15 replies to this topic

[KayDub]

So at the mountain where I live/work, there's a big race series that goes on. (http://www.beavercre...Race Series.axd)

A lot of instructors end up doing it, though I've never taken part. It's mostly alpine skiers but there's a few telemarkers and snowboarders. My friend is a snowboard instructor who also skis and she approached me the other day to join their team. The captain is a crazy older Australian guy, who fits the stereotype of an old school ski instructor (crazy, womaniser, etc.) He found out having a girl who is in a monoski gets like double the points.

Right now I ski greens. I'm working on hockey stopping and have just gotten shifting my hip to turn without leaning my shoulder. I freak out sometimes because I think I'm going to fall. When I do, I have a hard time getting going again. Since I'm leaning into the hill on my outside edge, I'm uncomfortable shifting my weight downhill just enough to flatten my ski, then get going forward and turning again. I'm working my way up but I haven't been able to ski as much as I want because I've been working or everyone else has been working. The mountain is very inaccessible unfortunately. The snow area is up steps from the village and from there I can't maneuver my chair in the deep snow. There's no paths at all to get to either the chairlift on the far right or the gondola on the far left. From there, the monoski and other adaptive equipment is kept in a shed, across the snow from the village and in the middle of both chairs, so it's impossible for me to get there and to a chair on my own. On top of that, the lifties are pretty useless despite being training multiple times. When I'm with someone, I have to walk the lifties through helping me into the gondola and the person I'm with ends up doing almost all the work dragging me in and out anyway.

I used to race for a club as a kid and then in high school. But that wasn't in mono. The course is down a black on the main part of the mountain, that is pretty difficult to get to (my mountain is laid out with a small beginner's/kid's hill with a gondola, then a main mountain with all hard blues and blacks, with the upper part of the mountain (you take a second chair lift to get to the top) being all greens. Most beginners download after skiing the top. My friend is allowed to tether me so for the first race that should help my confidence, partially because I'm still working on stopping. I do eventually want to do it all by myself though.

The first race for me is on Monday... eek. My fiance had yesterday off and I improved a lot and tomorrow off and we'll ski a lot more then. But that's it, hopefully I can find people to ski with before the race Monday.

Wish me luck! I'll definitely need it.

[edlee]

Outstanding, K. I'm transmitting all the good vibes I can.

Have you thought about one of those big front wheels that mount to your chair, for getting around in the snow more easily. I can't remember the name, right now,, but Rue has one and says it works well for that. We also had some discussions about chains for our wheelchairs last winter. Maybe someone has come up with a good design by now.

Good luck with the race.
ed

[D. Smith]

Good luck!!! I just mono-skiied for the first time yesterday and I know exactly what you mean about some of the difficulties. Have fun and let us know how it goes!

[KayDub]

Thanks guys! It's frustrating because I used to be a ski racer and have been skiing since I was 2. I also snowboard. Well snowboarded I suppose. Anyway. So getting back to struggle with the basics on something is hard. Especially when I know the technical aspects and mechanics of skiing so well and they really do carry over to the mono, it's just a matter of getting my body to do it. My fiance says I need to be easier on myself, it's hard to do weight shifting when you can't feel your legs or move your entire core. Lots of instructors (AB) have been taking the adaptive classes and getting an intro on the mono and bi and talking about how easy it is. Grrrrrr. He says they can cheat and move their legs and aren't trying difficult terrain (though I struggled the most the second day on the very beginner area). I know like anything it takes a lot of time and effort to master and I'm willing to put that hard work in. I've gotten comfortable with basic complete turns down the entire beginner hill and now just have to practice a lot and start to improve the terrain.

[wheeliebear75]

Hey that's great news! I know you've been wanting to get out there on the slopes more & this will be a perfect place to "SHOW UM" you rock the slopes standing AND SITTING!

[D. Smith]

You aren't by any chance near the breckenridge area are you? The adaptive clinic I went to had an instructor who teaches out there. You gotta be easier on yourself. However, that being said, I was hard on myself for not picking it up right away and I don't have any experience with skiing.

[KayDub]

D. Smith, on 20 January 2012 - 07:51 AM, said:

You aren't by any chance near the breckenridge area are you? The adaptive clinic I went to had an instructor who teaches out there. You gotta be easier on yourself. However, that being said, I was hard on myself for not picking it up right away and I don't have any experience with skiing.

About 45 minutes by road west, I'm at Vail/Beaver Creek. I ski Breck a fair bit. Was is Sarah Wills by chance? She lives down the street from me and is pretty much my hero, she fought Vail and taught in their adaptive program until this season and then left for Breck because Vail still sucked as far as letting her teach.

[greybeard]

edlee, on 19 January 2012 - 08:20 PM, said:

Outstanding, K. I'm transmitting all the good vibes I can.

Have you thought about one of those big front wheels that mount to your chair, for getting around in the snow more easily. I can't remember the name, right now

FreeWheel

[megatrig]

I seem to recal/know/think this is your first season as a "wheelchair user" skier?

Sooooo as everyone says .. try to be a little gentler on yourself! Easily said lol

I know what you mean though. As an AB I skiied everything1!! It does translate so well to a monoski as you say!!

After this season you'll be more confident, relaxed and buzzing I'm sure by how you come over.

Maybe treat this as your learning year??

The thing is I guess you get frustrated? Totally understand that too!

Happy skiing

[Tetracyclone]

Kaydub,
Yeah, you and most of us get very frustrated comparing what we can do now with what we did before. Knowing the technique for monoskiing is a small advantage compared to the task of learning all new coordination in this new body of yours. Remember how long it took to get coordination when you were little? Maybe not, but be patient. You have been reborn into a VERY different vehicle. I think you will get more trunk control as you focus on it. Do some exercises specifically geared to that if you do not already.

We do suffer from comparing ourselves to our memories. All I can say is you have lots of company there! Shoosh on...

[D. Smith]

KayDub, on 20 January 2012 - 09:53 AM, said:

About 45 minutes by road west, I'm at Vail/Beaver Creek. I ski Breck a fair bit. Was is Sarah Wills by chance? She lives down the street from me and is pretty much my hero, she fought Vail and taught in their adaptive program until this season and then left for Breck because Vail still sucked as far as letting her teach.

No, it wasn't Sarah. Her first name is Natalie but I have no idea about her last name. That might have been a good thing to get I guess when talking to her. lol

[Talan Skeels-Piggins]

Have you considered heading to another ski hill to get some lessons from an experienced mono skier? Park City, Winter Park, Aspen (to name a few), have good programmes running.

Park City has a fully accessible bunkhouse to stay in (and low cost), free transport to the slopes via the local accessible bus service, Nissin/Praschberger mono skis (if required), mono skiers as instructors, easy access to slopes, chair lifts that have trained lifties, NO GONDOLAS, great terrain, race team training, friendly atmosphere. Last thing you want to do is pick up bad habits when learning, as you well know from your time as an AB skier, trying to get rid of bad habits is far harder the longer they have to become the norm for your skiing. In my humble opinion, if you want to progress, then it is better to learn with an experienced mono skier, and one who understands exactly what it takes to ski a mono for real.

Just food for thought. Have fun racing. Kind regards. Talan.

[ajl338]

its worth learning correct things from the start but i have found as you do in everything you are taught you are initially taught basic skills and they arent infact what you need for advanced things.

I didnt ski standing up but have just had am amazing year on the snow. I now wouldnt recognise the skiing i did this week last year.

I was initially taught to use the riggers to steer "open the door with the rigger" to go round the corner, this is really tough on your wrists but last week i finally understood something. Do you remember how you steer a ski when standing, shifting weight forward to engage the front end, looking left to go left etc. it is possible to steer a mono inthe same way. we were running green / blue last week doing nice s turns with no riggers on the floor, steering just with the body.
you do need to be looking down hill otherwise it just gets edges and off it goes. you need to think of your spine as a pivot point and your breast bone and head looks down the hill at all times and then the ski and your lower body pivots undernearth it.

it is a little harder to get a ski to carve sitting down as it isnt as easy to load it as standing up, you have to lean forward and it takes a few turns before the shock kicks in properly and gives you the re-bound you need.

I have no idea what level you are / function you are but have observed that the few people i know with higher injuries tend to be mounted on their skis a tiny bit front heavy to get the front edge to engage. Have you had your setup dowl tested. Ideally with the dowl rod under the centre of the binding you should be able to nod your head and the ski tip forward and aft.

[Talan Skeels-Piggins]

ajl338, on 24 January 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

its worth learning correct things from the start but i have found as you do in everything you are taught you are initially taught basic skills and they arent infact what you need for advanced things.

I didnt ski standing up but have just had am amazing year on the snow. I now wouldnt recognise the skiing i did this week last year.

I was initially taught to use the riggers to steer "open the door with the rigger" to go round the corner, this is really tough on your wrists but last week i finally understood something. Do you remember how you steer a ski when standing, shifting weight forward to engage the front end, looking left to go left etc. it is possible to steer a mono inthe same way. we were running green / blue last week doing nice s turns with no riggers on the floor, steering just with the body.
you do need to be looking down hill otherwise it just gets edges and off it goes. you need to think of your spine as a pivot point and your breast bone and head looks down the hill at all times and then the ski and your lower body pivots undernearth it.

it is a little harder to get a ski to carve sitting down as it isnt as easy to load it as standing up, you have to lean forward and it takes a few turns before the shock kicks in properly and gives you the re-bound you need.

I have no idea what level you are / function you are but have observed that the few people i know with higher injuries tend to be mounted on their skis a tiny bit front heavy to get the front edge to engage. Have you had your setup dowl tested. Ideally with the dowl rod under the centre of the binding you should be able to nod your head and the ski tip forward and aft.

Have a look at this short clip (), it might help with your carving. One part shows how the shock loads up during the turn on slow motion. However, you actually have to look right in order to turn left, sounds odd but it gets your shoulders in the correct Athletic position during the Initiation and then onto the Stacked position for the Apex and Impulse at the end of the turn. You need to reach forward with the rigger rather than 'opening the door' (which drops the inside shoulder and causes head-dip), keep chin up, look down the hill, engage your core, use diaphragm and deep Inter Spinae muscles (which can be activated below level of lesion), and keep smiling for the camera!!

[KayDub]

Talan Skeels-Piggins, on 22 January 2012 - 11:34 PM, said:

Have you considered heading to another ski hill to get some lessons from an experienced mono skier? Park City, Winter Park, Aspen (to name a few), have good programmes running.

Park City has a fully accessible bunkhouse to stay in (and low cost), free transport to the slopes via the local accessible bus service, Nissin/Praschberger mono skis (if required), mono skiers as instructors, easy access to slopes, chair lifts that have trained lifties, NO GONDOLAS, great terrain, race team training, friendly atmosphere. Last thing you want to do is pick up bad habits when learning, as you well know from your time as an AB skier, trying to get rid of bad habits is far harder the longer they have to become the norm for your skiing. In my humble opinion, if you want to progress, then it is better to learn with an experienced mono skier, and one who understands exactly what it takes to ski a mono for real.

Just food for thought. Have fun racing. Kind regards. Talan.

Thanks for the advice. I very rarely ski outside my home resort. I was raised in the Vail/Beaver Creek area and still ski here. It's mostly a financial thing, I have a free Vail season pass from work and I don't have to spend money on accomodations, since I can just be at home. I have skied at Whistler and in Utah though. I really do want to go try out other adaptive programs.

Before my injury I was an adaptive instructor and certified to teach the mono-ski. Obviously that's very different than being able to monoski at a high level with a SCI, but it does help me with some backround. Right now I've been out skiing with two of the best adaptive instructors at our mountain (Beaver Creek). They're both AB but mono-ski pretty proficiently and are wonderful teachers. I've also had the opportunity to go out with the only other para in the Valley (not a lot of people live here full time) and she was on the US Paralympic team (basically she kicks total ass at skiing).

But I was still looking at going to Park City this season to go visit some friends and now that I know that they have a really great set up for monoskiing, it gives me more motivation.

And as an update, I did the first race! I actually have progressed a whole lot since I posted this. I'm solid at turning to stop and can confidently go up and down the beginner mountain with no help. Once I get better at hockey stopping I think I'll be able to ski harder terrain without someone tethering me. The day before the race I went on my first blues (hard blues, almost blacks) and at first struggled a bit. I made great right turns but when I turned left I leaned my shoulder in instead of shifting my hip and would fall against the snow. My teammate/friend/instructor/tetherer helped coach me about making sure I was looking down the mountain which helped me get in the proper position with my shoulders and hips and make more solid complete turns. I even made it down the "funnel" a difficult icy narrow stretch on one of the main blue runs that's actually a black and we only let advanced ski school classes go down.

The race itself went really well. I was tethered because I'm still uncomfortable with speed since I can't hockey stop precisely so I get afraid of getting out of control and bail out. We had gone through Pay to Race, a small race course, to practice before and did really well. The hardest part was the starting gate, trying to get my teammate who was tethering me, through the gate and down the steep pitch. For the race she held onto the bucket for that first stretch and I turned right to slow us down enough to get back into our regular turning rhythm. Unfortunately I thought we were going slower than we were so I didn't make the right turn as long as necessary so we crashed right after because of too much speed. My teammate's ski got caught on my mono and she got knocked out of her bindings, it was a pretty good crash. But we got up and were still in the race because we hadn't missed the gates (it was a GS set up). From there we only had another very minor crash and still stayed in the gates so my time counted. I felt very comfortable with my turns and was really carving well. A few times I got off balance and had to save myself by putting more weight on my outriggers than I should have but oh well.

I'll be practicing all week and I hope to get my hockey stops down this week so I can be more independent on harder terrain. I also want to work on completing my turns too. My goal for next week's race is not to crash and to make the gates again. My eventual goal is to finish a race without a tether with a competitive time, but that's not until March.

It was really amazing and I'm so glad I pushed myself. A few days before the race, I had a really rough day of practice. It was my first time out without someone and I kept crashing on the magic carpet. I stayed out for four hours crashing and crashing and crashing trying to avoid all the parents with kids on harnesses and snowboarders trying to strap in. It was disheartening since the day before I had skiied the entire beginner mountain myself. But I kept with it and the next day made solid turns all the way down the carpet and went on to ski the entire beginners mountain with absolutely no one with me! The next day was race practice and I was able to ski down the main mountain on harder terrain with someone tethering me. So basically it was a huge improvement and I'm sooooo glad I pushed myself so hard because I was really able to improve!!

Here's a picture of me in the race gates. It's on video so I'll try to find that and post it.

[ajl338]

cheers talan
the looking left turning right etc is what i have just discovered. For the past 6 months people have been talking to me about 'C' shapes and separation and not dropping one shoulder. Two weeks ago i thought i was doing it well, except the video proved otherwise. I couldnt work out how to not drop a shoulder until i got my hand slapped for "opening the door", which is silly as i can ski for the most part without riggers by using body weight.

It finally twigged in my head about 'C' shapes by reaching not rotating my wrists and keeping my head looking where i want to go and my body weight downhill, suddenly the ski does what i want it to. I cant believe it has taken that long but using the GS ski rather than my slalom made a difference, it happens a fraction slower allowing you to think through the turns until eventually you have done enough for the muscles to remember.

I've just had a cunning plan, i cant bare to be without skiing for 6 weeks while my arm is in plaster, i'm so desparate to go on the snow i am planning on going bi-skiing at the weekend!, its better than nothing. i have non working legs and only one arm but i can still lean and nod my head!