(Disclaimer: do not flame this post, this is written 100% sincerely. This has NOTHING to do with the recent postings here)
First, this long story is written only for one single reason, I have to share this experience here because I mainly am without any friend on the slope that would understand this..at least today.
My starting point when I found PMTS in the net was to be on an intermediate plateau.. whatever I tried, I progressed slowly if any. I have attended 1 skiing lesson in my life (last season). Maybe thats the reason.
Or maybe not, I learn very well by understanding the physics and mental training. I've learned to win several national medals and a scandinavian championship bronze medal in aerobatic flying that way (7 hours dual training, though). I've learned to windsurf at an age of 40. Last summer I tried the nationals in course racing. No success but even attending requires quite an effort. I learned to waterstart and sail in heavy winds with a semisinker. Lessons: nil. I do not mean in general that you should not have lessons, of course it would be easier. With hard work, anything can be learned.
Skiing well is not easy. I started actively to ski again on 99/00 season after a break of 27 years. I read the books I found from the library. The techniques in these books were from the 60s (old books).
I have attended some easy GS races with medium to good success. Still, I felt that there is really something missing and I was not happy. I had problems with my knees and lower back. I just did not know what to do.
Then, late last autumn, I found PMTS, first the net lessons. I had some success trying the movements but.. then I found this site. I read a couple of the stories here..and ordered the books/videos 1/2. I corrected alignment so much that I could according to the advice I got. First BIG boost towards balance.
After reading the books I instantly got many easy to do, big steps. First narrower stance, then tip the free foot, hard. Many of the movements in book 2 really opened my eyes. Especially the release, which I found to be the most important missing/bad link in my skiing.
Next I tried the single-ski practise. Enormous leap towards correct balance. The corrected alignment made this possible. I had tried it many times with limited success.
After getting the alignment better I could do 360 turns all the time, left and right. Turn 180, then turn again 180 from fakie etc etc.. The edges were not anymore a problem, it was fun.
But still, the full blast carving was missing something..damn! I could not get all the force on the stance ski..?H! The force always bled somewhere, did not know where. I just knew there had to be more, and a LOT.
Today my warm up consisted all the stuff above, it took 45 minutes. I felt balanced, I felt good. I built the next balance movement in my mind:
- remember the release, make exaggerated super phantom, feel the base, remember the 'hinge' feeling
- remember not to tuck low, stay in a normal position with the STRONG ARM (remember to raise if it feels passive)
- keep the the stance narrow, exaggerate LTE tipping and pull the FREE FOOT BACK
(I remembered this last one from an email from today, thank you Diana)
AND:
During the next run my railing days were over. I built the turns like rehearsed in my mind, step by step, it felt ok.. but when I FORCED MYSELF to pull the free foot back, MY HAIR RAISED (this is for real, folks). In one microsecond 'I saw' the demos by Harald and Diana on the video showing aggressive carving. I felt no limit to tipping, and I felt I have ALL THE FOOT FORCE IN THE WORLD on the ski, I turned LIKE HELL!
And moreover, that was supposed to be my balance run, without poles, doing exaggerated super phantoms with the free foot fully raised, relaxed and easy.
I could repeat it many times, but the first run was definitely the best. Everything was right, almost by accident. The tracks on the snow were unbelievable. I have always been able to do clean 'railroads', but this time the solid, absolutely circle groove was 2 in deep in the rock-hard snow!!
So this is how I learn with PMTS. For me, it works, and it works fast (I have not been paid to say this
) I have got here from unsatisfactory misery to real fun in about 25 hrs of hard practise. I must say though, that I am fully committed, and my training has been very consistent.
Now I really feel I have no limit anymore. I'll keep doing this progression (single-ski -> releases -> super-phantom no poles) now for some time and try to really understand the problems I have had before (and I still have, I have to make all these pre-drills to get good turns).
And I know, this is just a beginning. But the first 1% is getting better all the time. I really hope I can some day attend some of the camps and meet you people! I can imagine the progress possibilities with advice from PMTS trainers.. I'll try..
Thank you all PMTS folks for a superb job.
Ciao,
Tommi (tee two)
and drove there to 'have some turns' (SCSA tm?). Impressive, like the alps: 107 solid feet of height diff, LOL.
