Skiers find direction with Nice Turns

Last week I found myself riding up a chair at Schweitzer with three instructors, on my way to be taken apart and reassembled for the ultimate early-season tune up.

My good fortune was courtesy of Gary Carlson, an instructor at the Schweitzer Snowsports School. He invited me to check out a free trial of Nice Turns, a program for skiers passionate about their sport trying to hit the next level.

“Nice Turns is a different model of teaching that allows for steady improvement throughout the season,” Carlson said. “It allows you to build on previous lessons. Every week for eight weeks you’re back with the same coach who knows your abilities, knows what you’ve been working on and continues to take you from simple to complex skill levels.”

Nice Turns begins in January. Each session lasts 3 1/2 hours. Slots are available for 115 students on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registration is conducted online at niceturns.net. An honest assessment of your skill level lands you in a class of five students or less with the same capability.

When I talked with Carlson about 40 spots remained open. The program sells out every year. There’s a standby list.

“The biggest problem is bad habits,” he said. “To break them, we isolate certain movements and create sensory feedback with drills I call ‘Shazam Drills’ where all of a sudden skiers feel something they’ve never felt before. Seeing the light bulbs go off and the smiles break out is one of the real pleasures we get as instructors.”

When the program begins students are captured on video skiing drills designed to expose weaknesses and strengths. Comparison with video shot eight weeks later is evidence of the results. Carlson sent me up the hill with PSIA Level III instructors Larry Keister and Pat Murphy, plus Terry McLeod, director of the Schweitzer Snowsports School.

“At the beginning of the season you don’t quite have your stance back yet,” Keister said. “The more you start to feel what’s going on under your feet, the more sensory feedback you get. This is a sport of sensation. It’s very seductive. So we’re going to try to get seduced here.”

Keister asked me to follow him as he spooled out arcs of various shape and size. I tried to match his turns. Murphy and McLeod followed like chase planes, observing and analyzing. Keister pulled away. The harder I tried to match his turns, the further I fell behind.

“The fact that I pulled away from you illuminated a little tweak in your skis when you initiate the turn,” he said. “It’s a matter of getting more efficient with your movements.”

As we discussed my flaws, I felt a ski pole banging the cuff of my boot. It was Murphy, exhorting me to widen my stance. Advice about feet, hands and knees from all three helped me do better matching Keister’s turns. Then we moved on to steeper terrain for “line progression.”

One by one, I watched Keister, Murphy and McLeod ski past me. Each skied down to four turns past the lead skier. Then I skied past them as they scrutinized my descent. Room for improvement became obvious. Closely watching three pros demonstrate technique to try and emulate them was a rare opportunity.

After a few runs I felt like a different skier than when we started.

“If this were your only session, the chances of regressing back to the way you used to ski are pretty good,” he said. “But when we’ve got you next week and the week after that to reinforce and keep building on your progress, that’s the real strength of the program.”

If your New Year’s resolution is to be a better skier in 2008, a program like Nice Turns could make it one you actually keep.