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!
A tiny bit of skiing in Nozawaonsen Japan. Unfortunately did not film the really fun powder
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.
When I met them in their hotel, I could tell that the ladies had somewhat low expectations of their ability to ski, and that they might just be giving it a token try, but I could also tell that if treated properly I could get them hooked on the sport. It was going to be a fine line to keep them from losing interest in our favorite pass time.
On the 3rd Day We Got Everyone Skiing!!
We departed their hotel, and stopped at a store to purchase goggles and buffs since it was a snowy Japanese day. No one was super happy with the style or selections available in Nozawa Japan, but we eventually found sufficiently stylish gear. These ladies definitely win my yearly prize of best dressed never-ever skiers!
Walking a bit further we arrived at the rental shop, where we tried on every size ski boot… not really, but we tried on a few! I helped them each with their ski boots, since improperly donned ski boots can end a skiers career before it has time to flourish. We also made sure everyone had shorter skis to help make turning easier.
From the rental shop we walked over to the Karasawa base area and started their lesson. It was at this moment that I probably miss directed the lesson a bit. Karasawa does not have a very nice-open-flat area for beginners to practice sliding. The ladies did a fantastic job with what we had to work with, but upon evaluation of the green terrain, I decided that the Uentairia flats would probably suit us best.
This was another misjudgement. As we started skiing down, they were doing a fantastic job, but the language barrier became a bit of a problem. Mom, who only spoke Chinese was taken out by Miffy, which shocked poor Emma! I definitely felt that I had crossed into the line of making them fear skiing…
Looking back, I should have taken them to the magic carpet. Not because of their abilities which I had judged properly, but because of the language barrier. We managed to work our way down the hill, and Miffy did a fantastic job. Her aggressive nature allowed her to learn how to tip and twist her feet. It was not sufficient to allow for a “hockey stop”, but she was getting the feel for speed control.
I was still avoiding teaching them the wedge, which I know frustrates a lot of instructors out there. I just feel that the wedge becomes a bad habit that is extremely hard to break once mastered. Before teaching a wedge to any beginner I warn them that it is not effective for stopping under the following conditions: High speeds, steep hills, and sudden stops. Using a wedge is great in lift lines and other places of slower speed skiing.
Beautiful sunset to end an incredible dayComing down the Forest Trai
It was a long first day, but it was extremely enjoyable. The three girls were a bit apprehensive about this skiing thing. Miffy was hooked though, so I used that to my advantage. I also made sure that they made it back to their hotel, and accompanied them for some dinner to joke about the day and assure them that tomorrow would be easier and more enjoyable now that we had some of the basics down.
The second day out Miffy was the earliest to wake, and we got to ski until 2 PM. We met at her hotel at 9 AM and worked our way to the Hikage base area for a morning breakfast and coffee. My favorite thing about all day lessons is the laid back and relaxed manner where we can enjoy the entire day.
I showed Miffy the transportation and beginner hill that we would use for Mom and Emma. She was great, taking a picture of everything and sending encouraging words to the discouraged Mom and Emma.
After coffee we went up to the same hill we skied the previous day. Miffy did fantastic and this practice allowed her to really get a feel for tipping and twisting her feet. After a few runs like this, I had her follow my tracks so that I could have her twisting her feet more. This is always a challenge for students initially, but once they get this, the “hockey stop” is within reach.
I have also started to demonstrate more advanced skiing for my guests, to give them a preview of what is going to come next or options that they will want to be aware of for future ski experiences. For Miffy, I did a series of “hockey slides” showing her how the feet twist below a stable upper body. I told her not to try these, but just to be aware of the movement. Sure enough, she was starting to do hockey stops later on that day.
The best part of the day is that Mom and Emma were determined and ready to do more skiing! We took the gondola back down to save time, and met them at the Hikage base area. Correcting for my mistakes from the day before, I used Miffy as a translator for Mom and Emma so that they could get more out of my coaching. Miffy was done skiing, so she provided fantastic support translating which sped up their learning curve fantastically.
I started them back with the one footed ski drills to get them aware of turning their feet while sliding. At first they were having trouble, but after some explanation they quickly mastered it and we moved on to the magic carpet. I really just like to get people sliding. The sooner a student slides down the hill, the sooner they are hooked. I had them slide down and make a big turn back toward the bottom of the carpet. Neither succeeded in making it there, so I politely explained that now they would need to shuffle/walk over to the bottom of the carpet now. My carrot was that if they could turn more then they could easily just ski to the bottom without the need to walk!
This worked! Soon they were both taking large turns down to the bottom. It is here where a bit of wedge can be useful, so I introduced the wedge with the disclaimer mentioned above.
They continued practicing this until it became easy, and then I had them start to link one turn into the next turn. At first they struggled with this and said that it could not be done. I reassured them, that they had both already demonstrated that they could do it, and gave them some coaching. They were soon doing 2-3 turns down the magic carpet slope and loving it. I think their most disappointing moment of the afternoon was when the magic carpet was shut down! What a treat for me!
The best part was that we got their rentals checked in at the shop, and I was able to give them a ride back to their hotel.
The third day was a lot of fun. Miffy as usual, was the first one up and we went for coffee and breakfast before starting our ski day. Miffy really progressed the most, and her video does not really do her justice. She says I shortchanged her, but I really just shortchanged myself, since she is a great example of how my students go from beginner to parallel in a few hours/days time.
During this morning, I took Miffy through the rollers. She did fantastic, and was able to flex and extend her legs in order to keep her ski/snow contact. She did get excited toward the last 2 rollers, but did not panic and turned to a nice stop. Enjoying this challenge, we both wanted to do it again, but with Mom and Emma ready to ski we needed to work our way towards them.
Mom and Emma were rearing to go on their last ski day of the trip! They were already practicing on the magic carpet when Miffy and I arrived! Now that is exciting for a ski instructor. After a few more practice laps here, Emma and I took the Hikage Gondola back up to the top.
We then road her first chairlift up to the top of the hill where I brought them the first day. She asked if it was the same hill, but after the fear from the first day, a bit of lying to keep her calm may have been used.
Emma killed it! She skied so well, and we got down to the bottom in pretty quick time. At the bottom I told her that she had conquered her nemesis, and that maybe I had lied a little bit. We grabbed two beers for the chairlift and headed back up for another run!
Emma made my day on the second run by saying, “I don’t want to go to Tokyo, I want to stay here and ski tomorrow!”. Keep in mind that Emma was deathly afraid of skiing after watching her sister crash into her mom on the first day! What a nice change.
Next Miffy brought Mom up to the top. A bit of miss communication results in Miffy taking Mom up the chair lift too. Miffy had one of her skis pop off on the chairlift which was added to their video because it made me laugh so hard!
I sent Emma down in the Gondola with my poles, and took Emma’s skis up to Miffy and Mom. I had Miffy use these skis to ski down to the top of Hikage Gondola. Mom did fantastic. Unfortunately, I did not get to coach her as much as I wanted since we had a bit of a communication barrier.
When we got to the top of Hikage, I sent Miffy down the gondola with the extra skis, and then skied with Mom all the way to the bottom of the hill. The Forest Trail is a narrow cat-walk, so I helped her, by skiing backwards in a wedge and using a set of poles to guide her down nice and easy. Mom was pretty excited when we started to see civilization again. I think she was nervous skiing down this long wooded trail with a person who spoke absolutely no Chinese!
The girls were waiting for us at the Hikage base area, and Mom was super excited to see her daughters again. A short little ski more took us back to the rental shop to return their skis. We did an apres drink, Onsen at Nobi, and then dinner at Tanuki. It was a fantastic evening, and we celebrated the days success with ski stories and jokes from the week.
The next day was sad for me. I missed having my well dressed ladies from Hong Kong to ski and drink beer with!
So part of my teaching is explaining and presenting my philosophy to my guests. This starts in a beginner lesson where we skip over the wedge to prevent using the skis as brakes, then in my higher level lessons where we talk about skiing a slower path down the mountain as fast as we possibly can. I do teach the wedge once the students are ready to ride their first chair lift, but often at this point they have already mastered turning to a stop!
Philosophical points:
Skis are not brakes. If they were meant to brake, we would not wax them to reduce their sliding friction. You don’t drive with your parking brake engaged, so don’t ski with the brakes on either.
When in doubt, carve it out. Once a skier is high level, they should be carving every turn unless twisting is needed to control line or stop. Just the intention to carve a turn often results in more efficient and effective skiing.
Turn to a stop when there is room. Turning to a stop is really critical to eventually learning the “hockey stop”. This is what I teach my beginners after their first turns to give them their speed control.
Ski with your feet. They are the part of your body closest to the ski, and therefore will affect your skis outcome the quickest and most precisely.
Skiing should not be hard. It is not a fight to get down the hill. Gravity is our engine. I always remind people that the chair lift should be doing most of the work. Our skis then pick up a bit more of the work, and yes, it is a physical sport, so our athleticism plays a role as well.
I don’t start teaching the first run. I don’t even like teaching in the first hour. I prefer all day lessons since these give the time required to make a genuine connection between the ski instructor and guests. Lines of communication through pattern recognition allow for a better path forward for the lesson. Often the follow up lesson is where the magic truly happens since everyone is speaking the same language.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to skiing with you, sharing some thoughts on skiing, life, and giving you a fantastic mountain experience.
