Teaching your Significant Other / Spouse to Ski

[skiahman]

How am I gonna get down?

I never asked her how she got down nor did she offer that info to me. Maybe I'll ask tonight at dinner and see what she throws at me.

 

[mattchuck2]

I'm an instructor, and I would never teach a girlfriend to ski. It's just a horrible idea. Expectations are too high, she's comfortable yelling at you (in a way she wouldn't with a stranger), and there's no reason to do it (when you could just get in a group lesson for a few bucks and then ski together later).

 

[mister moose]

I inherited someone else's victim - meaning she was taken to the top of an icy hill, was told to "just turn", and she was so scared and angry she swore she's NEVER do it again.

It was a long pull, but yes, I taught her, yes, we're still together, and she now skis 30-40 days a year.

 

[powhunter]

I inherited someone else's victim - meaning she was taken to the top of an icy hill, was told to "just turn", and she was so scared and angry she swore she's NEVER do it again.

It was a long pull, but yes, I taught her, yes, we're still together, and she now skis 30-40 days a year.

Do you have a Euro licence plate that says Mister Moose?

Steveo

 

[mister moose]

Do you have a Euro licence plate that says Mister Moose?

Steveo

No. (You mean someone does?)

 

[billski]

I have seen this happen and patrol came by. They were more than happy to take the individual down on a sled.

 

[powhunter]

No. (You mean someone does?)

Yep saw it in rutland a few weeks ago

steveo

 

[drjeff]

At first I knew enough to know that having my then girlfriend then fiance now wife get professional lessons was the way to go. Now that my wife knows that a) I actually DO know what i'm talking about when it comes to ski technique and how to recognize it and b) I know her skiing style very well she will actually both ask my opinion and listen to what I say epecially when it comes to frontside skiing

For powder/bumps, if my wife ever wants to improve, then it's back to lessons for her!

I think that one of the things that helped my wie realize that I actually knew what I was talking about, isthat socially we have a few PSIA friends, and when we'd get together, she'd very often hear me and them talking about "the zen of skiing" and how what I was saying/telling her sounded very, very, very simliar to what our friends with the PSIA shields were saying :lol:

 

[jaja111]

I inherited someone else's victim - meaning she was taken to the top of an icy hill, was told to "just turn", and she was so scared and angry she swore she's NEVER do it again.

It was a long pull, but yes, I taught her, yes, we're still together, and she now skis 30-40 days a year.

This is like saying you built your own space shuttle, installed a telescope on the dark side of the moon, can crush pencil lead into diamonds and have bent spoons with your mind. I bow to you.

I have been burned and vowed to never again attempt to teach not just my wife, but anyone how to ski. Unless you're a natural instructor, the longer you do it the more the "how" sinks deeper into the non communicable / non english places of your mind. My wife has asked me sometimes how I did or am doing something and I have no good answer, "I.....uh........well.........um......I don't know..... I don't remember how I even got to that."

I really don't know what I'll do in fifteen years when I have to teach my son how to drive. I'm just a really bad teacher I guess.

 

[Smellytele]

This is like saying you built your own space shuttle, installed a telescope on the dark side of the moon, can crush pencil lead into diamonds and have bent spoons with your mind. I bow to you.

I have been burned and vowed to never again attempt to teach not just my wife, but anyone how to ski. Unless you're a natural instructor, the longer you do it the more the "how" sinks deeper into the non communicable / non english places of your mind. My wife has asked me sometimes how I did or am doing something and I have no good answer, "I.....uh........well.........um......I don't know..... I don't remember how I even got to that."

I really don't know what I'll do in fifteen years when I have to teach my son how to drive. I'm just a really bad teacher I guess.

As "they" say people who can do can't teach.

 

[SkiFanE]

I must have seen you. I can't count a number of times I've seen a boyfriend take their date out there and within a couple of runs, she is screaming and crying. "why did you take me up here? YOu knew I couldn't do it, you jerk. How am I gonna get down? I can't believe you did this to me?

You can see it coming. I would never teach my daughters either for the same reasons. They got real good without me and now love blasting down ahead of me. Well, at least until it no longer was cool to hang around with Mom and Dad.

Not just newbies. Hubby and I both experts, and he convinced me to go off-piste a couple years ago...swore the run wouldn't be an ice sheet like it was the year before. Well, I wasn't happy and wanted to ditch...words were spoken, I told him to go, I was effing fine without him..."see the liftline right there, 50 yards away...I'm climbing there myself". He goes off...I climb through thick evergreens, deep deep snow, tree wells...take my skiis off...the longest effing 50 yards ever. My cell phone is ringing, I'm ignoring it...sweating like a pig, exhausted. Finally get to trail, probably 20-30 mins later and there is hubby waiting about 100 yds down worried sick about me, I didn't answer my cell. Took an hour to chill out lol.

 

[drjeff]

Not just newbies. Hubby and I both experts, and he convinced me to go off-piste a couple years ago...swore the run wouldn't be an ice sheet like it was the year before. Well, I wasn't happy and wanted to ditch...words were spoken, I told him to go, I was effing fine without him..."see the liftline right there, 50 yards away...I'm climbing there myself". He goes off...I climb through thick evergreens, deep deep snow, tree wells...take my skiis off...the longest effing 50 yards ever. My cell phone is ringing, I'm ignoring it...sweating like a pig, exhausted. Finally get to trail, probably 20-30 mins later and there is hubby waiting about 100 yds down worried sick about me, I didn't answer my cell. Took an hour to chill out lol.

So true! My wife once said to me as I was asking her if she want wanted to go down some inbounds, side country-esque stuff at The Canyons a few years ago, stuff that I knew she had the skills to handle, but also knew that it would push her upto, if not slightly beyond her comfort level: "If I go ski this trail with you, will YOUR chances of having sex tonight be getting decreased?" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Nowadays, that little voice inside my head still asks that question if i'm thinking about leading the way down a trail that might push my wife a bit

 

[lmgrnjeep]

I can say I was successful. After dating my girlfriend for about a month and her being sick of me skiing all weekend while she was stuck at home she said she would to try. So i brought her to my mountain Sugarloaf. we did snubber on the first day from top of the lift to the bottom. just to get her used to standing and sliding on ski's.... on the second day we did snubber again then made our way to double runner to do boardwalk and kangeroo hill... she ate it a couple times but thank god it was packed powder... then i figured if she can do double runner then she can make her way up whiffle tree and do that... well.... i was wrong. it was the end of the day and whiffle tree was skied off and bumps formed... lets just say i got an earfull at the top of the pitch. she ended up flying down over a bumb out of control fell pretty hard got up looked at me and started to swear uncontrollably... she said she was going to walk down the rest of the way... i pointed where the base was and told her to get up and ski down.... im not a very stern person but im not gonne let someone quit just cause they fell... she got up skied down ith tears in her eyes. she got to the bottom of whiffletree and skied all the way to the shipyard got in the bar and started to down beers... thats my girl.

Now she can ski up the superquad... kings landing, tote, scoot west mountain basically any blue and groomed black she only has a total of 7 days on the hill in her life

 

[mister moose]

This is like saying you built your own space shuttle, installed a telescope on the dark side of the moon, can crush pencil lead into diamonds and have bent spoons with your mind. I bow to you.

I have been burned and vowed to never again attempt to teach not just my wife, but anyone how to ski. Unless you're a natural instructor, the longer you do it the more the "how" sinks deeper into the non communicable / non english places of your mind. My wife has asked me sometimes how I did or am doing something and I have no good answer, "I.....uh........well.........um......I don't know..... I don't remember how I even got to that."

I really don't know what I'll do in fifteen years when I have to teach my son how to drive. I'm just a really bad teacher I guess.

More like I built a model of the space shuttle, installed a telescope on the dark side of my backyard, and crushed the point off too many pencils to count.

I agree there are some people that should never attempt to teach. But there are many others that can and do. Part of what you need is a true empathy for the student, seeing it from the student's point of view. Part of it is knowing the foundation of the basic ski manuevers. If you learned by "just doing it" and watching others, you won't have much information to pass on. That would be like trying to teach someone to swallow. You just do it, no one taught you. If you took lessons yourself, remember the entire sequence, and have desire to actually teach a child/spouse/SO as opposed to dragging them along on your terrain, you have a decent shot at it. If you think teaching involves any skiing for you on terrain you like, stop right now.

I'm not recommending teaching for everyone instead of taking ski school lessons. I'm trying to point a better way for those that will do it anyway, and point out that teaching goes far beyond saying "follow me" " It's easy" and "just do it".

See this post if you missed it:
http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?t=89157

Full disclosure: I have taught math, physics, and skiing. Nothing is better than professional training. A pro can spot errors you can't, and knows what is causing them. A pro can demonstrate slowly, clearly, and accent the motion so it is clearly visible. But you can supplement professional lessons, even if you just ski together at their level so they have someone to ski with as they progress.

 

[Smellytele]

I am a selfish cheap bastard and do not want to be pay full price to spend my day on the green slopes so my wife, while she was my girlfriend spent her own money and got lessons while I went off and skied.

 

[jaja111]

As "they" say people who can do can't teach.

I hope its more "people who can't do, can't teach; and people who can do that suck at teaching cannot teach what they do."

God bless anyone who's a good teacher. I don't think its completely a matter of training the teacher as much as it is a god given talent. Its one thing to be able to do something well, but to be able to also teach it successfully to others doubles your value as a human being. Those are the people responsible for me typing on this box in a lit room rather than scrawling nonsense on a stone next to a fire in cave right now. Now if you suck at teaching but think you really can teach because you are the expert, that halves your value to humanity.

Let us not forget that some people are inherently adverse to learning to. I have to give that some credit for the reasons I have against teaching skiing. Bad experiences are just as valid for the instructor too.

 

[Bene288]

Taught my girlfriend to both ski and ice skate. She now successfully skis every trail I do and holds her own as an hockey goalie. Guess I'm just a good teacher.

 

[Bumpsis]

I can take only little credit in helping my wife, then girlfriend to become a better skier.
She grew up in Scandinavia, but was more proficient in XC than downhill. When we met, a lot of our winter adventures revolved around downhill ski trips. She wanted to keep up with me and was open to a few suggestions here and there. Being physically strong and gifted( (great balance and body self awareness), she became a really good and graceful skier.
It's a joy to ski with her.

 

[C-Rex]

I spent about 3 years teaching and developing my wife's skills on a board. She finally got to the point where we could ride together on just about any terrain and she could keep up. In other words, it was just starting to get really fun. Then we got divorced. :uzi:

Boy, I sure am glad I spent all that time waiting on the side of the trail for her while my friends were shredding some gnar.

 

[Smellytele]

I spent about 3 years teaching and developing my wife's skills on a board. She finally got to the point where we could ride together on just about any terrain and she could keep up. In other words, it was just starting to get really fun. Then we got divorced. :uzi:

Boy, I sure am glad I spent all that time waiting on the side of the trail for her while my friends were shredding some gnar.

That body part of theirs has a lot of power over our small brains.