Feedback On Giles Lewis' Courses @ The Chill Factore
By John Weatherell
This is just a selection of the comments I had from members who attended the sessions. The names of the contributors have been removed.
Sat 5th
Dear John
Thanks for organising the course. I really enjoyed it and found it useful and think I'll be able to build on the feedback for the next session. I thought 3hrs might be too long but it proved not to be. Giles is a lovely young man and he was able to give individual as well as group instruction.
A great idea! Whose was it?
Mon 14th
I feel I benefited greatly from the lesson, I had wanted to improve several areas, one in particular was my turns. I can feel a definite improvement with my short turns in particular and I am more confident skiing through narrow sections.
I thought the video and debrief session was a great idea and helped all the skiers to see where they could improve.
Overall, the session was very relaxed and a fun filled experience.
My only suggestion would be for a little more feedback halfway through the lesson or perhaps filming the group at the start of the lesson and again at the end, though I understand that this may not be possible with a group of nine.
I would certainly be willing to pay more for a lesson if the class were smaller.
Thurs 17th
I thought the course both Monday and today was excellent he highlighted what I was doing wrong and gave me things to work on, the video analysis was spot on. I thought it was great value for money, Giles was a real help in my development.
No need to think about it at all. It was extremely good. I felt that I got a lot out of it. Thanks very much for setting it all up. Giles is a lovely guy.
Just to say thanks for sorting the course, I really enjoyed both Monday and today. The lessons were detailed, informative and great fun too. The drills Giles showed us really helped break down then build up to better skiing. Great for building confidence to push yourself further - wouldn't it be good if he could drop in every Thursday!
I was delighted with the Chill Factore on both mornings because the snow was pristine and there weren't many people on the slope, so that was a good start. It was also very nice to meet Ski Club friends again in the foyer and be introduced to Giles. He's a real diplomat isn't he, always manages to say something encouraging even when you've made a hash of your last run, which is great for your self confidence. He can't half ski as well.
The content of the course was good. Giles has a fund of techniques and wheezes to bend you into the correct shape and attitude, but my problem was trying to remember it all as was sliding downhill. I finally resorted to pausing at the lip of the slope to try and gather my thoughts and remind myself what I was going to concentrate on before launching off.
It wasn't all good news for me though; just when I thought I'd done my best run down, remembering everything I should have done, Giles's comment was "You looked a bit more ragged on that run"! Which is what you need to know if you're doing it wrong, and it also shows that you couldn't sneak a bad run past him, he's watching all the time. Nah, he can't be. Can he?
The video sessions were a great idea. I've never seen myself skiing before, and I have to say I wasn't too impressed with me. However, it allowed me to see what I thought I was doing wrong as well as allowing Giles to comment and me to watch. I can also go and look again on YouTube to reinforce the lessons. As usual Giles managed to find positive things to say about my skiing and was always encouraging.
So yeah, I really enjoyed it and felt I was skiing much better afterwards even though I still looked pretty crap doing it. Definitely a good thing to keep on with if Giles is prepared to keep doing it.
Mon 21th & Wed 23rd
Yes we really enjoyed our session. I felt even though it was a group session, it was more of a personal ski session for everyone, as he was picking up different peoples faults. I was definitely skiing better by the end of the evening. We didn't leave until 10.35ish, we were locked in and had to find an escape route. On the video I looked less like a constipated duck than I usually do, so it must have worked.