suggestions for the upcoming (?) book by Harald..

[tommy]

Harald,

one thing I'd find very useful in any new book you might write is a section on troubleshooting. For instance, sometimes I have a problem with my right turns, when doing carved turns. The problem manifests itself by the left ski "shooting out" straight ahead towards the fall line. I'm not sure about the "root cause" of this problem, but I have my suspicions: it might be that I have too much weight on the right ski, or not enough edge angle on the right ski, or my upper body has twisted with the turn.

Anyway, you might want to consider putting a section on troubleshooting in any new book, with "symptoms" and "probable causes".

Just an idea....

Cheers,
Tommy

[bbluey]

Tommy,

I'd be interested to hear from others on how to fix the problem you describe above.
I'm not an instructor so I won't comment at this stage, other than to pass on a comment which an instructor once made to me and that comment was that each person has a stong turn to one side and a weaker turn to the other side.......I found it to be true in my case and once I realised this simple fact, I just concentrated a bit more each time a would make a turn to my "weaker" side e.g. I would concentrate on lifting/lightening my free foot and making sure I tucked it back fully under my hips. I also concentrated on the timing of my pole plant on my weaker side as this seemed to be letting me down as well.......


In respect to what HH should put in his new book??? ( Is he doing a new book? and if so what's the expected launch date....does anyone out there know?)
I would humbly suggest he include something more detailed in it on the "Strong Arm" position.
There are 2 pages of good stuff in the Instructor Manual on the Strong Arm position but only about 2 paragraphs in book 2 ( I refer you to Pg 110 & Pg 135) and nothing in book 1. I found found these very short references in book 2 to be terribly deficient in describing the Strong Arm position......ergo I bought the Instructor Manual as Book 2 specifically referred to the Strong Arm position being describe more fully in the Instructor Manual.

As a point of curiousity, I expected the Instructor Manual to be a thick manual and the related Instructor video to be reasonably long timewise especially given the Books 1 & 2 , which are made available/promoted/sold to the General Public, are approx 400 pages in combined length and the related videos to books 1 & 2 are approx 90 minutes in length.
In fact, the Instructor Manual is only about 166 pages in length and the Instructor Manual's related Video is only about 15 minutes long.

I'm not complaining....just commenting. I think, for my purposes ( ie average skier who want to learn ), Books 1 & 2 are better than the Instructor Manual except for the bit about the Strong Arm position.


Bluey



Last one down's a dirty snowball !!

[Guest]

Hi Bluey,

the only thing I know about a new book is what harald said in the "high C" thread of this forum:

"Yes, you are right, a new book and DVD are in the works and they will detail in addition to other actions in skiing the “High C’ turn."

So, hopefully, there's going to be some new stuff coming up....

Cheers,
Tommy

PS: is it true that at noon, sun is at north at the southern hemisphere ? (never been south of the equator....)

[Bluey]

Tommy,

In respect to your query ...
I don't know, but I think so..... but I'll take a more studied look today and get back to you. ......



Bluey


Last one down's a dirty snowball !!

[jclayton]

Tommy

I also had a problem with one side turning better than the other . My left leg is stronger than my right but turns on my right leg were better and cleaner than those on my left . Typically while turning to the right ( on left leg ) I had a bit of an A frame and had trouble doing the phantom move with my right . When I went for an alignment session with HH he found my left leg was bowed out 2.5 degrees , after canting I had no more trouble . It also explains why in turns to the left the phantom move was quite easy, my left leg was already in position . I always thought my legs were perfectly straight . Maybe your problem is similar in cause .

[Jeff Markham]

Regarding suggestions for the book: I'd vote for an index.

[tommy]

An other wish for a topic in any new book:

maybe more of an indepth treatment on alignment: what measures (legs, feet) to take, and how these measures relate/influence the construction of footbeds, and canting (wedges/shims) ?

--Tommy

[-- SCSA]

I'm willing to bet Tommy isn't pulling his inside foot back, while tipping it.
This is why one ski is "shooting out in front of the other."

[BigE]

You don't say at what phase of the turn this "shooting out" happens.

[-- SCSA]

I've read this thread numerous times and now have a suggestion.

HH needs to make it to people understand this better. When the first book came out, everyone got the idea that PMTS was all about lifting and tipping. Then came all the flames!

When the second book came out, everyone got excited again --
"Now he's saying the lift and tip isn't it. Now he's saying it's the weighted release!"

So I think if HH could go back and explain his system better, that would really help. People need to understand that the lift and tip is just the begginning, to getting skiers to the weighted release. I think people don't understand this. I know for sure on epic, zillions of posts have been written about the lift and tip. Everyone thinks the system is all about lift and tip, which is wrong. It's only part of the system.

If I was HH, I'd go back and make it so users understand that book 1 gets them to book 2. That the lift and tip is only a progression to get the skier to the weighted release. I'd also emphasize that PMTS, like any system, takes time to learn. A user must put forth the necessary training and what not, or they just won't see the results they may be looking for. Ya know, nothing good comes easy. Finally, I think HH could do a better job of emphasizing the importance of fitness and equipment. If you're out of shape, no sport is easy -- especially skiing. Then on equipment, a user must be willing to make the necessary changes to their equipment. Like my buddy. He's on skis that are 15cm to big for him and boots that are way too stiff and not comfortable. He can make the changes to his skiing, but his skis are too long and his boots suck. Yes, he's practicing better skiing, but his equipment is still a problem.

So my opinion, is that skiers are picking up HH's books and going, "Ureaka!". But I think their expectations aren't being met. They buy the book and video and think that's it! I guess it could be, if everything else is right.

I think now, a few years later, the product could definitely be improved on. I think HH and company could do a better job of tying books 1 and 2 together, along with everything else that matters like fitness and equipment.

[Bluey]

HH's books 1 & 2 were ground breaking stuff ......so with that in mind, I think they were great for their time.
Harald says he's going to put out a new book, so my expectation is that he's already aware of the limitations those earlier books have and what needs to be addressed in the new book.

There have already been some good suggestions in the earlier threads. Given my general background it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further on what should be in the new book without knowing an outline of what HH proposes to put in the new book.

However, in the interim, I think SCSA is on the right track.
When the unintiated read these "old" books now they get the Eureka experience,..... like I did,..... but the books can't really teach you skiing.
So unless they sign up for a Harb Camp and get some personal one-on-one coaching, the unitiated will become only a potentiallly better/more informed skier, but still a very frustrated skier.
So will a new book fix this situation?
I don't think the new book will solve eveything/ eveyone's issues but it at least will cut back on some of the current unwarranted criticisms.

No matter what is in the new book, a Harb Camp or some Harb-type of one-on-one coaching will still be required to kick start the unintiated onto the right track by pointing out what they are doing wrong.
My experience is that once someone told me what I was doing wrong....the rest feel into place using PMTS.


Hang on...wont a new book generate more people wanting to learn more about PMTS?
You bet !!!....but will there be enough instructors to meet the demand??
It appears this will be the problem......lack of instructors will lead to a lack of promotion of PMTS.
What we need is an Emporer like Constantine to champion the Cause......but I don't count on miracles, the same as we don't expect lightning striking twice.

Its a puzzle. Again I have no answer, just an observation.....

Anyway, bring on the new book 'cause I'm getting tired of rereading the same old stuff and looking at the same pictures.
I doubt it will be released before the northern winter is over this year so I may be lucky and get it at the end of my southern winter in Sept/Oct ( read your northern autumn ).



Gotta go.


Hooroo


Bluey



Last one down's a dirty snowball !!

[-- SCSA]

Bluey,

Nice job.
You're right on. I was just reading epic and there's a post by oboe. oboe says he bought Lito's book, then took it to the slopes but it "didn't work for me." Then oboe goes on to say that he incorporated Bob Barnes's famous one liner into his skiing (right tip to go right, left tip to go right), took a lesson with someone who was familiar with whatever it is that Barnes teaches, then ureaka!

oboe bought Lito's book, took it to the slopes and thought that was going to be it. He then goes off and works with an instructor and now oboe is all excited about Barne's one liner.

What's the point? oboe is lost, it's obvious.

No really. What Bluey sez. If a person is motivated to get better in skiing and they decide to follow PMTS, the first thing they should do is get with someone who really knows the system; take an HH camp or spend a day with a qualified instructor. My advice would be to take a camp. And don't let them off the hook with long lunches! Hand them a power bar and some water. Tell 'em "Let's get back to work."

Cheers,

[Rookie]

Tommy Wrote:

"maybe more of an indepth treatment on alignment: what measures (legs, feet) to take, and how these measures relate/influence the construction of footbeds, and canting (wedges/shims) ? "

I agree! Not everyone has the luxury of getting HH to set up their boots / skis. No need to restate what Tommy has captured perfectly.

Rookie

[Guest]

Rookie

No amount of words can replace the trained eye but I agree the more we know the more we can expect from fitters and know what to steer clear of , we are demanding of our car mechanics these days as most of us know what makes cars tick . ( wishful thinking ?)

[bbluey]

Quote from above : "I would humbly suggest he include something more detailed in it on the "Strong Arm" position.
There are 2 pages of good stuff in the Instructor Manual on the Strong Arm position but only about 2 paragraphs in book 2 ( I refer you to Pg 110 & Pg 135) and nothing in book 1. "


Oops !! ...late edit to the above. viz. most of the components/cues of the Strong Arm position are described in book 1 on page 134 except the term "Strong Arm Position" is not explicitly stated......if that makes sense. Apologies for this inaccuracy.


Bluey