"miles" wrote in message
news:L5ksd.174343$bk1.120595@fed1read05...

Many ski schools are now teaching parallel turns from the very 1st day.
They do so by teaching with very short skis and no ski poles. With
the shorter skis and new teaching methods people are learning at a far
faster pace.

This is a solution many schools use to get the brand new skier
up on the blues in a very short time. In my experience, it's
useful, but it's kind of a cheat. The skier ends up needing to
learn the things they'll need to learn to ski on long skis anyway,
with or without a start on shorties. But by that time they're
hooked, which is the important thing.

A student that has bladed will probably not need to wedge
on longer skis, but learning to pick up the tail of the inside ski
(then moving on to other ways to match the skis) will, as will
getting farther forward on the longer skis at first be really
helpful