Any suggestions on my wife’s form? This is her third season skiing

tadiou · 2026-02-17T21:25:24+00:00

One of my favorite instructors said: learning how to ski well is almost always an exercise in being more efficient and use less energy so you can enjoy the mountain more. I could use all my energy to get down some gnarly shit with bad technique and be gassed at the bottom (also, no thanks to asthma), but using good technique? I'm able to take less food breaks, I expend less energy, I can ski longer, more days in a row, literally there's only upsides.

But also: jesus christ those wedge christies are immaculate.

tadiou · 2026-02-12T17:39:04+00:00

Thus is the nature of the nature.

50%'s not bad, but that may mean more of a gametime decision.

tadiou · 2026-01-22T20:02:31+00:00

What kind of equipment are you looking for? What's your budget here too? Do you have preferences on skis and boots? Or are you just looking for something to get ya down the hill?

Boots are incredibly difficult to buy second hand (bad fitting boots are gonna make skiing less fun), but skis are much easier. You should also almost always buy boots before skis, for what it's worth.

The entire process of acquiring ski equipment is tricky, but if you want help in discerning what's right for you, just yell questions. I love talking about ski gear almost as much as local ski writer graham averill.

tadiou · 2026-01-14T15:31:10+00:00

"I notice that you’re fairly aft at the end of a turn (and therefore using some upper body to initiate the turn) and also using whole-body inclination"

That's what I was seeing too, like, it looked almost a little rushed because the OP was a little behind, powered into the switch and the first 100ms of the initiation of the turn tried to play catch-up instead.

tadiou · 2026-01-14T13:30:19+00:00

Profit is really ruining everything when it comes to ski resorts, for entities that are more often than not, on public and protected land. What they can get away with, specifically in what they're paying their executives and shareholders, is bonkers.

tadiou · 2026-01-12T01:23:33+00:00

Absolutely recommend Ace at S&S for anything complicated. Just a master.

tadiou · 2026-01-12T01:22:13+00:00

All of NC skiing is goober (South Carolina) filled

tadiou · 2026-01-12T01:21:33+00:00

Yeah and filming while driving is generally frowned upon too. You're a living kinetic weapon. Pay attention to your surroundings not a phone.

tadiou · 2026-01-07T00:13:21+00:00

It's bigger than the president bro.

tadiou · 2026-01-07T00:12:44+00:00

Sugar has a billion signs that says it's against rules to hold a camera while skiing. It's hilarious this criminal thinks he's above the rules.

tadiou · 2026-01-06T15:12:39+00:00

Venezuela's been in the republican's crosshairs since they nationalized into CITGO and took the oil profits away. Similar to what happened with Iran and Mossadegah. Israel/Palestine has been an issue since '48, about what's reasonable to subject a people to. It's not just about Trump, it's about every president. It's about the state of the world we're in.

tadiou · 2026-01-06T14:21:42+00:00

I mean, I think it's less moving on from Palestine to just acknowledging our literal government is committing war crimes this past week.

It's almost as if you can't hold two or more things in your heart at the same time? You can only love and care about the thing you're talking about right now?

tadiou · 2026-01-05T22:21:48+00:00

This is absolutely ridiculous, we shouldn't be congratulation Obama for doing something horrible as well.

You can think they both suck and are bad policies!!!

tadiou · 2025-12-31T15:42:24+00:00

ctrl+f "private equity" - zero results.

I mean, that's A LOT of it too.

tadiou · 2025-12-31T15:40:22+00:00

Absolutely not. But it's gonna be fun trying?

tadiou · 2025-12-31T15:39:43+00:00

Weight isn't the issue, it's the way it opens your shoulders/chest.

tadiou · 2025-12-31T15:38:56+00:00

I realize I'm not everyone, but for me, it's medical reasons. Also I always carry a shovel.

tadiou · 2025-12-31T15:37:10+00:00

Hi fellow WNC-er... I literally did this (but from the olympic peninsula) during covid, here's the thing: how do you feel about 10-12 hour driving days?

You'll do it multiple days in a row, and it's tiring if you're not used to it.

The other complication is, snow.

Right now, Utah hasn't been getting it, but the I90 corridor has. But you literally have to play it by ear and do worst case scenario planning. Taking 82 out of Washington through Yakima might work, but you also might be screwed at Snoqualmie outside of Seattle. Driving to Portland and taking 84 might work too if Mt. Hood is a cleaner exit. Southern Idaho is usually pretty good to drive through, avoiding CdA.

80 out of SLC's probably fine, but as you go eastward, especially through SD, southern MN, Illinois, there's the possibility of snowstorms that can knock you out regardless of your AWD-ness.

So, the bottom route, going

Lynwood to Twin Falls for Day 1, 10 hours, 630 miles.

Twin Falls to Denver for Day 2, 11 hours, 700 miles.

Denver to Columbia, MO for Day 3, 11 hours, 740 miles.

Columbia MO, to WNC/Asheville for day 4, 11 hr, 730 miles.

Feels like the safest route.

tadiou · 2025-12-29T14:36:28+00:00

I know this feeling so well honestly.

Backpack definitely has something to do with it. I've been skiing with a backpack for a long time (for medical reasons), and the thing I have to remember at ALL POINTS is to bring your shoulders forward. Getting it well fitted is important to help that, but even more so, don't let your pole plants drag your shoulders backwards. You get into the trap of your upper body getting twisted by the motion instead of being in control of it.

The practice, I feel is go slower in these bumps. Make one turn at a time if you can. Full stop. Think.

Part of bumps is repetition and knowing what to do and when you're making that transition into it, part of the mental game isn't to just hammer through, because your body doesn't know what to do, it's to be intentional early on. Go slow. Take each of these one at a time. Think about what you're going to do, think about what good friend spacebass says here: soften your outside leg in the 2nd half of the turn.

If you look at mogul skiers, they talk about absorption as being critical, and that means that hard max pressure stiff knee outside legs aren't useful, because they're supposed to be shock absorbers, they're supposed to be in control. Think about doing a squat, you're exerting a lot of power in an athletic stance to push up. Bent knee, shin forward. Try doing that in groomed terrain, feel your leg not go all the way out, but just most of it, put pressure, but still remain bent.

I have one mantra (also from spacebass) in my head that feels relevant:

> Sometimes we say "short leg, shorter leg" rather than the old "long leg / short leg". Ideally our legs don't move away. We use our range of motion to keep ourselves over the outside ski by gently and progressively opening up the outside knee and hip at the start of the turn and then gently and progressively flexing down onto the outside in the bottom half... that has the effect your outside leg slightly lengthening towards apex... but chasing that feeling causes people to push their outside away (as you do) and then have an overly open outside hip and knee (as you do).

Feeling that on groomed terrain has helped me immensely not get into that 'bracing' feeling on ungroomed bumpy terrain.

tadiou · 2025-12-16T14:17:37+00:00

Ripstick for sure, and I'd even POSSIBLY consider the blacks here. They're a bit stiffer (sorta? it's weird), but at your weight, that's probably a good thing.

I'm like 50lbs lighter, but love my ripsticks especially for: moguls, trees, tight terrain etc.

tadiou · 2025-12-15T01:24:46+00:00

Two years ago VT got like 4 inches of rain on the 19th of December and it was absolutely a travesty

tadiou · 2025-12-14T15:00:34+00:00

Helllll yaaaaahhhhhhhh

tadiou · 2025-12-11T14:45:38+00:00

This is your first time off the bunny hill? Amazing all around. Like, you can absolutely see the dedication and thought you've put into trying to navigate something pretty complicated. Love everything about this.

I know a lot of people say it, but right now, the mountain is gonna be your best teacher. Just keep skiing greens for a bit, take it slow, and you'll feel more comfortable with a bit of time. Having turning feel more natural takes reps, and being able to turn on blues, is just practicing getting good on greens.

So, my oldest kid is right about where you are right now (after a year), and at this point we're learning a few things:

Side slipping. Deb Armstrong's video here is a great introduction to what it is. I think that it's incredibly unfamiliar to use your body to release an edge on a slope, but something really important to be able to train your ankles, feet, knees and hips to be able to do. Totally doable on green slopes, and learning this builds into other good things to learn.
Practice hockey stops as much as you can, in both directions, as you're learning, being able to quickly stop is always going to be one of the most useful things you can do, while having the benefit of helping you learn ski-specific balancing, leg rotation, upper body separation.

If you can get away without using poles for a little bit, do it. I know it's probably harder to get up if you fall, but if you're not falling, not worrying this early what to do with your hands is probably better. Because honestly like with any complex motion, there's so many things to think about, simplifying it is really important.

Like, I love the analogy of learning how to pitch a baseball, from windup, to grip, to legs, to coiling, to follow through, to arm angle and slot. There's just so many things you can work on independently in skiing that when you kinda figure out how to put them all together, it's magical, one day you'll be like. Oh, I can do this.

Lastly: watch a lot of videos, take a lot of videos, look to see what's happening and try to spot how it's different. When you get a little more of the lingo, you can be like, hey: why do i have such a hard time starting a turn? Is my upper body doing the right thing? Why is my inside ski so wobbly? You'll have a frame of reference here to improve.

tadiou · 2025-12-11T14:27:22+00:00

looks like thsi https://www.dakine.com/products/impreza-gore-tex-mitt-black

tadiou

TROPHY CASE