Most of the tourists would say or maybe think that the daily job of a ski instructor is spent teaching others how to slide across the slopes gently. What most of the tourists do not know, is that long before 10:00 or 10:30 (usually the times the lessons start) most of the ski instructors gather on the mountain and train together to improve their own skiing skills. Last week when I was in Sölden Austria, we took the gondola up every day at 8:00 AM sharp, right after opening. We do not just do this so we have all of the amazing slopes, completely empty with the best snow, for our own pleasure. At this time of day the slopes are the playground for the more experienced skiers, there are no ‘slow’ tourists that cross the piste from left to right unexpectedly. Imagine the highway that is completely empty, where you can drive as fast as you can without anyone in your way or endangering others. This together with the spectacular views makes for a mind blowing experience.
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| Amazing views in the morning |
As a ski instructor these 2 hours before you start working are very valuable. If we want to proceed and improve in our skiing we need these hours. Former table tennis world champion Matthew Syed author of Bounce defines it as: “If you want to be the best in what you are doing, you need to train at least 10.000 hours to reach this level. Having a talent for something is one thing, but to use this talent to the max is another thing.” I have nothing more to say on this topic.
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| It pays off to go up at 8 |
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| "Die Buckelpiste" |
Basically skiing is coming down with short turns, medium short/long or long turns. Within these 3 possibilities you have different ways to ski your turns, with different techniques. Whether you ‘rutsch’ (side slip) the first part of your turn and finish the last part on the edges of your skis or you ski the whole turn ‘carving’ which means fully on the edges of the skis. However, within this way of skiing you have another way of skiing these turns. You can either make an up-forward movement to start your new turn or you can hold your upper body in the same position and let your legs ‘pendling’ under your upper body in ski jargon also called ‘Hoch und Tiefentlastung’. So there are possibilities within possibilities in which you have again possibilities, sounds confusing...? Perhaps the biggest challenge for a skier is, surely for me, to be the master in the ‘Buckelpiste’ in the moguls. Small and big bumps that arise on unprepared slopes. You may have noticed them at the end of the day after thousands of people have skied the same slope, these bumps arise. Quite difficult to ski, but a lot fun if you manage to keep your balance and stay in control. When I was doing my course to become a ski instructor my ‘Kursausbildner’, my course leader said to me: “Ones a skier is master in the moguls, which means the moguls don't ski with the skier, but the skier skis on the moguls, this skier can ski everything.” KEEP that in mind! Ever since I have been training on the moguls, and I have to say, it feels pretty good ones you finally master the rhythm and you have made it all the way down.
