Around a week in Jindabyne…
…managing four days skiing at Perisher, since one day was rained off and the weekend was deemed likely to be too busy (with limited snow cover reducing the extent of the ski field).
Cover image: Lake Jindabyne.
- Anticipatory anxiety was at an all-time high. Travel, combined with genuine fear of going skiing again (post ACL snapping and a brief half-day lesson and day of practise to test my knee in Cardrona last year), meant I was only just able to operate as a human being.
- Flew to Canberra and spent one night at the Ramada Diplomat in… the Board Room! Basically this was a large meeting room with a posh desk and sofas, separate bedroom and bathroom. Weird but ultimately pretty comfortable.
- Mexican food on the waterfront a short walk away at Hecho en Mexico Kingston sitting outside under an almost too effective heater was simple and just what we needed.
- Drove to Jindabyne and Chalet Alpina. An excellent place to stay with a friendly host, good breakfast and in-house dinner if you ask in advance.
- Dinner at Brumby Bar and Grill was a good, simple burger. (Disappointingly we saw no brumbies at all the whole week, even on the Snowy River Way as we left.)
- Skiing Perisher day 1:
- Some time to practice on the green run warmed me up, but didn’t really allay my fears.
- Re-learnt T-bar ettiquette, which was probably a good thing.
- By the time I had my first two-hour lesson with Mike (“Ducky”) the chair was back open (fixed electical fault). Yay!
- Felt much better after the lesson. After a bite to eat skiied with D on more green runs (but mostly still at the front, because it was the best place for me to practise).
- Clancy’s Brasserie at The Banjo Patterson Inn for dinner. Good pub food and very popular (so worth booking).
- Skiing day 2:
- Rain stopped play (seriously, we could have gone, but most of the people who did said it was disgusting).
- Had a rest. Went for a couple of walks when it stopped raining.
- Italian for dinner at Bacco was good, but very filling even though I took care not to order too much! Again we were glad we’d booked a table in advance.
- Skiing day 3:
- A really encouraging warm-up session early to practise my first lesson exercises.
- Second lesson continued the process of gaining confidence letting my carve skis do the work for long, medium and short arcs.
- Working on a bit more speed.
- Bite to eat and then skiing with D. I bailed when I was tired and let him go off to some other slopes without me.
- Best dinner of the week (for me, because I love Japanese food) at Takayama. Book it - it was always booked out (judging by the sign in the window).
- Skiing day 4:
- Another good warm-up session practising carve turns (keeping my weight in the right place).
- Third lesson took me to steeper slopes (only blue, but quite a lot steeper than I’d been on thus far).
- Learnt a lot about really keeping weight on the downhill ski and trusting this (even when the snow was hard packed.
- Best run down was in control, with pretty decent turns.
- Pole plants were added, but need a lot of practise on less slope when I have a bit more time to feel coordinated.
- Bite to eat, then skiing with D, but I was pretty tired after the lesson. A lot fitter than I used to be, but skiing really works the muscles (even when you’re trying to let the skis do the work)!
- Posh mexican dinner at Cocina, where I stuffed up in spite of knowing not to order too much (on the advice of people at Chalet Alpina), but was convinced to do so by the staff.
- Skiing day 5:
- Ski with D all day (although it was pretty slushy and very busy by the early afternoon, so we both decided to stop and head home).
- Persian dinner at the tiny Cafe Darya was excellent. Book this one and note that you can only pay by cash or with direct (with Pay ID).
- Skiing day 6:
- Didn’t happen because, given how busy Friday afternoon had been, we decided Saturday would be no fun with Blue Cow mostly shut and Guthega having no snow at all packing everyone into Perisher itself (an issue for almost the whole week).
- We did the lake walk instead and stopped for a mug of tea at Trader Joe’s.
- Home cooked dinner in house at Chalet Alpina with some of the other guests was great!
Overall the trip worked for me. I gained a lot of confidence and finally started to enjoy skiing again. I can still only really attack the milder slopes, but at least gained a feeling of safety as things got steeper. It was a pity we didn’t get to ski at Blue Cow, because I remember how much I enjoyed some of the runs over there.
This is one of the worst ski seasons the east coast has had for a while, so I feel lucky I got to ski at all!
Notes from lessons (for future reference)
These probably won’t make sense to anyone else, but this is how Mike and I worked out my personal reminders to keep me in a good position, confident and in control.
Start position
- Feel feet flat in boot
- Knees and hips flexed, feel weight in ankle and calf, in particular on downhill ski
- Hands forward drag poles (hot chocolate in each hand)
- Dynamic and ready to go
Turns
- Drag poles weight on downhill ski
- Hot chocolate in each hand
- Let the skis do the work from weight on one ankle, to even and onto the other ankle
- S turns (not hurried Z turns)
- Take your time through the turn and allow the skis to turn further to slow down
- Upper body calm, not twisting
- Keep those ski poles dragging to help upper body, or
- Practice “swords” to accentuate, ie hold ski poles at the end out to the side, tips still touching the snow on both sides
Steeper slopes
- The steeper it is the more weight you need in that downhill ski
- Keep those poles dragging (because currently I find pole planting is too much to coordinate)
- Shoulders end up parallel to slope to keep weight downhill
- Bend in knees and hips allow this movement holding the edges of the skis in the snow
Using poles
- Just for rhythm
- No weight in touch on snow
- Keep hot chocolate safe
- Keep upper body calm
- Use hands only to swing the pole forward to touch and then move back to a dragging position to keep shoulders calm
Icy?
- Keep weight on downhill ski
- Trust edge but needs weight
- Turn when you have grip feel
- Transition weight to new downhill ski and keep it there
- Shoulders parallel to slope
- Keep poles dragging to help the position and calm the upper body
The thoughts were different from those I learnt in Cardrona, but really worked for me to gain confidence. I sometimes end up with my weight a little too far back still, so the lesson thoughts from Cardrona are still really useful and need to be worked back in…
- Keep weight more forward, but with body (pelvis/hips) softly upright (and not stooped too far forward)
- Let the skiis run to turn without forcing them (and I am much better at that now)
- For each turn think “butt clench” on lower side, ie use the glute to keep the hip forward (so you don’t lose the weight backwards)
