Agree totally with Devil & Matador...
Re: the ugly wind, yes, right quartering and/or straight up the tail upslope is very tough - mix in some down drafts from high surrounding trees and you have your hands full. The advantage with the Astar is you do have lots of range fore and aft cyclic, vs others where you have to be very careful not to run out of aft cyclic when facing a slope. I have had to hold it in a hover (against my wishes) when a precise landing plus or minus 8-12" fore and aft and left and right is required, until I have that moment of respite from the tailwind, then plant it on the log or log pad .
As far as moving the pedals, everyone has their own technique, but I try to move the pedals as little as possible - the tail rotor is so powerful (which is good), that even small movements of the pedals back and forth exaggerate the wiggle (at least I have found that).