Bob & Mildred

Hi everyone, and welcome to another post direct from Méribel in the 3 Valleys. I hope you are all well and had a fabulous Christmas. We are in full swing with the festive celebrations here, and it's lovely being surrounded by people having fun on holiday. I realised a few days ago that the vast majority of my blog posts over the last year or so have been more about Méribel, snow conditions and what's been happening up the mountain. I've hardly spoken about ski instruction or teaching at all, which in hindsight is a bit silly really, especially because I am a ski instructor! So this time, I'm going to talk a little bit about this subject if that's alright with you?

As ever, all of the photos featuring on this post have been taken by me over the last ten days or so. Some of you may know that I'm a keen cyclist outside of the ski season, both road cycling and mountain biking. This is quite common with many ski instructors, there's a link with outdoor freedom and thrill on a bike similar to skiing. And of course the fitness element is conducive to skiing as well. I also enjoy keeping up to date with professional bike racing, mostly by listening to various podcasts.

For one reason or another I've been driving several thousands of miles this last year, and these podcasts have kept me company whilst cruising up and down the motorway. And it was no different driving down through France in Bob (for some reason my wife and I give our cars people's names). Normally in Bob I'd listen to audio books for the massive drive down to Méribel, but the podcasts took over this time. One of the poddies was an interview with a couple of American World Tour pro riders, proper super strong athletes.

The interview was about various subjects, for instance reviewing the past year and how preparations were going with their pre-season fitness training. It was very interesting listening to these guys, especially about their plans for building up fitness again after a deserved rest and recovery period. They explained that it was important to gradually build up their endurance level, alongside some strength training, before building the intensity (ie high heart rate power bursts, that kind of thing). All of this of course is being monitored and detailed by highly qualified sports coaches and scientists.

They said that every spring the rumour mills would appear about a latest technique, or that a new specialist coach would arrive, who would provide an athlete with a significant advantage. They explained that this might be true to give someone an extra percentage point perhaps. But without building the endurance over months, increasing strength, and all that nasty high intensity; no fancy new fitness technique swill work without the structured 'nuts and bolts' of building up fitness. 'Nuts and bolts' they said, nothing fancy they said, this got me thinking.......

There I was, driving towards the French Alps, suddenly pressing the pause button on this podcast and started to think about skiing again. By the way (for cycling fans), this particular podcast came from 'The Cycling Podcast' crew, episode no.158 titled 'Men in the Mirror', click here for the link.

Nuts and bolts, the basics. These are all terms I've used over the years during my ski teaching. No fancy words, or adoption of 'the latest' technique that's just been devised, or these apps that suddenly appear. Just good old fashioned 'nuts and bolts' for skiing. This doesn't mean I won't use different words, or descriptions and phrases, or try different teaching techniques for individuals. It's my job to do my best to help make suggestions that will improve a skier of whatever standard. But the basics of good balance, effective steering, route and terrain selection are all fundamental things when it comes to improving skiing performance. The nuts and bolts, the basics.

Let me give you an example. Just over a week ago I had a lesson where I skied with a lovely couple, from England, but have lived in France since the 1990s. Let's call them Bob and Mildred, made up names. They had skied for several decades, and wait for it, had never had any ski instruction other than as beginners. Bob and Mildred explained to me that for most of the time they were able to cope with blues and red pistes, and had little interest in blacks. Fair enough. But when the snow or weather conditions changed/deteriorated, they didn't know what to do.

That all sounded good as a starting point, so we jumped on a ski lift then went for a slide; I soon did that ski instructor thing where I looked over my shoulder many times at their skiing whilst formulating a plan for the session. It was fascinating seeing their skiing. I opted for the usual approach, take things steady, and talk about the basics. I asked them how they were keeping their balance. Once this was established, we finely tuned this area of their skiing.

Next up, I asked them what it was they were doing that made them turn, ie change direction. When I asked them, they looked completely flummoxed. "Not to worry" I said, let's do a few turns and see if you can feel what it is you are doing, then we can fine tune again. We skied off, made twenty odd turns, then stopped for another chat. The flummoxed look was still there. They were stunned that they didn't know how they were turning, but they knew that they were. And I guess this is why they were getting into a pickle when snow conditions became more challenging. They didn't know how to become more assertive with their technique when things got trickier. No problem of course, we broke it down, and simplified how we steer on skis.

It was so nice for them to be open to suggestions, and embrace fresh ideas. Ideas that are the nuts and bolts of skiing, the fundamentals. The fact that they hadn't had any ski lessons for decades, and went away at the end of the ski lesson with a beaming smile, was incredibly rewarding for them but also for me as a teacher. A trained eye was able to look at their skiing, and give suggestions for improvements. Just like how a highly qualified sports scientist can make sure that pro athletes/cyclists can improve their fitness for the coming racing season.

The next time I plan on doing the weekly shop down the mountain, I'll load another podcast into my phone, before jumping in Bob (my car) for the trip. Who knows what the subject matter will be, but it will be interesting to see if there's another crossover between cycling and skiing. Don't forget to stay in touch via The Socials if that's your thing. For links to these I'm martinhemsleyski on Instagram, Martin Hemsley on Twitter, and mh2 Ski on Facebook. I tend to post more frequently on these platforms than I do on this blog page. That's it for now, do come back soon. As ever, don't forget to Live With Passion. Martin.