IN DEFENSE OF SKIING BACKWARDS

By Brick Loomis

Winter 2003

IT'S FUN! THE KIDS LOVE IT! I can remember the traumatic incident, like it was yesterday. Trying to defend my reasons for teaching my classes how to ski backwards. The incident occurred half way through the season last year. I had taught my class how to ski backwards, teaching them the nuances of speed control, shifting weight, subtle edge changes to accomplish turns, and stopping. My class and I were having a "hoot of a time," (for you crusty old level three instructors, that means we were having a great deal of fun) when a crusty old level three instructor skied next to me with his class. He looked at me, with disdain and disgust, and ask in a very condemning fashion, "why are you teaching your class to ski backwards?" Well, my dentures almost fell out of my mouth at his comment, because I am of the school that you "praise in public and admonish in private." I had just been definitely admonished in front of both our classes and other skiers on the slopes. I was shocked as my heart sank into my boots. I searched my mind, stumbling for some kind of answer to justify my actions. He then commented that he had not seen that move in any of the manuals. This sent my heart even lower. I feebly muttered "it's fun and the kids love it." He shook his head in disgust and skied off with his class. Now, this could have been the end of the incident and I could have turned my class around, never to ski backwards again, and ski off into ski instruction obscurity.

But I was not one to stop something that my students truly enjoyed. So, I took it upon myself to dissect the benefits of skiing backwards, so that all ski instructors, regardless of level, so inclined could confidently and with pride teach their classes to ski backwards. I wanted to ensure that instructors throughout the lands, never again have to worry about breaking some great and unwritten level three commandment of ski instruction, "Thou Shalt Not Teach Your Students to Ski Backwards!" And, thus never again feel the pangs of inadequacy that I felt that fateful day on the slopes. Is that melodramatic enough for you?

1. Bottom line up front! Its fun, the students love doing it, and teaching it has an instructional and safety value built into it.

2. I have found that new students get quite scared if they get on a reverse slope and start sliding backwards out of control. The "wide eyed terror" as they feel themselves sliding off into the abyss, never to be seen again, is quite apparent and very traumatic for them. Not to mention the safety issues concerned with losing a student sliding backward into an unsafe situation. This experience sets the students' confidence back quite a bit. So, to avert a possible bad situation, along with showing them the basic wedge going forward, at the earliest opportunity, I also teach them the reverse wedge and how to stop if they find themselves sliding backwards. Now they can stop going forwards, and if caught on a reverse slope, they now know how to stop themselves going backwards. This quickly builds their confidence and increases the students' ability to learn and enhances safety on the slopes. By teaching the students, early on, how to ski backwards and control their speed is truly a "win-win" situation, by building their confidence and keeping all of your students, other classes, and skiers safe.

3. By examining the mechanics of skiing backward, I have also found that it puts the skier, at any ability level, in a perfect stance, body position, and weight placement for skiing forwards. This is how it works. Once your students are comfortable skiing backwards and controlling their speed, have them "stop and freeze!" Then, examine with them by pointing out your and their form, body position, weight placement, etc. You will find in most cases that your students will have a better grasp of balance, weight, and subtle edge control movements, without getting into those long-winded, eye- blurring, mind-numbing, and seldom understood level three instructors doctoral dissertations. (Sounds a lot like ski instructor level class warfare. HA!) My rules for ski instruction are the KISS (keep it simple skier), KIFI (keep it fun instructor), and the KISI (keep it safe instructor) principles.

4. Regardless of your students' ability and level, skiing backwards pays big dividends because it is fun; it loosens your students up, and is a wonderful change of pace. Once they get the hang of it, you can integrate skating backwards, backwards wedge turns, and backwards wedge stops. If your student are more advanced it becomes even more fun, by teaching them backwards parallel turns and stops.

5. As your students' level of backwards skiing expertise increases; you can

now take them to the next level of the adventure, with 360 turns and then aerial 720 turns. Now the sky is the limit, because you took the time to show them the simple maneuvers and techniques of skiing backwards and integrating it into the total skiing experience.

All this leads to more fun and faster learning because, confidence is built, and safety is enhanced. Skiing backwards is a wonderful change of pace for you and your students. It allows them to enhance their skiing experience by being allowed to show off under your watchful eye, and their skiing will improve without them even knowing it! What a bonus! Ya-hooo! Let the backwards skiing begin!