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Skiing Steep Crud

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well its that time of year when our big face and all its little side runs has finally come to the party. Its usually only on very early in the season and towards the end when conditions are a little softer. It has pitch of around 38 - 42 degrees and has a particularly gnarly entrance but once you're there its fantastic. We had an amazing powder day on Wednesday and it was firing on all cylinders however 2 days later and its now CRUD!
Now I can ski crud on lower angle stuff but when it gets steeper I struggle a bit with getting thrown around and losing control.
If you've got any tips I will gratefully receive them !!

BTW I've been told several times over the last few weeks how much better I am skiing, more in control, better technique, better body position and most important a lot more confident, so thanks ladies for all the fabulous help you gave me :love:
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Keep your shoulders and body centered down the fall line, keep your up hill pole planted a tad longer, don't leave it behind, but keep it uphill (even as you release the pole plant) until just before you make the commitment to turn and plant the next pole for next turn. continue across the hill a bit more if you aren't sure of where you are going to turn, you do lose vertical sliding on steeps- carving brings speed, turn UP hill to take off speed, try to not be in a hurry, look 2+ turns down the hill and make your own bump run in the 'gack' always look for a good spot to turn, we call it shopping for turns- if you get out of balance- stop regroup and start over. hope this helps :-)
I'm so antsy to ski.. it was 37F here this am- hoping we get an early start (on man made)
 

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Keep your shoulders and body centered down the fall line, keep your up hill pole planted a tad longer, don't leave it behind, but keep it uphill (even as you release the pole plant) until just before you make the commitment to turn and plant the next pole for next turn. continue across the hill a bit more if you aren't sure of where you are going to turn, you do lose vertical sliding on steeps- carving brings speed, turn UP hill to take off speed, try to not be in a hurry, look 2+ turns down the hill and make your own bump run in the 'gack' always look for a good spot to turn, we call it shopping for turns- if you get out of balance- stop regroup and start over. hope this helps :-)
I'm so antsy to ski.. it was 37F here this am- hoping we get an early start (on man made)
Thanks so much @nopoleskier, its reassuring to hear that "shopping for turns" is ok in the crud !!

Should I be trying to get my ski's on edge or or leave them flat and smear them?
Also where should I be planting my pole ? I was skiing with a friend the other day and he mentioned planting it level but downhill of my boot in steeper and choppy terrain as it had the benefit of keeping the upper body facing downhill.

We were skiing on manmade snow a couple of days ago when the temps dropped and they decided to fire up the guns on a big wide intermediate slope and it was great fun :bounce:
Sadly our season is coming to an end but that means yours is just around the corner :ski:
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hello and eeek, steep crud, yikes. If it is that steep an actual flat ski will not be flat for long. Which actually reminds me of a key steeps concept, which is to not rush the turns. They should be short radius to help woth speed control, but when nervous we tend to rush and that creates an off balance uneven turn. An ounce of patience at the start still helps with the release and commitment and in turn with the smoothness. The sniw can't and won't feel smooth but that dies not mean that we have to sacrifice the smoothness of ourbown turn movements. I prefer to slow down by side slipping my turns in favor of traversing. I am shopping for turns in both scenarios but leaving myself more room to make a turn. If the gullies are tight I might not have much forward travel room, but still need to keep moving while controlling my speed. Slow and steady wins out every time.
 

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thankyou @snoWYmonkey :thumbsup: The don't rush my turns and slow and steady really resonates.
Its also great to know that some of my techniques ie shopping for my turns and adding a sneaky side slip into my turns are totally acceptable in those conditions.
I went out today but took it easy as my stupid knee is giving me grief so I avoided all the crud and stuck to the groomers and a nice little line that hadn't been skied since our last snowfall on Wednesday which was sublime :smile:
 

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