Recommended ski coaching

[dhofert]

Thanks for the recommendations so far guys. A rental car is out of the question for me as I do not have a license (do to poor choices in the past). I'm sure I will enjoy the downtime watching and relaxing. I will have to do a bit more digging on Travers and get ahold of them it looks like.

 

How much warmer is Orlando than Baton Rouge?

 

How are water temps that time of year? I skied April 1st this year with a wetsuit, which I would rather not need there.

 

Why is Bennett's half the price of the rest? Is it location I am guessing?

[david_quail]

@dhofert hopefully this doesn't derail the thread but I just wanted to comment on setting expectations for how much one progresses from one of these ski schools.

You're probably a bit ahead of where I was at when I attended 3 days of training at a ski school. Back then I'd never seen a course and was only getting out of the water 75% of the time on starts. It was my first season. I figured after 3 days of dedicated training I'd be smoking passes at 30mph, 15 off, getting into 22off.

This, might be reasonable for where you're at in the learning curve, but I was in for a shock. The first thing my coach did, was slow the boat down, and have me ski in the mini course. Actually, the first few days he had me ignore the course entirely. A truly humbling experience. After 3 days I was still skiing the mini course, and felt arguably more uncomfortable than I did the first day BUT with the knowledge of what I should be doing, and with a strategy of how to get there. I think it's a lot like the first time someone takes golf lessons in that way. One step back ... And then a few steps forward.

1 week seems like a long time, but in reality, with 12 passes in a day, you're still only looking at around ... What ... < 10 minutes? ... of actual ski time each day. That's enough time for your coach to give you some fantastic instruction and feedback, but not much time to actually improve substantially.

All that said, you very well may get into short line in your week there. Others have. But I guess my point in this is that I wouldn't worry too much about chasing balls and improving that count. For me, my pb didn't improve on my final day. I actually couldn't even get my pb. I honestly felt disappointed. But the payoff was huge after the fact. I left the ski school with a bunch of tips and a strategy to get to the next level, and quickly progressed when I returned home and could free ski.

Enjoy!

[BraceMaker]

@dhofert - my experience is that Bennetts tends to have lots of the coaching being done by skiers more so than coaches, when I was there last you had some European national team skiers who were staying there coaching and getting training themselves. Which makes sense - but I felt some were better communicators than others, some would demonstrate something in a way that didn't make much sense and then give you a rip and feel like you didn't do what they were talking about.

[lpskier]

I'm guessing here, but my guess is that Bennetts is cheaper in March because it's colder than Orlando. Average temps are in the 60's and low 70's and it's cloudy 40% of the time according to weather data. Orlando averages in the upper 70's with about the same level of cloudiness.

 

I ski in Orlando three seasons a year. Last year I wore a spring suit twice. Sometimes I wore a heater top but usually I wore a sleeveless heater top. By mid-March I pretty much just skinned it. March in Otown is Fat City.

[rawly]

The Boarding School ! Awesome sight and people. It is the only one I have experienced on your list , but I have returned repeatedly after my first set there. Travis grew up skiing and learned how to coach from the best. He and his crew will turn you into a better skier and make you feel at home with their sweet set up there. Will be fun watching Freddy and Mannon ski as well as the pro wake boarders and skiers that may drop by. Makes me want to spend a week there. I just drop in for sets between work when I get sent to the Orlando area.

[sixtowin]

I am just learning the course and took some lessons from Terry Winter at Liquid Zone in Sacramento last week. Terry had some great tips for me and seemed as excited as myself when I would show some progress. He is very personable as a coach and made the student feel relaxed-he was just as focused on my progress as he was on the high end skiers he coached.

The on-line training and video tutorials have been helpful also.