The perfect book to tackle every person?s learning needs in a complex activity like skiing has never been written and never will be written. Even if all the relevant information is printed in one volume, many people don?t learn by reading, a minority does, but it is a low percentage.
A book is written and produced to help skiers with some fundamental approaches and to stimulate thinking. I do have many skiers who respond to me after reading my books by saying their skiing immediately improves, but not enough skiers read in depth.
I had an instructor who has been skiing with us for years say to me after the last PMTS instructor camp, ?you know Harald, everything we worked on with you the last three days was very helpful and I know after re-reading your book that all the material you introduced on snow is in your books. What I didn?t realize until now was how much you have to practice exactly what you write and describe in your books for it to take hold in one?s skiing.? He added, ?you also have to do the movements exactly how they are written or you won?t be successful, sloppiness can not enter into the practice.?
It takes a certain type of mind to read and interpret, that mind then has to take it to the slopes and reproduce it perfectly. ?I?m sure you must have had the experience of trying to read directions to program recorders. Even though skiing is more fun than programming recorders the same temptation is there, skim over the material and try what you think might work. So it is no surprise that the Phantom Move is the major focus taken from my books and the PMTS system. We know the Phantom Move is very effective, but it isn?t all there is to skiing. It is one of the tools we use to bring the terminal wedge skier to parallel, but it doesn?t address everything needed to make carved turns or short turns on steeps.
Many readers tell me they go directly to the page in the book that addresses their skiing motivation and they read those pages. They do not read the pages where the steps are explained and built to achieve the movement they want to perform immediately. Exercises that build your basic skills are not sexy and they don?t look like fun, so they are too often passed over. I have skied with such readers. They are always astounded at what preliminary work must be done with fundamentals before they are really able to perform what they want in their skiing.
I can guarantee, if you read my books and follow the steps and practice to become somewhat proficient with all the exercises in the books, you will attain a level of skiing beyond your wildest dreams. The challenge is that not many skiers are able to evaluate which exercises are needed next or which exercises are most important for their own personal development. Remember, everyone?s movement needs are different. There is no substitute for a well trained PMTS instructor at varies points in the learning process even with the books and videos. I have countless skiers come to ski with me; most of them have read my books. They tell me, ?I have really focused on the phantom move and I have it down.? When we get to skiing, I often notice that the quality of movement that I see on the snow rarely matches the skier?s enthusiasm for the movement. This brings up the topic of practice vs. perfect practice and how to evaluate your own performance. I will be covering these topics in the new book.
Videos are also only marginally helpful as learning tools unless you know exactly what you are looking for and how to duplicate it for your understanding of movement. Video does help to clear some confusion of how the movement works. Visual learning is difficult and requires training and coaching in how to use it. I often demonstrate movements to skiers, but the learning that is achieved through demonstration is minimal if not totally ineffective. The most successful way to learn is by realizing an experience. PMTS trainers and instructors are trained to structure experiences for students. My books are written in a manner to help structure an experience for the reader. But the skier must then go out on the snow and systematically restructure that experience for themselves. If they have been able to do that reasonably well, how do they know whether or not they are on the right track and what the next adjustment should be.
I can tell you one thing for certain, good ski lessons are very difficult to find. Teaching skiing well is very complex and it requires experience and the right training to become an excellent instructor. The topic on the forum suggesting free ski lessons I find comical. You must be joking to suggest free ski lessons. As one poster on that thread suggested, ?What value is there in free lessons when the ones you are willing to pay for are rarely adequate.
I am not attempting to defend my books here, as they are what they are and they stand on their own merit, I am suggesting that a different approach be used if you want to optimize the information in the books. There is much more to ?Expert Skier 1&2? than what most skiers pull out of them. If you hire me to give you a lesson, I am presenting mostly what I have written. During the lesson I have you try different exercises and movements and I give you feedback on your success. We move on by refining these movements, trying other movements, if one isn?t working. In the end, I build the movements back into your regular ski turn to bring your skiing to the next level. You can do this on your own with the information in the books, but it requires more involvement and concentration from the reader.
Will my new book be the answer you are looking for? My new book will have new content, but it will not be the answer to your skiing motivations unless you are ready to make the commitment required to use printed teaching information as you would if you were taking lessons from a PMTS instructor.
Skiing and the methods used for teaching skiing are part of the learning process, but correct technical information is also a big part of learning to ski the modern way. Traditional teaching systems are not teaching skiing with proper technical information for optimal shaped ski use. My new book will contain the methods and technical information to evolve modern shaped ski skiing. Whether or not you will be able to pull this information out of the book and put it to use in your skiing will depend on how you study and use the information, but I guarantee again, the information will be there.