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#11
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On 2004-01-14, Richard Walsh penned:
"Fear is the mind-killer..." Frank Herbert, *Dune* What Monique said... What LAL said... AND, books are good, real live teachers are great, but the best teacher of all is mileage. Mileage build confidence like nothing else. All good skiers have lots of mile on their skis (boots, bodies and all that's attached). Ah, yeah, I knew I was pseudo-quoting someone! I agree that lots of miles are necessary, but I also think that lessons accelerate the learning process to a surprising degree. But hey, the fewer lessons everyone else takes, the more private lessons I get -- no complaints here! -- monique |
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#12
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I found the Breakthrough on Ski's video on Amazon, but no book.
Pray for good weather this Thursday. I'll watch a video and head up for a lesson. Maybe a couple of fresh feet of snow late Wednesday afternoon (cleared from the road by morning). Am I asking too much! Thanks Everybody, JS lal_truckee wrote: John Smith wrote: I posted this message over a week ago! And it finally shows up today. Go figure. Thanks all for the answers. I guess, one of the things I'm trying to understand is, what is it that a good skiier is doing as they seem to be moving straight down the hill (the fall line as they see it) and they are smoothly making tight rapid turns (or are they just moving skis from side to side). Maybe they aren't trying to slow down; maybe they're going as fast as they can but aren't dealing with the fear factor of falling and being unable to meet the mortgage while they're laid up. Anyway, they look great doing what they're doing; which to me is moving down the fall line at their chosen speed (that is, obviously under control). You know, you've just re-stated Lito's premise from his justifiably famous (and the best) book on how to ski, "Breakthrough on Skis" (or the new edition "Breakthrough on the New Skis") where he points out that good skiers are "always turning" and proceeds to build a discipline around that observation. Good skiers are always turning - there's no moment of hesitation between one turn and the next; IMO it's that moment of hesitation when unwanted speed builds up and nerves cringe. If you're always turning and a nerve twitches, you can just hold the turn a moment more and reduce speed slightly (but you won't need too, really but if you hesitate betweeen turns, speed builds and you have to *Do Something* to regain control. That's a bad thing - it means action must be taken, instead of action merely postponed. Leads to panic. Good skiers are always turning. My kids are switching to snowboards, so while they're taking board lessons, I'll be taking my own. Good idea. Then get and read Lito Tejeda-Flores' book. Enjoy the snow! JS MattB wrote: John Smith wrote: 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 Lots of turns. Hard edging (if it's firm). Maybe yours turns (assuming you are making some) don't have enough "bite" and you're really just sliding back and forth. If that sounds like what you are doing try using more angulation (going farther onto your edge by driving your hip and knee inward). Like you mentioned, more instruction would probably help as we can't see what's going on. Sometimes a lesson with video so you can see yourself is a big help. Hope that helps! Matt |
#13
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"John Smith" wrote in message
m... 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 Turn shape and radius is what decides how fast you go. Shape: The more you point your skis across the hill, the more you slow down. You want your turns to be round and C shaped. If you pull the turn all the way around before you start your next one, you'll have scrubbed tons of speed. If you barely make it past the fall line, you'll be flying. Radius : Tight turns scrub more speed than big sweeping ones, in part because you're not pointed down the fall line so much. Play around with the combination of the two and you'll feel much more in control. Big Radius, Near-fall line turns are SUPER fast, Small Radius Cross-hill turns are SUPER slow. Remember that speed can be your friend though - to a point, its much harder to ski slowly than it is to ski somewhat fast. Ski just a teeny tiny bit faster than you feel comfortable doing, and you'll feel more comfortable at speeds. Then flip it around and try to ski super slow, but with good technique still. Try to do the same radius turns for both, so you get the feeling of the difference. And when you're more comfortable, you're more relaxed, which leads to better technique and better skiing. But do me a favor and go take a lesson! Jon Bond PSIA Level 1 Alpine |
#14
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"Kneale Brownson" wrote in message om... John Smith wrote in message om... 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 The "secret" is to not get going too fast in the first place. The technique is to let each turn continue (even back up the hill if necessary) until you've reached a comfortable speed. Realize that the beginning of each turn is going to make your skis accelerate because they point downhill to start the turn. Then let that turn continue until your pace is comfortable. If you try to make several turns that end with the skis still pointing somewhat downhill, you will be gaining speed with each turn. Finally, you will have to really "brake" to get your speed back into the comfort zone. The most effective way to turn as I've described is to think about turning the right ski to the right when you want to go that direction and the left ski to the left for that direction. If you think in terms of turning right by pushing out the left ski, you end up skidding the tail of that ski and cannot turn sufficiently uphill to really get slowing out of the turns. Find an instructor who will talk about turning the right ski to turn right and the left to turn left and then sign up for a lesson. Um, very few if any instructors will tell you that. With straight skis, maybe - but even then, its still pretty bad technique. You don't ski one ski at a time - you ski with a harmony between the two (unless, of course, you're doing one ski drills... but I digress). You want to steer the inside ski some, but thats far different than turning the inside ski. Thinking about turning just the inside ski is asking for that awkward toes-out stance that automatically throws your weight back, and thats a much bigger problem to deal with. There is a steering component, but oversimplifying it by saying "turn the inside ski" is a huge mistake. ANY competent instructor will be able to help you with speed control - its one of those basic things you need to teach, so you figure out how to best do it REAL quickly. As for never getting too fast, thats ok - but when you understand how to control your speed, you understand how to slow down to your comfort speed by changing your turn shape, which is an imperitive skill. For practice, you don't want to let yourself get too fast, but never going out of your comfort zone will not promote further learning. Jon Bond PSIA Level 1 Alpine |
#15
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lal_truckee wrote in
: John Smith wrote: I posted this message over a week ago! And it finally shows up today. Go figure. Thanks all for the answers. I guess, one of the things I'm trying to understand is, what is it that a good skiier is doing as they seem to be moving straight down the hill (the fall line as they see it) and they are smoothly making tight rapid turns (or are they just moving skis from side to side). Maybe they aren't trying to slow down; maybe they're going as fast as they can but aren't dealing with the fear factor of falling and being unable to meet the mortgage while they're laid up. Anyway, they look great doing what they're doing; which to me is moving down the fall line at their chosen speed (that is, obviously under control). You know, you've just re-stated Lito's premise from his justifiably famous (and the best) book on how to ski, "Breakthrough on Skis" (or the new edition "Breakthrough on the New Skis") where he points out that good skiers are "always turning" and proceeds to build a discipline around that observation. I bought that book last year, started to read it, and got distracted with other stuff to the point that I completely forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me. It's time to break it back out and start over. -- Chuck Remove "_nospam" to reply by email |
#16
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Reality check. It's been years since I saw myself ski on video, but last
weekend a cameraman at Taos paid me very big bucks and here's the result: http://skitaos.org/MOUNTAIN/Video20040113.php I look at this and grimace: I pick all kinds of holes in my own technique. But compare the short turn/fall line sequence to the long-round-turn sequence and you'll see that in the short turn the pole plant is prepared earlier; the upper body is more erect and stable; weight is consistently on the balls of the feet (shin pressed against boot tongues). Speed of the upper body in both sets of turns is constant, but the skis are always accelerating or decelerating smoothly as the legs cross under. Nice part of this medium is that you can stop it at any point, slow it down, run it back. Gal in blue is Cindy Hirschfeld, a Level 2 instructor at Aspen Highlands. Seth Level 3 Alpine "Jon Bond" wrote in message ... "John Smith" wrote in message m... 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 Turn shape and radius is what decides how fast you go. Shape: The more you point your skis across the hill, the more you slow down. You want your turns to be round and C shaped. If you pull the turn all the way around before you start your next one, you'll have scrubbed tons of speed. If you barely make it past the fall line, you'll be flying. Radius : Tight turns scrub more speed than big sweeping ones, in part because you're not pointed down the fall line so much. Play around with the combination of the two and you'll feel much more in control. Big Radius, Near-fall line turns are SUPER fast, Small Radius Cross-hill turns are SUPER slow. Remember that speed can be your friend though - to a point, its much harder to ski slowly than it is to ski somewhat fast. Ski just a teeny tiny bit faster than you feel comfortable doing, and you'll feel more comfortable at speeds. Then flip it around and try to ski super slow, but with good technique still. Try to do the same radius turns for both, so you get the feeling of the difference. And when you're more comfortable, you're more relaxed, which leads to better technique and better skiing. But do me a favor and go take a lesson! Jon Bond PSIA Level 1 Alpine |
#17
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lal_truckee wrote:
Good skiers are always turning. To turn is to admit defeat. -Hugh Grierson -klaus |
#18
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klaus wrote:
lal_truckee wrote: Good skiers are always turning. To turn is to admit defeat. -Hugh Grierson -klaus I didn't know you had some real 225 DH skis to suppliment your leetle cable rig. Good for you. |
#19
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#20
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John Red-Horse wrote:
In article , wrote: I didn't know you had some real 225 DH skis to suppliment your leetle cable rig. Good for you. Chicks dig skin-tight plastified body suits... Especially with the faring at the back of the lower leg and a Darth Vader helmet. |
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