All-Mountain Skier: The Way to Expert Skiing

5 Comments

1. Dr. Niall P. O'connor says:

   August 1, 2010 at 5:49 pm

   It’s a good basic book and a useful reference. But it won’t make you a good skier and it certainly won’t make you “an advanced skier overnight”.

   If you’re anything but a beginner take a look at “The Athletic Skier” by Warren Witherell and see what a really good ski manual is all about.
   Rating: 2 / 5
2. J. M. Gardner says:

   August 1, 2010 at 7:47 pm

   Well illustrated and clearly presented, this book represents an experienced top-level skier and ski-technician’s views on how to ski better.
   
   Sounds dry-as-dust doesn’t it? It’s not, it’s detailed all right, just the right level of detail, and it’s divided up into useful sub-categories of ski issues and challenges. Most chapters end with some ideas of things to try to improve your skiing.
   
   It remains to be seen whether it works for me as I’ve not been on a piste since reading the book, but it has been good to read, and interestingly put across.
   Rating: 4 / 5
3. Ally Bally G says:

   August 1, 2010 at 8:43 pm

   This book is definitely not for beginners.
   
   Each chapter considers a different aspect of skiing eg turns, bumps, pressure control, powder,etc and gives you drills to do on the slopes to help you improve. Some of the drills are however taught by instrucors during their lessons.

   There are 60 pages of the book that consider gear and the negative influence that the wrong gear can have on your skiing. These chapters can be quite confusing. After trying to improve the fit of a ski boot( without success and with the onset of other problems) I decided that the best route is to take the time to buy a new pair of ski boots.

   The chapters can give you ideas on what to improve and how and does give you thoughts for some of the more advanced situations ie crud, trees, powder,
   
   But the major problem with any ski book is that
   
   A) once you are on the slopes you will forget most of what you read and should be doing according to the author.
   
   B) sometimes the actual problem is not where you think it is but is elsewhere in your technique
   
   C) Often we think we are doing something the proper way but an outsider will tell us otherwise.

   Do not expect a miracle from this book and that your skiing improves ovenight.
   
   The best and quickest way to find out on how to improve your skiing remains a ski instructor.
   Rating: 3 / 5
4. Christos Stathopoulos says:

   August 1, 2010 at 11:17 pm

   A book that really worths every penny. Although it discusses a topic that relates to body stance and movement, the author achieves with appropriate pictures and examples to make you feel what you should try and how you can measure your progress.
   Rating: 5 / 5
5. Murat Imamzade says:

   August 2, 2010 at 1:12 am

   I recently took this book on my skiing trip (3 Valleys, France) and it proved to be very valuable to me. I’m an advancing intermediate skier with aspirations of moving onto advanced, but thought it best to sharpen up my existing skills and branch out and learn some new ones.

   I’ve only read a handful of chapters covering base skills such as steering, sidecut, and outside ski dominance. But it was apparent to me very quickly that reading this the night before, and putting into practice the next day, really helped.

   Descriptions in the book (from what I have read so far) are very clear and detailed. The sections describing how you should feel/not feel when you are trying out a skill quickly helped me identify if I was doing it right or wrong.

   In a short time, this book has certainly improved my overall skiing technique. On it’s own, I don’t expect it to make me an advanced/expert skier but I believe it can help me lay the foundation for a step in that direction. I cannot comment on how useful this book is for the advanced/expert levels, but if you are an intermediate, you should not miss out on this.
   Rating: 5 / 5