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Post by meput on Dec 17, 2013 21:52:47 GMT -7
Todd,
Do not, I repeat, do not cancel your reservations with Harald/Diana. In my dreams I might ski like they do but reality is harsh. Besides Diana is much cuter than I am. Remember Smackboy recognized me by my avatar. And what is this about your plans to ski with Harald in March? You are planning to be in Maine for the PMTS roundup, aren't you?
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Post by smackboy1 on Dec 17, 2013 22:54:02 GMT -7
I just walked in the door from dinner at the Arapahoe Cafe. The ribs were deeelicious.
Jim, thanks for going above and beyond the call of duty in my quest for cronuts. I've never even seen one, let alone eaten one. It's almost impossible to get a real one from the place in NYC that invented them. So wherever I go I'm on the lookout.
Our group was skiing near Meput's group all day and watching them. They were all pretty good. We were below them as they came down the moguls on the Wall and we almost shit ourselves looked on with interest because we're probably getting Harald in 2 days.
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Post by meput on Dec 18, 2013 16:34:50 GMT -7
Day 3. Another fantastic day. Sunny with few clouds. ~ 35 with minimal wind. Met HighAngles & Geoffda this AM. Unfortunately didn't get to make some turns with them.
Harald had our group working on brushed turns. We worked on them both on groomers and mogels. Most in group have a stronger turn to one side. Even on video today, if we could get our weak side to look / perform as good as our strong side, I think most of us would be happy - at least I would. My weak side tends to unwind / rotate right before release. My old pole plant is doing me in. I find I am doing better without a pole plant. Most of the time HH agrees. HH wants me to practice keeping both pole tips on snow, ahead of boots to improve my counterbalance and counteracting.
I think we change coaches tomorrow. I suspect we will take Maria F from smackboy's "cool" group. I won't be surprised if she will want to keep me and my poles grounded as well.
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Post by ToddW on Dec 18, 2013 16:41:18 GMT -7
Jim, It depends upon the actual dates and how work's going. I'm in Colorado the first week of March (consuming the adjoining 2 weekends). I fly to Austria for Hintertux the last Thursday in March. I don't want to break my perfect attendance record, but we'll see how things play out. I was looking forward to skiing in Maine. Maybe you'll have to host it again next year ... just for me. I tried to book with Diana a couple days after they opened up the schedule for this season and she was already fully booked. I'm sure the new intensive camps had something to do with that, but they've always filled their schedules quickly. Harald had one opening left for a multiday private, the first week of March, so I grabbed it even though there's very little practice time before Hintertux. Maybe it doesn't matter that much. Hintertux is about friends, good wine, and good beer even though we ski some. The Kiwis and Ozzies ensure that we take ample breaks for tea to avoid skiing too hard :-) Federico and Emerio put on a good show of serious skiing and the rest of us hide behind this screen. I assume my good fortune in getting Harald for 4 days (rest/recovery day in the middle of the week) has to do with people being unsure of his return from injury. It's probably also tied in to the frequently held belief that Diana is the best ski instructor in all of North America meaning that I got the leftovers, Mr. 2nd Best. Did I call him that in public? Luckily for me, he is also an admirer of Diana's.
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Post by ToddW on Dec 18, 2013 16:48:23 GMT -7
There was a guy from Finland a couple years ago at Tux who did all movements wrong, sometimes to the point of presenting an anatomical mystery. He was made to do double pole drags holding his poles just below the normal handgrips. He complained at first, but he almost looked like Harald as long as he kept that double pole drag up. Sometimes the various pole drag exercises are magic.
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Post by ToddW on Dec 18, 2013 16:55:09 GMT -7
I've never been in the kool kid's group, so I don't know how this works. Will Maria's new group now be imbued with coolness ... or is smackboy1 still cool tomorrow.
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Post by meput on Dec 18, 2013 17:08:03 GMT -7
Of course Maria's new group will be imbued with coolness. I need all the help I can get even if it is just coolness. The real question will be: can Smackboy's group still be cool with Harald as the coach.
Todd sorry it sounds that you will miss this years NE PMTS roundup. That really sucks.
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Post by geoffda on Dec 18, 2013 19:02:49 GMT -7
Day 3. Another fantastic day. Sunny with few clouds. ~ 35 with minimal wind. Met HighAngles & Geoffda this AM. Unfortunately didn't get to make some turns with them.
Sorry about that meput. This whole work thing really interferes with my skiing--I can only get out for about an hour and a half on weekday mornings. Would have loved to have stayed and made some turns with you and smackboy1 (who I still need to meet).
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Post by smackboy1 on Dec 18, 2013 22:50:15 GMT -7
Had the pleasure of meeting HighAngles briefly at after the morning briefing. Didn't get to meet Geoffda yet but I did spot HighAngles on the mountain while I was riding the pig or doing some similar exercise (badly) so I may have even put eyes on him (Geoffda that is, not the pig).
Instructor swap tomorrow so if all goes according to plan and Harald will get to hang with the cool group. Although at this point our skiing has been so torn apart and rebuilt we may be better known as the "Can't Buy a Turn Club". My right turns are looking pretty fly; my left turns, not so much. I can't guarantee that Maria will impart Meput's group with coolness but she will definitely apply a healthy dose of drills to fix what ails him.
Still haven't had our poles confiscated yet. I'll take that as a sign that we are improving.
So far I've been to HSS 4 days in a row to tweak my boots. Chris says I am no where near the most high maintenance camper he has seen, but I think he is just being modest. I've had some changes to my alignment since my shop fit. Additional 0.5* canted out on both sides and 3 mm heel plates to increase pitch. I'm really learning a lot about the art of boot fitting. It really does take a lot of trial and error to properly dial in a pair of boots.
Oh the humanity! I found out that my actual foot size is not actually a 10.5. In reality it's a 9 as measured on the Brannock. I've just been fooling myself and everybody else for all these years by choosing to wear roomy shoes. Mrs. SmackBoy assures me that size doesn't matter, but I think she is just being modest.
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Post by JimRatliff on Dec 19, 2013 4:25:12 GMT -7
So, campers, what would you say about the feel of your Dodge boots at this early point and the transition from your other boots?
Smackboy1: The whole size thing was addressed on the recent episode of "Masters of Sex" (a thoroughly enjoyable show, BTW). I think the conclusion of their study was that it wasn't the size of the boot, but rather how effectively you flexed and tipped and counter balanced.
So both of you keep up the great writing - their may be a Pulitzer here somewhere. And I'm sure Google will process this information to give us a very different set of Christmas pop-up ads.
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