How to learn to ski in two hours
by
Charles Bentson
During the winter of 2001 the results of a survey of a number of ski instructors was published in our local paper regarding how many first time prospective skiers returned after their first lesson. The results ranged from one in ten to one in twenty, not a very good score for a sport we consider exciting. It is common belief among the younger set that snow boarding is much easier to learn than skiing and possibly more hip.
The purpose of this article is to explain how skiing can be taught sufficiently well in the first session to make continuation more likely. What I will try to explain is not my invention, but the result of spending a week in Kitzbuhel, Austria in the early' 70s in an advanced class of six skiers The first thing the instructor told us was, "We are changing our method of instruction for beginners, and we will all learn it. It is called the Austrian Racing Method (ARM)." This will replace the snowplow." We said, "Jawol!" The characteristics of this method were, knees bent considerably, pole plant to the inside of the turn about even with the feet and far to the side, along with rotation of upper body in the direction of the desired turn and with a strong leg extension to make the straight‑edged skiis skid into a turn.
With the advent of shaped skiis and the right amount of knee bend it seemed that all you had to do to turn was to look where you wanted to go and the skis took you there. To understand how this can work, try standing on a smooth floor with knees bent as if your shins would be hard against the tongues of your ski boots as when skiing, and turn your head and upper body in the direction of an imaginary turn. Notice that your feet tend to turn to follow your head. and shoulders. This occurs because in a near crouch position the muscles are tight to hold your body up and so the feet tend to follow the turning of the head. On the snow, picture yourself traversing, with knees and hips against the hill, shoulders leaning downhill, and most weight on the downhill ski. As you shift your gaze downhill your shoulders and knees tend to follow, the skiis come off edge and onto the flat and rotate with the body. As you approach the fall line counter rotate to complete the turn. One day while skiing in deep powder I realized that all it took to turn was to look where I wanted to go and the only control needed was to have knees sufficiently forward. Why not teach this method from start rather than waste time with the wedge, which is not easy to learn and does not lead directly to parallel skiing?
My opportunity to test this method came when we were visited by an old friend and her seven year old granddaughter, Nisa. On the last day of their visit she casually asked if Nisa could try skiing. We would have three hours to give Nisa a memorable ski experience, including the time to travel to the Tahoe Donner slope and rent and return skiis. That would leave two hours on the hill for active skiing., I agreed we could do that.
Once on the hill, we briefed her on traverse posture (knees forward hip toward the hill, weight on lower ski, shoulders leaning toward down hill. I believed she would make her first turn successfully if she looked down the hill from her traverse in the right way, but to make success more likely, I told her to follow me in the traverse, I would turn to traverse in the opposite direction and when I was directly below her I would yell "LOOK AT ME, " hopefully, she would look at me and her skis would turn and she would follow me to the next turn.
We started our traverse, I turned to traverse in the opposite direction and when I was directly below her yelled the magic words. I was delighted, but not too surprised to see her perform a good parallel turn. We continued our traverse, and after two more " Look at me's”, I told her "No more Look at me's, you know how to turn now. After two runs following me, I told her she'd do the run all by herself, and I would watch from the side. She completed nine more runs, each one with more confidence that the previous, and on the last runs, without any coaching, had assumed a racer's stance, and a big grin. In just over two hours, Nisa completed ten runs, all parallel turns, with no falls, and enjoyed it immensely. In just two hours she had learned the basics and just needed practice to advance It would be hard to imagine a more promising start and you can be sure she would want to pursue skiing if she had the opportunity.
A possible snag with this method of initial instruction is that the parents should be aware of it so that they do not confuse the child with older methods of skiing by trying to get the child to revert to the method they themselves had learned and followed. However, to lead a beginner along courses of increasing difficulty can be a valuable aid to learning to ski well.
By the way, Nisa has continued to ski with us.
 Nisa
dressed to ski |
 Charlie |
 Anne
helping Nisa |