Oh, I took out the Santa Anas yesterday. I brought The Ski in for a tune, so it was either the Santa Anas or the carvers, and it had been snowing hard all day.
Funny how, after skiing a narrower and softer ski, and with my knee stuff, the Santa Anas felt "planky" for the first couple of runs. But while they were less forgiving in terms of turning, they were far more forgiving in terms of sliding through chop. They just didn't care. The Ski would have given me a lot more feedback.
So, maybe not everyone would agree with this decision, but I decided that what with the poor visibility, the number of not-advanced skiers on blue groomers, and my mental issues with skiing slowly on wide-open runs (I tend to get lazy and get going real fast), I would take advantage of the lift-line bumps. The lift line under the Mercury always builds up bumps in a predictable fashion. The top-most section is fairly bumped up, but each lower section gets progressively less bumpy (because it's less steep). I say "sections" because it is criss-crossed by a few groomers and cat tracks, making it easy to jump in and out. After getting the Santa Anas dialed as well as I could (my right knee still doesn't like bending as much as it should for a proper turn, and a stiffer ski made it that much harder), I went to the lowest section and skied that, very slowly, working on the techniques from the previous day's lesson. Then starting from the next one up, etc. I think I did the entire lift line three times before calling it quits. I find it easy to stay slow in the bumps, because you have so many options to slow you down, especially when they're covered in fluff. I didn't ever think that I was risking a fall or a sudden movement. I would not recommend this for people rehabbing their knee who haven't already spent a lot of time on bumps.
I like lift line bumps because they narrow down my choices, and they are usually cut by pretty good skiers (mostly the only people who ski the lift line bumps are people who are justifiably proud of their technique. Then there's me. I just don't care if the people on the lift see me poking along).
With The Ski, I could tell my right foot wasn't always tracking in the turn, but wasn't sure if it might be a canting issue. With the Santa Ana and in the bumps, I became confident that it's because of compensation. My right leg just isn't "listening" as well. Also, if I do focus, it hurts to bend as far as I'd like. The Ace bandage also adds a small amount of resistance, making it more tempting to keep my leg straight. So on all terrain, groomers and bumps, I end up in sort of a "bracing" stance, and actually I do the same thing, to a lesser extent, even when my left leg is downhill. Ah well. I worked a lot on the "keep the body facing down the hill while the skis criss cross" thing that both Pete and Ursula had me working on. Also using the bump surfaces to control speed.
Anyway, it was good stuff. I will probably stick to The Ski for "normal" days. I'm not sure if I would have been better off with it instead of the Santa Ana yesterday. And oddly, skiing on the Santa Ana gave me 1) confidence that I can ski another ski without getting too messed up and 2) realization that my favorite skis from the past may not work for me now the way that I'm used to - so I'm more likely to get on the Vivas for my next groomer day. Win for everyone!
