Customer Reviews

The Athletic Skier

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was written in 1993 (it is now almost 2000) and you may be tempted to think that this book is outdated. You couldn't be more wrong! Everything in this book is as relevant, if not more so, that when it was written.

The section on canting and alignment is amazing. On first reading I was sceptical. However, I have recently been correctly canted and aligned and am amazed at the difference. As an instructor and racer, I work a lot on my skiing technique. Being correctly aligned has shown the biggest single improvement in my skiing for years.

The techniques discussed in this book are also very very good. Most of them are now more relevant than when the book was written as they allow you to get the most out of the new generation of carving skis.

Buy this book, read it, read it again, be aligned and then ski better than ever.

If you buy only one book on skiing, this should be it. It is a joy to read, and re-read. Keep it on the coffee table at your ski condo and read any random chapter. You'll learn something.

Warren is the father of carving long before it became a fad. It is "how the racers ski" (which is also the name of his first book from the early 70's that is a classic).

The content if outstanding and the writing and presentation is equally as nice. Glossy pages, excellent photography.

I've given this book to more hard core skiers than I'd like to say.

The section on balance and alignment alone are worth the money. Buy it!

As a full certified ski instructor with over 14 years teaching experience, and as a former club racer and High School coach, this is the only book I recommend to anyone (and everyone) that seeks to improve their skiing. In this book (and previously in his first book, How the Racer Skis) Witherell does more to define and clarify the skills necessary for achieving and mastering the highest level of skiing than the piles of PSIA books and manuals I accumulated during my five year progression from uncertified to full certified instructor. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL; Witerell also addresses the most critical, yet most overlooked, aspect of alpine skiing: THE EQUIPMENT. Most specifically BOOT FIT: fore/aft balance, and canting. In so doing Witherell attacks the "disease" that most skiers suffer from, poor fitting equipment (boots) that puts them out of balance and out of alignment and leads them to constantly struggle with compensating movements in a desperate and futile attempt to regain balance and compensate for poor alignment. So much ski instruction and (sadly) coaching only attempts to treat the symptoms (poor "technique": most often caused by compensating movements in attempt to try and correct equipment caused imbalance or alignment problems) and thus miserably fails the student or racer. When a student comes to a lesson for help with their skiing or a racer puts her trust in a coach they deserve to be taught and coached with, and given, the knowledge that is contained in this book.
Simply put for those that have knowledge of NASTAR handicapping, the information contained in this book (and two days skiing with Witherell) took me from an 18 or 19 handicap to a 7 or 8.
This book is even more critical and more cogent today than when it was first published 13 years ago considering today's shaped skis.
Buy this book. Read it. Address boot fit and canting. Read it again. Ski. Constantly play with your equipment, dialing it in. Ski. Play on your skis. Read this book again and again and again.
Skiing isn't as complicated as most instructors make it. Trust me. Trust this book. Warren Witherell and David Evard know what they're talking about.

The Athletic Skier takes a very unusal approach to ski instruction. It begins with the assumption that you cannot ski well if your boots are not fitted so that they are flat on the snow. It is so elementary, but so ignored in the world of ski instruction. It is also very difficult to accomplish, but worth the effort. Once you take the time to follow the authors' advice, your skiing will improve dramatically. Then if you work on carving the turns as they suggest, you'll realize another leap forward, part of which occurs just because you are standing on the skis correctly

As a PSIA Ski Instructor I would recommend folks be very careful about some of the canting information in this book. The book assumes that all bowlegged skiers are overcanted and while this is mostly true it is not absolutely true. Many bowlegged skiers (including myself) are naturally undercanted and the advice presented in this book is incorrect for us. This book seems to be the source for the 'if you are bowlegged, cant on the outside of the ski' common wisdom, and again that is simply not true in all cases. Canting solutions are individual and must not be over generalized. Instead, read the descriptions of what effects over or under canting can have and see which fits you. Then cant as necessary.

Also, I would say that this 'used to be' the definitive guide. After reading both this and All Mountain Skier by Mark Elling, I would definately recommend the latter. Ellings book is much more useful for actual practice. There is not much in here that is not better covered in Ellings book. Also, the technical information in Ellings book (on canting for example) is much more accurate.

What can I say that the book doesn't already say. A great book for beginning to intermediate skiers. Including several sections covering your equipment and proper fitting techniques.

Read this book many years ago and have looked for it since. Nice addition to my ski reference library.

The idea of canting at the base of the boot and not the boot itself is pure genious!