And now for something completely different,... my humble opinion.
Well, not different really. Sort of a combination of the same.
Anyway,
I agree with
jbotti's assessment that
The Essentials is the bible and touches on everything needed, which is why it's a must have.
But, IMHO, it's also why a newcomer to PMTS
should not start with it. It's the ultimate reference. But I believe you should always start with intro's before diving into references.
uavmx wrote:...I'd say I'm advanced intermediate, to intro advanced. Mostly struggling off Piste and bumps. Looking to really improve this year....
"Advanced intermediate" is about where I was (according to the very last PSIA instructor I ever had to deal with) when I found PMTS. At that level you're very comfortable on the snow, except in severe terrain. And you feel like you just need to add something more to your skiing to get to that next level.
Wrong, wrong, wrong,
wrong,
WRONG!
The problem is that at that level we've figured out how to make bad techniques
almost work OK. But we're still using bad techniques. They're dead ends. They aren't going anywhere. And the really bad part is that we've now got them pretty deeply ingrained.
It's much, much harder to unlearn something wrong than to learn something right from the start.
So I believe one should always start at the beginning and work through it one step at a time. I think you should start with ACBAES 1. It may seem simple at first blush. But there's plenty in there for to keep you busy and progressing for quite a while. If you actually do progress quickly you can move into ACBAES 2 and The Essentials later in the season.
You can buy them all at once and study them all for insight (I would). But start your drills and practice at the beginning.
Since you'll be focusing on unlearning, but are already comfortable on snow and have a sense of balance, you'll progress differently than somebody who's never skied a day in their life. Possibly faster, possibly not. It's an individual thing.
But you'll definitely need to break the old habits that are holding you back so you can build up the basics that will move you forward.
pc.