Last year, I had the privilege of a brief email exchange with professional skier, Cody Townsend.
I’d sent a contact email and asked him what the best way to improve your skiing was. Given that it was basically fan email sent through the contact form on his website and that he’s busy skiing in remote places or running his business, I’m impressed and super appreciative that he responded, and quickly, at that.
I want to share what he said about improving your skiing so that:
- You’ll be able to apply his advice to your skiing.
- You’ll be able to ask new, better questions if you get the opportunity to ask a professional.
- Spreading Cody’s wisdom around might help him spend less time in his inbox by getting answers to more people, since he’s kind enough to respond to fan emails.
Alright, lets get to that wisdom I promised!
Q: How do you make sure that you’re always improving your skiing, or what are the aspects of skiing that you feel always need to be practiced?
Cody: I’d say the key to improving your skiing is to ski with better people. I was lucky enough to ski Squaw growing up and chase everyone from the best pro’s in the world to the local shredders and just by skiing with them, seeing them ski from the chairlift and being around that vibe had the biggest influence on my skiing.
So whether that’s linking up with new friends, joining a team or club or just chasing people off the chairlift, I’d say the goal is to always be skiing with people who are doing rad s#!t!
It’s a simple answer. Sometimes the best answers are the simplest.
But Cody’s right.
Skiing with people who are better than you is the best way to expand your comfort zone. It gives you a great demonstration of how good technique looks in difficult terrain, and gives you a chance to check out new areas of the mountain where you can challenge yourself.
Here are a few things that will help maximize the benefit of tagging along with pros:
Choose the people you ski with carefully.
Even though skiing with better skiers will help you improve, it’s important that you stick with people who respect where you’re at in your skiing.
It’s important to step outside your comfort zone and build your skills and confidence. But that doesn’t mean being reckless. Ski with people who will help you improve, but won’t pressure you into doing something where you’re just going to get hurt.
On the other side of that coin, if you’re the better skier, avoid over pressuring your friends. Help your friends step up to more difficult terrain or tricks, but don’t push them into something they aren’t ready for yet.
Be patient. They’ll get there.
Ski in front.
You might be the slower one, but try to take the lead sometimes. It’ll help you develop confidence at higher speeds. Also, if you’re looking for pointers, your friends will need to see you skiing in order to offer meaningful advice.
So snap in and get off the lift first every few runs!
Take an alternate route, if you need to.
If you run into an area that you’re certain is too much for you, there’s nothing wrong with finding an easier way down. Try the more difficult route next time.
Expanding your comfort zone is a process, and it’s hard to continue that process if you’re injured. So just take it easy, and step it up little bits at a time.
If you’re the pro, and your buddy takes an easier route, maybe refrain from razzing him or her when you get back to the lift. Maybe offer some coaching instead. That’ll help build your friends’ confidence so they can follow you next time.
There you have it.
Have a few beers this summer and find some rad skiers to shred with this winter (unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere. Then find some rad skiers to shred with right now)!
You can find Cody Townsend at www.codytownsend.com.
**I am not professionally affiliated with Cody Townsend, and he has not endorsed any of my views expressed here.
The Casual Skier 