santacruz skier
Angel Diva
Figured it was bigger than a few jackets....... more like your sailboats!
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Worst ski advice you've ever received.
- Thread starter ski diva
- Start date
Abbi
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
And on the unrelated but totally embarrassing sailboat portion of the thread: I found out last night, after not going to the awards banquet, that my boat and crew won the second half of the race series. Somehow I didn’t figure out how they were scoring everything this year. I’m embarrassed! I would’ve been there and brought my crew with me. Oh well… Back to thinking about ski season instead!
KBee
Angel Diva
These are amazing, funny, and maddening.
I sometimes still stem. Wish I'd never learned pizza could have saved a lot of time. We called it snowplow back then.
Also, once someone told me to plant my poles in front of me at speed inside my snowplow to stop. I think she was just a teenager my parents paid to teach me for a while.
What about sitting gates? Like, the ones you pass twice who are sitting down in the middle of your line, in the middle of the run, on their cellphone and/or eating cuponoodles (true story).
Kidding. I usually just ask them repeatedly whether they're hurt.
I sometimes still stem. Wish I'd never learned pizza could have saved a lot of time. We called it snowplow back then.
Also, once someone told me to plant my poles in front of me at speed inside my snowplow to stop. I think she was just a teenager my parents paid to teach me for a while.
What about sitting gates? Like, the ones you pass twice who are sitting down in the middle of your line, in the middle of the run, on their cellphone and/or eating cuponoodles (true story).
Kidding. I usually just ask them repeatedly whether they're hurt.
santacruz skier
Angel Diva
Isn't it?
contesstant
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I developed such a hideous stem habit way back when, that I STILL can't kick it, even with constant coaching from better half who is an L3! It's HORRIBLE! It hinders me in moguls, crud, everything. It has become such a crutch, but it essentially creates two platforms with each foot/leg, which is recipe for disaster in soft, variable snow and moguls! I am working hard on it already this season and it IS finally starting to go away. I want it OUT of my movement patterns, period!
I thought the same thing. I haven't been in ages, but it's definitely one of my favorite places....
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
A stem that won't go away despite deliberate attack with what should be effective movement patterns might be fixable with boot work. The stem usually happens when the new outside knee rolls inward and down too fast. Aka, you're pronating.
Yes, skiers can stem inadvertantly because of how they start turns. But it can also happen as a result of anatomy. Hip anatomy and foot anatomy can make this something that no amount of personal effort can delete.
What are you doing, technically, to fight the stem?
How about the boots... did you get custom footbeds made and put into your liners, have the cuffs adjusted afterwards to be neutral, and did you have a bootfitter check to see if you need boot sole canting?
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contesstant
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
All good questions, and yes, I roll that knee inward. So, boots are canted, I have custom footbeds, cuff alignment is set up (although I am not afraid to play with it more.) My bootfitter is BFs shop owner, so he spends a good amount of time, watches video of me, etc. He's brilliant, truthfully. That being said, there could still be issues there. I also attribute it to my knee injury almost 4 years ago that has made my right leg weaker, and the LCL in that knee is torn, too. My right turns are vastly worse stem-wise, as the right leg sneaks out in front of me on left turns. I have to focus on standing up over that leg and keeping it under me, and also not allowing my left shoulder to rotate back.
I am also working on releasing edges sooner, rolling that soon-to-be inside knee OUT deliberately with some drills that BF has me do. I do get aft when entering turns, too. (So much video, it's so helpful and so depressing!) Getting more weight on the outside ski, squaring shoulders. So many variables, it gets overwhelming.
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Best of luck purging that annoying stem, @contesstant. Sounds like you've got your bases covered and are making progress.
contesstant
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks!! Progress for sure. I sometimes wish I were blissfully ignorant and happy to go skidding around, stemming my way!
alison wong
Angel Diva
Remind me what is stem again?
I've been stemming since 1979, I'm pretty sure I'm going to die with this d*** stem.
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Stem:
At the start of the new turn, thenew-outside-ski-tail slides outward so that it is farther out than the new-inside-ski-tail. So the turn starts with skis in a wedge. This sometimes happens to a parallel skier whose intent is to keep skis parallel. A skier may think the skis stay parallel until video reveals the truth. Naughty new-outside-ski-tail!
There are times when it's a wise tactical decision to "stem" the new-outside-ski-tail outward then stand on it to start a new turn. The skier lifts that tail up and rotates it outward, then sets it down to create a wedge. That's a stem-step. It's intentional.
The complaint in this thread is the inadvertent stem that just annoyingly happens to some people and persists despite efforts to purge it.
Note:
Very close to a stem entry is a wedge christie turn entry. In a wedge christie, the skier enters the new turn in a wedge, which disappears as the skis continue to turn, just like in a stem. But in this case, the new-outside-ski-tail does not rotate outward to cause that wedge entry. It turns like normal. The new-inside-ski causes the wedge entry because it is slower to turn. Its tail gradually gets farther away from the new-outside-ski-tail because it's lazy and just not rotating around as fast as the other ski.
The difference between the inadvertent stem entry and the wedge christie is almost invisible.
At the start of the new turn, thenew-outside-ski-tail slides outward so that it is farther out than the new-inside-ski-tail. So the turn starts with skis in a wedge. This sometimes happens to a parallel skier whose intent is to keep skis parallel. A skier may think the skis stay parallel until video reveals the truth. Naughty new-outside-ski-tail!
There are times when it's a wise tactical decision to "stem" the new-outside-ski-tail outward then stand on it to start a new turn. The skier lifts that tail up and rotates it outward, then sets it down to create a wedge. That's a stem-step. It's intentional.
The complaint in this thread is the inadvertent stem that just annoyingly happens to some people and persists despite efforts to purge it.
Note:
Very close to a stem entry is a wedge christie turn entry. In a wedge christie, the skier enters the new turn in a wedge, which disappears as the skis continue to turn, just like in a stem. But in this case, the new-outside-ski-tail does not rotate outward to cause that wedge entry. It turns like normal. The new-inside-ski causes the wedge entry because it is slower to turn. Its tail gradually gets farther away from the new-outside-ski-tail because it's lazy and just not rotating around as fast as the other ski.
The difference between the inadvertent stem entry and the wedge christie is almost invisible.
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KBee
Angel Diva
My instructor did mention something about pronating/boot fitting when this was bothering me last year. But you explained it much clearer--this is super useful information, thank you. I'm in the cruising/observing vs. the fighting/attacking phase of skiing right now, but I'd say I try to "steer" the inside/new outside ski a bit more now and then--like edge and aim the front inside of it? Something like that? It feels forced and weird, though. I'm pretty knock-kneed for sports. I've been thinking of trying my shoe orthotics in my boots next round, and I do have a boot fitter in mind. Hope that some adjustments in gear will help before I get back into lessons.
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@KBee, many skiers focus on rotating the new outside ski to point downhill to start the turn. People are even instructed to do this when they are beginners. It's that outside ski that bears most of the weight through a turn, so it seems logical that doing something to it is called for when its time to start the turn.
This focus on the new-outside-ski at initiation is often the source of the dreaded stem entry. When well-intentioned skiers rotate that new-outside-ski to point downhill to start a turn, the new-inside-ski gets ignored and its turning gets delayed. Beginners doing this will suffer from "crossed tips" if they delay too long doing something with the new-inside-ski while actively rotating the new-outside-ski.
If you do something with the new-inside-ski to get it to point downhill first, you won't get the stem (unless there's excessive pronation because of anatomical stuff going on in the foot or hip). Barring that anatomical stuff, the new-outside-ski will usually follow along with the new-inside-ski like a dog on a leash. Skis will enter the new turn parallel.
But honestly, it's just easier to do something with the new-outside-ski to start a turn. The best version that often doesn't cause a stem is to lengthen the new-outside-leg (the uphill leg) and wait. Both legs will get long and the skier will be standing tall, which will cause both skis to flatten. IF the skier was heading across the hill when doing this, and if there was a bit of uphill tip lead (which there probably was), the skis will choose to turn downhill on their own as the skier gets tall. They won't need any help to turn; they will just do it all by themselves. This phenomenon is known as "tips seeking the fall line." Skis usually stay parallel if the skier avoids interfering with them.
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marzNC
Angel Diva
Back when straight skis were the only option, people could spend years doing stem turns because learning to do a proper parallel turn with feet and skis close together took a lot of effort and practice. I only spent two seasons having lessons on straight skis (length over my head). Never got close to being able to link more than 3-4 parallel turns.
On steeper terrain, I used to revert to a stem turn fairly frequently. Especially on my bad side.
santacruz skier
Angel Diva
Do you stem on groomed snow or only when in more difficult situations?
