If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Time Machine, 1930's -The Pure Stem
"Kneale Brownson" wrote in message om... "foot2foot" wrote in message ... Well, you've certainly made a mess of them. By the end of that period of time, around 80 to 90 percent of the people who took a ski lesson never returned to the mountain. This, using exactly the system you advocate. What possible evidence do you have for such a claim? Had I done all my teaching in the last six or eight years, you might have some justification for your figures based upon the national average for beginning skier retention. I started teaching when the number of skier days was increasing steadily. Regardless, there is no basis for blaming an individual for the performance of a group. Sounds like you're the one with the anger. You insist on defending and apparently teaching the system that nearly killed the industry. That's how you can be "blamed". Kneale, it's great that you've been dedicated to teaching for such a long period. In fact, you should be in line for some sort of lifetime service award or something. But, it's what you do now that counts now. The PSIA wedge and the attitudes that go with it are a miserable failure which cannot be denied. It almost killed the industry. Yet there is still no change, no improvement in beginner teaching. The PSIA wedge still haunts the level I and II exams in all it's useless, obsessive compulsive, egotistical glory. You as much as admit there are faster ways to teach students, yet you cling to the old ways with justifications like, "My students will have more fun". "Is my PSIA wedge good enough for level II?" "No." "I'm an advanced skier. If I can't get it right, how could it possibly be of any reasonable use to a beginner?" Clearly it can not. All this aside, why would you respond to a post of an obviously historical interest with a grating, personal attack? Perhaps you could contribute to the initial intent of the thread. Why do you think the book reads as it does? Would todays techniques have worked back in the 1930's? What are the differences in technique and teaching between then and now? What can we learn from looking at old techniques? |
Ads |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Time Machine, 1930's -The Pure Stem
"foot2foot" wrote in message ...
"Kneale Brownson" wrote in message om... "foot2foot" wrote in message ... Well, you've certainly made a mess of them. By the end of that period of time, around 80 to 90 percent of the people who took a ski lesson never returned to the mountain. This, using exactly the system you advocate. What possible evidence do you have for such a claim? Had I done all my teaching in the last six or eight years, you might have some justification for your figures based upon the national average for beginning skier retention. I started teaching when the number of skier days was increasing steadily. Regardless, there is no basis for blaming an individual for the performance of a group. Sounds like you're the one with the anger. You insist on defending and apparently teaching the system that nearly killed the industry. That's how you can be "blamed". Kneale, it's great that you've been dedicated to teaching for such a long period. In fact, you should be in line for some sort of lifetime service award or something. But, it's what you do now that counts now. The PSIA wedge and the attitudes that go with it are a miserable failure which cannot be denied. It almost killed the industry. Yet there is still no change, no improvement in beginner teaching. The PSIA wedge still haunts the level I and II exams in all it's useless, obsessive compulsive, egotistical glory. You as much as admit there are faster ways to teach students, yet you cling to the old ways with justifications like, "My students will have more fun". "Is my PSIA wedge good enough for level II?" "No." "I'm an advanced skier. If I can't get it right, how could it possibly be of any reasonable use to a beginner?" Clearly it can not. All this aside, why would you respond to a post of an obviously historical interest with a grating, personal attack? Perhaps you could contribute to the initial intent of the thread. Why do you think the book reads as it does? Would todays techniques have worked back in the 1930's? What are the differences in technique and teaching between then and now? What can we learn from looking at old techniques? I don't understand how a heels out, knees together braking wedge is easier/superior to a narrow gliding wedge. All that aside, the differences between then and now are in the equipment. I grew up in the ankle-high laced-up leather boot and beartrap binding era. You simply could not ski with today's economy of effort with the loose-boot, loose-ski-interface of the '30s and '40s, especially considering the ski lengths employed then. You needed to press the heel onto the weighted ski to maintain contact with it or the shoe rolled off the ski. You needed to make large-muscle (no ankle twitching here) movements and great bodily rotations to maneuver those heavy, unedged boards out of contact with the snow so they could be reoriented and reweighted to accomplish a turn. The principal thing we can learn is an appreciation for the gear available today. You never saw folks my age skiing then. And nobody went out from daybreak to nightfall unless it included several stops for meals and warming. The activity required too much effort. |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Time Machine, 1930's -The Pure Stem
"Kneale Brownson" wrote in message
m... I don't understand how a heels out, knees together braking wedge is easier/superior to a narrow gliding wedge. It's harder to learn, it takes too much time to learn, it has a tendency to cause people to not want to give up the big toe edge of the inside ski, and you just don't have to go through all that. You want to teach the person to set the edge of the outside ski and match the inside without ever really going to the pinky edge of the inside ski. The only reason to teach a braking wedge at all is as a device to make it easy to learn to set the outside ski. Once they can do that, the wedge is disposed of. That way a student spends maybe five minutes in the wedge, then proceeds to matching skis. Besides, what you describe is *not* the PSIA wedge. As such, PSIA doesn't *have* a beginner progression. Even you don't teach that wedge. All this business of the PSIA wedge as a task for level I and II exams is nonsense. All that aside, the differences between then and now are in the equipment. I grew up in the ankle-high laced-up leather boot and beartrap binding era. You simply could not ski with today's economy of effort with the loose-boot, loose-ski-interface of the '30s and '40s, especially considering the ski lengths employed then. You needed to press the heel onto the weighted ski to maintain contact with it or the shoe rolled off the ski. You needed to make large-muscle (no ankle twitching here) movements and great bodily rotations to maneuver those heavy, unedged boards out of contact with the snow so they could be reoriented and reweighted to accomplish a turn. The principal thing we can learn is an appreciation for the gear available today. You never saw folks my age skiing then. And nobody went out from daybreak to nightfall unless it included several stops for meals and warming. The activity required too much effort Thanks for sharing your experiences, but, what about the literature I posted from the 30's? A bit before your time I assume....where is the progress between then and the time you started? What's different and why? For instance, Lunn says that for the pure stem, you must flatten/change edges on the inside ski, not with knee motion but with *ankle* motion, clearly impossible today. |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
!Vasaloppet! | Gary Jacobson | Nordic Skiing | 19 | March 11th 04 06:10 PM |