Diva's Favourite Drills

[greekpeakskier]

while women's skis do have the binding more forward to compensate for weight distribution, i've got another question and wonder whether ski/binding distribution could address it.

one of skiils i spend tons of time working on is trying to get enough edge on my uphill ski, i tend to flatten it. the great instructors i work with have given me drills to work on it and it is a bit of a struggle. i've noticed from the ski slope that lots of women do it.

so, cut to my bootfitting this week. the bootfitter spends 20 minutes trying to align my stance. finally he says, "typical women's a frame. it amazes me what percentage of women's hips are built on an a frame, and i just can't always fix it with the bootfitting. some really great women skiers i fit have an a frame and they just learn to compensate .... uncomfortably."

so... in ideal skis.... what about a binding that is built for the ways that women's hips position the legs differently.

 

[SnowHot]

Oooooo, that's a good one!
I hadn't thought of that.

I have, too, been doing a drill to get that up hill ski flexed!
For me, the drill has done wonders, and I'm feeling good about it, but I wonder how many women find this to be an issue.

 

[haylmom]

Oooooo, that's a good one!
I hadn't thought of that.

I have, too, been doing a drill to get that up hill ski flexed!
For me, the drill has done wonders, and I'm feeling good about it, but I wonder how many women find this to be an issue.

SnowHot and GreekPeakSkier, what exercises are you doing to work that issue through?

 

[greekpeakskier]

SnowHot and GreekPeakSkier, what exercises are you doing to work that issue through?

i'd like to know what snowhot is doing but i spent the day today skiing on my uphill ski. probably spent two straight hours doing it and got better, and when i went to ski normally, could feel the outside edge of my uphill ski much better than i ever had. in the drill, i'd move across the hill on uphill ski (on easy blue), do a turn on uphill ski, pause and shift skis. it would have been easier to just remain on ski and ski back across hill on what had now become my downhill ski. alas, that felt like cheating.

i'm trying to get over my tendency to lean downhill knee into my not-sufficiently-flexed uphill knee. my instructor says that it's ok though (while i'm on one ski) if i have my legs a bit closer together and point downhill ski (which is suspended) downhill for balance.

i find one ski skiing on uphill ski much harder than one ski skiing on downhill ski. but it was rewarding.

 

[haylmom]

Cool, that's a good one....since I just took 7 weeks of instruction I've got lots of exercises still packed in my tiny brain ;) And I'm by no means an instructor, but I'll let you know that one thing that helped me stay balanced and stable and help you stay down was skiing with your pole behind your knees horizontally (if that makes sense)... It was my one "AHA" exercise and seemed to help me with SOOO much stuff! I still do it when no one's looking. Plus, a bunch of us still do the one ski on the bunny hill everytime we go back to the lodge ;)

 

[greekpeakskier]

Cool, that's a good one....since I just took 7 weeks of instruction I've got lots of exercises still packed in my tiny brain ;) And I'm by no means an instructor, but I'll let you know that one thing that helped me stay balanced and stable and help you stay down was skiing with your pole behind your knees horizontally (if that makes sense)... It was my one "AHA" exercise and seemed to help me with SOOO much stuff! I still do it when no one's looking. Plus, a bunch of us still do the one ski on the bunny hill everytime we go back to the lodge ;)

ski pole behind the leg? i'm trying to visualize it. duct tape? holding it behind? have minor surgery done to create loops in back of your knees through which you insert poles? let me know, i'll try it.

 

[haylmom]

LMAO!! Sorry, as I said...I'm no instructor, and its easier to SHOW someone Yeah, you hold it there (hands on the poles just on either sides of your knees or whatever is comfortable. Just make sure the pole/s are right tucked in behind your knees. This forces you bend over (maybe a little over exaggerated) and forces your tips to ski to stay levelled because you can feel one ski dominating if a knee strays from the pole. Does this help? Maybe Jilly or one of the other instructors would be able to do better at explaining it, or have a better one (diff exercises work for diff ppl, this one just so happened to be my fav!)

 

[Jilly]

Actually hold the poles with both hands between your legs. Another one is on top of the knees. I wish I could copy my CD from the CSIA with these exercises on it. I'll have to see if they are in the manual somehow and scan.

 

[SnowHot]

I was putting far too much pressure on the outside ski and had a wicked stem turn.
When I was skiing at Boyne, Kneale gave me this tool to help me lose the stem turn.

Step One:
When you are in the middle of the turn, flex your inside boot(up hill boot). Really concentrate on flexing that boot, with your knee going directly toward your toe.
If you have trouble with this, then stand on the flat and practice flexing your boots alternately.

Step Two:
Once you're feeling the difference in Balance from flexing in the middle of the turn, start thinking "turn initiation".
Flex your Right boot to go right and your left boot to go left.

The idea is this.........We aren't ice skating, we don't want to have our left leg push our right leg into turning, that is what creates the stem.

Funny thing happened a few weeks after I started to do this drill............
An instructor was skiing with us, and he asked me if he could give me some analysis......
he said.........."do you realize that you're starting your turn too early with your downhill ski?"

My reply:
"Good, that means I'm doing my drill right!"

The goal is to have your skis turn together, but there will be a period of adjustment where you will tend to lead strong with your downhill ski(soon to be your uphill ski).

 

[sleddog]

Here's a video clip of a teaching sequence to get a more active inside ski. I used this several years ago in a PSIA L3 cert exam. It works quite well with the Q angle issues many women have.

https://ifyouski.com/technique/warrencarving/

 

[SnowHot]

Actually hold the poles with both hands between your legs. Another one is on top of the knees. I wish I could copy my CD from the CSIA with these exercises on it. I'll have to see if they are in the manual somehow and scan.

I know this drill!

Hold your poles out in front of you, horizontally.
Let them rest on your thumbs about shoulder width apart.
Gently let your index finger grip the poles(remember, gently)
then bring your hands down to your knees.
Shoulder width should almost be right for your stance.
let the three outside fingers rest on your knees keeping your index finger and thumb with a gentle grip on the poles.
The idea is to allow your poles, with the "moving joint" that your index finger and thumb create, to become a guide to keep your skis parallel as you make your turns.

I think I know where there is a short vid clip of this drill. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[greekpeakskier]

here's a clip of the one that is helping me. except add a turn with the uphill ski to position me for next move across mountain. not my favorite drill... slow and awkward and requires waiting for people on the hill, but it really is working to help me feel uphill ski.

https://www.niceturns.net/moviesf/movie_traverseuphillhtml.html.

i'll try to find a clip of my FAVORITE drill that i use as a reward for this work.

 

[ski diva]

Anyone have any more of these?

 

[mountainxtc]

I like the hand on the inside of the inside knee method. you need to feel like you are "leading" the turn with the inside knee, i.e. it is the first thing to move inside the turn. Be careful to ensure you stay balanced over the outside ski at all times. Tipping is the most common error when learning this.

you can also use lifting the tail of the inside ski. bring you knee up into your armpit (tail first so you maintain balance and don't throw yourself out of the back door). lift the ski as early as you can in the turn. when you are comfortable with the drill, ski with both feet on the snow but maintain the feeling of bringing your inside knee towards your (inside!) armpit. as you do this, roll your weight towards the little toe side of that foot.

 

[LilaBear]

I did a drill last week that really helped me with this, the next day we repeated it with a larger class and it helped everyone. Plus it's a simple exercise, and doesn't "mess up" anything else.

As I traversed across the hill my instructor had me use my inside hand to point to where I was going next. So gradually I pointed a ahead of me and downhill, then brought my hand a little further back, but still out ahead and downhill of me, and without doing anything else my skis initiated the turn, completed it and eventually I'm in the opposite traverse when I start to use my new downhill hand to point.

We call this the "point and poke" as we added a pole plant in the middle.

It was teaching me to lead with the inside half of my body. Also bringing up my head and having me look downhill and ahead. So simple and so effective.

 

[bluebird]

Super easy one and i'm sure the basic of all ski lessons..railroad tracks....to teach edging...shoulders, head, hips (feels awkward as you are very rotated)down the hill, flex ankles and get on both edges- going straight across hill (a diaganol traverse)...look back and look at your loving tracks..simple but effective..this has improved my left side immensely after one lesson.