Deb Armstrong and Tom Gellie - Your Questions Answered 

Oh man, I hope Deb Armstrong can come back and tell us what her one drill was! But I 100% know what mine would be: unbuckling my boots and learning to ski without tightening them. For the first time ever, I felt my balance through the bottom of my feet and truly experienced what it felt like to ski "from feet up". Between Tom's approach of figuring out the physics of skiing and teaching us ways to become more aware of our bodies, even this scaredy-cat was able to learn to "get forward" without just throwing myself into the abyss (which I would never have done anyway). Confidence is over-rated: understanding is everything. Hugely appreciate this conversation!

I am convinced that Deb and Tom...they do lot of good for us. Thank you, i am 53 years old, beginner skier and you help me understand my skiing. You are the best!!!!!

I have my 106 skis which are great at being surfy and fun on the right day, but when I got my 76 width SuperShapes, everything changed. The carving of the SS skis are next level, and even with a little new snow, I still bring them out. I’m a carve convert, I just wish I didn’t get caught up in ski trends and go wide, they’re limiting for most conditions.

A great video indeed. This last season I became a first time, baby ski instructor, and I watch a lot of Mr. Gellie's and Ms. Armstrong's videos to learn from their expertise. This video stimulates my imagination and inspires me. I have only been skiing 8 seasons and I love teaching and skiing. Wonderful, wonderful video and I thank Mr. Gellie and Ms. Armstrong for sharing their incredible knowledge of and infinite passion for skiing. A giant Thank you.

Two of my absolute favourite skiers/instructors!

Those awesome Sarajevo Olympics posters behind Deb 💙💙💪💪👏👏

Wow, just 10mins into this, and I'm thrilled! First, you are 2 out of my 3 favourite skiing-related content creators.❤ Then, I'm a re-starter, I had to stop skiing for 14 years and I had (have and will have) max about 10 days for skiing in a season, so the first topic fits me perfectly. Now, before going to ski this year, I made skiing-specific training sessions for MONTHS, and it helped me a lot. A LOT. Although I worked as a swimming instructor/coach for 10 years and used to be a competitive swimmer, I still work out 4-5 times a week (not swimming these days), so I try to be as fit as possible all-year-long. But different sports require different abilities. Also, gliding sports, excellent advice! I did some rollerblading and ice skating, and in the summer, I ride a motorcycle - which is awesome as you have to lean with the bike like you have to lean in skis... You know what I mean. And Vision. Vision is the game changer when on a bike, that's for sure. So I trained for my 2x4 days skiing availibility this year, I trained hard: physically AND mentally! I watched hundreds of YT-videos about skiing on an intermediate level, yours Tom and Deb, helped me a lot in this preparation process. What to look for, what to try, how to try, etc. And I managed to put my hand down on a carved turn sometimes... ;) Which felt fantastic, and everybody said I ski way better than an average guy with altogether... I don't know, about 30 days skiing experience in 20 years under his belt... ;) Awesome video, excellent advices, thank you for creating it, much appreciated!

Roller blading seems to work incredibly. My daughter first time skiing at the age of 10 ignored my pleas to teach her some fundamentals and just took off on the bunny slope. As a roller blader she caught on incredibly quickly.

Love every minute and would love to see you both skiing together!!!

Deb is an absolute treasure with a fantastic channel.. We are living in great times where we can access this content for free!

The first question and the answers to it are golden. I'm a hugely passionate skier, but living in the UK with a young child, I only manage to ski twice per season, usually only for 3 or 4 days each time. In 2021, due to Covid, I didn't ski at all, but was determined to try and improve. As well as working on my strength and conditioning, I spent hours watching both of your videos on training / tips and simply visualised the technique whenever and wherever I got chance. When 2022 rolled around and I got to Verbier, my carving had improved significantly within the first day. Thanks, and keep up the great work Tom & Deb.

I love your open-minded , happy attitude towards skiing. I also love your teaching video they are really helpful. You know Deb there is something about you that makes skiing inspiring and happy 😊. You have a lot of knowledge too.

Best advice I ever got was "take a lesson on day 1 of the season, have the instructor give you the hard truths." Then go ski and have fun, but work on the techniques you picked up from the lesson. Next year, take another lesson, and get new input. Year after year, you will get better.

Deb, I'm with you on your rotary explanation and what advantage it gives to skiing. As for me I totally get it while I was rollerblading and it was the best tool to learn it.

I could listen to you two for hours. Great stuff. Now it's time for Deb to join you here in Aust for a slide. 👍👍

Great discussion about skiing! I think you guys may have missed a layup on the 'how to improve when only skiing a week or two question.' Hiring a qualified ski instructor is an excellent way to make to most out of your time on the hill to improve.

Great vid! Couple of good takeaways: Perpendicular to the slope, play with it (outside/inside leg), motivation, and choose the right tool.

My favourite part of this discussion was 1:06 re: the beauty of the turn. Thanks for inspiring me.

Aw man…my two favorite ski channels in one video! The golf example is awesome! I buy a huge pack of golf balls when I golf knowing I will use all of them😂

Never thought to have these 2 match up, but now I don't know why I was such a silly goose.

Wow, what a great video, my two favorite you-tube instructors! I've had the privilege of a ski lesson in Steamboat with Deb a year ago, what a game changer. She taught me where I should be feeling the movements, to upgrade my skis and above all that this is a sport and to be intentional with my actions. I took these feelings and used Tom's dry land training to build the muscle memory during the non-skiing months, always focused on the intention of how it feels while skiing. We skied 30 plus days this year at four resorts and my biggest takeaway was a day in Sun Valley mid-week. We noticed that almost everyone on the mountain was an expert skier and how odd that was, lots of skillful turning. I asked the locals over burgers and beers if they all grew up in the racing program due to the high level of skiing we saw that day, proudly they said yes. Like Deb said, let's shorten that 10-year gap for the recreational skier. Thank you so much, you two are great!

So interesting and informative. Love it all. Wish I could ski the bumps now as well as I did in the 70's. Need to get to grips with Rotary...again maybe!

Great interview and t-shirt Tom.

What a beautiful poster from Sarajevo Olympic games 1984. Greetings from Sarajevo.

Great interview at another level.Love Debs crazy raves re the passion she exudes as she speaks to your inner self re your commitment to the drill and willingness to embrace it.If it does then its yours.She is big on the inside ski for many levels of skiers.I think the white pass encompasses Tom's idea of pushing the feet forward at the bottom end of the turn into the transition float and the sharp re-edging of Michaela Shiffrin he espouses.

Finesse is a word I would use. And articulate your input and output. 🤪

I enjoyed this even more than the last time you two chatted! So much great feedback. One question on the inside knee: any tips to strengthen it off season? This season I was practicing inside edge angle, caught an edge and nearly injured my knee. I think Tom’s movement program saved it, since the torque was transferred and absorbed also in my hip. But it got me thinking that there might be some specific prevention exercises.

Loved it! One quick question on the "white pass turn" I saw Deb with I think it was Steve describing what she related here, and had no idea what it was. The funny thing is, I've been watching FIS downhill and GS lately and noticed in many of the slow motion replays the athletes engaging the uphill ski before the downhill ski, and was really surprised. Is this the same thing?

I asked if I could perform the the hand to snow drill from a prior video on my 102’s. I can see I might have touched a nerve 😊. I travel with two pairs. An 82 and a 102. I think it’s more on me if I can’t get the feeling you’re describing on one of those pairs rather than the tools themselves.

If I was really motivated and skiing only several times a year……..my advice would be, “ just go and have fun..” 😊

Visualisation key and trail running allows this in real time

Great :) Can someone please make time marks ? I Would love to hear Tom's opinion on certain things but not watch the whole video

Deb, call that savvy #bumpswagger!

Windsurfing, constant moving in chops, really gives a fantastic basis for skiing, when you can only go skiing for that one week a year! Not to mention you constantly have to look at how the waves move and anticipate them, is same feeling as doing mogles. Further it actually feels like being on slush snow😁

Can you provide a link, if possible, to Josh Fog’s presentation that was reference?

Love these interviews . Tom @ 45'28s" get forward" debs ....never use the phrase "get forward" . I agree with debs that phrase should be banned however they both describe ways of achieving that action without using said phrase . Another phrase that should be banned is "driving the knee" as you should describe the action properly. Also Tom in previous vids that "shin pressure isn t important "then describes in a white pass turns the best way to achieve the needed shin pressure to pressure the front of the ski. Btw shin pressure is one of my absolute fundamental concepts that should be consistent with ALL instructors. The problem is that it has been made into a meme via ' crush the boots' and you guys are too scared to use it. Just like inside leg "pressure" in high performance skiing tom nails it...need to carve the inside however you need weight / shin pressure to do so. The distribution of forces is still 80/20 70/30 on favour of the outside even if you put most of your weight on the inside due to the high centripetal forces and in one of toms recent videos as a beginner he talks about depressuring the inside leg due to slow speed therefore no centripetal forces and to achieve the 70/30 need to deweight the inside. This is not a contradiction . Just that it is totally misunderstood by EVERYONE.

In response to Deb's answer about expectations for the local mt weekend warriors, are short skis (snow blades, snowboards) with release bindings the way to go given they tend to have less of a learning curve than long skis?

Less is more, consider concision and precision.

It is a bonus to learn from two of you in one video

Is it me or is this woman a bit satisfied with herself ? I am an old GS and DH racer from the early 70's so I remember her. She always seemed a tad cocky but not like this.