John Mason wrote:You have to be quick Bob!
Sorry you missed it while your ears were ringing.....
Well, I did read all the posts before the thread was vaporized. I did miss it in the sense that I was unable to respond directly.
So here's my public response. It may not stay on this board for very long, but at least I'll have said my piece.
Paul, you confuse speed with good skiing. You also confuse teaching techniques with good skiing.
Personally, I don't give a rat's patootie whether a given skier came up through PMTS, PSIA, or NAACP. Good skiing is good skiing. It almost always is a result of a combination of good teaching (from a variety of sources), good on-hill companions, AND many, many miles on all kinds of snow. Trying to use your perceived comparisons to the other skiers last Friday as some kind of validation of PMTS is downright ludicrous.
Let me explain for you, in plain English and on the record, why you were the first one to the bottom of some of the pitches at Snowbasin...
1. We were skiing in the fog with a large group on what for many of them was an unfamiliar mountain. MOST of us were skiing relatively conservatively to help try to keep all of the members of the group together.
2. Most importantly, I don't WANT to be in front of you. I don't trust you and I feel you're a danger to other skiers nearby you. Think back to a couple of times when I took off to lead the group to a certain area. You would invariably come skiing up very close behind me. Did you not notice at those times that I would slow down and pull over? I've had you come skiing past one shoulder or the other too many times in the two half-days that I've skied with you. I feel MUCH safer with you in front of me than with you behind me.
You were first to the bottom most of the time because many of us choose not to be in front of you. THAT'S your explanation - it has nothing to do with PMTS.
Furthermore, comparing your "speed to the bottom" to several members of that group is ridiculous. Some of those skiers had been on snow for a total of two or three days this year. If you insist on measuring yourself against someone, why don't you pick some real skiers with a little more time on the snow?
Better yet, why don't you take up racing? It's extremely easy to tell "who's the best" when the clock is running.
Paul, you're a good skier. You've improved a lot from when you visited Jackson Hole two years ago. You have great passion for the sport and you will continue to improve as years go by, regardless of which teaching method you ultimately adopt. But you haven't learned yet that there's a great deal more to being a good skier than time to the bottom. There's courtesy, comraderie, mutual encouragement, and safety. I think your social skills aren't progressing as quickly as your skiing skills.
So the bottom line is this; if you and I happen to intersect at another gathering some day, I prefer not to ski with you. I ski to enjoy myself, not to prove dominance over anyone else. It's not enjoyable for me to ski with you.
These comments don't apply to any other devotee of PMTS. I'd love to ski with any of you any time. Just come on up to Jackson Hole and let me know you'll be in the neighborhood. As I said above, I am uttlerly agnostic when it comes to ski teaching methods. As far as I'm concerned, miles and hours on snow are far more important in making good skiers than any particular teaching system.