Skiing Books/Guides

[Greg]

The Books thread in the Hiking forum prompted this. So...any recommendations for books that specifically focus on Northeast skiing, or good guides to skiing technique in general? Backcountry and cross country qualifies as well. Also, if anyone wants to write a ~300 word review, I'll use it on the site. I'd like to create a directory of recommended reading.

 

[Lisamarie]

Ski the Whole Mountain

Ski the Whole Mountain by Eric Deslaurier is a masterpiece! I also got to meet him last week at Snowbird, He's an incredible human being!

Then of course, there's the classic Witherell: The Athletic Skier!

 

[ChileMass]

And another classic by Warren Wetherell - "How the Racers Ski". It's old and the techniques are kinda dated because of the changes in skis themselves, but Wetherell's suggestions for how racers and coaches should approach competitive skiing hold up today. When I was a little racer in the early/mid-70s, this was absolutely required reading, straight from my coach.......

 

[riverc0il]

i think most skiing books are kinda blah. one okay one was "right on the edge of crazy" about the US olympic skiing team back in the 1980s. an EXCELLENT must read book for all skiers is "downhill slide." for people unfamiliar with how our culture and economic conditions are smuthering the little guys and homoginizing all our lives, this is an excellent read and introduces many concepts that are applicable in more than just the ski industry. if you've ever known a quality ski area to stop operation and close up shop, you'll feel a powerful connection to this book!

 

[smallberries]

For backcountry you can't do much better than David Goodman's "Backcountry Skiing Adventures" Vol. 1: NH & ME, Vol. 2: VT, NY, + Mt. Greylock. I don't have time to write complete reviews, but if you are considering earning your turns, these books are pretty essential.

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

Ski Reading

As previously posted I believe "How the Racers Ski" by Warren Witherell to be an excellent book. Written in the early 1970's, it was way ahead of the standard industry publications. Warren is the founder of and at the time of its publication the Director of the Burke Mountain Academy. Burke Mountain Academy has produced many Regional, Junior, National, Olympic & World Champion Alpine skiers for most of the last four decades.

In 1993 Warren with David Evrard published "The Athletic Skier" which is current to today’s standards. The Athletic Skier is put together as 10 Parts with several chapters in each part. The book starts with an introduction of the authors, including a preface by the US Ski Team Coach at the time of printing and shushes through skiing philosophy, equipment, carving skills, technique, as well as training, and offers some thoughts on finer details of skiing excellence as well as coaching. The concise writing including charts, drawings, and photographs make this the best book on skiing I have read.

I found Part 2 "Boots & Balance/The Suspension System" to be the most instrumental means of improving my skiing. After making a visit to a professional "Master Boot-fitter" (in lieu of my local ski shop) and being accurately assessed, the seemingly minimal impact of custom foot-beds including minor balance adjustments made an incredible difference on the slopes.

Besides being interesting cover-to-cover pieces of work, the amount of technical detail in both books is almost overwhelming and should be used as reference guides for any level skier who wants to improve their skiing ability.

Both books may be readily obtained via http://www.abebooks.com for a very reasonable fee. I have located a number of copies and given them as gifts to friends who want to improve their skiing.