Wednesday night was my first patrol shift this season and it was fun to be back on the snow. Lost Valley’s slopes are shaping up nicely and Dave and his crew are busting it to get snow made and groomed for holidays.
I did notice some poor behavior on the slopes that was more akin to folks not engaging their brains before they do something, we’ve all been there.
This is one of the signs at the bottom of chair 1. It always reminds me, practice, practice, practice.
Troy Crane and I chatted and skied a wee bit but also discussed some early-season observations.
Slow down and remember our space is limited right now. It’s not a race for patrollers, we’ve seen a lot of developing skiers riding in the back seat…way back on your skis — the cause?
Likely you are trying to go too fast. Back off the speed a bit and work on all those turns.
One early season practice tip, which helps a lot when you are skiing loaded toboggans, is to make a lot of turns and of all types.
From side-slip, snowplowing, tight slaloms, sweeping GS and even a hoppy jump turn here and there helps develop good controlled skiing.
There will be goof ups, here and there but work at smooth transitions and well-executed turns.
There’s an old saying, I’ll mess up, but it goes something like this: The race is not always to the fastest but to he who keeps on going. I heard Troy coaching his son and telling him this another way emphasizing foot and ski position for strong GS turns.
“I don’t care how fast you are going,” he said. “Get your feet apart.”
I always like skiing, or just talking to Troy about skiing, because I always learn something new.
Here’s short You Tube clip that’s a good illustration.
And here’s the junk show:
