Customer Rating:  
Summary: A viable but not stellar alternative
Comment: This is the latest of Harald Harb's books on skiing. Over the last decade Harb has written a series of books that promote his alternative ski technique and instructional system, the Primary Movements Teaching System (PMTS): the 2 volume Anyone Can Be an Expert Skier with accompanying videos, his Instructor's Manual, Ski Flex (with Paul Frediani) and this volume, his newest book, Essentials of Skiing, which touts a "free DVD." The DVD, by the way, is not free. You have to buy the book to get it.
Harb's material is generally helpful for the beginner and intermediate skier, with three points in its favor. First, Harb writes well and provides clear illustrations and sequences with good details. Second, Harb's material enables someone to self-instruct, something that is critical if you going to improve and cannot afford expensive private lessons. Third, PMTS is certainly a viable system that is easily understood and can be learned through some practice. Each of these factors enables the average beginner or intermediate improve. You can go further with Harb and get professional on and off snow lessons by attending Harb ski camps in the US West or Europe. You can even do a combination of books and DVD's, plus the camps.
Harb's PMTS approach is predicated on avoiding all rotational moves, which Harb contends comes from snowplow based instruction that characterizes teaching here in the States and over in Europe. That assertion, by the way, is not true. There is fine instruction both here and in Europe that does not emphasize snowplow based stance and movement patterns. In fact, Harb's PMTS goes to great, perhaps almost obsessive lengths to prevent people from turning by rotating their big toe edge inside and then steering the ski. He also goes to great lengths to insist on keeping a very narrow stance, counter acting and counter rotating with the upper body, transitioning by flexing the stance leg and avoiding any pressuring of the stance ski's inner edge.
The actual technique promoted by Harb is dated. The narrow stance, the counter action and the counter rotation come from an earlier era in skiing. Harb's success is primarily with beginning and even intermediate skiers who have trouble doing any of the basics because they do not know how to stand on their skis in some semblance of alignment, engage their edges for turning and/or transition from one turn to another. Although Harb touts his latest book, Essentials of Skiing, as "the fastest way to master the slopes," the best book in his series is the second volume of the Anyone Can Be An Expert Skier.
Advanced and expert skiers would be better advised to look elsewhere for ideas. In general, too, all skiers should be aware that there are other viable alternatives out there, such as the instructional material you can buy on the PSIA website, which is quite good. Also, there are some free websites, such as Modern Ski Racing with its use of interesting imagery in promoting sound movement patterns, or You Can Ski, where there is solid instruction for beginners and sophisticated technique for advanced and expert skiers that is very up to date.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good. Lots of Detail
Comment: Harald Harbs Essentials of Skiing (+DVD) is the best ski book I've read yet (out of 3 or 4). The technique is modern and well suited to newer equipment. My two complaints are that he tends to digress into minutia and over analyze some thing rather than getting straight to the point and the DVD was very short. His emphasis on the free foot is interesting. Most of the other stuff I've read emphasizes the outside/stance foot.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Comment: Excellent book! Easy to read with good picture examples and do at home excercises. Definitely helps to achieve good solid ski technique!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Essentials
Comment: Harald is a major force in ski instruction and race coaching. Essentials of Skiing is exactly that, there is no BS. The sample turn approach is fantastic and the exercises work! I have been studying, teaching and coaching full time for twenty seven years and there is no other single book (except Expert 1 and 2) that comes close to the ESSENTIALS. If you want to improve your skiing and would like to self coach; read and follow this book, visit the PMTS forum and you are on your way to expert skiing movements. JR Nolan
Customer Rating:
Summary: great addition to skiing library
Comment: Along with Harold Harb's "Anyone Can Be a Great Skier" books 1 & 2, this is a great book on ski instruction. The techniques, drills, exercises for both on and off snow that are illustrated in the book are extremely helpful. This is by far the most beneficial and worthwhile series of books on the modern technique of skiing. I went from taking lessons on a local hill and even at Vail and was stuck in the intermediate level of skiing. The techniques given to me by traditional instruction just couldn't help me control my speed adequately on steep and icy terrain apart from the physically draining bandaid technique of skidding in one form or another.
Mr Harb's technique is reasonably simple to learn and quite effective. It now has me skiing the whole mountain, and I experience continual improvement as I continue to practice the drills in these books. What's not to like about that!
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