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The John Egan Experience

SLyardsale

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John, Dan... there is another Egan brother too. This is a Milton MA family that loved snow. But is was the older Egan brother who laid the ground work for these guys to take off in the ski world. Bob Egan was a great HS ski coach down here on the So Shore of MA. Ski East League, probably one of the better HS leagues in MA had Bob coach one of the smaller towns in the league. He was a really good guy that all three of my kids looked up to. In ski east league, it didn't matter what school team you were on, the league pooled the coaching and Bob was a good one. He probably has logged many 100's of nights at Blue Hills over his coaching career. All the Egan's are class in my book.
 

abc

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don't really see the attraction of lessons with a semi famous good skier for $700 when I can take lessons with an unfamous guy who's still a lot better than me for $150

I'm sure it's a great lesson and all..
Where do you get $150 private lesson for a day?
 

kingslug

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Thstds just it..you cant. MRG privates are 60 an hour for 4 hours...stowe all day is ...wa it for it.
925...

50% off in April though..so Egan is a relative bargain...
 

deadheadskier

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It seems to me that the better approach to learning would be to take several one hour lessons than one full day.

Pick an area of your skiing you wish to improve, spend an hour getting evaluated and receive tips for improvement, then focus on that one area for the rest of the day. Then your next lesson, schedule it with the same instructor, spend a bit of time refreshing from the first and move on to another skill / form correction to improve on.

I'm not doubting that spending a day skiing with someone of John's talent isn't a great experience, but there's only so much your brain and muscle memory can absorb in a day.

Personally? I think the better approach to getting better once you are already a high level skier is to simply ski with other great skiers who do certain things better than you do. That's what I do anyways. As for personal examples, Xwhaler is a great carver, so watching him over the years and adjusting my technique has improved that area of my skiing. Watching Savemeasammy always reminds me of aspects of my bump skiing I need to focus on to sharpen those skills.

My 3 cents

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kingslug

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Its what ive done for the past 10 years at Alta..but the band kind of broke up so im on my own now. Trips out west with our club are fun but im at the upper level there so not much tto learn there. I want to get better in the trees..which has a dangerouse learning curve..trees..not open glades.
 

NYDB

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I'm more from the school of thought that if you want to get better in the trees, then ski the trees as much as possible. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Yes you will hit some trees [emoji3] There are tons of people around who can bomb the woods and they'll let you tag along sometimes. It usually only cost funding a safety meeting or a few ipas later on.

Also, with some of the crazy tree stuff, you cant learn balls. Big ones are needed for some of that stuff. Im not saying you dont have that, just that an instructor aint gunna help in that regard. Ymmv of course.


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Glenn

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love that thread


I forgot about that one. I LOL'd at my own jokes...is that bad?



kingslug,
I say go for it. If he's a known entity and someone you respect, you'll get some mileage out of it. You've had a few threads here about wanting to improve, so you have some solid motivation. Keep us posted.
 

mister moose

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Killington offers several Dan Egan camps where for about $400; you get 2 days of instruction, lunch and video of yourself. It's not 1 on 1 with Dan all day long, but few can keep up all day with him.
 

bdfreetuna

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keep the faith
Killington offers several Dan Egan camps where for about $400; you get 2 days of instruction, lunch and video of yourself. It's not 1 on 1 with Dan all day long, but few can keep up all day with him.

Sounds a little more doable for the average Joe. I'd sure be pleased if Dan Egan or some other famous skier complimented my skiing at the end of the day too.
 

abc

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It seems to me that the better approach to learning would be to take several one hour lessons than one full day.

Pick an area of your skiing you wish to improve, spend an hour getting evaluated and receive tips for improvement, then focus on that one area for the rest of the day. Then your next lesson, schedule it with the same instructor, spend a bit of time refreshing from the first and move on to another skill / form correction to improve on.

I'm not doubting that spending a day skiing with someone of John's talent isn't a great experience, but there's only so much your brain and muscle memory can absorb in a day.
I found short lessons ineffective.

When a new movement is introduced, it would change at the minimum the timing of the rest of related movement. Or a lot more also need to change to make the new movement effective. I’m not a natural like some here. I don’t always settle on the most effective end movement. Having the instructor taking me to different terrain and being there to provide feedback and fine tuning the complete movement is invaluable.

Without the follow up guided practice and feedback, I simply end up with a different but not necessary better movement.

In fact, my personal preference is multiple day clinics.

Personally? I think the better approach to getting better once you are already a high level skier is to simply ski with other great skiers who do certain things better than you do. That's what I do anyways. As for personal examples, Xwhaler is a great carver, so watching him over the years and adjusting my technique has improved that area of my skiing. Watching Savemeasammy always reminds me of aspects of my bump skiing I need to focus on to sharpen those skills.
Or follow Dan Egan? ;)
 

mikec142

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Jan 27, 2014
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A couple of thoughts: First, you're never too old or good to benefit from a professional lesson. Second, the benefits gained are often dependent on the quality of the instruction (more on this later). Third, it can be expensive, but the question is not about expense, it's about value. Did I get an appropriate amount of value for the amount of money/time I invested.

I "invested" early and often in lessons for my kids. Now they are really solid skiers who can pretty much ski anything.

The best money I've spent on skiing was a half day lesson at Tremblant for my kids. I was hoping for a young, fun, instructor that my kids could identify with. Instead, we got a woman in her late 50's, early 60's and I was concerned. Turns out I shouldn't have been. As my kids went off with the instructor, a person from the ski school came up to me and said, "do you know who your instructor is?" Turns out, it was Ellen Guay...mother of Erik Guay (Canadian world cup skier). My kids had the best time and couldn't stop talking about their morning. It fostered what I believe will be a life long love of skiing. We've since recommended Ellen to all of our friends who travel to Tremblant and they've had a similar experience.

On a trip to Jackson Hole, we hired a guide (instructor) for the first day to show us around the mountain and give us tips. The tips helped us appreciate the mountain and I have been a much better skier since the experience. Our guide (Alex Duret) also took extra care to make sure my wife was happy and confident which made the trip so much better.

Both of these experiences "cost" a lot of money. But the value they provided greatly exceeded the amount of money spent.

My gut feeling is that the John Egan experience would be very similar in value provided. I look forward to taking advantage of the experience in the future.
 
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