So to answer your questions.
Yes, I've gone skiing 4 times (8 days). Last 4 days have been racking up 20,000ft+ in elevation change, skipping lunch, just snacking on power bars up the lifts. I can ski parallel without thinking. I can stop whenever I want given enough stopping distance. I never learned the wedge - just started on parallel because that's what my friends told me to do and the wedge is both slow and tiring. I can't do moguls very well because I can't get the timing right yet, and I don't like them anyway. My friends, especially the very experienced ones, are surprised at my ability considering this is my first season, and I believe that skiing with more advanced friends have helped me a ton. Last time we went my friend pointed at a guy. He's got his skis kind wide, tips pointed a bit inward, but he's doing side to side carves, albeit traveling slowly and the side to side transition is not very elegant, but at least he's not wedging. "See that? That's what I would expect from someone's who's only skiid 3 times."
First 2 weekends I was crashing all over the place but this trial by fire has helped a lot in the learning process. I now keep up no problem on regular, non mogul runs with skiiers who have 10 years under their belt. I can almost ski with my knees completely stuck together, but I widen my stance and drop down lower while leaning forward for the fast stuff. I never have issues with crossing my skis or not going parallel. I have the hip movement and the alternating left and right mostly down now. I can pick up someone's fallen pole from the ground in the middle of a carve without really thinking. If I slide over something weird that destabilizes me I can usually lift one ski, ski on the other ski for a second or so while I work on replanting the lifted ski. When I'm making a sharp turn at 45mph I'm just a couple feet above the ground due to my lean. Yes, I know, these are all just beginner skills and skill level can only be measured by the time you've spent skiing. No way could a guy who's skied so few times be better than someone who has skied a year or more. There's no room for natural ability in this. Hard work and not being afraid to fall over and over and over and over also have nothing to do with this.
Skiid blacks all day today and fell twice. Once was the unexpected jump due to my lenses, another was as I was initiating a carve and I suddenly hit a patch of solid ice so I slid out. Previous day I fell doing a half pipe, almost fell doing some moguls, and another time trying to avoid an entire line of about 5 people literally just sitting in the middle of the run where only the outer edge of the run was clear. Some other people proceeded to crash after me due to the obstruction.
I like to stick to faster runs with no beginners and people who can at least ski quickly. Flame on.
