing your turns. That means you are cutting your turn short by going fallllllllll line too quickly. This is a point of emphasis with PSIA and by working on completing turns, you will improve. Question. What size are the skis you use? This can also have an impact on beginners if the skis are too long or too short.
Practice with your poles held with both hands in front of you as though they're a tray of your favorite beverage which you don't want to spill. This will get your upper body in the correct position throughout the turn.
The parallel turn will become more spontaneous as you work on completing your turn accross the hill and then link turn after turn on mild terrain. Good luck!

The wedge is an extremely strong position. What jimmy said: the wedge is not the problem.



Instead of focusing on the left shin, focus on your weight going down and through your left foot, particularly the inside of your left foot.

Sure, the shin will be in contact with the front of the boot (if it isn't, you've got BIG problems) but your weight won't be going through the shin. It will go down through the foot and into your ski instead.

I suspect that by trying to muscle-drive your weight into the shin, you're actually forcing your upper body back onto the other ski.

Marshall, I'm definitely of the same thinking as Jimmy. Don't bother with another lesson for a while. At least until you get out there on your own and ski. Listen to the advice given above and just have FUN!! The turns will come. I promise.

I'm a product of having never taken any formal lessons. I just wanted to keep up with all my buddies. After a while I figured out things on my own and it wasn't long before I was keeping up.

I then spent a year as an instructor (a lot of which consisted of getting LOTS of free instruction for myself). Now, my old ski buddies try their best to keep up with me.

The #1 most important thing is to HAVE FUN!!! Oh yeah, and smile

OK everyone I will take this advice to heart.
Just for info I am 5' 11" and have been given 140s (1st time skiing) and 150s the second time. I have been told that they are probably too short but at this point in my skiing can it be that big a difference?
Jimmy, I am skiing down the slope in a bastardized series of s turns. I usually don't like going too fast so I usually make lazy turns but find especially when I have to make a sharp turn that i resort to the problems I mentioned. I almost always stop across the slope eventually and not pointed downhill.
I also have more problems making the turns at the bottom where the slope is steeper (at least to me it is)
One of the issues I have with the wedge is even on a relatively flat short slope I cannot go all of the way down without having to stop and rest my legs as they are burning about halfway down. (again not from wedging facing down the hill but from trying to complete the turns.
I have very strong lower leg strength and it is a pain to have to stop as I am a runner but I still do at least once per run.
Also Sunday was jam packed at Whitetail and there were several instances where people fell in front of me, or across me when I had to stop very quickly. at my widest strongest wedge( with not much reaction time) I almost ran into some people so help me. It seemed no matter how hard I pushed (these were emergency stops) I kept sliding.
I like the idea of just skiing through this problem but keeping up with friends has not helped much.
They all have theories - really what works for them - and are terrible at trying to explain. ( i have a new found respect for instructors)
Here are a few of their gems:
"just pivot your skis together like this into parallel"
"Jump into it "
" as you are skiing, plant your pole on the side you wish to turn around and make your quick turn around it" at this point we are stopped and they cannot demonstrate that well. The thing is they are all great on the greens, but i don't see how well they do on their level slopes.
Oh and my favorite... as I am skiing down trying to avoid traffic they are on the other side of the slope yelling:
"Look at how I am doing it over here!" I suspect they really don't know how they do it or have forgotten how they learned and are only trying to be helpful, but it ends up like the situation where you are trying to help a new golfer on the course - shouting out 25 different "tips" when what they need is just maybe 1 or 2 methods they need to practice over and over.
I am starting to believe that there are two kinds of skiiers; those that are truly good and then most of the others who have a lot of bad habits and have learned to live with them.
kwillg6 - I usuall have my hands out front but one of the problems for us beginners came up in my last level 2 class.
One of the skiers was a woman who had great form with her hands out front, but the problem was she had great difficulty relaxing and it had the effect of looking as if she were skiing with a very wide invisible tree out immediatly in front of her body and she was holding it up all the time. She looked painfully inflexible and stiff. Think East German self inflicted punishment and she looked like she was having no fun at all.
Thanks again for taking the time to answer everyone!

Marshall, your roblem is common to those new to the sport. I have had students who, when the terrain gets steeper, jam their weight onto the downhill or outside ski in an effort to control speed. As the ski points down the fall line you will accellerate until you finish the bottom of the turn. What you need to do is allow the ski to skid sideways as you complete the turn which will control speed and will bring both skis parallel prior to initiating the next turn. If you were to take another lesson I would imagine the instructor would work with you to have your skis do this. Once again, many laps, many runs. The more you do the better you get. Have fun.

The advice above is really good and beats the heck out of the way I learned parallel turns (if I didn't paralell my older brother would knock me down, if I fell he'd spray snow on me).

To summarize what you are feeling, your legs are burning and you are having trouble controlling your skis?

...if your constantly nervous, clinching every muscle in your body, and in the back seat then anything you try is going to be difficult...you might have to deal with the mental part...if your scared of the speed you could drink a couple beers on the lift to work up some courage... or you could work on your speed threshold-find some mellow terrain and start with a wedge then put your skis side by each(parallel I think you 2 plankers call it) pointed straight down the fall line, when you get to a speed that is uncomfortable come back to the wedge...repeat until you work your speed threshold up a couple notches...

Tucker I thought that Whitetail was a dry resort? I need all of my facilities thanks just the same.
I get nervous sure, but no more than the other beginners out on the slopes with me. I don't usually let myself get much speed up in the first place and almost never fall. (this could be good or a curse - maybe I am not trying hard enough?)
I will see. Early plans have me going up with friends for a trip on Monday or Tuesday March 15th or 16th. I figure that there will be much fewer people for me to avoid and this should = more runs.
Can anyone tell me if they usually have good season ending sales in the ski shop? I never remember to go in there before I leave and I always assumed that it was sky high to begin with.
I am definitely considering buying some used skis and boots if just for the benefit of not having to wait for the first hour I get there trying stuff on. Do they sell used stuff at Whitetail?
Thanks again everyone.

...I will never be allowed at whitetail ....I often tell my lesson if your cusin' or bleedin' your doing it wrong (unless your in the terrain park), but otherwise if you ain't fallen you ain't learnin'....if you have to spend the money somewhere spend it on the boots for sure...cheers...

Dude your still lucky you allowed at tslime , Whitetail nevarhappenin....like tucker said marshall go fall down and have some fun.

No, they don't at all. The October ski swap can be good though.

...I am model employee and spend my paychecks at the company store...

Rhymes with Shimbers?

I am not a ski instructor, but I did stay at a holiday inn express.....

Just do it has never applied to anything quite like skiing. Don't worry about speed it will come as your comfort level grows. Not everyone is going to straight line it down the mountain the second time out just to show off to their buddy , which 9 times out of 10 ends very badly. You seem to be worrying too much about making the perfect turn. Its kind of like flying an airplane, any run you can walk away from is a good run. One thing I think you may be having a problem with is what one of my instructors called the leap of faith. Having weight transfer from your downhill ski to your uphill ski is actually a good thing to move into your next turn but that moment of transfer and shifting the turn while turning your body downhill into the next turn is the leap of faith. Without ever seeing you ski and just going from your words here is what I hear:

1) I start a turn say to the right by putting my weight on the left ski(left shin). {good good} As I turn in i have a habit of pulling some of my weight back on my back ski and off of the downhill ski {starting to transfer weight on new downhill ski, good good} which as you know puts me as a candidate for having my skis slide out from under me (which has only happened once) {umm I think you are thinking too much here, If your holding your wedge I doubt you have as much weight off your downhill ski as you think unless you can pick up your downhill ski. If so congrats because now you have mastered parallel skiing :)} and,
2) with my weight lifted slightly from the downhill ski and onto my uphill ski it makes it very difficult/near impossible to turn the uphill ski or pull it even with my downhill ski.{ahhhh ha it actually is very easy you've already done 90% of what you need to do. Now you just need to lean into it baby. Make the your uphill ski your new downhill ski by leaning over your old down hill ski and shifting the weight from the outside of your uphill ski to the inside edge (shin tongue with weight on big toe area) making it turn and now becoming your new downhill ski.}
Clear as mud? It looks to me like you're a natural!! most people don't get true weight transfer until they are more advanced. You just need to embrace it, trust your skis and take that leap of faith that your uphill ski will turn and become your new downhill ski.