What was your biggest eye opener for skiing???

[LaneMeyer]

I started skiing when I was 19, for the first 2 years I skied with a bunch of friends and we all had zero style or technique.
While I was away for college I had a part time job, one of my older coworkers, Brad, told me he was a level 1 PSIA ski instructor. I had no clue what the PSIA was and really didn't care either. Brad was going to Mount Snow to take his level 2 certification during winter break and asked me if I wanted to meet him there one day and ski. I agreed and we chose a trail to meet on around a certain time.
EVERY time I go to Mount Snow the hurricane winds blow the powder off the mountain and leave the boiler plate exposed. So I am doing you a favor if I stay away!
It was a typical me Mount Snow day, windy, all ice, freezing and no snow. As I am on the chair I see this guy coming down the edge of the trail, carving perfectly spaced turns regardless of whats under his skis. Well it was Brad. I was blown away and I can still remember thinking to myself "that's what I'm supposed to do on these things!!!" The rest of the day I followed and watched his technique and watched him carve flawlessly down the steepest ice or whatever.

So needless to say that was my moment when my eyes opened and skiing changed.

 

[Rambo]

This!!!: 1976 Olympic Downhill, Gold Medal Run... ON THE EDGE:

 

[riverc0il]

I had different eye openers for different aspects. My first was in college on a club race team learning how important it was to square up the shoulders and angulate the knees. Second was at Wildcat on the final pitch of Lower Catenary. I am stopped and some chick bumper goes flying by me in the bumps that I am struggling with. I watched her closely and tried to mimic and something clicked. The other big one was for natural snow and powder, my first time skiing at Mittersill... both from a technical proficiency stand point and from an aesthetic stand point in what I love to ski.

 

[Sky]

This!!!: 1976 Olympic Downhill, Gold Medal Run... ON THE EDGE:

umm....I don't want to race anymore. :>

Terrible crashes....amazing runs!

 

[cannonist]

Cannon.

 

[gmcunni]

skiing in CT was way way way better than not skiing at all.

 

[Greg]

Skiing with JimG. and his friend Karl at Hunter about 6 years ago and realizing it was time to step it up with my skiing.

 

[wa-loaf]

Spring of 87 at Sugarloaf threw myself down the bumps enough times things finally started to work for me.

 

[deadheadskier]

Moving to Stowe for the 1995-1996 winter. Hadn't been further north than Killington at that time. I had skied some powder while growing up skiing Okemo, but not a lot. There was minimal glades at Okemo then and they'd groom everything flat as soon as possible. I had no idea Northern VT got that much more snow than the southern part of the state.

Also skiing Bear Mountain during the spring as a kid and seeing all the pros like Chuck Martin and Donna Weibrecht rip bumps. I never had any desire to race well, but I sure wanted to become a good bump skier.

 

[witch hobble]

Lift ticket prices! (after a spoiled childhood with a dependant pass and bi-annual family ski vacations)

 

[〽❄❅]

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/winter02/gen/feature?id=1307961

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Johnson_(skier)

 

[dmc]

seeing a snowboard for the first time...

 

[SIKSKIER]

seeing a snowboard for the first time...

I had a snurfer before I ever saw a snowboard.

 

[dmc]

I had a snurfer before I ever saw a snowboard.

I had a Snurfer too.. Loved that thing.. Wish i still had it - stuff is worth some bucks..
But the snowboards when I learned on in the late 80's were not all that different then the snurfer deck..

 

[Beetlenut]

The day I buckled my boots - who knew??

 

[drjeff]

July 1988, Mount Hood, Oregon. US Women's Ski Team was out there training GS in the 1st lane over from the public lane on the Palmer Snowfield, when I was at the Mount Hood Summer Ski Camps. Watching those ladies ski GS (pretty much on 205's back then) and lay down PERFECTLY shaped arcs gate after gate, run after run, just the way my coaches were trying to get all of us to visualize how to do so was amazing. Then getting to share a chair with then worldcup overall champion, Tamara McKinney and talk turns shapes and technique with her for the lift ride just totally opened my eyes!

 

[Huck_It_Baby]

2 eye openers:

1. The day my friend's family took me skiing for the first time when I was 7 years old. Everything clicked for me that day...my path was set right then and there. Skiing was some how ingrained inside me dispite the fact I had never been exposed before and neither of my parents were skiiers. It came naturally and I felt an excitement and happiness unlike I have ever felt about anything. This still holds true today 20+ years later. I still remember the smell of of freshly melted wax in the rental shop that day and when I smell it now I get completly nostaligic. Skiing has been and always will be part of my life in one way or another ever since that day.

2. Valentine's day storm...

 

[Huck_It_Baby]

The day I buckled my boots - who knew??

Exactly.

 

[Huck_It_Baby]

So needless to say that was my moment when my eyes opened and skiing changed.

Just noticing your screen name and I have to thrown in that the film "Better off Dead" was a skiing inspiration for me.

I still want to rip "K-12" on one ski and win the girl =)

 

[Big Game]

Carving.

I hacked away at skiing for years. Stopped doing it, as well, what was the point?

So a buddy of mine told me I should give snowboarding a try. So I did. And then he showed me how to carve.

Wow.

And then I found myself making day trips to Vermont from Connecticut regularly.

One day I was on the hill with my little bro, who lives in Vermont. He thought it was strange that we would spend 6 hours in the car for 5 hours on the hill.

Then we showed him how to carve.

Then he said "Ah ha. I see why."

I'm kind of interested in trying two planks again to see if I could carve on skis. When I see good skier carve, I think to myself, see, everyone has it all wrong. It isn't snowboarders vs. skiers. It's those who can carve vs. those who can't. And really, those of us who can carve, just want to enlighten those who can't. It is a higher plane of existence that is everyone's birthright.