"Making wine" in your ski boots

[Christy]

A bunch of people talked about how helpful the image of crushing grapes between your shins and your boots was in the Tips thread. I have a question about this because I find it difficult for my shins to be in contact with my boots (I've had bootfitting btw). Should I actually be leaning on my boots with my shins, so that my boots are supporting some weight? Or are we just talking about contact?

 

[volklgirl]

You don't want to be hanging on the front of your boots. "Making wine" is simply a tool to kinestetically visualize getting forward on your skis and staying out of "the back seat". It should just be gentle contact most of the time and you should be firmly balanced in the middle of your foot.

During your boot fitting, were you also aligned and balanced? Alignment is checking/correcting the path your knee takes over the center of your boot toe and balancing is checking/correcting where your center of mass (COM) is related to the turning point of the ski. If you weren't, you may want to check into this.

 

[MemilyG]

I also wanted to say thank you for this tip. It made a huge improvement to my skiing and suddenly I was going super fast and doing bumps and people were saying, "I have never seen a newbie skiing that fast!" Thanks!

I also wondered if it was possible to over-do this tip - I kept thinking in my head "CRUSH THE GRAPE! CRUSH IT! CRUSH!" and I definitely felt very forward. I liked it because it helped me regain control when I got wobbly but I was definitely pushing way hard on the front of my boots.

What say you, divas?

Thanks in advance for the advice. I think you are amazing

 

[WildKitten]

I just had a great private lesson today at Killington with a Primary Movement Teaching instructor. I asked her about this and she said basically what Volkgirl said. You don't want to be skiing with your weight in the front of your boots, you want your weight balanced in both your feet. It's all about balance, balance, balance.

 

[SkiBam]

Of course you want your weight balanced - that's key. But the idea of "crushing the grape" seems to help many actually GET more balanced. So many of us (myself included) tend to be in the back seat, and I've found that crushing the grape, i.e. flexing the ankles, gets me forward and gives me much more control. I don't think it need put too much weight on the toes (which wouldn't be a good thing) - rather it helps get the hips over the feet. I've had many comments recently from women I teach that they feel the difference.

I'm going skiing today so will "think" about this.

 

[sleddog]

Make sure you're tightening the boot cuff, not just closing the boot around your leg. The velcro strap at the top is called a POWER strap. If this and the top two buckles aren't snug, you're losing a lot transfer to the ski. Flexing of the ankle is the joint that gets you forward on the cuff of the boot.