Customer Reviews

Sofa Ski School

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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The DVD accomplished its promise of taking me from the blue to the black diamond runs. I am a amateur skier and have taken 5 ski trips in the past 3 years to places like Vail, Alta, Heavenly, etc. I love to ski, and wanted to improve my skills, but could not afford the high price of lessons for something I do 6 times a year if I'm lucky. So instead of making that investment, I instead decided to try this DVD. I'll explain a little about the video and then say how I progressed on the mountain.

The video has three major topics. When you first turn it on it will show you the three major mistakes most skiers make that prevent them from being in control on more challenging runs. I learned that I often made two of these mistakes as described, and was surprised that it was this simple. I figured the skiing itself was so complicated and thought there could be a myriad of problems people make, for example with the skis, boots, the knees, legs, hips, body, arms, etc., which there probably are. However, Klaus sums these common mistakes up and I definitely saw what my problems were.

The second topic are the lessons and these are meat and potatoes of the video. Klaus has a series of lessons that he goes into about finding balance, using the outside ski, facing the danger, carving, and skiing steeps. These are all very well done and he explains the physics of skiing in a way that is very easy to understand. Some ski videos over think these concepts and they were a little confusing to me.

The third topic are drills. I practiced about three of them before trying to go down a black run. They get you program your brain to remember the feeling of these correct techniques. They help you unlearn your bad habits and learn new habits which improve your control and ultimately confidence and ability on the mountain.

I tried my first black run at Vail which I can't remember, but before this I had difficulty on steeper blue runs and often lost control and would fall back on my skis and lose control. I studied my learning cards before taking the plunge, took a deep breath, and I made it all the way down in complete control. It was exhilarating to do this and gave me a lot of confidence to try more difficult runs.

My one complaint is it does not cover moguls (bumps). I still have not learned how to ski easy mogul runs. But this gives me the confidence that with lessons, I will be able to handle these runs too. I understand in person lessons are most helpful (with the right instructor), but if you are interested in fundamentals and are on a budget, this video will suffice. After this, I plan to refine my technique with an instructor.

Really helped me an older beginning skier to master carving and go confidently into the green and begin the blue runs. Would have really liked to have short turns covered for more advanced hills, since these are what's holding me back from progressing now. Overall a good value and fun to watch before skiing. Worth the price!

This is an excellent video! Very clear explanation and demonstration of techniques in slow and fast mode. The Author is an excellent skier and really gets to the core concepts of being a well rounded skier.