I feel a part of the site already.
That's because you are already part of the family .
I feel a part of the site already.
... - ski tech has changed a good bit since epicski was founded.
Referring to ski technology, ski technique, both, something else...
Actually we prefer Modrian Blocks.Oh, you know, Rorschach blot ...
What I said in post 95 was not a comparison between Epic and this site and I don't quite understand your point. It was my general impression from Epic based on the 3.5 years I was an active member there. And while the " intermediate zone" was not of great interest to me I know that it got positive feedback from many sides.If you never visited the section, how would you know if it was a paradise? Ask @Mendieta and @Started at 53, a couple of intermediates who have posted that they were immediately accepted here. Please point to another member who had issues.
I don't know if it is replaceable or irreplaceable, but I know that coming november thousands of intermediate skiers will feel the lack of support they were getting from this site.I think that Epic ski was the paradise of the intermediate skier- resort and travel guides and information, long and informative ski equipment threads (promoting mainly intermediate gear), the '' intermediate zone '' platform run by SMJ ( I never visited this section , my bad) and so on and so on.Many skiers will miss all this and yes it may be irreplaceable for them I don't know. Now , if you were a former racer or an expert BC skier you probably found the greater part of Epic a little boring , but for anyone else it was an usefull and informative platform.
Fishbowl, this is a very good point.The instructor 's part of the forum was not one its fortes and your example is spot - on. The greater part of the "regulars" there were competent and knowledgeable skiers , but the discussions turned (almost always) into endless repetitions of a given technical aspect beaten to death in long long threads. They were impossible to follow and soon they were loosing the interest of the OP or the person that came with a question. This IMO created the impression that this part of the forum was only for a very small circle of elite technical junkies if I may say so who were a little disconnected from the "reality" of the ordinary skier. When I said earlier that Epic was a paradise for the intermediate segment( which is almost 80% of the skiing public ) I gave examples with everything else , but the technical part of the forum.My personal experience at Epic was the opposite, I felt that the Intermediate skier was an overlooked and forgotten contributer to the site. Too advanced for the Beginner Zone, but not able to hold their own with the instructors and coaches. Until the Intermediate Zone showed up, which really happened just a few months before the shutdown, there really was no place for the intermediate to ask a question and receive an appropriate response. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of intermediate talk, especially about how to get terminal intermediates over the hump, but the talk was coming from the coaches and instructors rather than the intermediates themselves. Earlier this year there was an intermediate thread started about the benefits of a narrow stance. The first few responses were appropriate for the level of the OP, but the thread soon developed into a high level discussion of WC skiing technique and coaching. Good stuff, and on topic, but no longer appropriate to the intermediate looking for help improving his technique. I remember reading that thread and thinking how cool and Intermediate Zone would be.......................then the lights went out.
Good points all....So, while we're mourning the loss of an amazing library of content, lets not forget that we are stewards to curate this new library.
While not necessary helpful to the person who post the question, others reading it may find it helpful. That's the nature of a DISCUSSION.When I started with epic in 2010 I was an intermediate and I posted video for MA. On the 2nd page the discussion got heated re PMTS. I was totally lost
That's true of ANY topic in pretty much all forums! It's up to the OP to keep the discussion on topic. If necessary, ask the mod to split the thread to keep it on track (granted, some forum have more sympathetic mod than others)....but kept asking questions to the instructors. Some even pm'd me with amazing and easy to understand concepts. So I think the key for the intermediate OP is to keep "reeling them back in".
Google was invented under the premise that 99% of the world's questions had already been asked. The answer is just out there somewhere. And google will find it for you..
If you have a few quantum physicists in the room, yes.So the nature of a discussion about algebra would consist of a few in the party segueing to quantum physics???
There're a lot of instructors from epic migrated over here.
When I started with epic in 2010 I was an intermediate and I posted video for MA. On the 2nd page the discussion got heated re PMTS. I was totally lost but kept asking questions to the instructors. Some even pm'd me with amazing and easy to understand concepts. So I think the key for the intermediate OP is to keep "reeling them back in". Ill be posting some MA video here after my next Mammoth trip and will be very interested in seeing what transpires on this site in comparison.
As an instructor, trainer, and an engineer I've been guilty of being overly technical in explanations. It is a common fault of a lot of instructors. Instructors need to remember that most people don't want or need a technical answer to a skiing question. The student wants and needs a practical answer that meets their needs at the moment. We need to couch our responses with that in mind. It takes a lot of experience to see a complex problem and provide a simple and effective solution. Trying to do that is good for all.
So, if you see an answer that is very complex and hard to understand, ask for for a simpler explanation. Keep us on our toes.
I'll simplify with an example. When teaching kids to make beginning turns I don't go into explaining how to move or anything like that. All I say is come here or go there while pointing and they do it and learn.