Some Fun...A Guess...And a Plea
by Patrick Lambert

Ah! Viva la difference!!! ….as they say in France. “La Difference” is obvious and enjoyed by most of us. Nonetheless, in spite of being obvious, it has been slow in being recognized for the teaching part of the ski industry.

Recognition of ‘La Difference’ in the skiing world probably started waaaay back in the ski lodges of the 1930’s and ‘40’s with separate bathrooms. It took longer, like up to the 1950’s and ‘60’s, for women’s ski clothing lines to gain a separate life and vigor. During that era ski equipment designed by men for men came basically in smaller sizes [of the same skis, boots and bindings] over the next few decades in order to accommodate female skiers. However, it wasn’t until the turn of the Century that the ski manufacturers with a push from women began to realize that anatomical differences between the genders create a different skiing dynamic. Thus, finally, the requirement for specific skis and boots designed by women to accommodate women’s needs. Now, it may be time for the Professional Ski Instructors of America to likewise recognize ‘La Difference’.

Over the last several years there has been an explosion of “Women’s Weekends” across the country at nearly every ski area. These spendy weekends provide opportunity for female skiers to have instruction, video analysis, and demonstration equipment in a non-threatening [read ‘non-male’] environment. The events are clearly social and often enhanced by fine wine and cheeses at the end of the day. The resident ski school may be privy to the event but typically these are not hosted through the auspices of the school or PSIA. Most of these proceedings appear to be put on by traveling specialists with one fundamental rule, “No Men Allowed”. While these are scheduled during the ski season it would appear that local instructors are not trained, qualified or allowed to provide the same teaching service. This would be especially true for male instructors. Why? Collectively as instructors we tend to teach skiing from a male perspective. The majority of PSIA’s membership is male. The returns from the most recent national survey conducted in 2004 indicated 73 percent from men with 27 percent from women. So it may not be hard to understand why the men’s perspective prevails, but there is much more to the story.

Professional Ski Instructors of America was started in 1963…. by Bill, Jimmy, Paul, Doug, Don, Max and Curt [Lash, Johnston, Valar, Pfeiffer, Rhinehart, Dercum and Chase, respectively]. Men, bless them all! The majority of PSIA administrators currently remain to be men. For 2005, twelve of the fourteen PSIA National Alpine Team members are men. The Nordic and AASI National Teams are all men.

Since its inception PSIA has grown to recognize and certify specialized instruction in Alpine, Telemark, Adaptive, Children’s, and Snowboard. We recognize and teach to varied learning styles but make little reference to gender specific issues. La Difference seems to be recognized everywhere but in our PSIA teaching models. The recent 2001 Core Concepts manual devotes only four short paragraphs [Page 22] to gender differences in anatomy. There is no reference to comparing the differences between how the female in contrast to the male body effects the ability to balance over a ski, pressure a ski, edge or turn it. There is no reference to movement analysis or what to look for in the skiing dynamic between a male or female body. Moreover, PSIA’s teaching objective is to develop every skier’s skills toward the goal of doing steeps, bumps and powder. These tend to be men’s skiing objectives. These goals may not be in tune with lots of our female clientele. WHY DO YOU SKI???

Over the last three seasons, I have informally surveyed hundreds of skiers. Beginners to experts, instructors, men and women on the slopes, on chairlifts, in the parking lots, in the lunch lines, riding to the mountain all were asked the simple question: Why do you ski? by Patrick Lambert “ No Men Allowed”“

The answers were quite uniform and usually gender specific. Men often responded by qualifying their skill level first. “Man, I love the bumps!” [Man-speak for I’m really good!]. “I’m not very good, I probably couldn’t ski with you” [Man-speak for “I’m intermediate and lower than you on the male pecking order]. “Duuuude! Did you hit that powder day last week?” [Man-speak for “I can ski powder and can probably smoke you on the slopes!”] Guys often expressed aggression toward the skiing experience with the stated goal of conquering a challenging run. Men also responded with expressions of thrill seeking, aspiring to speed and steeps. Once conquered, bragging often occurs, so the goal was to impress their peers and anyone else who would listen.

Women respond to the question quite differently. It often started with a description of whom they ski with: her family, a girlfriend, a ski bus group. “My best friend and I have season passes.” “I ski with my family every weekend.” “My husband and I have a condo up here.” A woman seldom describes her skill level except to say which favorite run she is the most comfortable skiing. A lady may often refer to her new skis or boots and how much she enjoys them, usually an issue of style. Women expressed that they ski largely for social reasons along with a desire to ski stylishly and with elegance on slopes that provide a sense of security and comfort. They did not feel comfortable skiing where they were at risk of falling and looking decidedly unstylish.

Observation at any resort reinforces these general conclusions. It is women showing up by the dozens in midweek ski buses, not men. Fellas show up in the parking lot one or two to a car, un-rack their gear, put on their duck taped powder suits and charge to the highest slopes, often without a warm up run. Seldom does a solitary woman show up in a car. More often than not we observe women skiing with friends or family rather than alone. Its predominately men lining up to take the exclusive chair to the double black diamond pitches in the backcountry. One such lift operator indicated his loadees to be easily eighty percent male. It’s usually guys ripping down the slopes at warp speed without making turns. It’s often women in groups around a table for a long lunch while the guys haven’t even come in for something to eat. These generalities don’t encompass every woman or every man, but overall there are strong gender specific inclinations in these responses. The bottom line seems to be that women are basically motivated to ski for different reasons than men.

Women desire to ski primarily in social circumstances, in a stylish manner, usually over terrain that provides a sense of security. Men ski to conquer their environment, express aggression and impress their peers. It’s probably a miracle that any men and women in relationships ever ski together!!

Experience also corroborates La Difference. Lita was a middle-aged lady in a six-week session class of five solid intermediate skiers. She was not aggressive by nature [male issue]. She simply wanted to become a stronger skier to keep up with her husband [social issue!]. The class, including Lita, had just successfully skied a steep blue pitch working on speed control and rounded turns. It was time to take them to a more challenging pitch [male issue in conformance with PSIA’s teaching progression] so I selected a run that was no steeper, only longer than the last run. The problem: The new run was labeled with a single black diamond rather than a blue square. As we went down the trail of no return to our selected task, we passed a sign with the run’s name and its designation. She unraveled next to the black diamond sign not wanting to go to the practice area. Her previous sense of well being and self-actualization crumbled down Maslow’s Hierarchy to the more fundamental level of security and safety. Students usually have a tough time learning when their survival instinct is aroused. It took twenty teary minutes to coach her down the slope. No amount of praise for her survival once we reached the bottom could nullify the terror of her experience. Even though she was ultimately successful on that exercise, she never went back to that run. It simply was outside her sense of security for stylish skiing. My [male] effort was to enhance her skiing with a more difficult accomplishment. Her [female] interest was to remain in a secure skiing experience. After two years of skiing with me she didn’t come back.

PSIA’s teaching progression provides little help in recognizing gender differences. How often have we told adult female students, “stop bending at the waist”; “get forward on your skis”; “get your knees apart”; “move your hands out front”? These instructions conform to PSIA’s teaching standards and goals. The question is: Do these teaching guidelines address the male anatomy only, without regard to the differences between the female and male body? Are gender differences significant enough to differentially affect the dynamics of balance over a ski while it is being pressured, edged and turned? ….A GUESS Another major piece of ‘La Difference’ revolves around the obvious anatomical differences than effect skiing. We recognize the differences but often fail to analyze how those differences impact skiing. The lower center of mass in women affecting the ability to pressure a ski; The angle of a woman’s femur at the knee from their wider hips and its impact on edging a ski; Smaller, narrower feet and heel affecting balance. These differences are in obvious contrast to a man’s higher center of mass, which creates greater leverage at the binding for pressuring the front of a ski. Moreover, men’s narrower hips allow their femurs to be parallel, making the bottom of the foot flatter to the snow surface and thus easier to edge. Larger male feet provide a greater platform for balance. Most of these differences can be ascertained on the snow through movement analysis.

Manufacturers now accommodate ‘La Difference’ on women’s skis with higher heel ramps to help move the lower center of mass forward over the front of the ski. They move the center of the boot at the binding a couple centimeters toward the tip of the ski as well as move the side-cut forward on the length of the ski. This allows women to balance and pressure the front of a ski easier thus making it easier to turn. Women’s boots are not as high in the back as men’s. This keeps a woman’s lower calf muscle from being pressured from the back of a boot creating more comfort. It’s commonly recognized that a woman’s wider hips create an angle for the femur, the “Q” Angle, coming from the hip socket to the knee. This often results in the bottom of boots, and thus the bottom of skis, not being perfectly flat on the snow. Consequently, edging can become a problem when the outside edges are simultaneously engaged while skiing. Cants are often suggested to address the “Q” Angle issue. Additionally, manufacturers like Atomic, Dynastar, K2 and Volkl are building lighter and softer skis to be more responsive to a lighter woman’s body.

The significance of moving bindings and side-cut forward along with a higher heel ramp provides for a female skier to use her lower center of mass over the front of a ski in a manner similar to a man with his higher center of mass. [See If A Pear Could Ski] Clinics for instructors to see these nuanced differences through movement analysis would be helpful.

The last piece of the gender difference is in the teaching progression. The instructional objective of PSIA is to help skiers become skilled at “the next level”, up to steeps, bumps and powder, to meet the mountain’s challenge by skiing it all. This remains a male perspective on skiing. The men of PSIA have been predominant in setting male goals to the instruction of skiing over the years as our teaching progression evolved.