Customer Reviews

Anyone Can Be an Expert Skier II: Powder, Bumps, and Carving

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After being trained by self prescribed professionals of PSIA and being one myself for 25 years I have now found what was wrong with our methodology and technique. Reading this book and skiing with Mr. Harb and Ms. Rogers has re-ignited my love for skiing. The methodology is sound, the results are overwhelming and skiing is more fun than ever. For anyone that is a skier or wants to become one, this is the way to sure success and fun.
The book is easy to read, laid out well and from personal experience on the snow absolutely effective.
Not applying this technique to your skiing or teaching would be a tragic loss of what skiing is all about.
"Ski the Edge, Not the Wedge"

The "Expert II" book from Harald Harb was worth waiting for. It is full of effective tips on how to become a better skier. The two books in this series are in my opinion THE books on skiing to own if your shelf space limits the selection to only two. (A third book to own would be "The Athletic Skier" by Warren Witherell.) Harb's new book is surely provocative (especially his ideas on stance width), but we need to remember that history proves that there are always new ideas coming along, and it would be stupid to dismiss them out of hand without trying them first. I have tried the new techniques taught in this exeptional book, and instantly I became a better skier. I ski with greater finesse, better control, a cleaner carve and I save a lot of energy. The bottom line is that this way of skiing is FUN!!

I have had the pleasure of skiing with Harald Harb and can truly attest to the fact that his method works. I have been a "stuck" intermediate skier for years and with a few new ideas from Mr. Harb I was on my way to breaking out of my rut! This new book provides excellent guidance and information for the skier and the COLOR photos are a sight to see. The photos break down the ideas into step-by-by-step lessons. Great idea! Also a companion video is advertised in the book and it is the most professional ski instruction video I have ever watched. I recommend both of Mr. Harb's books and videos to anyone who wants to have more fun on the mountain!

I read Anyone Can Be An Expert Skier 1 and also had the DVD. There was no question as to whether I should get this second volume. I have to say, this season I've decided to stick with one learning method and PMTS is it. And this season, I'm skiing better than ever. I've even had the opportunity to ski with one of Mr. Harb's colleagues and be taught the method firsthand as well. I can say, it's even simpler than it looks in the books.

I found the more I perfect Harb's PMTS method, the more effortless, efficient, and confident my skiing. With much less muscle strain and more control.

This is my one gripe about both books, however (and their DVDs). For a teaching method that is supposed to target and improve the beginner-intermediate and advanced-intermediate alike, Mr. Harb's presenation is highly academic and wordy. I understand that he wants to be comprehensive about the method. Understood. However, reading through both books (ACES II is less of an offender) sometimes feels like reading through a Boeing 767 Engineering manual.

The way the chapters are presented and the sections titled hardly differentiates one from the other. Even in the first book, the names of some sections were only different by one word out of four. Then very simple moves would be described repeatedly, redundantly, and ad nauseum, proving him the King of Overstatement. I often wondered while reading, "Couldn't HH have devised more memorable lesson names for the lessons than (e.g.) 'Inside Foot to Little Toe Edge'?"

These are all very simple moves. They shouldn't have been so complicated and confusing to comprehend. I wonder if I would have been able to grasp it at all had I not had some live (albeit informal) instruction from a PMTS pro.

I don't think Mr. Harb should worry that his PMTS method is so simple it would make too short of a book otherwise-- he includes so much other fantastic information on gear and conditioning that he could have cut the PMTS lessons copy to be more reader-friendly.

I think Mr. Harb once nailed simplicity in his initial DVD, when he simply professed, "Release, Transfer, Engage." Other than that, he succeeded in confusing the heck out me many times by overstating principles and jumping topic instead of focusing on simplifying RTE movements one at a time.

One thing I do love is the cheat sheets you can tear out and bring with you on the slopes. These are ingenius, and shows how much HH wants to teach us great skiing. In fact, I don't know how any other ski book or video has gotten along without something similar. HH answered a common dilemma for me, who looks at many skiing videos: How do you remember the lessons from a book or video to actually practicing on-slope?

Perhaps HH should have used the cheat sheets as a starting point for the book chapters-- they're much simpler and broken down much more logically.

I think once you read and re-read the book and live with it for a while, get used to HH's lengthy method of presentation and simplify it yourself, this is the only ski instruction you may ever need. Unfortunately I wish Mr. Harb did the simplifying for us in advance.

I still highly recommend for anyone who wants to get out of the Intermediate Rut.

This follow-up to the enormously popular "Anyone can be an Expert Skier 1", expands on the "Harb" Direct Parallel instruction techniques by adding much needed insight and information on skiing in a wide variety of mountain conditions--powder, crud, steeps, bumps--while mastering the art of carving.

"Anyone can be an Expert Skier 2" is presented in a clear, easy-to-follow format. Colour photographs provide excellent illustrations of the skiing techniques described in the text. Carefully created photomontages provide the reader with step-by-step visuals that readily convey the teaching points of the "Harb" Direct Parallel method.

The "Harb" Direct Parallel method of instruction is a radical departure from traditional ski instruction technique. I found that the moves and exercises he used in the books were easy to learn and emulate on the ski slopes. The speed of my improvements were mind blowing and the great thing about Harald's technique is that you can take it to any hill in any county and in any conditions.

Clear and concise, effective and accessible, Anyone can be an Expert Skier 2--Powder, Bumps and Carving is appropriate for advancing level skiers.

Bs"D

Harald Harb and his innovative Primary Movements Teaching System (PMTS) is far ahead of anything else available today (unless you are a World Cup professional ski racer from a national team with top coaches, in which case it will be the same level - but tailored to recreational skiers of all abilities).

Actually, Harald Harb was a World Cup racer, and coach to successful WC racers as well. His personal skiing skills far surpass the, even above average, "mainstream" PSIA instructor.

But, this is not his forte. What makes him invaluable to us, the consumer skiing public, is that he has deeply and accurately analyzed high level modern skiing technique, and boiled it down to the most basic and essential movements, the first movements which set everything else in proper "motion" (the Primary Movements) making it easy for even a beginner to speed through the learning process - all the more so with advanced students who will appreciate the new clarity on the fine points still holding them back.

This is exactly why the mainstream is worried about him, and tries to discredit him. With these books and DVDs, no one will ever want to go backwards again to instruction that is not just inferior, but often contradictory to effective technique. Unfortunately, as consumers, we are all too familiar with planned entropy (the constant process of breaking down and deterioration built in to so many products - so a new purchase will soon become necessary again). Here, the teaching doesn't just disappear and become obsolete; it was never really there to begin with - planned non-effectiveness and need to continue forever without progress. How many skiers are trying for years to improve with the double talk mumbo jumbo that they hear from many ski instructors?

[By the way, the validity of the fact that Harald Harb has correctly perceived the correct movements and their sequence (for example the lifting or lightening of the inside ski), can be easily seen by looking at video footage of any top WC racer - he shows all of this in his videos as well. The very movements that the PSIA guys want to say are just incorrect tricks to make a business for himself being different than them, can be clearly seen to be exactly what the top skiers in the world are doing. Well, if the movements, now proven to be correct, are different than what the mainstream is preaching, then they must be wrong. How ironic, they just shot themselves in the "foot". They deserve that for distorting the truth and stealing from the public.

Also, ironically, the move used as an example above, dubbed the "Phantom Move" is the most primary of all. Mr. Harb called it that, because when he himself was a PSIA Demo Team member - their highest level!, he tried teaching it to his fellow instructors who were giving poor instruction, but they couldn't get it! Despite it being indeed what the greatest skiers in the world were doing, it was so foreign to them that they just couldn't get it (they obviously still don't, or don't want to) and so he called it the mysterious "Phantom" Move. This DVD is worth it just for that one move alone. That one move is what sets everything else almost automatically in motion. Sounds easy eh? It is.]

The truth is that some of the mainstream instructors do ski well and are also sincere in there teaching intentions. For them it comes more naturally, and they have probably been skiing for a very long time. But, they don't really understand themselves what they are doing, and certainly can't pass it on to another. They just know how to DO it. It is the giant corporate machine behind them who makes instructional policy that not only holds back there students progress, but the instructor's as well. They are not sitting around trying to figure out the latest greatest technique or method to teach it, they are sitting around trying to figure out how to milk the great instructional cow for all its worth. PSIA is a national chain. Its big business.

Oh, Harald Harb is a revolutionary rebel alright, and to all of our benefit (except the "businessmen" who say: "Ah, you're progressing nicely, but you are still not quite getting it (the million incoherent details of tens of movements that you are supposed to keep in your mind simultaneously and execute just as mysteriously and haven't changed your skiing - except maybe for the worse), well, you'll just have to take some more lessons there sir. No problem, we'll fix you up".

These materials really are the best you can get. They are easy to understand and follow, and I recommend them as highly as possible.

I have heard it said that you cannot learn to ski from a book. Well admittedly snow, skis and boots are required (and maybe a skifield) but when all is said and done PMTS is probably the best place to start (and finish). This book is written with self instruction in mind.
Having received ski lessons 'on the hill' (and in what now may be regarded as movement dysfunction) and then reading this book (amongst his others) ... well I have been spared a "world of pain". The world of ski instruction is diverse but if you want to shorten your learning time and avoid an unending search for quality instruction accompanied by "skills" that you don't have to abandon as you improve then this book is for you.
Harald Harb espouses ski instruction which begins from the ground up and the DVD that accompanies this book summarises PMTS as "efficient and immediately effective". That it is. This book provides a linear approach which is both written and visual so it should appeal to a variety of learners, intermediates and experts and their learning styles.
Make no mistake though that at times reading this book can be heavy going, ie, it requires some concentration and diligence as well as requiring numerous readings to get the maximum benefits. Therein lies the strength of the book. You can never read it enough. You will certainly become a wiser (more weary at least) consumer regarding ski instructors/instruction.
PMTS should be ski instruction's benchmark.
My only reqret is that I did not discover this sooner.

Book 2 picks up where book 1 left off and concentrates on refining the phantom move and teaches the foundation for skiing on the rest of the mountain (black runs, bumps, crud and powder) using simple energy efficient movements.

The author explains skiing in a straight forward manner and gives you many easy to understand drills that build the foundation for all moutain skiing. The written descriptions are accompanied by step-by-step pictures that show how to do each drill. This is an "action" book. You read the material and then practice what you have learned (there are even tear out cards you bring to the slopes to help remind you of the different drills).

The accompanying DVD is a terrific supplement to the written material but it doesn't replace the book. Think of the book as the instructor and the dvd as the ever faithful assistant putting on a demonstration.

I'm not sure why some of the other reviewers don't like this particular system...all I can say is that it has worked well for our family.

Here is the classic battle, the old school defending itself against the innovator, Harald Harb. The only poor reviews you will find about Harb's books and DVD's are from PSIA instructors, who can't hold his jock-you know-what-ever.

They are jealous, intimidated and out of style, their only recourse is to slam the only effective teaching system on the planet. If you really are serious about your skiing and you want to cut your ski learning time by twenty, use Harb's materials. There are not just a handful of Harb fanatics, there are thousands. Have a look at some of the web sites, the PMTS forum, for instance and the Real Skiers web site. Make up your own mind, don't let the PSIA pollute your skiing or your fun for skiing.

I bought this book for my husband who is an intermediate skier and he loves it - he has watched the DVD several times and is reading the book - he is especially excited about using the tear out guide cards in the back of the book for reference on the slopes. I am a beginner so of course I am now ordering Expert Skier One!