by Bluey » Fri Dec 05, 2003 1:13 pm
This is the first time I have contributed to any ski forum ....so here goes...
I think the books are great.....if it wasn't for them and the videos I'd still be a struggling frustrated terminal intermediate....so thank you Harald.
I believe there is no other "teach yourself book" around which reaches anywhere near the level of detail which Harald's books do and I agree a revision to the books is a great idea......not so much for me but for other new skiiers who are also frustrated from trying to learn from traditional ski teaching methods and also for those skiiers who don't have the same patience to sort out/shift thru some of the unecessary excess material and in some parts there is poorly organised stuff in the existing books..........
But before I go on any further, first, by way of background, I'd like to point out that I've only come to skiing later in life( ie just turned 50 ) and I've only been skiing for about 4 seasons so I've still got plenty to learn...... I knew traditional skiing methods were flawed but I didn't know why till I found Haralds books.
I then studied Harald's books in some detail over a period of about 15 mths and finally in frustration I did a harb blue camp at Perisher in Oz. Haralds books were great for the theory but I just didn't quite get it right when I went to practise it by myself for the first time. The camp was really great as it sorted a lot, of what I didn't get from the books, out. Thank you Peter Stone, my instructor.
I intend to do another camp at Perisher in our winter of 2004, if the forces let me, ......however, like all books, I found the books could only take me so far before I needed someone to look at what I was still doing wrong.....more on slope practice and another camp, to get the refinement of the PMTS technique, is what I feel I need now.
OK, so that's a bit of background.....
My point is that, I think the books are great but they need a major revision not just more good stuff added in. I'd also like to say I'm not a qualified book reviewer....so this is just a layman's point of view.
I'm only writing this 'cause I think the books are particularly great for new skiiers as a teach yourself source. However, from that point of view, the books have some deficiencies and a rehash of much the same stuff in the same format will not help new skiiers to absorb, as quickly, what is being taught.
I've read and reread these books quite a few times.... and just like a school text book I've studied them to try to understand what is being said by Harald.
As a relatively new skiier, there's a lot of stuff in the book which should be de-emhpasised now eg stuff on the traditional ski design and traditional ski teaching methods.
I appreciate why this stuff may have been necessary in the past but frankly its history.
If its kept in the book it's just excess and it makes the book harder to digest and takes up to much unnecesary reading time.
PMTS should simply talk about what it's teaching.
I think criticism of other teaching methods is now best left to other venues and to keep them in the book is just confusing to new skiers who simply just want to know what to do.
Frankly who cares what other systems taught or are still teaching.
New skiiers don't.
They just want to know, in detail, what they should be doing.
The PMTS approach does that and does it simply.
In addition, the books are a bit cluttered with other unnecssary historical details about the old style skiis .....who cares now?
I've also found the books quite confusing in many parts as its not clear what's being said. For example, its sometimes hard to distinguish what is an excercise and what is something that should be done whilst actually skiing down a steep or a bump etc.....
It's also hard to distingish stuff on technique that you should do in bumps which is different to green slopes eg when to plant the pole. Before or after the release? If its bumps, its before the release The change in technique is not clearly spelt out in the books
I've also found that there was important stuff taught to me at the camp that really helped me but which I could not, at the time of the camp, recall being in the book.....but it was in the book.
I reread the books again afterthe camp and eventually I found all of this stuff that was taught but which I couldn't recall...... but to my amazement it was not highlighted and in some cases only a simple sentence(s) was included to cover the point (eg the continum of tipping, "tipping water" for ULBC, use of the ankle to pressure the stance ski during turns, and to a lesser extent fore/aft balance and regulating pressure on the skis).
Given the importance of such points.....and with all due respect, more needs to be done in the revision, in these areas, to spell out the importance of these concepts and how to achieve them rather than leave in unecessary points about other teaching systems.
So my suggestion, in short, is to minimise the stuff and references about what's wrong with the other teaching systems and the old style skis so the new skier can spend more reading time on stuff like continous tipping, balance, pressure etc.
Anyway......that's my bit....I trust it helps.