Everybody from Peloton to NordicTrack to Apple now offers some semblance of an online exercise class, giving clients the opportunity to train with a professional while using their treadmills, exercise bikes or rowing machines at home.
They’re all great ways to get yourself in the proper level of fitness before you hit the slopes. But while none of the aforementioned offers any ski-specific classes, there are many ski coaches available elsewhere online who can do for your skiing technique what a physical trainer might do for your physical stamina.
“The typical online coaching customer is looking for a more efficient path to improvement,” said Klaus Mair, an Austrian Level 3 ski instructor who offers online skiing analysis at his website, sofaski.com. “The analysis should give them the master plan, which always includes practice and hard work, which they then can do with their coach.”
Mair worked for the Mammoth Mountain Snow Sports School and found that he loved the ability to work with so many motivated students. “I worked hard on making my lessons more efficient and on improving the results from my students,” he said. “While in Austria, you would ski with the same client for a week; here I sometimes taught three, two-hour lessons a day. I taught the same lessons over and over and made little adjustments to improve them.”
A few years later, Mair felt that what he did worked really well. “I packed the lessons into an interactive DVD application, which connected the mistakes with the most efficient lessons. Therefore, Sofa Ski School, as you could — like in a good lesson — find out your weakness and get to the right lesson from your sofa.”
Mair said that he receives motivated clients of all skiing levels from around the world. Skiers can send Mair a video of themselves skiing and he’ll respond within 24 hours with analysis available via a number of priced tiers. “All I need (to see) are a few turns,” he said. Smartphone footage is fine.
He also offers a live coaching Zoom product for skiers who would like to have a chat and ask questions. The analysis will be done live, recorded and added to a skier’s training diary.
“I am looking for the one piece that is missing or that if improved or changed will make the biggest difference in someone’s skiing,” Mair said. “For me, it is most important to help the client understand why they should adjust and how changing one or two things would allow them to reach their goals. You first need to convince the skier that what you want them to do will really make a difference. So I am trying to make sense and give them some good visuals.”
Mair said that he sees a lot of skiers who try to use techniques that limit them to easier slopes. “They can ski OK on the blue runs but fall apart on the steeper runs or in the off-piste,” he said. “Looking at the average skier from the chairlift, I think that a lot more people should take good lessons so they can enjoy the entire mountain on any ski.”
Analysis packages start at about $80 on sofaski.com.
Elsewhere, Ski Magazine’s online video course, “How to Break Through,” features instruction and analysis from Professional Ski Instructors of America coach Michael Rogan. There are nine sections to the course, each about 30 minutes. Ski and PSIA instructors will provide a foundation of “skiing skills, techniques and drills so you can read the whole mountain and handle all kinds of terrain.”
The course is offered through Aim Adventure U, which also offers backpacker and climbing courses. As of this month, it is now included with an Outside+ membership ($8.25 per month). www.aimadventureu.com
Professional ski instructors Tom Gellie and Sam Robertson offer their expertise online at bigpictureskiing.com. The site offers dozens of tailored lessons for skiers looking to up their game. Membership is $49.99 per month (or $129.99 per quarter) but the site offers a free seven-day trial. New videos are released every month. Private online coaching is available via Zoom (a 30-minute call is $120; one-hour, $240). bigpictureskiing.com
Notables such as snowboarder Shaun White and freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy are available for coaching on Masters.com, a site that also includes tutorials on mobility, agility and versatility. Masters “offers unique training programs with the world’s best athletes as your personal trainers for four-week fitness and mind programs.”
With White, clients will “build flexible, functional strength, practice recovery and injury prevention techniques, and learn how to stay motivated and focused.” Kenworthy’s course aims to “sculpt your muscles with intense, functional strength sessions, build endurance with conditioning intervals, and practice your balance, mobility and mindfulness with yoga flows.”
A one-month membership with Masters costs $80 (at press time, the site was running a sale for $39.99 per month). A six-month membership is $256, or $99.99 during the sale. web.mastersapp.com
An operation like Carv works a little differently. In lieu of one-on-one instruction, the coaching comes from a device that skiers attach to their boot. The device features 72 pressure sensors that react to how your foot is carving into turns. You’ll get immediate coaching through your earbuds, with your virtual coach telling you if you’re skiing too far back, how you’re edging, and what you can do to improve your turns. The device costs $149, and monthly plans start at $99 per year for a six-day flex-pass you can use any time at your convenience. www.getcarv.com
Eric Wilbur can be reached at eric.wilbur@skijournal.com.
