by tigernbr » Wed Dec 19, 2018 2:52 pm
The blue/dark blue camp for me was amazing. I am one of the people who has a very limited number of days on the snow each year because of where I live and work. I have to make the most of my time when I do get on snow. I have a long way to go but I feel each year I'm making progress. Last year was my first time on snow in over 17 years. This year, I hit the slopes a couple of days ahead of camp to get my snow legs back. I reviewed everything I learned in the green/blue camp last season and felt a little better going into this season's camp. I won't lie though. The first two or three days were UGLY for me. I stuck with it though and in the afternoons, I spent just about all my time on the training slope at ABasin going over drills repeatedly. I still have a lot of work to do to keep my feet together (thank you PSIA instruction) as I tend to default to a wide stance when challenged with a steeper slope. But I will keep at it. I feel my big learning breakthrough this year was learning how to hold my CA until after I make my edge change and then switch my CA to the other direction. Thank you Don from Welch Village! Once I learned how to do that, my skiing (while still far from perfect) felt so much smoother. Others in my group thought I was nuts for going to the training slope to practice. They felt that they could do the moves better if they were moving faster rather than slower. I told them several times, if you can't do the moves correctly slowly, you can't do the moves correctly quickly. They refused to believe me. I know it is true for me so I will stay the course and learn the right way: each essential, in order and practiced until I can repeat it on demand. Thank you Harald, Diana and all the coaches at the camp for a fantastic week. I plan on returning to a camp next season, work permitting.