Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25532 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Synopsis
"Covers more information than a week's worth of private lessons." - "Ski magazine". "The All-Mountain Skier" takes you to the most difficult places on the mountain - bumps, steeps, and trees - and helps you conquer them. If you yearn for speed, gravity-defying jumps, or fluid grace on challenging terrain, here is your step-by-step guide to becoming an expert all-mountain skier. This second edition contains all the information you need on the latest equipment - including shaped skis, boots, bindings, and footbeds - to perform like a pro on crud, hardpack, powder, and ice. "Wow! This book can help you conquer the steeps of Valdez, the peaks of the Alps, the powder of Alta, and everything in between. A blizzard of information that will truly change the way you ski." - Gordy Peifer, U.S. (2000) and Canadian (1998) Freeskiing Champion, ski film star.

From the Back Cover

"Covers more information than a week's worth of private lessons." Ski magazine

The All-Mountain Skier takes you to the most difficult places on the mountain bumps, steeps, and trees and helps you conquer them. If you yearn for speed, gravity-defying jumps, or fluid grace on challenging terrain, here is your step-by-step guide to becoming an expert all-mountain skier.

This second edition contains all the information you need on the latest equipment including shaped skis, boots, bindings, and footbeds to perform like a pro on crud, hardpack, powder, and ice.

"Wow! This book can help you conquer the steeps of Valdez, the peaks of the Alps, the powder of Alta, and everything in between. A blizzard of information that will truly change the way you ski." Gordy Peifer, U.S. (2000) and Canadian (1998) Freeskiing Champion, ski film star

About the Author

R. Mark Elling is certified by the Professional Ski Instructors of America as a Level III Alpine Instructor and Level II Backcountry Guide. He has worked full-time in the ski industry since 1989, including six seasons as a guide at Mount Bailey Snowcat Skiing and assistant director of the ski school at Montana Snowbowl. Since 1996, he has been a product test for Ski and Skiing magazines, and he helps teach professional bootfitting seminars for Masterfit University. He has written articles for Skiing, The Professional Skier, and many other travel and sports publications.

Customer Reviews

Excellent for intermediate/advanced skiers who have had formal lessons!
I have to say that for me (can ski anything on-piste) this book is fab!!

It is ideal for good skiers who have had formal lessons in the past on snow. It won't make as much sense if you were taught by mates as the chapters build on the traditional snowplough, stem turn, parallell approach. Having learnt in Italy and France i got so far and then started to struggle on sustaining good technique on steeper slopes. In the last couple of years I have had 2 private lessons by an English & a Canadian instructor who were able to communicate the 'feel and flow' parts of the skiing technique that I was missing on carving skis. Like many I tried to apply the way I had been taught 15 years ago to newer carving ski technology which does not work.

As soon as I started reading I knew exactly what the author was talking about. The drills were similar to those in the 3 hours of private lessons that I had had. What I was reading made sense and I could easily apply it to my skiing.

If you just want to ski and not bothered by technique then this is not the book for you. If you are willing to read it and practise some of the techniques and drills then they will benefit your skiing. Having now skied 9 weeks out of the last 15 years I found his advice and instruction very useful as did my mate (her partner has still not forgiven me for lending it to her -something to do with her reading it at 5am by headtorch!)

The chapters on equipment are very useful. Skiing technology just keeps changing and his descriptions are easy to understand. Out of the group I have just been with they helped one skier sort heel lift with orthotics, another with black toe problems and another whose skiing was adversely affected as the flex was adjusted wrongly - our skiing all massively improved as a result.

I can't agree with all the comments!
It's a good basic book and a useful reference. But it won't make you a good skier and it certainly won't make you "an advanced skier overnight".

If you're anything but a beginner take a look at "The Athletic Skier" by Warren Witherell and see what a really good ski manual is all about.

Top notch - still a reference book for me
I'm a Ski Instructor and can heartily recommend this book.. especially the section on "you can blame your equipment sometimes" ! I used it myself a few years ago when I was preparing for my instructor exams and found it an excellent read. The exercises are useful too and some of them have found their way into a number of my high-end lessons.

It's also good in that it's a modern book - ski technology has changed over the years and therefore so has technique. This book is up to date, as opposed to some (although still excellent in some areas) other books that are now becoming dated.

As others have said, it's not a book for beginners but if you have an idea of proper ski control, body management etc. it can give you a good headstart for a week away and will make an instructors life easier when you go for tune-up lessons !