Alaska Mike wrote:Dismissing an instructor as less skilled because of his organizational affiliation is just plain wrong.
Agreed - absolutly. If anyone thought that's what I said, then re-read.
I see two styles of skiing most taught today. I pointed out 3 authors that advocate the style I like. Only one of these authors were PMTS. The other two authors wrote and encourage a similar style of skiing. Edie pointed out a Demo team PSIA member he likes and others whoose styles he does not like. Of course they are all acomplished skiers.
These two general styles cross PSIA boundaries as PSIA is not a ski "method" per-se . It's a "big tent" more than an endorsement of a single approach to skiing. The non-big tent style link that BigE posted and cert standards argue counter to the prior two statements, yet many PMTS instructors and certs are also PSIA instructors and some are even PSIA examiners.
Alaska Mike wrote:I'm fairly sure Weems can perform all sorts of turn styles, it's a question of intent. Hopefully John will maintain his interest in teaching while opening his mind a bit.
I'll put you down as a 1 also. A "1" advocates belief that all top skiers ski the same way or can ski the same way and thus a newer skier like me can get good instruction from any source.
Not everyone, even high level skiers, can emulate all styles at will. It may or may not be an issue of intent. There is not enough information to know that in the case of the skiers presented in the video. The audio background comment really really liked what they were watching these skiers do. I did not. There are things I saw there that I had in my own skiing that got "coached out" as pretty big errors. This is at the fundemental movement pattern level of how to release and transition turns. It's a totally different style. People can go for whatever style they want. I just personally wouldn't want to go there since I was sorta there already and find the newer movement patterns much more to my liking. (less effort, more applicable to more terrain and conditions - not to mention not dying on carvers)
On another note, the race camp I went to this summer, while run by PSIA tech team members, was very much in sync with what I have been learning in PMTS. Some of the coaches were going for a tad wider stance at transition but not all of them. I didn't see any of the coaches actually in a wide stance at all when they skied the gates, even the ones that were nudging for a wider stance (I say nudge because none of them were going for the a-frames in the video). Lots of vertical seperation but very little lateral seperation was evident in the instructors skiing at this camp.
It wasn't just the stance, the weak a-frame position, I didn't like in the video. It was the absence of carving in the high part of the turn, the unweighting, the subtle guiding/pivoting, the late transition going on in the video that I personally didn't like. Anyone doing these types of things at Race Camp (all run by PSIA folks - none affiliated with PMTS) were given one ski drills to work on because as Lito wrote, when all your weight is on the new ski early, you simply can't twist of pivot it. (and Lito isn't PMTS either)
It is a mistake when people analyze what I write and think it's PMTS against the world. I don't mean that. PMTS does incorporate the style I like. So did the top end Masters race camp I went to run by a particullar group of PSIA level III certs. But if I see a coach skiing the style I'm not pursuing and describing these movement patterns the same as what I'm seeing, of course I'm going to be reticent to spend time and money in that venue.
Read Jay's analysis in the newer thread. He was much more detailed than I was being in pointing out the specific movement pattern differences.
Ott - I take back what I said. I'm pretty sure your a 4.