Whether you are new to skiing or have been skiing and/or teaching for many years I highly recommend that you take time to find out about the Primary Movements Teaching System (PMTS).

The aim of these pages is to give a very brief overview about PTMS. If you wish to learn more about Primary Movements including the  two scientific papers presented by Harald Harb (see below) at  the 2nd International Congress on Skiing and Science in January 2000 in St. Christophe, Austria and  "Improved Skiing Performance through Alignment and Equipment Optimization" I recommend you visit www.harbskisystems.com.   Alternatively if you live in the Banff area and would like to ski with us to discover more about PMTS please feel free to get in touch.

Primary Movements was developed by Harald Harb who is President of Harb Ski Systems. Born in Austria, Harald moved to eastern Canada at an early age. Harald has World Cup racing experience with the Canadian National Ski Team, and later was the Overall Pro Champion on the Eastern Regional Circuit. He then started to coach racers and directed racing programs. Harald directed and coached programs that produced some of the USA's most successful National Team members and Olympic medalists. Harald achieved the highest credentials in both the USSA racing organization as a Master Coach and the PSIA Professional Ski Instructors of America as an Examiner and National Demo Team Member.

After coaching for 20 years, Harald spent four years on the National Demonstration Team. Working with recreational skiers, he was convinced that current teaching systems needed improvement. Harald created the Primary Movements Teaching System™ (now known as Direct Parallel®) and the Harb Skier Alignment System™ so that skiers could learn to ski quickly and easily.

Skiers who take a lesson in Primary Movements are taught to use small efficient movements of the feet.  Small efficient actions of the feet are key in Primary Movements as they disrupt balance much less than what is taught in traditional ski teaching systems.

The movement pattern used in Primary Movements stays consistent right through the learning process from beginner to expert. For example, a wedge or snow-plough would not be taught with parallel being introduced later. Skiers learn parallel movements from day one which are then refined to produce effective skiing in all conditions.

You might wonder or ask isn’t that contrary to traditional ski teaching practices?
The answer to that question is ‘yes’: Primary Movements is not regular ski instruction.

My curiosity in Primary Movements developed because of my growing interest in sport science and my frustrations with traditional ski teaching systems.  For many years I struggled to perform optimally because of my alignment and because of the movement patterns I was taught. My alignment issue was never even mentioned by any of my trainers.

Many years later I now know why no one ever picked up on this extremely important aspect of ski teaching. Most ski instructors and trainers have little knowledge of anatomy, physiology and biomechancis, yet most make assessments about your skiing based on what they see!

Alignment

Alignment is a big and important part Primary Movements and is one reason why skiers advance in proficiency very quickly. Alignment addresses physical issues which may or may not be known to the skier. For example, being knock- kneed, bowlegged or an excessive pronator.

Most people who ski are generally inhibited in some way because of a physical mis-alignment. In nearly every case misalignments can be easily rectified. All that is required is knowledge and a good eye to detect the problem.

As a certified alignment and Primary Movements instructor I place considerable importance on fixing the ‘physical’ limitation first. Attempting to improve a persons skiing when an alignment issue needs addressing first is domed to failure.

If your skiing has not improved for some time and balance problems have often been an issue it would be worth having your alignment checked. Our paid coaching sessions include alignment analysis.