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#1
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Rave for the Mary Jane Bump Clinic
I asked a couple months ago about what a "clinic" is. The answers were
encouraging, so last Tuesday I went over to Mary Jane to take a bump clinic. It was great. The clinic was scheduled to start at 9 AM (check in from 8:15 to 8:45) and by 9AM, they already had us roughly divided into groups of 6 or 7 and had introduced the group members to each other and to the instructor. Our group was on the chair shortly after 9. With about an hour break for lunch, we skied until 4. The instructor was okay with people leaving early but gave every indication that he was happy to keep going with whomever remained until the lifts closed. (I confess this surprised me - I assumed that the instructors would be happy to head home early.) The instruction was very helpful to me. (I haven't taken a lesson in years, so it's hard for me to know how it would measure up to what is typical.) After an initial blast of information that was impossible to think about much less put into practice, our instructor honed in on individual differences and pretty much worked with each of us separately. Although we skied as a group, I felt like I was getting private instruction - and in a sense, I was. (I also liked that the instructor wasn't all "That's great. How about trying a bit more of this." Sometimes it was a nice comprehensible "Don't do XXXX!") And what the instructor had to say about my bump skiing was precisely right. (Though it took me a few runs to believe the critique, of course.) I have been bumping for years but had reached a point where I wasn't getting any better. I could get down most everything but not smoothly or well. Generally, my over all balance, shock absorption, and fore-aft position were good, but I couldn't go any farther without changing how I turned in the bumps. I didn't know that of course. I'm not sure that one can notice things like that about one's own skiing - I just felt like I was doing everything right but it wasn't working very well. The advice I got really triggered a breakthrough. I'm using much less energy and relying less on balance and more on technique. |
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#2
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On 2004-01-17, Varanasi Benares penned:
I asked a couple months ago about what a "clinic" is. The answers were encouraging, so last Tuesday I went over to Mary Jane to take a bump clinic. It was great. [snip] Thanks for the description! Based on that, I may end up checking the clinic out some time. I had lessons in the bumps a few weeks ago, and they really opened my eyes. A clinic is a great way to make sure that you're learning about one specific thing. In my case, I was lucky in that I and my fiance were the only two people in the class, so we could pretty much dictate what we wanted to work on. If you enjoyed this clinic, I definitely recommend that you take lessons more than once every few years =) As my last instructor said when we were deciding what terrain to go down first, "I will be able to see the problems you're having in the bumps and powder on any terrain." You'll have the same bad habits on nice, flat groomers -- the problems will just be more evident on more "complicated" terrain. -- monique |
#3
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Congrat on the clinic and report. I really enjoy hearing other people's
experiences. Hopefully this will encourage you to take more lessons & clinics in the future. My finding is that a lesson/clinic about once a year is about right. I only get to ski about 15 to 20 days per year so I can't stand sitting still for lots of lecture time. But those yearly lessons really help. "Varanasi Benares" wrote in message ink.net... I asked a couple months ago about what a "clinic" is. The answers were encouraging, so last Tuesday I went over to Mary Jane to take a bump clinic. It was great. The clinic was scheduled to start at 9 AM (check in from 8:15 to 8:45) and by 9AM, they already had us roughly divided into groups of 6 or 7 and had introduced the group members to each other and to the instructor. Our group was on the chair shortly after 9. With about an hour break for lunch, we skied until 4. The instructor was okay with people leaving early but gave every indication that he was happy to keep going with whomever remained until the lifts closed. (I confess this surprised me - I assumed that the instructors would be happy to head home early.) The instruction was very helpful to me. (I haven't taken a lesson in years, so it's hard for me to know how it would measure up to what is typical.) After an initial blast of information that was impossible to think about much less put into practice, our instructor honed in on individual differences and pretty much worked with each of us separately. Although we skied as a group, I felt like I was getting private instruction - and in a sense, I was. (I also liked that the instructor wasn't all "That's great. How about trying a bit more of this." Sometimes it was a nice comprehensible "Don't do XXXX!") And what the instructor had to say about my bump skiing was precisely right. (Though it took me a few runs to believe the critique, of course.) I have been bumping for years but had reached a point where I wasn't getting any better. I could get down most everything but not smoothly or well. Generally, my over all balance, shock absorption, and fore-aft position were good, but I couldn't go any farther without changing how I turned in the bumps. I didn't know that of course. I'm not sure that one can notice things like that about one's own skiing - I just felt like I was doing everything right but it wasn't working very well. The advice I got really triggered a breakthrough. I'm using much less energy and relying less on balance and more on technique. |
#4
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On 2004-01-18, KentB penned:
My finding is that a lesson/clinic about once a year is about right. I only get to ski about 15 to 20 days per year so I can't stand sitting still for lots of lecture time. But those yearly lessons really help. I get frustrated when people spend too much time talking rather than letting me do stuff, too. I've found that some instructors are better for this than others. Of course, some people prefer more of the lecture bit, too. Perhaps you can ask for someone who's more action than talk the next time you go for a lesson, or spring for a private lesson and talk stuff out on the lift. -- monique |
#5
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Monique Y. Herman wrote: On 2004-01-18, KentB penned: My finding is that a lesson/clinic about once a year is about right. I only get to ski about 15 to 20 days per year so I can't stand sitting still for lots of lecture time. But those yearly lessons really help. I get frustrated when people spend too much time talking rather than letting me do stuff, too. I've found that some instructors are better for this than others. Of course, some people prefer more of the lecture bit, too. Perhaps you can ask for someone who's more action than talk the next time you go for a lesson, or spring for a private lesson and talk stuff out on the lift. For those of you who live in the Salt Lake area, I highly recommend the Park City Ski College. They run it every year in December, and for $400 you get five days of group instruction along with lift tickets. My skiing has improved drastically. (And if you can get Alex Lemieux as an instructor, so much the better) |
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