Not as Good as I Thought I Was..

[fisheater]

I took my son north this weekend to snow and a bit larger hills. We had our first ski outing with our $100 weekend passes at Caberfae Ski Area in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. The hill has about 450 feet of vertical, which is about what to expect in the northern LP. I like it because it is a dune, and has a little more character than just a glacial deposit.
My son is on the first year of his own skis, and really just getting going. I figured to ski easy terrain with him in leathers and the USGI skis. There was not much of a crowd, but everybody seemed to want to start at the easy chair, so there was a moderate crowd in the area. Temperatures were in the mid thirties. Our first couple runs went good. Both of us were finding our footing the first run, and the second run I was finding my turns and he was finding his. By our third run the snow deteriorated from a soft, moist, granular, to more of a mashed potato-like moist granular about 4" to 5" thick spread loosely over some hard yellow base. I was catching tips and tails all over the place, and showing my ability to roll over a couple of times and land on my skis. My son found it quite amusing, however he was not buying that it didn't count as falling if you land back on your skis. I must have hit the ground at least ten times in the next 4 or 5 runs. I finally threw in the towel, and put on the T-4's and the S-112's. It was not even the easiest day for those, as the base was really firm, and the granular required a softer touch, and I almost forgot, it was pretty foggy.
We had a great time, after he got in the groove a bit we would split at the top every other run or so and meet at the bottom. After a few runs he wanted to watch me ski something steeper, while he waited at a mid-way point. I watched him disappear in the fog and gave the appropriate time for him to get into position. My plan was to show of some fast cranking turns. It started pretty good. I was arcing them fast, and spotted him in the distance, I thought about an extra pole wave just to help him spot me in the fog. I caught a tip while initiating a turn and ended up on my back going headfirst downhill, so I spun around and popped up. When I saw him he was laughing, he told me correctly that I was the same age as Tim our host for the weekend. He was laughing and told me some day I might have to start acting my age!
If we get up there on a weekend with nice snow I will still try to arc those USGI's on the steeper terrain, I can be a slow learner sometimes!
On Sunday the groomers had compacted the snow a bit so the skiing was much easier for both of us. He really progressed over the weekend, and we both had a great time even without my skiing providing comic relief.

[anemic]

Fabulous outing ! Maybe we will see each other on the snow


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[lilcliffy]

Wonderful stuff man! Great story my friend- thanks for sharing.

[Rock_Doc]

Reminds me of the ~8-10 years I spent on Tua Montets (197s!), Riva 2s, and two-buckle Merrill fusion boots. Didn't know any better and had a blissful time in my ignorance. In ~2006, I discovered "modern gear" -- Atomic Kongurs (~84 underfoot), 4-buckle Energy boots, and G3 Targas. And then about 4 years ago, I saw the light again and stepped up to Liberty Helix (105 underfoot) and 22D vice bindings. Yesterday, I had a fabulous day cranking turns in ~8 inches of pretty light snow for the Oregon Cascades, with quite a bit of wind blown drifts and scoured crust. Its all good and whatever floats your boat, but for me, I really enjoy trying to ski with some confidence, power, and not sucking too bad.

nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile!

[MikeK]

[Rodbelan]

Take it easy... You'll get there. There is 2 things I see about edge catching:
—do your turn slowly... do not rush your kneeling.
—In the fall line, you should be parallel and flat base... this helps a lot the pivoting motion. Then, you sink down... When you are at the end of the turn, push on the snow with your inside leg; it helps clearing the edge set...

When the conditions are bad (mashed potatoes, ice cream, etc), there is noting wrong with parallel turns...

I am not sure that it is what you want to hear... Anyway, hope it helps. Plus, there is a lot of good DVD Tutorials on Tele.

[Cannatonic]

aren't those USGI skis more like straight-ahead trekkers vs. downhill turners? Trying to turn one of Asne's stiff, high-camber skis like the Amundsen can be a nightmare.

[STG]

Parallel turns! Think free-heel skiing not exclusively telemark. Select your turn based on the conditions and skis you are using. I have been in very bad backcountry snow conditions where I have snowplowed or kick-turned by way down. Certainly better than an injury. Sounds like a great adventure with your son!

[fisheater]

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I am mounting my old alpine mid-fats because I don't like looking like a putz all the time. As for that day, I think a skinny double cambered ski with leather boots at a resort is bit challenging to ski on 6" of granular mashed potatoes over ice. I gave my son a laugh, and stuck with it until I got frustrated, when I switched to another XCD ski not ideally suited to the conditions, but one that I can handle. I was not going to parallel turn, I was there to play with my tele's. I have run into situations off piste on big mountains that required survival skiing techniques, and when that is the situation I exercise all required caution. I can do a pretty mean falling leaf when necessary. I also may not yet be the tele master that can rip skinnies on the resort in any condition, but I can fall at speed on skis and mountain bikes with the best of them. I'm 55 years old, fell around a dozen times, popped up on my skis every time a the end of the fall. I plan to savor sking and riding fast and falling when it happens, until my body tells me I need to slow down on the falling part!

[phoenix]

Couple of things:
I'm a big fan of skiing free heel with parallel's when conditions require. It works. Confirmed it many times over.

As far as catching an edge (amplified by raising your hand)... often an issue of not really pressuring your skis the way you think you are. Been there, done it, and still do sometimes. Good wake up call for technique.