On 2004-01-12, John Smith penned:
I'm an intermediate skier. I need more lessons. These things I know
are true. And one other truth I know is that I frequently feel out of
control when I try to ski the fall line. When I ski the fall line I
feel like I'm just going faster and faster and beyond my comfort zone.
As I approach that discomfort zone, I stop or I begin wide slow
traverses of the run.

I'm not so worried about speed as I am about control; I can't afford
time off from work due to injuries.

What's involved, technically, in maintaining a controlled speed when
skiing the fall line (I'm tired of imitating the ball rolling down the
hill at the mercy of gravity)?

JS


I have the same problem. I had a lesson recently that really opened my
eyes.

So that's the first thing: if you're having trouble, take a lesson. An
expert instructor who can actually see you ski can do wonders. Lessons
are *not* just for beginners (most ski instructors will take as many
opportunities to learn as they can get their gloves on), and toward the
upper end of the ski school ratings system, there will be very few
people in your class, because far too many people think they're "beyond"
lessons. If I could afford it, I'd take a lesson every ski day.

Anyway, historically, I've been bad at making short, tight turns. This
means that on smooth runs, I'd make long, slolomy turns that did nothing
to slow me down. On runs with any kind of, um, texture, I would freak
out because I didn't have confidence in my ability to make tight turns,
so I'd end up doing a lot of horizontal movement, and of course, once
you're horizontal, it's a lot harder to get a nice turn going again ...

A lesson really helped me in this regard. Both a matter of identifying
my bad habits and a matter of being coached through my turns, following
the instructor's tracks, etc. For me, and I think most people of
roughly my ability level, the big mistake is not leaning forward down
the mountain enough. I tend to lean back when I'm worried about speed,
which just reduces my control. If you do that too, one thing to work on
would be making sure that you really reach out for a pole plant before
your turn, and bring your body forward with your arm.

One way to figure out which way you're leaning is to stand with your
skis completely horizontal and angle them so that you're slipping down
the slope sideways. If you tend to slip towards your back, you're
leaning too far back.

I still have trouble linking turns on black mogul runs because of the
speed fear factor, but on blue moguls I'm getting pretty comfy. I went
from picking my way through blue moguls to connecting turns till my
thighs gave out in one day, all thanks to a breakthrough lesson. I now
feel prety comfortable even near trees, because I have confidence in my
ability to turn just about anywhere. Lessons are awesome.

Good luck! And please bear in mind that I've never seen you ski, I may
be explaining things poorly, and I'm no ski instructor, so proceed with
caution in taking my advice. And did I mention you should take a
lesson?

--
monique