Teaching Skiing

[raisingarizona13]

My 2 cents:
Most people focus waaaay too much on the pizza. My pulled-out-of-my-arse theory is that this is because when parents pay for lessons they want to see their kids skiing quickly, but it is a slow road to actually getting kids skiing anything other than the magic carpet. After teaching my 2 kids and several others to ski, here's my advice:
1) Motivation is the most important thing. Chocolate, snowball fights, whatever silly games you can come up with are important. Even more important is being happy to just take a break for an hour or two or go sledding when they are done at lunchtime.
2) The most important skill a beginning skier needs is to be confident standing with their skis edged across the fall line. Lots of good things come from this... (edges, traversing, stopping, etc.) If you can stand across the fall line then you can point your tips downhill a little and traverse across a green slope. When they get to the edge, they'll tend to panic and fall down. If necessary a tether or a lightly handled pole can get most kids to this point without being completely out of control, but it's important to allow them to balance mostly on their own rather than trying to hold them up. (Think along the lines of a pole for a tightrope walker.
3) The second most important thing is to figure out how to get up again when they fall. The easiest way is to get them in the habit of rolling on their back, putting their skis together and then putting them across the fall line downslope. Then they can either get up on their own, or get up with a *small* assist from below. This is where I see alot of frustration when people try to get up with their skis in the wrong place, or help a kid up with the kid's skis in the wrong place... it's just comical. Note that you can have a relaxing, if not moderately pleasurable, day at this point without the kid needing to turn... just continued traverses across some (hopefully) wide greens. Good ideas: pick a particular tree or lift pole across the slope and get them to head for it. Congratulate them wildly when they make it across without falling, or pick up too much speed and panic a little before falling.
4) Now you can proceed with pizza vs. frenchfries... the key being that they have already learned/ become commfortable with the fact that frenchfries go across the fall line... pizzas just save them time at the end because they don't have to fall down.. As the get more confidence going faster, they can round their pizza turns more and move more directly down the fall line..

You forgot teaching the newbie how to fall and regain control. This was in the top three for teaching my daughter. If they get scared and start straight gunning it down the fall line a good old bend the knees to hip check with skis across the fall line can go a long way in avoiding some scary experiences or an injury.

[raisingarizona13]

surface lifts > chairs for learners, much more balance/sliding practice happening secondary to the get-up-the-hill component

I didn't even think of that but it seems to make sense.

The magic carpets are awesome for teaching.

We have a lot of wind hold days here in Flag, if our summit lift was a t-bar we wouldn't have any.

From a ski areas management perspective I would think that they cost a lot less as far as maintenance and insurance.

[jonesy]

Seen some hella surface lifts. Old Shasta resort had a t-bar in the trees, miss that place.

[raisingarizona13]

When I was a kid on the east coast I loved skiing at Plattekill. The north facing trails were serviced by a t-bar. It was a steep 1100 vert or so, the day was spent burning and bashing bumps on the way down and burning some more on the way up. Good times.

They now only have chairs and I bet there are days they stay closed due to wind, I don't think the winds would effect a t-bar. I might be wrong.

[creaky fossil]

I didn't even think of that but it seems to make sense.

The magic carpets are awesome for teaching.

We have a lot of wind hold days here in Flag, if our summit lift was a t-bar we wouldn't have any.

From a ski areas management perspective I would think that they cost a lot less as far as maintenance and insurance.

Ts Js and pomas all are good tools for body awareness too, since they're easiest to use if you don't sit on the bar/platter but rather simply rest against it and let it pull you, it's a good place to learn core stability without having to worry as much about directing the skis. also most non-bunny-hill surface lifts have a somewhat sketchy track which is easiest to follow when properly relaxed, so it teaches good suppleness too. overall way better than chairs, but they are a little tiring for long long stretches.

the most awkward surface lift I've used is the rope-tow-height cable with fixed molded plastic arms, it takes some good dexterity to use that one and it's way harder than a J, T or poma. grabbing the plastic and pulling yourself ahead of it, then guiding it into your lower back's hollow, that's what works for me. holding onto it like a water ski tow rope is exhausting. I have no clue what the designer intended. whatever the case, those lifts would weed out tentative, slow-learning or clumsy beginners quickly if that's all one had to work with.

surface lifts have some disadvantages. for the most part, once loaded on a chair the rider's on for the full duration. surface lifts see miscues, freakouts, and people who don't crash but who don't get out of the track in time for the one(s) behind them. you can wrench an ACL on a rope, poma, J or T. et cetera. I like them personally, but I'm not sure a lot of people agree.

[daver]

G,

Random thoughts in no particular order having taught hundreds of kids that age:
1. boo can work. I didn't use it that often because I feel like boo and leash/harness systems teach poor balance/weight distribution early, so it ultimately takes longer for them to ski without the crutch. That said, if you have a kid who doesn't listen well, the harness/tether may be a necessity. I still managed sizable classes without though. Tether is fine if they're not leaning into it, as you mentioned above.
2. Skiing backwards in a reverse wedge while holding their tips together works. It helps when you're in your late teens/twenties though... I actually liked this better than throwing on an edgy wedgy and calling it good. You can move their skis and articulate them for them to help them learn the muscle memory, and your arms are obviously stronger than the rubber band, which often pops off without too much force.
3. Somebody mentioned a traversing wedge, and that's definitely key. I used to line the kids up with my skis off, and then have them ski one at a time at first.
4. The shallowest pitch you can find is good. I assume you have a SB pass again, so Christmas Tree probably. Even the stuff off Jerome is kinda steep for their first or second day. The old Nugget Chair at Boreal was perfect for this. The beginner chair at Soda is awesome too. Magic carpets are good, but I like to get them on the lift pretty fast.
5. I honestly think the quickest and least fussy way to do it with your own kids is one by one, and then skiing backwards holding tips. And then slow terrain progression. With bigger classes (I'd occasionally have 10 by myself, and I remember 17 with a partner instructor on a busy day), things are different.

Edit: This is all premised on what creaky and others said above. My advice assumes they can already stand and shuffle around without falling over, and that they're generally stoked to be out there. That's obviously priority #1.

Also having taught hundreds of 4-6 year olds, usually with 6 in a class, I agree with all of this. I never used edgie wedgies, boo, or tethers and I think they are a crutch. Skiing backwards holding the tips together replaces an edgie wedgie, making sure they are not on terrain too steep and know to control their speed by going across the hill rather than slamming on a pizza or blowing up replaces the tether, and boo ? That's for teaching snowboarders to ollie

Weekly locals programs (not longer than 2-3 hours!!) seem to be effective.

You shouldn't try to teach anything on new terrain.

Please FLIP OUT at your kid when they do something unsafe for the safety of your future self and everyone else on the hill.

Yeah ski instructing sucks. You never get any powder days. Especially the mid-week dumps during non-holidays when there are no crowds and you have the mountain to yourself. It's better to shred all day and then go wait tables.

Yeah, it's also terrible when your friends and co-workers are all there too

[NoPostholio]

Skins rule on windy days. They go on. You ski.

FIFY