Benni Raich

[jclayton]

Very good idea , they're certainly well co-ordinated . A lot more fluid in their movements than say Weems .

[Bolter]

It's sad how funny the truth is.

[h.harb]

It's a winter sport (tough on the strippers) but in Ischgl, Austria, they are out dancing on the tables as you hit the bottom of the slopes. I'm sure the snapps; also spread on tables, helps create the right atmosphere.

[Tuomo]

It's a winter sport (tough on the strippers) but in Ischgl, Austria, they are out dancing on the tables as you hit the bottom of the slopes. I'm sure the snapps; also spread on tables, helps create the right atmosphere.

One more reason to go to Ischgl... I've heard that the slopes are good too

[h.harb]

Ischgl has great slopes both sides, the south side goes down to Switzerland.

[Tuomo]

Ischgl has great slopes both sides, the south side goes down to Switzerland.

I've heard only good things about Ischgl and my plan is to go there next time I go to Austria. But this year it is Switzerland's turn and I'll go to Verbier.

[tdk6]

Correct me if Im wrong but isnt Ischgl also the Austrian jet set ski resort? Only expensive hotels and bouthque shops? Its supposed to keep the crowd away from the slopes making it a great place to ski. Ive been on the Voralberg side 10 times or more. With a car it takes a whole day to drive from Silveretta Nova to Ischgl but its just on the other side of the mountain a few km away.

[Ken]

If you are a CSIA or PSIA instructor and you teach what they train you to teach for years and you never see any real progress, you become a cheerleader, rather than an effective instructor.
Let?s face it, when you see PMTS in action there are immediate, tangible, observable, lasting results .

Also, the ski areas can't keep instructors from year to year. Many do come back, but new hires are always needed, and the industry is short on younger new hires who want to continue for many years.

I feel that lack of instructor satisfaction is one big part of the problem. Working hard to show the student what the instructor has been taught and getting little in the way of results, and few returning students, is no help for job satisfaction. Of course, there are many other problems...low pay, minimal benefits, expensive gas to get to work, working too long & hard at a real job for inadequate pay, etc., etc. all contribute.

[h.harb]

Tdk6, yes you are right, but if you ski early at Ischgl there is no one on the slopes. After 10:30 you move to the Swiss side and after 2:30 everyone is going down to party. I love to ski at the Jet Set resorts as there is hardly anyone on the slopes. Look at Aspen. They arrive at 11:00 go to lunch at 12:00 and stop at 2:30. Nice ski day if you like to eat and drink.

Ken we see the same thing happening in Colorado. No young instructors are remaining in the teaching side of the sport.

[Ken]

"The goal is to have people not get ground up in the meat grinder that sends (first-time visitors) away at a national rate of 85 percent. We retain 15 percent of people who try it for the first time. In comparison to other sports, that's very low."
John Kircher, Crystal Mountain & The Summit at Snoqualmie, Washington, general manager and Boyne's manager of western operations; 700,000 skier visits annually.

Seattle Times, November 15, 2007
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2004013502_nwwboyne150.html

[h.harb]

John Kircher is right, I can't beleive that a CEO has finally admitted there is a problem with ski instruction. But is he ready to boot out PSIA? This would involve a huge cultural upheaval and I don't think too many CEOs want to deal with that solution to the problem. PSIA's standards are so low, that they won't find the answer to the industry's problems with their current management, attitude or direction.

[HeluvaSkier]

This would involve a huge cultural upheaval and I don't think too many CEOs want to deal with that solution to the problem. PSIA's standards are so low, that they won't find the answer to the industry's problems with their current management, attitude or direction.

Actually, I would think that from a business standpoint, CEOs/management would be trying to do everything in their power to increase the retention rate of new skiers. Lets face it, more skiers = more money. I am actually surprised that the big money making resorts have not started pressing their ski schools to turn the skier retention rate around (whether this involves a PSIA structured school or not). Any large resort (if they wanted to) has the capital to invest into an instruction program that could easily outshine any pre-packaged product that traditional PSIA schools put forward. The ski school may not "care" but if I were running a resort, I would consider every single skier who didn't return to be a lost sale. An instructor who is teaching a first timer is not just teaching the person to ski, but in a sense they are selling the sport of skiing. A returning skier may not return for lessons necessarily (that isn't everyone's cup of tea always) but merely by returning to the sport they are creating revenue for lodging, ticket sales, food, souveneirs, ski shops, guides, etc. Convincing the skier to want to return for lessons is another topic and goal to tackle all together - but in the very least there should be a push to make sure they return to the sport skiing.

Later

GREG

[h.harb]

This isn?t to make light of what you posted Hellva, as you are absolutely correct on all counts, but you are preaching to the choir. I?ve been saying there was a way to fix this problem and reverse the trend for over ten years. I have solutions, not just criticism of the present systems, not that you don?t.

The problem is PSIA. PSIA in every respect has everything to lose and nothing to gain in reorganization of ski lessons and of the PSIA teaching system. They are so entrenched, it would take a nuclear explosion to reverse the hole they created for themselves. I made it worst for them, because when my books came out, they had to really dig their heels in against PMTS Direct Parallel and become more adamant about how excellent their system was; all this while saying skiing hadn?t changed because of shaped skis. Then they went with the absurd notion that to ski on shaped skis you had to be in a really wide stance with both feet equally weighted, in a wedge. They slammed me and PMTS from every direction, saying PMTS Direct Parallel could never work and that it was just another GLM.

PSIA has reacted, like the Packman video game, for ten years, eating up any contenders or incursion into their monopoly of ski schools. Ostracizing those who wanted to make skiing better, while changing nothing in there system to compliment and take the equipment changes into account; except to cheerlead the wedges of their students with a loader voice.

I hope the uproar about dismal returns finally gets big enough that changes can occur, but the ski areas have known about these figures for over eight years, when the report first came out, and they have done nothing, they have done nothing!. PSIA is not ready for the reversal that might open up ski resorts to other established ski teaching systems, of which there is only one, and that is PMTS.

If you posted your comments on Epic, I?m sure you?d be eaten alive. They always have an answer for why the retention rate is low and it has little to do, in their minds, with their product. The problem begins with the system of ski school directors. Ski School directors are made by PSIA, they work themselves up through the system, therefore they are more loyal to PSIA then they are to the skiing public or to the ski resort that hires them, with very few exceptions. I know a few exceptions and they were great, but are mostly now out of the business.

If you were the Vail ski school director, which in an instructor?s eyes, is the ?you finally made it category? of ski instruction, would you jeopardize your position by changing the whole system and using a different system then PSIA. I don?t think there is anyone who would take that risk.

.

[fisherskionsnow]

Hi KEN. Great discussion on why students don't return for further torture and failure with classic ski instructions. Who wants to be sore in your hip joints for a whole week after one day or 2hrs of wedging. What I've seen in many faces is pain. Those who do return for another lessons, almost always say they would like to ski like the skier who has their feet parallel. I don't get request from someone who wants to do the wedge or wedge christie better.
There are alot of nice individuals in the PSIA system and I get along with them quite well. But suggest a change in the way clients are instructed and you hit a wall.
I was getting quite frustrated with my own skiing and I was teaching others and I knew they were frustrated with their progress. Thats when I knew I needed a new system.
Thank you Harald, Diana and your staff for PMTS. Individuals keep returning to your clinics, BECAUSE WE SEE IMPROVEMENT EVERY TIME WE attend one of your clinics. KEEP UP the good work. See you in Big Sky. Great ski area. Wonder challenging terrain. Crowds minimal.

Ken from the great state of MONTANA

[h.harb]

Montana Ken,

Any skiing up your way?