UKC

Morning,

I've found myself invited to a long weekend skiing in March with a group of mixed abilities, having never skied before I want to give myself the best chance I can of enjoying the trip. I plan on taking lessons and getting to a dry slope beforehand, but can anyone recommend a good book on the subject?

In reply to jamie_bkc:

I would have a look on U tube there's loads of beginner vids..

In reply to jamie_bkc:

Yeah, as Jim said, you really want videos.
As a skier of many years blah blah I can't conceptualise that reading anything would help if you have never skied before.
Perhaps after a week or so you might read some tips and think 'ah yes, that might help.' But not initially, and certainly not for the core movement.

Good luck and have fun. I would strongly suggest an indoor snow place rather than a toothbrush dry slope. It will be less likely to injure if you fall and is more closely replicated to real skiing. Essentially you'll have more fun.

In reply to jamie_bkc:

I used to have a Sunday Times book about skiing, which had some useful stuff on mountaincraft and lore but the actual technique will now be years out of date thanks to modern turny skis, which just need you to think about turning before they go, as opposed to the old business of unweighting and pole planting.

In reply to jamie_bkc:
Writing is a fairly useless medium when it comes to learning to ski, the vocabulary varies too much from person to person and means nothing to a novice (once you start reading about inside/outside ski and uphill/downhill ski it all becomes a blur). Videos are not much better, except maybe for improving once you can actually ski. You really need to do it, so you can feel it.

At this stage the most important thing to read would be that skiing is not about pointing the skis but more about pressuring each ski in turn so that it engages more with the ground.

The most important thing to see would be to stand sideways on a stairs in ski boots and realise that you have *no choice* which foot is forward and which is behind.

In reply to jamie_bkc:

For a first time experience the other posters above are spot on - just see what your body learns, don't clog up your learning with too much cognitive stuff. But people learn in different ways, so what works for some won't necessarily work for others.

However, if you want to go on skiing after this trip, I found a book called "Skiing is only a Game" by Peter Lightfoot, Fernhurst Books, ISBN 0-906754-20-8, a refreshing take on the psychology and body mechanics of skiing. Its funny and practical and it revolutionised my early skiing. You could probably find it second hand for a small price. I can still remember some of the hilarious exercises and they worked for me.

Hope this helps
Dave

In reply to full stottie:

That book sounds good, we can all improve (got a broken wrist at the moment!)

Thanks for the advice all, much appreciated!