It’s definitely interesting to look in a mirror and adjust pelvic tilt, it does in fact seem to help my knock kneed stance in general. I’m not sure during dynamic movement that it would have the same effect, but definitely things to play around with. Hard to know on dry ground what will help on the mountain. Gosh I can’t wait to get on ghe mountain!!
What about how we roll our edges into turns? Could it also be that I’m not rolling the inside ski onto the pinkie toe edge enough and opening my knee out as well to allow the movement on that side? I ask this because when I was standing in front of the mirror playing around I was also trying to roll my feet side to side as if edging, and it felt a little stiffer for my right foot/lower leg when it’s going to the right as well. Obviously I wasn’t in boots or skis, but I felt a noticeable difference from my left side.
I got to go back and rewatch Ursula’s video, and I’m glad I did because the pressure versus weight concept is a really great reminder to start the season with!! Especially since I’m someone who can have the tendency of getting a little too far back in my turns.
This has always been key for me in learning. Different people have greater awareness of different parts. If I'm given a "little toe" movement to do, I often have to do that consciously -- and perhaps standing still -- and follow the chain of body parts until I find the one that I am more aware of, which is often the knee.I encourage folks to figure out which physical cue works best for them
I’ve got one too big and too small, but need to search more for the just right or go to a shop and have them do it.
Something that came up at my bootfitter’s last year was that he didn’t like the alignment of my boot cuffs (I got my boots elsewhere several years ago). We didn’t change anything because I didn’t want to play with my boots at that point. His concern was that while my lower legs point inward, my cuffs are the opposite, and so it does actually create a bulge or pinch on the inside of my leg when everything is tightened up. I hadn’t really noticed it before that, and I decided to put my boots on just now and yeah plain as day in a mirror, especially without ski pants on, my boot cuffs point in the exact opposite direction as my legs do. So I was wondering, could this contribute to having a harder time rolling to the outside edge on my right leg where things are seemingly more pronounced? If the shell is closer to the inside of my leg, wouldn’t it get me on an inside edge quicker but potentially delay getting to the outside since it’s relatively further away from my leg and therefore requires more movement in that direction to achieve the desired outcome? Plus it’s a tougher movement to me in general. I’m not sure how big of an impact this might have in reality, as I can’t imagine the shell moves all that much for alignment, but I think I’d like to move it in and start out that way this season and see what happens. My bootfitter had said it was something I could experiment with myself easy enough, and I can put it back if I don’t like it. Of course now I can’t find a tool of the right size.. I’ve got one too big and too small, but need to search more for the just right or go to a shop and have them do it.
Is this somerhing on a shell that can move itself over time? I’m not sure why I would have been setup this way originally. Everything I read says the boot should follow the leg versus trying to push it in one direction or another to correct alignment issues..?
P.S. I’ve been trying to consciously uncurve my pelvis for the past two days thanks to this thread haha! In the car, at work, in the shower..
I'm guessing you have an imperial hex set? Most boots will be metric since most ski brands started in Europe. From a quick Google ...looks like a 3 or 5 mm...https://www.lange-boots.com/skiboots-faq-canting
(looking at your picture, it looks like a Lange?)
How much effect it has is dependent on how much of a gap you have. I'm a proponent of things that maximize our range of ankle motion in the fore-aft direction (there are times when I'm skiing that my shin is off the tongue or my calf is off the back of the boot). But we don't want movement laterally! In the lateral direction we should have a nice tight fit for just the reason you describe above. Since the cuff cant is something that you can easily adjust yourself - go for it. The important point with cuff canting adjustments though, is to realize you can't use it to force your lower leg into a certain position. That will just create a source of discomfort. It's just there so that you can match your cuff to whatever your lower leg angle actually is. Making an adjustment to that lower leg angle is usually best done with your footbeds.
I'll admit, I have nothing technically to add to this thread, but wanted to chime in and say I find it all really interesting. It's amazing how such a small part of someone's anatomy, tiny technical offset or minor equipment nuance can cause such a large struggle.
It's threads like these that I also read and think...wait...do I do that? haha. Maybe I shouldn't overthink it, but it's in my genes, there's no changing that now.
Your skiing is absolutely beautiful, and looks just as functional with everything you tackle, so I don't think you have anything to worry about!!
I don't care how my skiing looks per se, it's more that I still didn't feel quite comfortable balance wise in my setup by the end of last season. Things got SO MUCH BETTER when I took those heel lifts out, but something still just felt off and I just couldn't put my finger on what it was. So, this may be grasping at straws, but since my right knee tilting in and blocking turns to that side in chopped up snow and bumps came up on my last day last season in a private lesson, it seems like as good of a place as any to start this season for a focus on technique or my stance overall. Then there was this alignment issue brought up by my fitter last year too, so might as well move that as well to start in case they are related at all. I'm so looking forward to having so much more time to be on snow this year than the last couple to hopefully work stuff out. (probably just in time to need new boots in a season or two lol)
I'm guessing you have an imperial hex set? Most boots will be metric since most ski brands started in Europe. From a quick Google ...looks like a 3 or 5 mm...https://www.lange-boots.com/skiboots-faq-canting
(looking at your picture, it looks like a Lange?)
Well embarrassingly I cannot find my set (probably packed away somewhere), so I was hoping to find a random one lying around.. I did find multiple, just not the right size, haha! Thanks for this, now I know what I need if I need to pick something up, I should certainly have this sort of thing tucked away in my ski bag for random tinkering in general!
My boot is a Lange, and what you attached looks to be spot on. Notice that my boot seems to be in the exact opposite alignment as their recommendation for knock knees. Mine seem to be set for someone who is bow legged, which I am most obviously not.. Weird.
I do remember someone else on a different thread who I think had issues with her boots changing positions in this regard because the screws didn't lock or something? Sounded like hers were a very specific case and known issue for her size and brand of boot though, and I assume mine have not moved on their own as I've never heard of that with these boots and a lot of people here have them. ?)
Extra parts and the hex driver should have been in a package in the box with the boots. But like many of us, you've put it somewhere important so that it wouldn't get lost, right?
THIS!!
How much effect it has is dependent on how much of a gap you have. I'm a proponent of things that maximize our range of ankle motion in the fore-aft direction (there are times when I'm skiing that my shin is off the tongue or my calf is off the back of the boot). But we don't want movement laterally! In the lateral direction we should have a nice tight fit for just the reason you describe above. Since the cuff cant is something that you can easily adjust yourself - go for it. The important point with cuff canting adjustments though, is to realize you can't use it to force your lower leg into a certain position. That will just create a source of discomfort. It's just there so that you can match your cuff to whatever your lower leg angle actually is. Making an adjustment to that lower leg angle is usually best done with your footbeds.
Extra parts and the hex driver should have been in a package in the box with the boots. But like many of us, you've put it somewhere important so that it wouldn't get lost, right?