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Live the EDGE! LLC
120 Fisherville Road #53
Concord, NH 03303
603-856-1197

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© 2012 BUILD111

SKI CLINICS

 . 

Live the EDGE! Clinics are based in New Hampshire where the skiing is on ice. You know the saying "If you can ski the east coast...you can ski anywhere"

We (LTE) want to help you live your EDGE experience. We offer Ski Instruction for all ages, abilities, either private or group lessons . We will travel to you...THAT'S RIGHT!.....TO YOU! as long as you live in NH, VT, ME, or MA. You name the ski resort and we will accommodate you!   

We offer hourly, half day or full day lessons. We do not mix lessons with another group so there is no intimidation factor, you will only ski with your group. Did you know that only about 10% of the skiing population know how to ski a ski properly WOW! We will focus on balance in a turn and in the transition. Also on pole plant/touch, head, eyes and hip placement in order to initiate a perfect turn. We will focus on carved and arc'd turns (there is a difference) proper hand placement, ( did you know that any movement you make above your boot will react at your skis?) We'll focus on being smooth and let the ski do the work so you can enjoy more hours on the slopes, (the APRES can wait til the end of the day) We will also do a Video Analysis in the morning and at our lunch break will analyze your skiing and make the improvements in the afternoon. Simply click on the Registser / Email button on the home page and explain what kind of skier you are and how long you've been skiing. Give me the date, time and place that best fits your schedule and I'll see you there.

This is just a guideline to give me an idea of what level of skier you are so I can tailor your lesson to you.

Level one:  Never ever skied before

Level Two:  Skiers are cautious novices who are able to do a " snow plow" (wedge) turn both ways and are able to stop, but linking turns smoothly may be difficult. Level Two skiers may have skied once or twice before.

Level Three: Skiers are confident novices who are able to stop and make round snow plow turns on easy beginner trails.

Level Four:  Skiers are cautious intermediate skiers who can link turns but still moderate speed. Level Four skiers ski in a small wedge and their skis may even be parallel at the end of the turn on green or easy blue trails. Level Four is a transition level in which skiers will begin to ski more blue intermediate runs.

Level Five: Skiers are intermediates who are confident on easy blue runs and ski mostly parallel but may at times use the wedge to begin a turn or to stop. Level Five skiers may be cautious on intermediate trails that are slightly steep or icy.

Level Six: Skiers confidently make parallel turns on blue runs but do not ski many advanced trails. Level Six skiers use their poles to time turns. A Level Six skier is interested in learning to ski better on more challenging terrain.

Level Seven: Skiers ski controlled parallel turns and can ski very well on blue trails. Level Seven skiers can control their speed and rhythm on black diamond trails, but they are looking to ski on challenging trails with better style. Level Seven skiers can adjust the size and length of their turns and are learning to ski on a variety of different types of snow and terrain.

Tips for Beginner Skier: 

  Skiing is a sport that everyone can enjoy if your properly dressed, have the right equipment and have the right ski instruction. We've all heard the old statement from a friend, "I know how to ski, I'll teach you, it's easy". Then they take you to the top and say, "just point your tips down hill and do this". And after picking yourself up 2 dozen times on the way down and cleaning all the snow out of every crevice in your body... your more miserable than you ever have been in your life. And don't want anything to do with skiing. They may know how to ski but do they know how to ski the right way? Do they know how to teach you the right technique to help you ski the right way? Probably not. You didn't a fair chance.

Here is some advice from a skier that has been skiing for nearly 40 years and have taught and coached ski racing for 25 years. I've skied in all kinds of weather, cold, warm, rain, snow storms....you name it I've skied in it and had lots of fun doing it because I was prepared

As a beginner prepare to fall down your first couple of days...it's the cost of learning a new sport...don't worry you'll be on the "bunny slope" (beginning area)If you are falling and have control over which way your falling, fall up hill, it's easier to get back up the steeper the slope is.

The good news is that after the first couple of days, most of these problems go away and your smiling and having fun. How good or bad your first day is depends on understanding and following the advice below.  

 What to wear....

Do NOT wear jeans, or sweatpants, "cotton kills" You will be falling down in snow and if your wearing cotton you will get wet and cold and you won't warm back up and your day is over. 

For against your skin wear a thin pair of sweat wicking material. For ski pants wear a pair of good insulated pants that will keep you dry and keep your butt warm on the chair lift. For your top..if you want to wear cotton on your top go ahead for extra layering as long as it's not against your skin you'll be fine, layer that with any type of wind resistant jacket, similarly, your jacket should also be waterproof. I also recommend a zippered jacket and not a pull over so that way if your to hot you can unzip or to cold you can zip it up around your neck to keep the heat in. If you sweat to much and get cold, it's tough to get warm again. Your feet at least for me are the toughest part of my body to keep warm...DON'T wear cotton and don't wear a thick sock that will make your feet sweat and once they get cold you'll need to go in and dry them out....wear a thin nylon type sock...thick socks can cut off your circulation and your feet will freeze. If your toes start to get cold wiggle them to keep the blood flowing, this will warm them up. Once you continue with the sport of skiing you can have boot heaters put in your boots that will keep you feet warm all day.

Gloves must also be waterproof. If they are lightweight gloves, you'll probably want a liner. If gloves are too tight, it will reduce circulation and your hands will be cold. If your hands easily get cold you'll probably want a insulated mitten. If your hands start to get cold wiggle them on the ride up the lift, this will get them warm again.

You should start out warm when you go out into the cold, you should be a little too warm, not quite sweating but close. Then the cold will feel good to you for the first minute or two. As you start to feel cooler, start moving. The colder you are, the more you should move.

For your head it's best to wear a good ski helmet...not only does it protect you from a fall, they are also insulated and warmer than wearing a hat. For your neck wear either a turtleneck or a neck fleece gator.　

How much clothing is a tough call, and you have to learn from experience, because everyone's body deals with heat differently. It will depend on how hard you are working, how windy it is, whether it is sunny or cloudy, wet or dry.

Ski Boots are the biggest complaint from new skiers. They get cold feet, sore feet or cut off circulation. This is because the boots you are using don't fit. It is very important to get boots that fit properly. Boots should allow you to wiggle your toes. If you can't wiggle your toes, then your feet will be cold. Boots should not allow you to turn your foot side-to-side within the boot. If you can turn your foot inside the boot, you won't have a chance to control your skis. Make sure that when you try ski boots on that when you flex your ankle forward that your heels stays in the heal pocket, this is really important. Make sure to try several kinds of boots to get the right fit. Different boot companies produce sizes that are not the same as others.

Falling and Getting Up: 

           

                                A: Wrong                                B: Right

As I said before, you will fall. If you happen to have any control over your fall, try to fall uphill. The hard part is getting up. Get your feet downhill from you, (fig. B) and tuck them as close to your butt as you can. Then push yourself up onto your skis and go into the wedge (pizza) in order to keep you from falling again. Use your poles to stabilize yourself.

Terrain:

Every ski resort has a great beginner's area. You want wide, not very steep slopes. Try to find a resort that has a "Magic Carpet" which is sort of like an escalator that gets you up the hill, and you can gradually work up to the chair lift. 

Conditions:

Check ahead for the snow conditions. If it's snowing, raining or too cold you may want to wait so that you get a good experience out of your new found passion. A high of 25, sunny with no wind is probably your best day to learn skiing. That way you won't be to cold or to hot and your not going to get wet.

The Snowplow:

                                                        

The snowplow is the basic technique taught to beginning skiers. Unfortunately it is also a cruel joke, because it's easy to do incorrectly. You'll be told to point your skis towards each other. Predictably, the first thing that happens next is that the skis move towards each other, and cross each other, and you get tangled up and fall down.

What is often not explained very well, and is hard to do regardless, is to tilt your skis inwards towards each other. To do this, you have to pull your knees together, and continually push your feet apart. If that doesn't make sense, think of the bow of a boat: the sides are angled in towards each other (i.e. towards the bottom of the boat), and they push the water apart. Of course, you can't possible tilt your skis nearly as much the sides of a boat, but without some tilt, you won't have any control over your speed, or your direction -- you'll skid sideways, do the splits, and cross your skis. My suggestion is that you work with someone that knows what they're doing before you hit the slopes, so you can at least have a basic notion of how to proceed once you're on snow.

Stopping:

You should also know the reason why you have to snowplow. It controls your speed. As your skis become more parallel, you go faster. The more you snowplow, the more you are pushing your skis sideways across the snow. This makes you slow down. In order to stop, just snowplow more widely and with more knee tilt. How well this works depends on how steep the slope is, how icy, wet, or dry the snow is, and how strong and flexible you are.

Turning:

:

You will always turn with more weight on the outside foot (e.g. on a left turn, your weight is on your right foot). So shift your weight to the outside foot - and slightly unweight your other foot. Also make sure to look in the direction you want to go, keep your upper body quiet, no unnecessary movement. Now as you weight the outside ski in order to start your turn sink a little in your turn on that outside ski so there is more weight than on your inside ski. Make sure as you turn you feel your shin on the front of your boot and the weight is on the ball of your turning foot. 

How fast you improve will depend on your fitness, and natural ability. But for most people, the first few days (three to five hours per day) will be rough, but after that you'll really start to feel you're getting the hang of it. One important factor is that you'll ski worse when you're tired, so take a break and relax.

Summary:

It's important to have good conditions your first day. And take things at your own pace, dress right, get the right equipment and most importantly get a lesson from a professional

Intermediate Skiers:

    

                                         A. Right!                              B. Right!                           C. Wrong!     

These are skiers who can comfortably ski all greens and most blues, they are skiing parallel most of the time throughout the turn. No need to tell you how to dress and what equipment to buy....you already know but, I will tell you if you want to get better and ski with ease make sure you go to a good ski shop that does custom boot fittings....you won't be sorry!

From the intermediate turn (skidded but parallel) it's time to work on hip placement, head and eyes, body position, flexion of the knees and ankles and pole touch.

When your skiing if you feel yourself accelerating in your turn one or two things is usually happening....your not finishing your turn by turning your skis across the hill or your leaning back (pic C.) in a defensive position. As soon as you lean back your not attacking the mountain, the mountain is attacking you.  To fix this, make sure your looking in the direction you want to go, feel your shins in your boot and keep your elbows even with the front of your torso (pic B.)...this will allow you to get centered and ski the ski from the tip to the tail. If you lean back your skiing your skis from the binding to the tail and soon your going to fast to control your speed. Make sure to turn across the hill so that your not accelerating through the turn and keep your speed consistent throughout the run. If you feel yourself starting to speed up and lean back do a double pole touch in order to bring you back to the front of the boot.

Note to Intermediate skiers: Flexion of the ankles does not mean Leaning Forward....it means driving your knee cap downward toward your ski...Try this the next time you go skiing, you'll noticed your ski will immediately start to turn. 

One day group lessons $400.00 (min 2 - max 6) 9am - 3pm

 Half day group lessons $250.00 (min 2 - max 6) 9am - 12pm

*These prices include your entire GROUP!

 Private $65.00 an hour.

 "Does not include your lift ticket" 

*PAYMENT CAN BE MADE BY CHECK OF CASH AT THE TIME OF LESSON. 

Tips for Beginner Skier: 

  Skiing is a sport that everyone can enjoy if your properly dressed, have the right equipment and have the right ski instruction. We've all heard the old statement from a friend, "I know how to ski, I'll teach you, it's easy". Then they take you to the top and say, "just point your tips down hill and do this". And after picking yourself up 2 dozen times on the way down and cleaning all the snow out of every crevice in your body... your more miserable than you ever have been in your life. And don't want anything to do with skiing. They may know how to ski but do they know how to ski the right way? Do they know how to teach you the right technique to help you ski the right way? Probably not. You didn't a fair chance.

Here is some advice from a skier that has been skiing for nearly 40 years and have taught and coached ski racing for 25 years. I've skied in all kinds of weather, cold, warm, rain, snow storms....you name it I've skied in it and had lots of fun doing it because I was prepared

As a beginner prepare to fall down your first couple of days...it's the cost of learning a new sport...don't worry you'll be on the "bunny slope" (beginning area)If you are falling and have control over which way your falling, fall up hill, it's easier to get back up the steeper the slope is.

The good news is that after the first couple of days, most of these problems go away and your smiling and having fun. How good or bad your first day is depends on understanding and following the advice below.  

 

What to wear....

Do NOT wear jeans, or sweatpants, "cotton kills" You will be falling down in snow and if your wearing cotton you will get wet and cold and you won't warm back up and your day is over. 

For against your skin wear a thin pair of sweat wicking material. For ski pants wear a pair of good insulated pants that will keep you dry and keep your butt warm on the chair lift. For your top..if you want to wear cotton on your top go ahead for extra layering as long as it's not against your skin you'll be fine, layer that with any type of wind resistant jacket, similarly, your jacket should also be waterproof. I also recommend a zippered jacket and not a pull over so that way if your to hot you can unzip or to cold you can zip it up around your neck to keep the heat in. If you sweat to much and get cold, it's tough to get warm again. Your feet at least for me are the toughest part of my body to keep warm...DON'T wear cotton and don't wear a thick sock that will make your feet sweat and once they get cold you'll need to go in and dry them out....wear a thin nylon type sock...thick socks can cut off your circulation and your feet will freeze. If your toes start to get cold wiggle them to keep the blood flowing, this will warm them up. Once you continue with the sport of skiing you can have boot heaters put in your boots that will keep you feet warm all day.

Gloves must also be waterproof. If they are lightweight gloves, you'll probably want a liner. If gloves are too tight, it will reduce circulation and your hands will be cold. If your hands easily get cold you'll probably want a insulated mitten. If your hands start to get cold wiggle them on the ride up the lift, this will get them warm again.

You should start out warm when you go out into the cold, you should be a little too warm, not quite sweating but close. Then the cold will feel good to you for the first minute or two. As you start to feel cooler, start moving. The colder you are, the more you should move.

For your head it's best to wear a good ski helmet...not only does it protect you from a fall, they are also insulated and warmer than wearing a hat. For your neck wear either a turtleneck or a neck fleece gator.　

How much clothing is a tough call, and you have to learn from experience, because everyone's body deals with heat differently. It will depend on how hard you are working, how windy it is, whether it is sunny or cloudy, wet or dry.

Ski Boots are the biggest complaint from new skiers. They get cold feet, sore feet or cut off circulation. This is because the boots you are using don't fit. It is very important to get boots that fit properly. Boots should allow you to wiggle your toes. If you can't wiggle your toes, then your feet will be cold. Boots should not allow you to turn your foot side-to-side within the boot. If you can turn your foot inside the boot, you won't have a chance to control your skis. Make sure that when you try ski boots on that when you flex your ankle forward that your heels stays in the heal pocket, this is really important. Make sure to try several kinds of boots to get the right fit. Different boot companies produce sizes that are not the same as others.

Falling and Getting Up: 

           

                                      A: Wrong                                            B: Right

As I said before, you will fall. If you happen to have any control over your fall, try to fall uphill. The hard part is getting up. Get your feet downhill from you, (fig. B) and tuck them as close to your butt as you can. Then push yourself up onto your skis and go into the wedge (pizza) in order to keep you from falling again. Use your poles to stabilize yourself.

Terrain:

Every ski resort has a great beginner's area. You want wide, not very steep slopes. Try to find a resort that has a "Magic Carpet" which is sort of like an escalator that gets you up the hill, and you can gradually work up to the chair lift. 

Conditions:

Check ahead for the snow conditions. If it's snowing, raining or too cold you may want to wait so that you get a good experience out of your new found passion. A high of 25, sunny with no wind is probably your best day to learn skiing. That way you won't be to cold or to hot and your not going to get wet.

The Snowplow:

                                               

The snowplow is the basic technique taught to beginning skiers. Unfortunately it is also a cruel joke, because it's easy to do incorrectly. You'll be told to point your skis towards each other. Predictably, the first thing that happens next is that the skis move towards each other, and cross each other, and you get tangled up and fall down.

What is often not explained very well, and is hard to do regardless, is to tilt your skis inwards towards each other. To do this, you have to pull your knees together, and continually push your feet apart. If that doesn't make sense, think of the bow of a boat: the sides are angled in towards each other (i.e. towards the bottom of the boat), and they push the water apart. Of course, you can't possible tilt your skis nearly as much the sides of a boat, but without some tilt, you won't have any control over your speed, or your direction -- you'll skid sideways, do the splits, and cross your skis. My suggestion is that you work with someone that knows what they're doing before you hit the slopes, so you can at least have a basic notion of how to proceed once you're on snow.

Stopping:

You should also know the reason why you have to snowplow. It controls your speed. As your skis become more parallel, you go faster. The more you snowplow, the more you are pushing your skis sideways across the snow. This makes you slow down. In order to stop, just snowplow more widely and with more knee tilt. How well this works depends on how steep the slope is, how icy, wet, or dry the snow is, and how strong and flexible you are.

Turning:

:

You will always turn with more weight on the outside foot (e.g. on a left turn, your weight is on your right foot). So shift your weight to the outside foot - and slightly unweight your other foot. Also make sure to look in the direction you want to go, keep your upper body quiet, no unnecessary movement. Now as you weight the outside ski in order to start your turn sink a little in your turn on that outside ski so there is more weight than on your inside ski. Make sure as you turn you feel your shin on the front of your boot and the weight is on the ball of your turning foot. 

How fast you improve will depend on your fitness, and natural ability. But for most people, the first few days (three to five hours per day) will be rough, but after that you'll really start to feel you're getting the hang of it. One important factor is that you'll ski worse when you're tired, so take a break and relax.

Summary:

It's important to have good conditions your first day. And take things at your own pace, dress right, get the right equipment and most importantly get a lesson from a professional.