'Ice is nice when you ski in the right position,' said Meinhardt, our ski instructor in St Anton, cradle of Austrian skiing. 'When it is a little bit icy, we heff ze edges,' he emphasised with a large grin. 'And more edges equals more holiday.'

Not having had a ski lesson in the Alps for over a decade, I was curious to see whether Alpine instruction had moved on from 'Bend ze knees and follow me'.

Austria

An instructor took me on to the snow, pointed up the hill and said: 'Go.' I trudged 100 metres up, put on my skis and made as many turns as I could in the short descent. 'Ok, join the ski safari (a ski tour of the Arlberg region) with Meinhardt. We can assess skiers just by how they handle the skis. Seeing them skiing confirms this.'

Founded in the Arlberg by Hannes Schneider in the Twenties, the Austrian skiing technique is characterised by the wedel , a succession of fast turns on the fall-line. Today there are some 500 ski schools and over 12,000 instructors, all trained by the Austrian Ski Federation. Jurgen took up the story: 'Boot technology has transformed skiing. More recently the shaped, waisted (or 'carving') ski has made it easier to turn and edge the skis with less effort. Up to a certain level our teaching is the same as before; how to balance, feeling the support of boot and ski. Sliding is still the same. From about level four (advanced intermediates) we teach skiers to use the shape of the ski, to carve.' Across the Alps, adult beginners are recommended 'fun' carving skis - about nose height.

'The main problem for skiers,' continued Jurgen, 'is how to shift the upper body and weight. Teaching is about how to break up a movement into parts. We have to let the client know what is wrong and how to make it right.'

The Austrians, French and Swiss all divide skiers into six groups, from novice to expert. Instructors who speak good English are widely available.

This was Meinhardt's tenth season teaching in St Anton. He graduated from the Austrian National Ski School over a five years, working first with beginners, then as a county instructor and finally as a national instructor.

'Steve, more leg action up and down. We heff steel edges so the ice dumplings are no problem, unless we lean back into the slope.' Guilty as charged. 'If you use the expensive waisting of your skis properly, then you have more holiday. But if you let them slide, you might as well be on old-fashioned straight skis.'

'Round turns are the best, Denise. Go slowly down for the whole steering phase. If you go down too quickly, you have no pressure left to apply and you lose the edge. This means less holiday.'

Throughout the day Meinhardt emptied our minds of bad habits by a variety of tricks; skiing without sticks, touching our knees as we turned, synchronising turns with the skier in front, linking slalom poles with the next skier. He even produced a rope, which we had to wind around our midriff contrary to the direction of the turn. It worked. We found we leant down the hill more, naturally assuming a better position, skiing faster but still in control. Meinhardt summed it up over a beer. 'Skiing is kneeing. More leg action, more flex, don't waste the waist of your ski. Look down the hill.'

France

'What is your exact skiing standard?' asked Lionel outside the Ecole du Ski Français (ESF) in Chamonix. After some cross-examination about how I handle black runs and moguls, a class was fixed.

Of the 13,500 instructors in 250 French resorts, 80 per cent are male. The average age is 34. Lionel Didier, 33, who passed his ESF national diploma in 1989, has been a full-time instructor for six years. He usually works with English-speakers. 'When the English say they want to learn, they mean it,' he said.'They tell the truth about their skiing standard, so it is easy to put them in a class. Grouping is very important; a well-chosen group has a synergy that helps everyone improve. But a slow person feels pressure and the group gets bored.'

Lionel puts great emphasis on the psychological aspect of the sport. 'You have to be attentive to people and their wishes. I would say your skiing reflects how you really are as a person.' So poetic, so very French. And so worrying - I was about to be rumbled.

Lionel likes to teach by example and imitation. Technical explanations are saved for when people are resting. 'Copying is quicker than understanding. Look at me, see the picture and copy. I know what you are thinking, "Ooof, it is steep, I am going to fall".'

Now for the first trick. 'What do we put on frightened horses? Blinkers. Hold your poles shoulder-width like a window frame. Look at the downhill view. Turn the window like a robot. Don't use the upper body to turn. Turn with a down-and-up motion. Was it a nightmare? Good. This means that with the window you can't use the type of turn you normally use; you have to use your weight.'

The encouragement continues: 'If you are scared, don't look at the slope, don't think of what might happen: use your window. There is no one skiing technique. There are many - for ice, powder, crust, spring snow. With the knees you can be precise. In deep snow, not much edge. For ice, lots of edge.

'Allez, Barbara.' Just up from a less advanced class, Barbara is apprehensive on the black runs, finding this group younger and fitter. Lionel is attentive. 'Trust me, ski behind me.' At the front of the class she will not notice the speed. Her confidence increases. We try another trick - lifting the uphill knee while keeping the ski tip on the snow; this keeps the weight forward. 'Don't set your mental computer into turning mode, but into feeling what the ski is doing. Once you feel it, you have it forever.'

Switzerland

'Gravity is a game,' began Gaby Fischer, our instructor in Nendaz, near Verbier. 'Carving skis have transformed Swiss teaching. Instruction used to be more academic.Now we no longer seek perfection, we just have fun.' The Swiss Ski School, established in 1930, formerly taught to a rigid format. But the Swiss have revamped their methods as a direct result of the now-standard carving skis. Qualifying as a Swiss ski instructor is harder than ever, with 65 per cent failing the skiing tests in the first assessments. It takes nearly six weeks over two years to qualify as a Professor de Ski, with annual refreshers.

'Now that the pistes are always prepared and bumps are harder to find, skiers can enjoy a wider, stabler and more individual stance,' said Gaby, now in his seventh season teaching in Nendaz. With typical Swiss precision the all-important 'resistance to the snow' has been broken down into a number of key elements which apply equally to snowboarding: edge, slide, find resistance, make the turn; weight and unweight, set the edge.

In my intermediate class, Gaby taught initiation of the turn from the centre of gravity, the belly-button; move this in the desired direction of travel and everything else follows. Gaby's teaching was supplemented by a variety of trick turns. We tried the crab, the Swedish, the Norwegian, even some faltering freestyle. He tailored his advice to our personalities.'Some people are tactile, some artistic, some musical. We try all sorts of things. Rachel, try thinking of long turns as a melody, like a waltz. Mike, on short turns, you need aggression, more techno, more samba.'

I left the Alps feeling that instruction is better than it has ever been. With the latest equipment, skiing has become easier and more fun. Great care is taken to place the skier in the right group. Good teaching today depends not so much on traditional national methods, which are moving ever closer together, but on the instructor's personality.

My instructors were attentive, innovative and perceptive. Lionel showed me a window in the mist. Gaby got me waltzing in difficult snow. And Meinhardt got me using my knees and edges so I had 'more holiday'.

But in the end, you still have to 'bend ze knees'. It is just that now, they have so many different ways of telling you how to do it.

Downhill all the way

Stephen Lee drove to the Alps, travelling from Portsmouth to Le Havre with P&O Portsmouth: 0870 2424 999.

Switzerland

www.switzerlandtourism.ch
Nendaz - www.skinendaz.ch Hotel Deserteur: good position and old Swiss charm (00 41 27 288 2455)

Austria

www.austria-tourism.at
St Anton - www.stantonam arlberg.com
Hotel Neue Post: superb position and elegance. Recommended

(00 43 5446 2213)

France

www.skifrance.fr
ESF Chamonix - www.infoski@esf-chamonix.com