Victor Days 1 & 2

Day 1
We met at the central train station in Zermatt. I was there early to find a café for breakfast - with my "hotel" not being a hotel there was no breakfast there and I hadn't come prepared for that. Victor and Rodion arrived some time later and we discussed the best plan for renting and storing skis for the family during the week. Nothing was obvious here because the access to their apartment was very difficult and inaccessible to any transport. We eventually settled on a plan and got the lift passes then set off to do the round tour of Zermatt in the bus - to get to where we would rent, store and ski from next to the Matterhorn Express.

Rodion and I set off on the lift together and continued right to the top - taking the Matterhorn Paradise cable car to the highest point. It seemed like this would go on forever. Even at the top we had to walk through hundreds of metres of tunnel. Eventually we came out to a view over towards Italy and flat glacier skiing. The best point was that the weather was good with clear visibility. The view was stunning and the Matterhorn is impressive to look at.

We skied down to the main run and then I asked Rodion to show me his carving. He fall over on the first turn, blaming in on the poorly pisted snow - which was partly true. We did a couple of runs up high like this and I observed Rodion's form. There was some safe off piste over to the side further down but it was windpacked. Rodion also fell over here a few times but that was expected as wndpack is difficult to ski on. The causes of all the falls however were technical and this was useful information for me to be gathering. Further downhill we came across some good off piste and with some coaching Rodion started to enjoy his skiing.

Main Technical Issues

When carving Rodion was falling onto his inside ski and creating a large A frame stance. He clearly thought that was okay and that it was caused by "skating" - but it wasn't. It was caused by his upper body not being properly placed over his support leg. With shorter turns he was rushing the start of the turns because he was trying to "face downhill" and so wanted to get the skis around to quickly. He had also developed an "up/down" timing - coming up when going into the turns. Off Piste the windpack exposed a hip rotation issue and lack of feeling for the resonance (bounce) of the skis when floating in deep snow. His pole use was practically non-existent for short turns and he was compensating for poor body position by leaning hard on the back of the ski boots. There would be a lot of work to do but part of the problem is that Rodion had learned by copying - not by understanding - so a lot of explaining would have to be done and it was not yet clear where would be the most appropriate place to begin.

With the off piste being very good further down the mountain I decided that we should ski it and make a bit of an adventure out of it. Skiing should be fun and educational at the same time. Rodion improved when he adopted a more seated stance in the deep snow and started to look for the "bounce". We had some big runs in excellent deep snow to finish the short day on a high note. Conditions change rapidly on the mountain and it's important to adapt and exploit opportunities when they are available - it's almost certain that snow like that will not be available on other days. Rodion was confused about the value of skiing off piste for improving his skiing - so I explained that Slalom, Bumps and Off Piste were all very valuable ways to become a more verstatile and adaptable skier. 

Day Two

An earlier start to a grey day on the mountain with reduced visibility. This would be a good day for working on technique and I'd had time to think about it. Rodion also had a lot of questions.

Walking

We began our session by looking at walking and feeling the hip moving backwards as the support leg extended behind. I explained to Rodion that in skiing the support leg extends in front not behind but the hip has to move back to align everything correctly. There is a tendency to do the opposite and let the hip follow the foot forwards – even more strongly than in walking where this mistake is also made. (Cycling has also the same alignment issue to deal with). Rodion understood and was able to separate the required body parts and to coordinate everything almost immediately – which is quite impressive because it can be very confusing. The hip rotation commonly present in his turns disappeared. This is normally an extremely difficult problem to correct – but the results were clear to see.

Timing – skating

Walking and skating use roughly the same basic leg movement. Rodion’s first attempt to pull back the hip didn’t work because he had inverted his timing – coming up into the new turn instead of down (as in skating). His timing was rapidly corrected and then the hip went easily into place. When someone skates the hip is naturally pulled in beneath the centre of mass with the adductor muscles – so this easily ties in with pulling back of the hip – it makes it easier to skate in effect – and the skating makes the hip alignment easier too.

Rodion was a bit confused about timing in general, thinking that skating was only for racing and trying to go faster. In fact – just like a motorbike always comes down into a turn and back up out of it the skier does the same – generating a pressure cycle on the ski which nearly always relates to a skating action of the legs and body. When pivoting the skating action generates vertical (down/up) motion and is used to slow down or to direct momentum. 

Rodion couldn’t see how a turn starts due to the motion of the centre of mass – he seemed to think that some sort of extra effort had to be made – perhaps with the legs – so this probably explains partly why he tends to rush the start of his turns. I didn’t really want to get into this subject at the moment – because he needs to work on his overall body position (for aft, anticipation etc.) before going there. His question was interesting though because now I know he isn’t fully aware of the use of his centre of mass to control turns.

Using inside edge of the foot in the pivot

Rodion had some trouble understanding how he could skate while pivoting so I explained that he should stand on the inside edge of his uphill foot while the ski remained on the uphill edge (critical to the pivot) – this way he was always working his adductor muscles (pulling inwards) and could bend easily and push back up easily.

Rounding turns - not "trying" to face downhill

In general I told  Rodion not to rush the start of his turns but to round them out – though I’m sure his continued failure to do so is due to the need to correct his overall body position (too far back) and his lack of awareness of the role of the centre of mass.

Running
Went for an hour’s run straight after skiing. It was snowing lightly and people were slipping and falling on the steep paths and trails between the buildings. I decided to aim for where there might be less people. Basically I was pretty clueless about where to go but with an hour to run around there was no worry about making mistakes as there was plenty of time to put them right. I headed out of town towards the pistes and then when that became too difficult went off piste on a trail laid down through the snow by people during the day. Although only at 1600m altitude I was struggling to breathe through the nose so had to alternate with mouth breathing for spells. When climbing I focused on the core muscles, especially the hamstrings and glutes to access the strongest muscles for climbing and despite the snow and steepness it was relaxing and enjoyable. Working on a forefoot to midfoot strike the foot muscles all felt active and despite holes and potential trouble everywhere my feet seemed to guide me flawlessly though every obstacle – incredibly sure-footed. The Chinese 600 lumen (20 Euros) head torch was excellent – so bright at times reflecting off the snow that it hurt my eyes. I came across a total of four other runners and waved to each one of them – only one responded cheerily. I like to acknowledge others who share my interests – but I guess it’s not for everybody. Ultimately it’s always best to err on the side of being friendly because it can never do any harm. The run was enjoyable and as usual my energy levels felt higher after the run than before it – for an hour or so anyway. Starting the run I’d had a few pains, in the the feet and lower back – but by the end they had all been massaged out of my body through the use of good mechanics.

The Lost Apartment
Liliana and Victor had invited me to eat at their “impossible to find” chalet and so after a shower I headed off there on foot and slipped about all over the place. Still can’t quite figure this out as the running shoes have the same Vibram rubber but have smoother soles – yet during the run both up and downhill I hadn’t slipped once. Liliana had prepared a traditional Russian/Ukrainian meal which was really delicious. It was also the first time I’d had the chance to chat to Victor because until now he had been completely occupied trying to organise and take care of his family.