I had three days of really great skiing. Friday was epic. Saturday was epic-er. Sunday, I was so sore all over, I thought maybe I'd just do a couple of runs, then bail. As it turned out, our lesson group was huge - I think we literally started out with 15 people, several of whom had just started their season. This worked out fantastically for me. Instead of bombing steeps, we spent a lot of time on more mellow terrain, or doing drills on stuff I usually jet down. And I was sore and worn out enough to actually pay attention, rather than letting my ego tell me I already need all this stuff, thanks anyway, those drills are great for the other students ...
This morning (Sunday), at lesson line-up, instructor Dirk walked up. He'd seen me skiing down Spruce on my new skis while he was on the lift, and had a few pointers. Now this is a guy I haven't skied with this season, so I'm flattered he noticed me (in totally different gear no less). He's been teaching groups I can't hang with yet. Anyway, he told me I'd been skiing a bit back on my heels, and that if I'd just get forward a tiny bit, it would make all the difference. Just an inch. Standing there in the meeting area, I flexed forward slightly in my boots, demonstrating. "Exactly, that's all, just a bit!" I explained what I did to start this thread - that I had been staring at the snow in front of me, but now I'm looking forward and I'm all better, thanks.
So as we worked on the E chair double black bumps, I commented to buddy John that I keep lifting my inside ski to initiate the turn. I suspect this is something I do all the time, but it gets way more noticeable when I'm tired. He watched me and then suggested what he called "sinking into" the turn and demonstrated. It's kind of like using your shins and core and just letting your quads come along for the ride? Hard to explain. Harder to do. I did manage to do it a few times, and I could feel how everything was smoother and felt more in control and even slower, although I'm not sure it was actually slower, just less skidded. I could *hear* the difference, just by getting lower. Less scraping, same snow.
A few run later, Kevin, the instructor, described how a lot of us tend to get back a bit on our heels and push the tails around when we're in challenging terrain. Oh. Oh! That's me! And once he described it, I could just feel it, so clearly, in the trees and in the bumps, how I would get out of the driver's seat and steer with my heels. Hey, doesn't that sound a lot like what Dirk was saying? Maybe he had a point, after all. Maybe I don't have it all figured out just yet.
When we went up to Whale's Tail, I realized I have all those same bad habits in the soft steeps - lifting the inside foot to initiate the turn, getting back and steering with my heels - and that getting low as John had demonstrated really did help a lot with both. Of course, I was sore as hell, and that probably had a lot to do with my skiing - I hadn't been lifting my foot skiing Oatmeal Bowl the day before. But I am sure I had been doing so in the bumps and trees. I guess I'm a verbal learner - it's hard for me to fix something until I can actually put it into words and viscerally understand the description.
I wish I weren't so sore, and I wish I didn't have to work this week. Today's revelation is to finally really feel and be able to articulate in my own head what I'm doing wrong, which in my experience often leads to a breakthrough. I want to ski and ski and ski and feel those heels push, and correct them, and work on sinking into the turn and not lifting my foot. But no, I have to work, and even if I didn't, I could barely manage the groomers back to the base today. I need some recovery time. But Friday ...