Month: March 2019

Want to get those ski sensations during the off season? Want to improve your skiing? Roller blading might offer the solution to both of these needs without a flight to the southern hemisphere.

The mechanics of roller blading and skating can certainly be different than skiing. Instead of focusing on the differences, lets talk about the similarities.

Skating involves changing edges using a lateral tipping movement. This mimics changing edges on skis extremely well. In the video above, there are moments on the ramp where the “edge change” is sequential. This would create a wedge (opposing edges), rather than the clean edge change associated with carving (corresponding edges).

Rotary movements in skating are similar to skiing. You can use upper body rotation, but as in skiing leg rotation gives a more subtle and desirable control over the outcome. The short turns demonstrated in the video show mostly leg rotation with the hip pointing towards the camera.

Fore aft is the main reason that I got back into skating. After my first season as a ski instructor it was pointed out how far in the backseat I had become accustomed to skiing. You just cannot do this on skates. If you do, you fall backwards, and learn quickly where the center of your foot and balance needs to be in order to prevent this.

So get out there are make some turns. Whether on skis or blades, have a great time!

Nozawaonsen Japan was an incredible skiing experience. The powder and terrain were out of this world, and the need for an Avalung was pretty real in order to breath during face shots. Unfortunately this video does not do any of that justice. It just captures a few ski and ride moments from the trip, but barely does that. Nozawa has a half pipe that was fun on the sunny days, and I didn’t get any footage of that either…

My favorite group size fits on a quad. Not because I don’t like more or less people, but because I find that we can cover most of the information related to skiing and getting to know each as a group without taking up time on the side of a hill.

Generally I teach groups that are slightly larger than this, and I make sure to mix in with everyone on the chairlift rides. I have gotten to the point where I tell/request everyone who they are going to ride with in order to avoid confusion in the lift lines, and also to vary my fellow passengers. Obviously this is not a hard and fast rule with kids since a responsible adult needs to ride with children for safety reasons. In a family private I usually ride with the kids, but only after telling the parents no smooching on the way up.

Most of the chairlift conversation is not ski related either. This is a great time to establish general communication patterns with people. They need to understand my communication patterns, tones, intonations, pace, etc. Telling a joke might tell you more about how the person thinks then other avenues of discourse. Listening to the guest allows the instructor/guide to learn their guests communication methodology.

Once these communication patterns are established, then the chair becomes a vehicle for learning. It becomes a fantastic stage allowing for the delivery of a more verbose thought on skiing. The chairlift is a better than standing on the side of the hill freezing with the wind making it hard to hear or see.

Don’t get me wrong, it is important to demonstrate things to people, and this is easiest to accomplish on the hill, but the more an instructor can eliminate standing around, the better the ‘ski lesson’. After all, people take a ‘ski lesson’ in order to ski.

Remember to ski in your next ski lesson!