Hulya’s Iced Skis
When sliding back downhill I supported one on either side holding onto a ski pole across the front of my body. Julia was hampered by ice sticking to the base of her skis but it took me some time to realise this was happening to her – and until then I thought that she was very tense and “resisting” the accelerations – but it was her skis dong the resisting.
Kutay’s Frustration
The conditions were very bad with heavy snowfall which was a bit overwhelming for Kutay and made it difficult for him to move easily. Kutay became easily frustrated – but he enjoyed the speed when straight running. He just didn’t enjoy the jumping exercises I gave him because it was a little bit hard to do – jumping up with two feet and swinging both skis slightly to one side.
(All the photos shown here were taken the following day because the blizzard made photography impractical.)
We had started an hour late because a fatal accident on the road concerning a Tignes lift operator had delayed all the traffic getting to the ski stations in the morning. After lunch it was Ilay and Bugra who came with me and after one run on the beginner’s slope we bought lift passes so that we could use the Pacqui lift to return to Val Claret (from Le Lac) instead of using the bus.
Ilay’s Impressive Self Control
I told Ilay that she needed to stop dropping her ski poles when falling and that all she had to do to keep them in her hands was to chose to do so – likewise she could choose “not to sit down” when a little bit scared. Once aware of her own psychology she responded very well and took charge of those issues – no more pole dropping and no more sitting down when accelerating.
We went up Pacqui in a blizzard and Ilay never complained. This leads to the blue run from half way down the Toviere so I got Ilay to hold my ski pole for support and I skied her by my side – guiding her – all the way down. This support allows me to pull her into a proper pivot when moving – so that she can confidently feel what it should really be like. We completed the descent with only one stop and she had lots of practice despite zero visibility at times. The only negative was that she became a bit cold so we went in for a hot chocolate. Coming out of the cafe we went up the Tichot chair straight into a blizzard again. This blue run is even steeper than the previous one but Ilay skied it entirely by herself and did a great job of it. This is impressive because she had never skied even a green (beginner’s run) before by herself. This was a fairly steep intermediate run and she was competent and confident all along. Having absorbed the correct feelings on the previous run she was able to make it happen for herself on the second run.
