To push the ski instructor down the hill????

[DorotheaDiamond]

I know I need to angle my knees into the bloody hill…I’m trying to angle my knees into the bloody hill…it’s not happening.

Repeatedly telling me to do it is not helping my skiing at all! I completely understand what you are trying to say - my body just won’t do it.

Just reading about icy black runs is enough to get the panic rising!

I’m just the same, perfectly competent until I lose my nerve on a steep, icy slope and I start leaning backwards and it all goes horribly wrong.

@BobbieT1999 isn't the point of MN to get alternative points of view?! Plus I was slightly joking - hence the use of !!

Ah I missed that @bestbefore - clearly not the best speed reader

Let me guess - France, Escole d'ski Francais by any chance?

In my experience the worst ski instructors work for ESF and the best in Austria. Had a couple of bad experiences with ESF - the last of which was one who would only say "Don't snowplough" - in both French & English; no other instruction at all. He even pissed off the French students - one of whom clicked off her skis and walked down the middle of the piste with a style only a French woman could achieve.

Tomorrow - just stick to swooping down some gentle blues and get your ski legs back. Remember - you're on holiday. You don't have to scare yourself shitless to have fun

OP a couple things, do you know about keeping shoulders down the fall line, pretending you’re holding a tea tray and how to do a stem Christie? I’ve been skiing since I was 4 (& live near mountains so lots of days on snow every year) & I’ll still do stem Christie’s to get myself out of a tight/steep/icy mess.

But also agree with PPs, you want a pretty short, pretty stiff, 100% piste ski with sharp edges and a tight turning radius to deal with ice.

If we haven’t got it repeating the same description every time is not going to work.

If you did it, there would be no need to repeat it.

I wish I could find an instructor who could explain things in different ways to find one that

How else can you explain to angle your knees in to the hill?

And, an instructor took a beginner class on to an icy black run? I find that very hard to believe. I’ve been a student and an instructor, and worked with many over the years. This would never happen. But what I will say as an instructor is, some people just aren’t built for it.

Yeah, just take your skis off and walk back up the run.

DH and DS1 did that on an icy Black this week, 200m walking up, I’m extracting maximum embarrassment.

I hate icy black runs too. And rude instructors (especially ESF ones! Always rude and like they can’t be bothered). I long since realised that life is too short to bother with icy black runs , I am very happy with my reds and blues , and a good book in my bag to read in a cafe at the top of a mountain with my hot chocolate before skiing back down. Lovely!

@RubyThursday17

ski instructors are highly qualified sports teachers. You sound like an arrogant individual who is blaming everything but you could just be having a bad day, if you are that experienced s skier, being up on the black slopes

Are you the ski instructor?

@DorotheaDiamond

I abandoned the lessons today and had a perfectly nice time getting myself down the run how I wanted! Same plan for tomorrow I think!!!

This is the trick!

I've given up doing anything scary . Blue , red .. lunches !

YABU simply for complaining about skiing when most of us havens been able to get anywhere near the snow this year.

Where are you? If your first language is different to the instructor’s first language it is very difficult for them to explain the nuances of what they’re trying to get you to do and why.

If English is your first language and you’re in the French Alps then I highly recommend BASS. One comment about a big toe changed our youngest son’s skiing in the blink of an eye!

Ski instructors have all had their leg filleted. Fact.

Off topic but where have to managed to go skiing? My trip to France is not looking likely at all.

I'm enjoying my ski holiday this year. It involves no skiing just spectating and apres ski.

I am apparently unteachable.

It took me the longest time before it clicked. I took to skiing very late in life and I grew up in a hot country. Winter holidays were not my idea of fun, but my husband’s family are big time skiers and he was desperate to have the whole family together. What did for me was time, watching videos on youtube, and skiing while listening to music. Music helped me a lot! It’s all about relaxing into a rhythm.
And I could tune out those annoying people giving me less than helpful tips whenever I felt like it. 😊

His name isn't Paulo and you aren't in Italy are you? I changed group a few years ago after 3 days of this on repeat.

I’m jealous. We had to cancel our trip because we couldn’t risk getting stuck in Austria if we tested positive before the flight home.

I avoid icy blacks, as a rule. My sweet spot is a well-groomed red. I did get engaged at the bottom of La Face in Val d’Isere though - I had been raging so hard at my then-boyfriend for convincing me to attempt it that he needed to come up with something pretty spectacular to get back on my good side

I am a ski instructor. The ski instructor exams are largely based about seeing how fast you can go downhill, and consequently you end ip with many ski instructors who only enjoy going fast downhill and aren't doing for the love of teaching.

I always have several ways to teach something. If I don't I can't do my job and probably don't fully understand it myself.

Your instructor can't help you, he doesn't have the toolkit. Try a different one, or there is lots of good advice on this thread. Or just do runs you enjoy for now.

As for not needing instruction once you can teach, that's complete bollocks. I went on holidays where we would have 6 very highly qualified instructors all being taught by someone who taught the Austrian development squad and we had a hoot.

@BoredZelda where did you get the idea this was a beginners class?!

So jealous OP

I so miss skiing!!!
And the formidablé ski instructor Gérrard or Jean-Claude with their orange leather skin puffing away on a gauloises while sipping expresso

Bend zee knees!
Move your eeps!
Look where it is zat you want, to go!
Seet into ze skis!!!

BTW "seet into ze skis" may help you with your problem of "bend zee knees"

I would try a 1-1 lesson with a different instructor. I was stuck for ages not progressing until I had a great teacher 1-1 for two mornings, it made the world of difference.

No, I am not the ski instructor, just someone who can also ski, and some times panics when I am tired or out of my depth. Sometimes changing to a slower class, or more gentle runs can help with confidence.
I am however the proud mother of a ski instructor who shares s the occasional anecdote of challenging customers who aren't as fit or competent at skiing as they make out and blame the teacher. Enjoy your holiday 🏂💐 and have fun

where did you get the idea this was a beginners class?!

An assumption that if the OP can't do the most basic of ski moves, it must be a beginner class. If it isn't, that's where she should be.

I am so jealous. However is bringing back memories of a formidable French woman screeching "parallel" at me repeatedly on my first attempt to ski. I ended up learning with a lovely Canadian man with impossibly blue eyes who funnily enough, had me hanging off every word...

Lol this brings back memories of skiing with my brother in Austria. He just couldn't get it and I have never seen someone fall so much. All the instructor did was repeatedly shout 'snow plough' at him to slow down. How he got through the holiday without punching him still remains a mystery 20 years on!! You have my sympathies!