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#11
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A quick thanks to all
I had a chance to think about your advice, WHILE skiing.
foot2foot wrote: "Lisa Horton" wrote in message ... . All the info is blending into a blur of "hands forward, weight centered, stand up and do that thing with your foot where you feel the edge biting into the snow". For a beginner, or semi newbie, or olympic racers for nigh on 40 plus years, as far as fore/aft balance, as forward as you can get is preferable. It frees up the tails. There are times when you want to be centered, but not yet. Get as forward as you can on the skis. That way you won't fall backward. This time, I had no trouble with forward/back balance. Well, except a couple of times when I hit a very slow spot which shifted my weight forward. But no trouble at all with the back seat. As far as side to side balance, use a shoulder wide stance and keep your body centered between the skis at lower speeds. In this way you'll be crossed over either ski, as your body must be on the left side of the skis to turn left, and on the right side of the skis to turn right. . That shoulder wide stance seems to be what is natural for my body. Almost every time I looked at my stance width, it was about shoulder wide. I'm not sure I exactly understand the "crossover" term. But it doesn't seem to me that you COULD turn left without your weight being to the left. This part seems natural and intuitive. At higher speeds, simply move only *the hips* toward the inside of the turn, while mostly leaving the shoulders over the skis. At my level, not too much high speed. More like slow and less slow But I did have a chance to try this and think about this at a (for me) higher rate of speed. Nice. Use knee angulation to bring the ski(s) up on edge. Here you're using body position, weight distribution, angulation and crossover. Twist the whole leg(s) in the direction you want to go if you so desire. Once the skis start turning, I observe that I seem to turn my whole body in the direction of the turn, with the body rotation coming from the hips. Not sure if this is right... Lisa |
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#12
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A quick thanks to all
"Lisa Horton" wrote in message This time, I had no trouble with forward/back balance. Well, except a couple of times when I hit a very slow spot which shifted my weight forward. But no trouble at all with the back seat. The slowing down is spring snow, which exaggerates the effects of the following rule. In most conditions you won't notice it. It is a rule of all sliding things, surfing, wakeboarding or water skiing, sledding, whatever. Forward slows you down, back speeds you up. But, once again, the last place you want to be is in the back seat. This rule shows why, when you get too far back, the skis shoot out from under you. Since you can get and stay forward now, perhaps you're well ready to add to your skills in the weight distribution department. PSIA will recommend that you try to stay in the "sweet spot", which is the absolute center of the ski. Racers these days try to do this as well. In older times, racers were mostly forward on their skis. I, when working on my carving, have learned that I need to position my foot so that it lines up with my leg and body, so that all the bones of that whole side of my body are balanced over the center of the ski. When I find this point, and I edge the ski with a little knee, or hip angulation, or both, the skis absolutely take off like a rocket, and I can feel it. The fastest I've gone this year by carving in this way was 60.5 MPH. I don't think I could have gone that fast on a flat ski in the conditions I had at that time. In fact, had the skis been flat, they probably would have been unstable. There is an interesting thing you can try. Stand on one ski and twist the leg one way, then the other. Look at the pattern you make in the snow. If you leave "windshield wiper" marks in the snow that are wide at the tip and narrow at the tail, you're turning from the back seat. If you leave windshield wiper marks that are narrow at the rear, and wide at the front, your weight is forward on the ski. If you make "butterfly" impressions on the snow, you can then see that the pivot point for the ski is directly below your foot. This is the place where it is easiest to steer the ski. There are times to be forward. There are times to be in the sweet spot. There are also a few times when you might want to be *a little bit* back. That shoulder wide stance seems to be what is natural for my body. Almost every time I looked at my stance width, it was about shoulder wide. I'm not sure I exactly understand the "crossover" term. But it doesn't seem to me that you COULD turn left without your weight being to the left. This part seems natural and intuitive. In order of importance, element number one is body position, or home position, from which balance is obtained and managed. Balance comes out of maintaining body position. Number two is crossover. Nothing else will work if you are not crossed over the skis. In order to turn right, you must have your body on the right side of the skis. To turn left, you must have your body on the left side of the skis. Without this, turning is not possible. You "cross your body over" the skis from turn to turn. You can also cross the *skis under* your body as you make really short turns, while leaving your body in the same place from turn to turn. This is called cross under, but the principle is the same. This does come naturally for many people, but not for all. You must at least be aware of it's necessity, then by all means, just let it happen. If you ever get locked up in the fall line headed down the hill, it's because you're not crossed over *either ski* (you're square on top of both, instead of off to the side of the skis one way or the other). So, just fix it, just crossover, and you'll be able to turn out of the fall line. It's usually best to tell a beginner to simply keep their body between the skis. Once the person can ski, you can tell them what's really going on, and that "what" is crossover. (me, on hip angulation):: At higher speeds, simply move only *the hips* toward the inside of the turn, while mostly leaving the shoulders over the skis. Lisa: At my level, not too much high speed. More like slow and less slow But I did have a chance to try this and think about this at a (for me) higher rate of speed. Nice. Sideslipping straight down a fairly steep incline is a good way to get familiar with knee and hip angulation. Hips away from the slope to start the slide, hips toward, or into the slope to stop. The shoulders stay over the skis. If you look at a picture of just about any skier from any era in a turn, you can see the hip angulation, and the shoulders staying more or less over the skis. You can see this especially in older pictures. Today racers hold basically this same position, but the skis are so good that the skier will move his whole body quite far into the center of the turn. You can still see that the hips are farther into the center of the turn than the shoulders. Once the skis start turning, I observe that I seem to turn my whole body in the direction of the turn, with the body rotation coming from the hips. Not sure if this is right... Lisa It sounds like you might be rotating all the way through the turn. Let's move to another element, rotation and counter rotation. It's possible to turn the skis by turning the shoulders, though there are better ways to do it, like steering. Rotation is turning the shoulders in the direction you want the skis to go. Counter rotation is turning the skis in the *opposite* direction you want the skis to go. Believe it or not, if you turn the shoulders the opposite way you want the skis to go, and you're sort of "disconnected" at the waist, (upper and lower body move separately) the skis will turn that way that you want to go. As you turn the shoulders, generally the hips will follow. It's a natural action/reaction thing. If you twist your shoulders one way, the feet want to turn the opposite way. Jump up in the air and turn *only your shoulders* left. Notice that your feet go right automatically, if you're relaxed in the waist. So, as opposed to turning the skis with just the shoulders, use rotation and counter rotation to facilitate the turning of the skis. When you start the turn, you might try rotating for the first half of the turn, then counter rotating for the second half. People talk about "keep body facing down the hill", "quiet upper body", and so on. Really, it depends on what you want to do. Once you get the feeling for how your shoulder rotation can affect the turn, you can use it any way you want to, whenever you want to. As far as turning from the hips, you can if you want to, but don't ever lose sight of the importance of steering, something which I've come to realize is a serious problem with my own skiing. I don't have it like I should. You can in fact stand on the ski and slip it, or bend it and ride it, but to make short radius turns, in situations like moguls, you simply must steer aggressively. Try to learn to turn from the legs, with the upper body, as well as the hips staying relatively in place. I'm saying simply learn to *be able* to do this. It sounds as if you are standing on the ski and riding it at this point, as well you should. Now that you can ski, try to add some flexion and extension, and steering as well. Simply make a sort of little hop, then steer the skis. This is called an "up unweight" a way in which you can use the elements of flexion and extention. One more comment on turning from the hips, and an element called lead change. You must put the new inside ski ahead of the outside ski somewhere around the point of crossover. You "change the lead", or lead with the inside ski. The inside ski needs to be ahead of the outside ski as you turn. A neat trick to use is, when starting a new turn, push the inside *hip* ahead of the outside, into the new turn. This move can cause the crossover/edge change and turn almost all by itself. This is a very powerful move. You don't need to flex or extend, or unweight to turn in this way, but again, you don't want to lose sight of steering and flexion/extension. Avoid getting caught up in only a few elements. Use them all. I've suggested you learn to not turn from the hip, then told you how to turn from the hip. There truly can be a time for everything and anything. Ski how you like to. But be aware of all the different ways that you can, and be able to do them. Just a comment or two re your other reply in the above thread. It's great that you've been able to feel the stability and strength hand position brings you. To some it's useful to think of keeping your hands where you can see them. It's basic body position, the *most* important thing in skiing. Also, being able to "wind up" a turn with a bit of a slip, or a pivot or whatever, is actually a more advanced skill than simply carrying a turn across and up the hill. Carrying a turn up the hill is a beginner trick to use because you *can't* wind up a turn yet. Well done. It sounds like you're well able to balance on the outside ski now, the next step would be to learn to feel and use the pinky edge of the inside ski as well. You can experiment with this by traversing on only the uphill ski, trying to focus on putting all your weight on the pinky edge of that foot. Or, sideslipping on only the uphill foot, weight on the pinky edge side of your foot. You need to develop strength on that side of your foot and leg in order to be able to do this. Learn to use the little toe ball of your foot, as well as the big toe ball. But, you needn't get in too much of a hurry. One day in the future, you *will* be working on this. To give you a bit of a perspective on my own skiing, lately I've been trying to improve my skiing in bumps, and steeps, which usually go hand in hand. For *these* conditions, I'm having success by facing straight down the hill, hands forward, reaching far ahead for the next pole plant which starts the next turn, shoulders *and* hips straight ahead and not turning. All the turning is coming only from the legs, using quick, sharp steering movements coupled with flexion and/or extension to unweight the skis. I try to keep my body forward even though I'm trying to stay on the sweet spot of the skis. The two items I so badly need now are the ones that I've been missing for so very long. Steering, and flexion and extention to unweight the skis. I've especially lacked an up unweight. Don't let this happen to you. Learn and use all the elements. These are techniques which work *in the bumps*. They don't necessarily apply in every situation. There are many other ways to blend the elements in order to turn the skis. I don't use these exact blends in other conditions. BTW, there's no "right". There are only the elements of the mechanics of skiing. They are *oh* so few, probably only around seven or so, and they are oh so simple. You make the call. |
#13
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A quick thanks to all
foot2foot wrote:
PSIA will recommend that you try to stay in the "sweet spot", which is the absolute center of the ski. Racers these days try to do this as well. In older times, racers were mostly forward on their skis. The "Sweet Spot" is not in the same place on all skis, even when mounted to manufacturer spec. And when a ski is mounted correctly, the "sweet spot" is usually under the skier's toes, which is not where weight is when standing in (flat-soled) street shoes on a flat surface - then weight is carried more over the heels. So, particularly for the newbie skier, a proper stance will seem very far forward relative to what (s)he's used to; hence deliberately trying to move weight forward is a useful and necessary effort. I seldom see a skier who is too far forward; quite the opposite for most, even for self-described accomplished skiers. I doubt very much if Lisa, for example, is in danger of being "too far" forward. At this point in her learning curve she should be thinking "get forward." Note also that the "ride the sweet spot" works best for properly fitted (i.e. length, flex, shape, fitted to skier size and skills) skis on controlled surfaces - i.e. groomed. Off piste is much more dynamic, and being excessively forward is invariably better than being in the backseat, in tough conditions. Question: In your opinion has PSIA's evolving instruction book been influenced strongly by modern grooming? When I took my early ski lesson (one lesson - I also cheated and follwed classes around when I was in my early teens) there weren't any "groomed" pistes - snowplowing sloppy snow was where a beginner started. How much of modern instruction do you think is influenced by grooming? How much by equipment? How much is guided by perceived modern expert technique? |
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