ing down the mountain. That's not always their own fault though,
as most ski schools haven't done them justice, and the best ski-rac-
ing coaches don't have time for them let alone the plan they need.
Gary shows compassion for all ski students, especially the discour-
aged ones. Racing coaches insulate themselves with only the most-
gifted hard-core athletes who already know how to ski, and yet
there is still a lot of heart-ache and injury, so the general public has
never needed them. Gary has taught thousands of advanced and
expert skiers, mostly in the old week-long Ski Meisters class of
Jackson Hole; he's taught thousands more than his share of first-
day beginners; and he's taught thousands of intermediates, whom
he has perhaps more affection for in his old age: "Intermediates are
not the chore that beginners are, but they are still more of a mold-
able piece of clay than the advanced skiers---and it isn't long before
they can start thinking of skiing like an expert." (Finding great ski
lessons was rare enough back in 1979 when Gary first started
teaching; but it's become harder and harder over the years, as many
of today's instructors can barely ski themselves as a result of recent
ski-school politics and the record turnover of instructors, as well as
the record number of undedicated part-timers. The few life-long
Foreword --- 17
instructors at the top usually reserve the right to ski with advanced
and expert students only; and some of them are exempt from hav-
ing to ski with the over-charged persnickety general public.) Real-
ize you've got probably the greatest plan for mastering recreational
skiing in your hands right now; but reading this book is one thing,
and applying it is yet another: One Good Turn of each page . . . De-
serves Another thousand good turns out on the mountain. Not only
will it help you reach your full potential as a skier, it may also help
you be one of the greatest of instructors, not only in skiing but in
some other activity as well.
(Since 1979, Gary has always strived to be the best most-inter-
esting ski instructor he could be. He's done thousands upon thou-
sands of ski students justice on no less than seven different ski
schools from Montana to Arizona---this has helped him see the big
picture perhaps better than anyone else. Other instructors who
move around a lot tend to stay in one part of the country, or they
move among mountains that have similar characteristics---Gary has
witnessed first-hand the even greater dysfunction that goes on at
smaller mountains, and it adds up to do a lot of damage that big-
mountain administrators don't care to notice or help turn around.
But, despite his knack and diligence and vast experience as a great
teacher, he continues to be unable to find a job on any ski school
where he can make even close to a decent living, while other less-
skilled instructors are sitting pretty---however, this book and his
others hope to change that. In his book The PROHIBITION of Snow-
Boarding, Gary plays the role of U.S. Ski Teacher and threatens to
become a Ski-Turner-At-Law; . . . in this manual, with things laid
out a little more cut-n-dried, you students and more-caring in-
structors can take heart as he plays the role of U.S. SKI-TURNER
GENERAL. ---Mountain Managers, Ski-School Directors, Instructor
Trainers, Olympic Gold Medalists, World Champion Extreme Ski-
ers, . . . and anybody playing the role of Ski Instructor . . . might
want to keep this in mind. This manual has been brewing for dec-
ades; and, when it is finally unleashed, it will be like a hundred-
year rogue avalanche coming down hard on anyone and everyone
who's been irresponsible in the ski industry.)
---Jane Dantz
18 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
And now . . . A Word From Our Sponsor:
Ski-Teaching Like Ranch Horse-Training --- 19
Ski-Teaching
Like
Ranch Horse-Training
"Nobody can train a good horse in a hurry, and anybody can
spoil him," hackamore reinsman Ed Connell use to tell us wran-
glers; and, likewise, a ski student will learn the bad just as quick as
the good technique, the wrong just as quick as the right attitude,
and the weak just as quick as the strong desire. Learning to ski is
not just a physical how-to deal; it involves the heart, mind, and
body, and it requires relaxed concentration, which means going to
a new slope . . . when it's time, checking a new snow condition . . .
when it's time, or trying a new kind of ski turn . . . when it's time,
not before. Skiing well takes effort, but not struggle: all too often, I
witness friends teaching friends, which often leads to stagnation,
struggle, divorce, even a higher chance of injury. Good ski in-
structors spend much of their time just correcting many of the same
old mistakes before they can get on to new business, and usually by
then the student's ski trip is over. It takes awhile sometimes for the
student to begin to trust the instructor, and it takes an instructor a
little while to assess where the student is at---heck, if teaching ski-
ing were easy, I wouldn't have to make my living writing books
about it. I started skiing at the ripe old age of 18, and it took me
awhile to become an expert; but I believe, after skiing down in the
trenches with thousands of students for many years, I have come
up with a system or schedule where the student may always be
ready, interested, and eager---no one needs to get bucked off or
run-away-with as much as I was. The dangerous trend in Ameri-
can Society is for instant gratification---if you think you can master
skiing in a weekend, you'd better ride a gentle pair of skis on a
gentle slope with an easy snow condition. All you have to do to
ruin a skier's progress . . . is go too sharp, too steep, or too deep too
soon----nobody can train a good skier in a hurry, and anybody can
spoil him.
20 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
In other words, good ski-teaching is like fine ranch horse-train-
ing; but, of course, that doesn't mean anything to you either if you
don't know what fine ranch horse-training is, not that even every
rancher knows. Fine ranch horsemanship is usually a bit different
from the formal training you might see at some very expensive
stables, where the horses and riders get harrassed with all kinds of
unfun rules and drills all day long; and it's not the stupid blood-n-
guts JW approach either; fine ranch horsemanship is more subtle,
where the cowboy or wrangler just keeps adding on comfortably to
the horse's day-to-day experience over any number of days, weeks,
months, or even years. Don't get me wrong: good ranch cowboys
and wranglers are far from winging it---we have a definite plan or
system, when the ranch ownership and management allow us to
take the time to use it. When you need a certain piece of equip-
ment, you get it; when you need to take a horse to a certain envi-
ronment, you go there; but a good cowboy or wrangler is con-
stantly thinking of what he may be able to add-on or not add-on
next to a horse under his saddle or jurisdiction, whether it be doing
the first-saddling and first-ride, or adding a flapping rain-slicker to
the mix, or teaching him to stay calm and quiet at the Fourth-of-
July Parade & Rodeo. The worst thing you can do to a horse or
skier . . . is force them into the wrong environment too soon . . . and
then expound all-day on "how-to-do" something they have very
little business trying to do yet---and, sadly, this happens all the
time with horses and ski students. The common denominator
between good ski-boys and good cowboys, besides knowing what
they are doing: both of these characters care about their students. --
-All you have to do sometimes to make a horse or fellow wrangler
miserable and not perform well . . . is not stop for a five-minute
pee-break when they can use it. Whether it's horsemanship or ski-
manship, the better you treat your horses or wranglers or ski stu-
dents, the more they will be willing and able to follow you through
fire.
Granted, good ski lessons are hard to come by. Young teachers
often-times are kids just beginning to escape a dysfunctional up-
bringing---they move to a fun but expensive ski-town like Aspen or
Park City or Jackson Hole, hoping to carve out a good living as a
'professional' ski instructor, in a society that sees them as bums---
heck, more than half of them see themselves as bums. The young
ski teacher has high rent to worry about, and then there's the ski-
school pecking order, while trying to win the attention and respect
of their students; meanwhile, many students are middle-aged pro-
Ski-Teaching Like Ranch Horse-Training --- 21
fessionals who've learned to throw their weight around in the busi-
ness world, often intimidating the young ski teacher in a subliminal
way. It takes awhile for a ski teacher to learn his trade and to pay
his dues; but, more often than not, about the time he gets to be any
good at ski teaching, and bonding with his students, economics and
ski-school politics and pecking orders drive him out into a 'real
career' . . . as a real-estate agent (---some ski towns have more real-
estate agents than houses for sale). The ski teacher you get, or at
least what you learn from him, bad or good, is often a reflection of
yourself and society. For me, skiing is a definite vocation, as is
writing; for most students, and young teachers, skiing is nothing
more than an avocation---it still bothers me a bit when someone
paying lots of money to ski with me . . . thinks I'm just some kid
taking time off from college (1990 observation). But, anyway, I
have been teaching skiing a long time (over ten years full-time by
1990, almost triple that by 2009); and, without jumping off any
cliffs, without winning any World Cup events, and without doing
any inverted aerials (or any 'sex changes' in a terrain park), I am
determined to show as many of you as I can . . . how easy it is, not
how hard it is, . . . in the shortest amount of time and for a mini-
mal amount of money---I don't have a realtor's license, and I
shouldn't have to feel like I need one. (A note about Realtors: a few
are okay and necessary; I just don't think everyone needs to become
one searching for that easy quick inflated million dollars. And look
what's happened in the American Economy with the Bursting of
the Housing Bubble in 2008-09.)
As Jane Dantz mentioned in the Foreword, the thing that
makes me gentler, more confident, and more efficient than most ski
teachers . . . is I teach skiing a lot like I would handle young horses.
I understand that skiers are scared all too easily, which can make
them tense and unable to think straight; and, being human, they
can get embarrassed easily, which can put a damper on their desire
to try new things; and, when their desire and proactive thinking is
stifled, their body goes into defensive fright-or-flight mode, and
they might even lash out at you with their ski poles.
Priorities: Safety, Fun, & Learning---
So we need some common sense priorities in skiing, just as in
anything else, like raising kids or breaking horses. Heart, Mind,
and Body are my priorities for any activity: even with my rough-n-
tumble ski-boy background, I learned to ski well because I had the
desire, and I put my mind to it, regardless of who my teachers
22 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
were---writing about skiing obviously helps me work smarter, not
harder, clearing my mind for reaching more students sooner. Ski-
ing is definitely physical, much like something else I can think of,
but this is not the only side: the heart and mind must work together
in order for the body to be safe, as a troubled body is usually the
sign of a troubled mind or heart---but don't let your strong desire
get the best of you by skiing a slope or snow or a technique you're
not ready for (---practicing safe skiing is a lot like practicing safe
sex).
Safety First---this begins with the mind, and it means taking
responsibility---Safety is no accident. You've got to have discipline
within yourself before you can have it with your horse or students
or your skis or maybe even your instructor. Besides your ski
equipment being right (which we'll discuss), your own body
should be right for the job through proper eating, exercise, stretch-
ing, and rest---a quick resilient slalom racing ski won't make your
body any more quick or resilient. Basically, the safe ski-learning
process means doing your homework on gentle hard-pack first, . . .
before taking it too steep or too deep or too sharp; and this keeping
track of the environment and skill-level slowly-but-surely can be-
come the student's responsibility just as much or more than the
instructor's. It is the student's job to keep the instructor honest:
just like a young horse, you have every right to question anything
your instructor wants to subject you to---and, the more time you
spend on the slopes, the easier this becomes. I am here to "sack
you skiers out," as it were, like an apprehensive young horse, get
you used to real life up on the mountain, get your skis used to us
humans in such a way that you'll feel relaxed and confident any-
where you ski---that's a safe horse to ride. As you'll see, I do this by
monitoring the three variables that make up a skier's comfort zone:
slope, snow, and task----I try to never make more than one of them
at a time new-n-different.
But I don't know a good well-meaning seasoned ski instructor
who hasn't taken a few students inadvertently too steep or too deep
too soon, especially with large group lessons, but also with some
privates; and I don't know any great colt breakers who haven't been
bucked off but good---it's not always possible to tell what negative
neuro-associations lurk in a ski student's mind. In the rare event
that you find yourself on something too steep or too deep, there is
always a safe way out, whether it be simple traversing or side-
stepping or calling for assistance from the Ski Patrol, whatever it
takes---a slight miscalculation does not always make an instructor
Ski-Teaching Like Ranch Horse-Training --- 23
guilty of manslaughter. Sometimes, if you accidentally make two
of the three variables new-n-different, you can make up for it by
making the third variable double-easy. (That reminds me of what
desperate ole Ed Begley says proactively in Hang 'Em High, con-
cerning all the mistakes he's been making with rough-tough Clint
Eastwood: "So, . . . that's three mistakes we've made: the bribe
money, we hung an innocent man, and we didn't finish the job. We
can't correct the first two, . . . but we can still finish the job." It's a
good thing Ed Begley wasn't a ski instructor.) If an instructor
makes an honest mistake, and he admits it, it's not a bad idea to try
to help him correct it; if you panic prematurely and scream bloody
murder before exploring all your options, it could cause him to
mishandle the whole situation even worse, not unlike big strong
half-witted Lenny in Of Mice and Men.
In group-lesson ski school, sometimes you see a process
known as a Doing a Split---with a large number of students and
classes, this can be too time-consuming: the Sender sends the stu-
dents down one after the other to the Splitter, and he splits them
into the various class levels. For a several-week series or several-
days of lessons, this is a good idea; but, to do a formal split for
every two-hour lesson, it can take up a big chunk of the lesson
time----and some returning customers get irritated when they have
to go through a split every time they sign up. And sometimes, with
several aggressive but less-experienced instructors, too many chiefs
and not enough Indians, even they won't agree on who goes where-
--and the split may end up pretty disorganized, a stampede split
"Texas style." I often finagle an informal split by telling the herd to
head for the chair-lift and meet at a point at the top: the strong ones
will get there first, and the weak ones tend to get there last---and
there's you're natural split, and it's not at all difficult to make a
switch of a student or two a few minutes later if need be. Many of
today's ski schools have wised up to a system of letting the stu-
dents pick their own level of ski lesson, and it seems to work better
than anyone ever dreamed. No matter which way the students are
split into classes, each instructor should know what class is above
his and which is below, in case you need to trade a student or two.
A good instructor can often work around a split, giving the
stronger students more difficult tasks than the weaker ones, as
you'll see, while keeping the whole class on slopes and in snow
conditions easy enough for the weakest student. The saddest and
most dangerous split you can have . . . is when there's a split and
there's only one student in the whole class. . . . I personally will go
24 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
anywhere my students take me, as everyone should try to be re-
sponsible for their own face-plants, and there are tough students
who demand to go steeper and deeper than they are really ready
for---it's more of a possible crime when the instructor is the reason
for the miscalculation . . . and doesn't take steps to fix it. In the
olden days, you didn't ski down much of anything until you were
able to climb up it first---that was not such a bad rule.
Of course, we should mention the Skier's Responsibility Code
to help reduce the risks in skiing----these are the basic traffic laws
of any ski area in the country: (1) Ski under control and in such a
manner you can stop or avoid other skiers or objects; (2) when ski-
ing downhill or overtaking other skiers, you must Avoid skiers
below you; (3) Do not stop where you obstruct the trail or are not
visible from above; (4) when entering another trail or starting
downhill, Yield to other skiers who have the right of way; (5) all
skiers shall Use ski-brake devices or retentions straps to help pre-
vent runaway skis; (6) you shall Keep off closed trails, and Obey
all posted signs; (7) before riding any ski-lifts, Learn and be obser-
vant of ski-lift procedures and safety. (Of course, since the advent
of snow-boarding along side skiers in the 1980s, ski areas have had
to finagle the 'snow-boarding' words in there. But, as I point out
extensively in one of my other books, snow-boarders have brought
about a whole set of new problems.) There. Obey the Code, or lose
your lift ticket, maybe your life, and raise insurance premiums and
lift-ticket prices. If you don't quite memorize the Skier's Responsi-
bility Code, it's pretty much common sense, and all ski area maps
that I've ever seen have it listed too.
I might point out, though, that each ski area has its own
personality, and some, in my opinion, have gone overboard in the
name of safety: I personally think that too much snow grooming
and obstacle marking and too many chair-lift safety-bars make ski-
ers complacent, and complacency has always been one of our big-
gest killers. For instance, if you ski mostly at a place like posh-n-
pampering Deer Valley for a couple of seasons, then one day you
take a trip to The Big One, notorious frontier-justice Jackson Hole,
you could ski off a five-hundred-foot cliff if you haven't learned to
pay attention. There will always be natural rocks and stumps and
logs just under the snow on big mountains, especially early in the
season, and it's impossible to clean them all up. We learn by ex-
perience, and you can only shelter someone with technology and
extra signs for so long before the real world gets them.
We tend to take avalanche safety for granted in-bounds at ski
Ski-Teaching Like Ranch Horse-Training --- 25
areas---this is the Ski Patrol's responsibility, but Nature could pos-
sibly fool them on rare occasions. Then there are rare scenarios that
could arise: for instance, when an advanced skier falls upside-down
in a powdery tree-well and suffocates, that's just one of the poten-
tial hazards of powder skiing---and I'll try to give you a safe plan to
handle that situation later in the book. Self-arrest during a fall on
the steepest of slopes is another advanced/expert phenomenon
we'll cover later---although sometimes I notice (jokingly) that some
first-day beginners could just about use the same advice when I see
them sliding down the bunny-hill on their butt on the tails of their
skis.
Perhaps ever