back seat???

[snowmiser]

Another good way to get a feeling of being balanced and forward on your skis is to go to a very gentle slope and ski it backwards. Then turn around and try to recreate that same feeling as your going forward. Then you can also brag that you know how to ride switch!

 

[tradygirl]

My simplistic way of finding the "charging" position...

Stand in your ski boots (or you can even do it without ski gear - I just did, actually!)

Bend your knees and drop your hips vertically. Your shins should shift forward into the front of your boots and your heels should press down into the ground. Your hips and butt should stay over your ankles if your weight is centered. Your torso is still relatively upright.

That's it. No angles, not a lot of thinking.

 

[perma-grin]

Hey snowmiser! How's the new baby doing? I thought that I would manage to get down to Alpine a few weeks ago for the Huck Finn series but my DS got sick so he didn't compete. He made up for it last week at Pine Knob taking 1st in both slopestyle and rail jam! I still might make it down to Alpine, yet this year!

 

[whitewater girl]

My simplistic way of finding the "charging" position...

Stand in your ski boots (or you can even do it without ski gear - I just did, actually!)

Bend your knees and drop your hips vertically. Your shins should shift forward into the front of your boots and your heels should press down into the ground. Your hips and butt should stay over your ankles if your weight is centered. Your torso is still relatively upright.

That's it. No angles, not a lot of thinking.

while going through the description to initially draw the diagram took a bit of sorting out, I don't find paying attention to my angles to take alot of thinking - this I can visualize...

...would like to learn the "falling-leaf" and other exercises - have never been taught those (or at least not under those names!)

 

[snowmiser]

Hi Perma-grin!

Great news about your son! The baby is doing great! She's already trying to crawl and is doing push-ups and has 2 teeth alrealdy. She's been a real gift to our family!

Hopefully we'll be able to stay open for at least a couple more weeks at Alpine, so if we do, I'd love to do some skiing together. Drop me a note if it works out.

~Anne~

 

[CMCM]

This is a good little video in a series on You Tube. Some of the info on this one discusses body position, getting too far back, etc.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssNHAXGVlKs&feature=related"]YouTube - Learn to ski (Chapter 2 - The dynamic basic position)[/ame]

 

[perma-grin]

I need to learn how to post videos! That was a lot easier than describing the angle s. His angles come super- imposed on the person in the picture!!! Lol I just sold that same pair of Nordica K91's at the ski swap this fall, ( yeah I know I hold on to way to many pair of old skis) so that would make this video from sometime around 2002. Good stuff CMCM!!!!

 

[joycemocha]

For doing the pelvic tilt piece of it--try doing off-ski work in something like Pilates or a beginning ballet class. I used to do ballet, and went back to it this summer--and it's been the best thing for my skiing! No more cramped feet--especially if I'm being a good girl and doing my ballet foot stretches regularly.

Another option is to take horseback riding lessons from a discipline which emphasizes a classical, upright seat (dressage or a good quality Western trainer, not hunt seat as you tend to ride forward, OTOH learning to jump on horseback will also serve you well on skis!).

Pilates, ballet, classic horsemanship seat--all three require that you lift your abs and tuck your butt underneath yourself. I tried yoga, but it's a bit loosey-goosey in comparison to Pilates or ballet for proper placement. In any case, if you control your core via correct placement of your abs, then you pick up the balanced position that dancers and horsemen--and skiers!--all strive for. If you lift your abs and tuck your butt underneath, then you're centered and forward against the tongue of your boots, and your heels WILL be down. And you'll be able to control your butt, then your thighs, and then your feet...

 

[perma-grin]

Unfortunalty I find that my strong posture from dressage is not the angle from hip to shoulders that I want to carry through in my skiing. Although pulling in my abdominals is the same. I think that my riding diffinitly improves and aids in strong balancing skills. Actually a more forward hunt seat posture is closer to the correct postioning on your skis. To straight a back will cause you to be back and on your heels. Remember we not only want to move laterally when skiing but FORWARD, and INTO the new turn. I suck at western pleasure I tend to catch myself pushing Unfortunatly Miss Bunny excels at it she took 6th at worlds in it in 2003 just obviously not with me on her back. She's not to sure about Dressage.

 

[ski-luvr]

Love the suggestion for visualizing the coin in the boot (and keeping the coin in place by keeping the front shins pushed against the boot)! Can't wait to try it! I know I am almost always in the back seat...so I was told that if the snow is really deep you should ski in the back seat though....Is this true? Really I have been very badly wanting to take a lesson to correct my back seat driving problem, so I am very excited to try this idea out this Friday =) Thanks ladies!!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

so I was told that if the snow is really deep you should ski in the back seat though....Is this true?

No!
Actually, it works for zilch/zip/nada!

 

[ski-luvr]

Well...I probably won't be fortunate enough to get any deep snow to try it in this year....but I'll look forward to hopefully getting some deep snow to try it in next year...We did get a few great days of super deep snow this season (at mt. hood, OR)!! Ahhh...and hopefully the memories of those days will keep me going until we get more days like that!!

 

[whitewater girl]

visualizing my angles is really helping me - I'm feeling more stable, am skiing faster & in better control, am facing down the fall line instead of across (didn't realize that was linked to stance issues, but apparently...) - tucking in the rear seems to have been the final piece to pulling things together (sometimes easier said than done, but even trying seems to pull my body back into form) - Thanks everyone!

(I am finding now though that comments I've been getting that my poles are a bit too long are oh so true!...can't quite keep my arms where I want them & actually had one pole, uh, "stay behind" on me when skiing the flats the other day had to go back & get it)

 

[amanda]

(I am finding now though that comments I've been getting that my poles are a bit too long are oh so true!...can't quite keep my arms where I want them & actually had one pole, uh, "stay behind" on me when skiing the flats the other day had to go back & get it)[/QUOTE]

You should definitely get your poles cut down to the correct size. Poles that are too long will push you into the back seat. You can usually have them shortened for $5 or $10.

 

[deannatoby]

I read some of the "ski tip" thread and realized with all the talk about stacking that there's so much I don't know. I could not visualize stacking, but this thread has helped (and I'll be watching the video after the youngsters hit the beds). I think my now the reason I find it hard to understand (and I love geometry and the angle visualization stuff!) is not because of the foot and ankle, but possibly because of my upper body. Since my lessons only went as fast as my 4yo and 6yo could go, we stayed pretty basic, thus the biggest sources of improvement were (1) when they got rid of their pizza/snowplow to turn with both skis facing forwards and (2) getting them to squash grapes. My 6yo wanted to ski like she was about to hit the lazy boy, so we did a lot of grape squashing talk. Because of that, I think my main problem may be that my upper body is hunched over. When a beginner focuses on squashing grapes do they often hunch over? I don't think my weight is in the back of my boots, but I honestly thought it should be way in my toes, and that seems clearly wrong based on these comments. Will unhunching restore correct balance? Also, do beginners tend to bend knees too much? I'm also wondering if I'm flexing my knees too much.

My current ski technique basically centers around watching the kids behind me. So I ski with my body facing backward, watching them, then I turn frontwards to enter my turn, and halfway through my turn I'm facing backwards again to watch them and gauge my speed. Bad, bad, bad form. I'll get some time to myself next year on the slopes, and I know it will feel strange to actually ski facing forward!

 

[Pequenita]

Because of that, I think my main problem may be that my upper body is hunched over. When a beginner focuses on squashing grapes do they often hunch over? I don't think my weight is in the back of my boots, but I honestly thought it should be way in my toes, and that seems clearly wrong based on these comments. Will unhunching restore correct balance? Also, do beginners tend to bend knees too much? I'm also wondering if I'm flexing my knees too much.

I don't think beginners actually bend their knees too much; rather, I think there is a natural tendency to equate bending their knees with leaning the upper body forward. I'm pretty sure it's written somewhere earlier in this thread, but to get into the proper athletic stance, stand up, jump straight up into the air, and land with your knees bent -- keep them bent and notice what's going on with your body. This is essentially the position you want to be in when you are on your skis.

 

[prairiedawn]

No!
Actually, it works for zilch/zip/nada!

I gotta say that I've found one exception to this, and that is (bear with me here): The snow is deep and you've just skied down something. There is a rather shallow runout. You need to get your speed up to make it all the way up a little rise, so you don't have to shuffle up anything. At the last second, when you really slow down and might not make it to the top of the hump, if you lean/sit back a tad, your skis will move faster and usually get you over that last little bit.... But in general, yeah, I agree. In powder, make your skis into a platform and keep your weight centered right on top of your feet.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Just remember this: any time - and I mean ANY - that the quads are parallel to the snow, as in "lean back/sit back" --- the demon phantom foot phenomenon is all the more likely to happen. This is the #1 precursor to the type of injury that snaps the ACL - in something like 0.3 second. Heck, I'd rather shuffle through it than put my ACL in a vulnerable position, FWIW.

 

[Ski Spirit]

That's a very good thing to clarify MSL!

Re: drills that help, I do falling leaf and side slips all the time. Its good to know how well used those drills are.

I can't get my 360 to go all the way around smoothly. Any hints?

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Aggressive uphill christie, then center body weight and release edges - completely flat ski, with steering to bring tips back around, no forward pressure on tips, no edging, until skis are again facing fall line. Once you've got it in one direction, practice the other and alternate. Great fun on a green run while waiting for someone, great use of fore-aft pressure control and edge engagement-releasing. The trick to bringing it around is making sure those skis are completely unengaged edge-wise.
ETA: When you're at about the 220+ degree point in the circle, go ahead and use the uphill pole to give yourself a "push" around to complete -- helps.