Product Details

• Actors: Lito Tejada-Flores
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• VHS Release Date: October 1, 1993
• Run Time: 58 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0941283127
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,204 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Veteran ski instructor Lito Tejada-Flores offers an hour filled with intense and detailed lessons designed to move skiers past what he calls "intermediate rut." Making the point that moving from being an intermediate to an expert skier isn't so much an advance in levels but rather learning an entirely new set of skills, Tejada-Flores zeroes in on what those elusive skills are. Much of the focus is on learning to turn properly, and the camera follows expert skiers who show the "proper arc of the turn." Drills are shown during which students are urged to visualize skiing on one foot to get the idea in their head that the "outside ski" during a turn has to handle all the action. The camera work is very good throughout, with much of the action shown in close-ups on the feet. Slow-motion footage is used judiciously to show precisely how a skier should position himself when making perfect turns. The lessons in this video contain a wealth of detail, yet it's presented in a manner that would make it easy to remember, and putting the lessons to work out on the slopes would no doubt be a good way to increase one's skill level. Also included is a booklet that essentially duplicates the information on the video. --Robert J. McNamara

Product Description

Welcome to Breakthrough on Skis #1, my first ski teaching video. Creating this video has been one of my most exciting ski teaching experiences. I think this video may be one of the best ski lessons I've ever given. And of course, I'm hoping that using this video will be one of your very best ski-learning experiences...

But calling this video of Breakthrough on Skis a ski lesson is a bit inaccurate. This one-hour tape contains all the material--the movements and techniques, the practice patterns and explanations--that I would normally share with intermediate skiers during one full week of lessons. And this tells you that however useful this video may be, it's not an instant shortcut to expert skiing. But it is a clear, effective, workable road map that can get you there. Using this tape to guide your own learning experience on skis, you can become an expert skier. And you should. It's well worth it. The payoff for the concentration, patience and practice you put into this process is enormous. You've suspected it all along, and I can confirm it. Expert skiers have more fun. And the freedom of effortless, efficient turns on any slope is not an unreasonable goal for most skiers-even though few seem to reach it.

My explanation of this distressing fact is simple. Most skiers, even experienced long-time skiers, don't ski like experts simply because they don't know how experts do it. Superficially, expert skiing looks like an improved, polished version of average intermediate skiing. But it's not. Experts use a fundamentally different set of movements patterns as they sail down the slopes. And the goal of this video (and of my book, ) is to show you these few critical expert movement patterns in such a clear, easy to understand way that you can literally transform your skiing. It works.

Of course, it would be easier if I could ski with you for a week. I could make sure it worked, by carefully structuring our time together, by choosing the practice terrain, by balancing short intense periods of concentrated practice with longer breaks of relaxing skiing where new skills "soak in" through repetition, by repeating demonstrations and explanations often enough that the key ideas and images of expert skiing remain sharp and clearly focused.

But instead of a week-long series of ski lessons, you have a videotape, a television and a VCR--and a lot of good will, a real desire for a breakthrough on skis. So I'd like to offer you a few suggestions on the best ways you can use this tape to achieve that breakthrough: some are obvious, some less so, some not at all.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars expert instructions, January 7, 2005

By 

PlayRight "incf" (OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breakthrough on Skis I: Expert Skiing Simplified (DVD)

This has got to be the best instructional skiing video I have yet seen--I've seen maybe 6 instructional videos already. My brother, an intermediate skier who introduced me to skiing, watched it with me and loved it as he learned many things also. The one hour video is well organized. Lito claims to have self-taught himself to ski before starting to teach others, but this bit of knowledge does not in any way diminish his credibility or the instructions he provides. I have compared his methods against other more "professional" instructions and found his to be equivalent to the others in combination. But the way he organizes and explains his techniques separates this video from the rest because his instructions are more readily absorbable, make the emphasis with far less repetition, and are maybe even more poetic. Some people sell videos but can't teach. In my opinion, Lito is a master instructor. He does have two other skiing DVD's in this series that I have not yet seen that might cover more advanced techniques such as the latest craze of two-footed skiing. This skill though is geared more toward the professional racers or for the super duper skiers who want the versatility for expert-level all terrain skiing. That would not be me when considering skill, athleticism, equipment (money) and time, which would perhaps be the same for more than 95+% of skiers out there. If you really want that, you might want to look at "Anyone Can Be An Expert Skier 2". The skills Lito teaches have been around for a century, so it's tried and true and definitely not outdated. For meer mortals who just love to ski and want to do better, start with the wedge (or snow plow) and then go to a very knowledgeable skiing friend or turn to this video or do both. You would not need to watch 6 or more videos like I did to find the right one.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best skiing instruction video for intermediates ever, July 17, 2000

By 

M. Sabol "Avid Reader" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Breakthrough On Skis I, Expert Skiing Simplified [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I first came upon this video in a rental house in Lake Tahoe and it literally changed the way everyone in the house skied. We were a group that ranged from experienced beginners to advanced skiers, and everyone found something in this video that made them a better skier, but the ones who really experienced the big breakthroughs were the intermeditaes who really learned how to carve turns.

I have taken this video on a number of group trips since and the reaction has always been the same. For some reason, in this video Ledo is able to explain the moves and feelings of proper skiing better than I have ever seen or heard it done before.

Put the video on each morning before heading out, and try one of his techniques each day. You can't help but improve with this video.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars yes you can break out of the intermediate rut, August 2, 2000

By 

eal (los altos, ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breakthrough On Skis I, Expert Skiing Simplified [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Great video, excellent compliment to the book. Lito really has a method for teaching you the skills to become an excellent skier. He can tell/show you more than one way to learn each skill, and they really pay off. His book and videos are easily worth their price which combined is less than one ski lesson!!! All this from someone who thought they could always be an intermediate who can now ski the back bowls at Vail.