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The "little ski revelations" thread

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oooh maybe I should get some for mother's day? That way I can say it's ironic and pretend I'm not really curious.
 

litterbug

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
A lot of this may sound like nonsense, because I'm not so good at talking about skiing, but its been an interesting few months. So here...goes...something!! (for those of you who remember the little ski jumping girl):

1. I can't finish a turn I never started. That is, if I slop and skid my way past the top of a turn, it's hard to get a handle on shaping the bottom.

2. If I get into nice relaxed dynamic balance over my outside ski, I can carry the balance in uneven snow, swells, bumpiness, and ice without constantly having to recover.

3. Contacts are fantastic!! It's awesome to be able to see the surface of the snow more than eight or ten feet away, even in flat light!

4. Absorption is cool, man! I'm completely new to it, but ever since being introduced to the terrain park at Snowbasin I've been trying it out everywhere. I won't know until my next lesson whether I'm doing anything right, but its still fun. Except on the narrow furrowed wind-formed whales lying crosswise across the Collins traverse last week while the crosswind exfoliated my right cheek and I ducked down and tried to be as small and non-sail-like as I could. That wasn't so much fun.

5.
Something I started doing a few years ago is consciously pulling the new inside foot back as I start my turn. Actually, I think about pulling both feet back (which has the same effect as getting more forward), but in particular the new inside one. This seems to make it easier to complete the tun and thus control speed and to transfer weight to the downhill ski - also makes for nice round turns.
This is a huge part of what's working when I start a turn with really early pressure on the new outside ski, especially when i turn on a roller or in chopped up snow or something unexpected.

6. Someone on epicski posted a video of himself coming through the aforesaid chopped up crud by pushing and smearing the belly of the turn, and an instructor suggested keeping his inside shoulder from dropping, saying that would help him set an edge to turn through the crud. I can't wait to try it, because I kept finding myself doing the same thing on Monday and couldn't figure out what I should be doing instead. Basically I don't have nearly as much angulation as I think I do, so I need to find movements that will allow it to happen.

7. Oy vey, my hip adductors and rotators are so tight, and all this pressuring and driving my inside hip is giving them a workout! I really need to buy a thinner foam roller, because propping myself up over the 6 inch one puts too much stress on my lower back.

It's been an amazing few weeks. Coming back down Sugarloaf to my car at the end of the day on Monday I was so happy about being able to do things I couldn't do before that I was in tears. I may not be getting the time on the snow that I thought I would, and all of this is a work in progress and doesn't make me a great (or even good) skier, but I'm proving to be not so unteachable after all. And that, as it turns out, is more than enough.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
1. I can't finish a turn I never started. That is, if I slop and skid my way past the top of a turn, it's hard to get a handle on shaping the bottom.

This is a fantastic insight. I shall put it in my pocket for when I next need it =)

Also, regarding better vision - agreed 100%. I ski with a lot of people much older than me, and I've noticed they have a lot of issues with visibility, and I'm concerned - no, I fully expect, especially with my parents' vision - that at some point I'll have issues that can't be corrected. Yet another reason to do it all while I still can! (Two corrective eye surgeries under my belt already - LASIK in 1999 and PRK last year.)
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I had a pretty rough day today and left early, but first I had the opportunity to clear up some confusion while riding up the E Chair with Kevin. I told him I was working on not lifting my inside foot, and it wasn't working for me, and I felt out of control. He explained to me that actually, lifting your inside foot is not necessarily a bad thing, and a lot of good skiers do that in heavy snow etc. The problem is when you're initiating the turn with only one foot and doing sort of a rotary or wedge type initiation, and then you have to raise your inside foot because your tips are starting to come together, even if you're good enough to sneak it through before they come anywhere close to touching.

So it's not lifting my foot I need to eliminate, but using rotary action to start my turns - something that becomes pronounced in bumps and terrain, especially when I'm tired.

This helps, because I thought I felt awfully *good* skiing Joker and other steeps last weekend, more aggressive than ever, and I was worried that now it turned out I was doing it all wrong and I'd have to completely retrain myself. But no.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is it wrong for me to keep posting? I feel like the revelations keep coming.

Today I skied with instructor Dirk. He's the one I mentioned earlier who walked up to me to say that he'd seen me from the lift while I was free skiing and I should get just a smidge more forward (talk about service! this is a guy I haven't even skied with this season till today). Anyway, we skied most of the day without too much individual feedback for me, but then he watched me come down Joker. He said something favorable, and I asked if he meant my skiing or the snow. He said "both - but I have something for you. Let's talk at lunch."

And what he had was good stuff. It was feedback I'd never received individually or even heard described generally (that I remember). He said that while my upper body was very still - it was only still from the waist up. I'm initiating turns with my hips, though, so I'm not getting that femur rotation that instructors love to talk about (although I introduced femurs into our conversation - he didn't!). I bet people have mentioned this to me in other ways before, but the way he described it was super clear. He also then tied it in to how twisting my hips instead of keeping them still with my upper body directly resulted in my habit of bracing with my outside leg, and my difficulty absorbing, and a bunch of other stuff including decreased control in the trees. I realized that if I were turning properly I'd be able to do tighter lines in the trees with confidence. Yes, please!

I asked if this was a pretty common technique flaw - he said yes, and that it's difficult to break because I've come this far and am used to skiing advanced terrain with it.

I love this feedback because it seems so clear to me. Unlike so many things that are relative, like "get your hands forward more" or "flex more" or whatever, this seems like something I can really sense on my own, and it's nice and binary - I'm either doing it, or I'm not. My hips are either facing the same way as my upper body, or they're not. And so on our next few runs, I focused on keeping my hips in line with my body and initiating my turn differently. I thought my brain would overheat from the effort, but it did produce results. Not smooth, yet, but at least Dirk confirmed that I was heading in the right direction. Just - also need to add in more bend. Legs too straight. Always something. I told him I needed to focus on one thing at a time.
 

litterbug

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm concerned - no, I fully expect, especially with my parents' vision - that at some point I'll have issues that can't be corrected.
Neither of my parents need glasses for anything but reading. It irritates me to no end that I inherited my dad's digestive system and bad nasal plumbing but not his good vision!

I'm so pleased to hear about all of your breakthroughs. Keep the inspirational stories coming!
 

Pearlski

Diva in Training
That really works, Bounceswoosh. I was doing the same thing as you with the same realization of what I was doing wrong, and what I needed to do to fix it.

My big "aha!" moment so far this season came when we did the teapot drill in a clinic, using the uphill arm as the "spout" to drive the uphill shoulder forward and over the ski. This really helped me a lot. That'll be my main take-away this year, I think.


Love the "teapot drill!" It is a great drill for getting forward over your skis, along with really geting up on edge and carving. Awesome drill for railroad track turns too.

Revalations for me this year include....solid shin/tongue contact throughout the entire turn and really steering with the inside ski while keeping my weight/pressure on the outside ski with the entire foot, from toe to heel. I make sure that I am actively moving the inner leg and knee into the new direction. Another way to think of it, little toe scraping the snow. This really gets me up on edge and brings the outside ski around. This also helps allot with long leg/short leg...it just sort of happens when you are only thinking about driving with the inside ski.

Also starting the new turn just as I leave the fall line has made a huge difference in my skiing. My clinician said, if you start getting that da-da-da with your skis, you waited too long.
 

Pearlski

Diva in Training
Yup, good ole situational stem (CSIA taught this - do they still?). You do what it takes to get down.

Something I started doing a few years ago is consciously pulling the new inside foot back as I start my turn. Actually, I think about pulling both feet back (which has the same effect as getting more forward), but in particular the new inside one. This seems to make it easier to complete the tun and thus control speed and to transfer weight to the downhill ski - also makes for nice round turns.

We did this in a clinic a few weeks ago! He had us raising our toes and it really brought our feet back under us. It closes the gap between the top of the foot and shin.
 

deannatoby

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
He said that while my upper body was very still - it was only still from the waist up. I'm initiating turns with my hips, though, so I'm not getting that femur rotation that instructors love to talk about (although I introduced femurs into our conversation - he didn't!). I bet people have mentioned this to me in other ways before, but the way he described it was super clear. He also then tied it in to how twisting my hips instead of keeping them still with my upper body directly resulted in my habit of bracing with my outside leg, and my difficulty absorbing, and a bunch of other stuff including decreased control in the trees. I realized that if I were turning properly I'd be able to do tighter lines in the trees with confidence. Yes, please!

Me all the way. That outside leg bracing thing. Aaargh! I, too, have noticed just how much my hips move with my turn and not the upper body. Sometimes when i focus on keeping them forward I think I have the wrong body angulation, though. Inside shoulder is not really up. I imagine I look like some grotesque scarecrow angulating in weird ways. Getting better, though.
 

Fluffy Kitty

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Something that occurred to me today: "I may be tired, but I am not weak." To remind myself that I don't have to get lazy with technique or get scared just because the muscles ache a little. Heeding the advice from:

 

Tryin2Ski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Something that occurred to me today: "I may be tired, but I am not weak." To remind myself that I don't have to get lazy with technique or get scared just because the muscles ache a little. Heeding the advice from:

I watched this video about a month ago. Now when I ski on the flat part of the slope I say to myself complete with his accent "Don't be LAZY." lol
 

NZfarmgirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@fluffykitty I didn't click on the video to see if it's the same one, but love what he says in one of his vids : "no tea breaks!" Even when cruising to the lift or when the terrain eases up we should never get slack with technique it just causes bad habits. I say "no tea breaks" to myself quite a bit.
 

volklgirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
One day of free powder refills and the following day of heavy, deep chowder was enough to finally convince me that I now have both the skills and the equipment to quit shopping for turns no matter how ugly the surface may look. Using the snowblades a couple of times this year pointed out to me that I tend to rotate my right shoulder too far into the turn, effectively "turning my back on the fall line", causing a stall when attempting to start the next turn. This week, when the snow got deep and ugly, I kept that in mind and concentrated on facing the fall line and keeping the pole plants coming without pause - finally conquering a double black in knee-deep, heavy, cut-up, windblown, day-old powder. Yay!
 

litterbug

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Something that occurred to me today: "I may be tired, but I am not weak." To remind myself that I don't have to get lazy with technique or get scared just because the muscles ache a little. Heeding the advice from:

Great point, and one I need to pay attention to. Yesterday was a good example. I was challenging myself to control my speed on steeper hardpack and at least mostly succeeding at it, and every time I got to the wide more gentle slope above the flat runout to the lift I did exactly what he said--dropped my hands and stood up just as I was congratulating myself on my progress! I guess I should wait until I stop before turning my inner skier off. ;)
 

Fluffy Kitty

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@fluffykitty I didn't click on the video to see if it's the same one, but love what he says in one of his vids : "no tea breaks!"

He says that in a couple of different ones:


The one that got stuck in my head is "I'm always doing something," which I sometimes say to myself in a somewhat defensive tone... "I swear I am!" In fact, even in "flats", I discovered, it's possible to pick up quite a bit of speed by continuing to carve, so much so that a couple of times I crashed into the lift line. Conversely, I sometimes cheat by staying in a turn too long, until I point almost sideways and start to lose speed: "I'm not resting! See? I'm doing something!"
 

Joanna

Diva in Training
Sort of like Dawning Chorus, but this is a place for you to post your "ahah!" moment from skiing today.

I had a revelation this morning. My first run down a few inches of freshies over crusty groomer, I was getting thrown all over the place. On the second run, I wanted to do better. I realized that I'd been staring at the snow right in front of my feet, trying to prepare for every little change of texture or shape. It wasn't working. I decided to trust my skis and look ahead down the slope instead. Instant transformation. The snow was exactly the same, but it didn't throw me around anymore. I was in control.

Lesson: look ahead. Really.

What's your revelation?


Yes that is something that I also have to work on looking further down the hill I have a tendency to look to close in front of me..My husband is also telling me that looking farther down the slope helps you become a better skier and it does work and that is what I'm working on this winter.
 

artistinsuburbia

Angel Diva
O.k so hopping....am I actually supposed to bring my legs up to my chest? I got into such a tight rhythm this week that I felt like I was starting to actually push off and jump up...Is that what I'm supposed to be doing? I was on a black at seven springs and I normally carve long slalom turns, but was working on tighter turns so that I can learn to ride those pesky bumps. It felt so right, but want to make sure before I start practicing something that's wrong!
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
O.k so hopping....am I actually supposed to bring my legs up to my chest? I got into such a tight rhythm this week that I felt like I was starting to actually push off and jump up...Is that what I'm supposed to be doing? I was on a black at seven springs and I normally carve long slalom turns, but was working on tighter turns so that I can learn to ride those pesky bumps. It felt so right, but want to make sure before I start practicing something that's wrong!
Not enough info for me to say ... Don't suppose you can get some video?

Generally speaking, tight turns, absorption, and hop turns are three separate subjects. You can do tight turns without huge absorption. You can do absorption in big turns. Strictly speaking, a hop turn is done to get out of snaggy terrain while switching directions. I think what you're describing may be more of a bounce or active skiing feeling, but it's hard to say without seeing it.

Also I'm not an instructor, just a skier!
 

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