Marty Heckelman responds to recent comments, questions and suggestions by users if the Apps and comments on related news items.

How to use the Apps with a Buddy/Partner
These Apps have been designed in short chapters so that you concentrate on one exercise at a time. When training with a partner, watch the App to see how the ski maneuver should be done & then place the Iphone in your pocket, press the audio loop button so that you can listen to the instruction that explains how to perform the maneuver & follow your partner down the ski run & see if he or she is doing it correctly. Refer back to the video images on the App to see the differences. Itís very useful to film your partner & compare how your partner is skiing with the skiing of the demonstrator in the App.

How long to spend on each Section or Lesson
Skiing is a fun sport & one should endeavour to learn to ski well enough to be able to enjoy it.
Everyone”s level & type of enjoyment is different – some like speed, some like control & some (probably most) like a combination of the two. Learning to ski better should enable you to faster in more control. I would recommend putting aside a brief period of each day to practice one or two exercises. If you are a beginner or low intermediate you should practice as many of the fundamentals as you can. If you are a more advanced skier, I would recommend practicing those skiing maneuvers that you would like to be able to perform or perform better.

Best time for individual training?
If you are beyond total beginner, I think it is always best to loosen up by starting the day skiing a few warm up runs down easy runs. Since itís always best to learn new skills when your body is fresh & not tired I would recommend that you then choose an appropriate ski run & practice some of the exercises or programs. It is also good to do that after lunch as your body will have had a chance to rest up. Another good time to practice the exercises or the recommended programs is when the weather is foul – whiteout, snowy or very windy and you don’t want to venture across the mountain. By doing this you can profit from the day instead of wasting it.

Integrating it with my regular ski-school lessons
I have found that people who have watched the Ski Tips Videos/DVDís or read my book before they took lessons made very fast progress during their lessons as they already had an understanding of what the lesson was about and were able to form mental images of the skiing maneuvers prior to the lessons. Likewise, I believe the same will be true with these Apps. Probably even more so, since the App can be brought onto the snow & watched immediately before the lesson. I thus recommend watching the App before taking a lesson & then watching the App after your lesson and practicing what you were taught.

Gloves & Freezing Hands
The Iphone/Ipod have been designed to be used by skin contact. Out on the slopes it can be cold holding the Iphone & navigating the App without gloves. Fortunately some glove manufacturers are developing gloves that can be used with electronic devices. (Northface currently has the Etip glove that has silicone gripper palms that enables you to use laptops and MP3 players with the gloves on. Can they be used with the IPhone or Ipod? Perhaps – it needs to be tested. If not, I suspect that they soon should have one that willl work). As we are aware of the cold problem we designed these Apps with large, easy to read & navigate buttons so that one can minimize the time being without gloves.

Visibility (of the screen)
Visibility & ease of use have been at the heart of the design: we selected and edited the video content so as to maximise contrast in bright light. In very bright sunshine, we recommend shading the device with your free hand or holding the Iphone so that your body blocks the direct sunlight.