Monday, December 2, 2013

Tignes / Val d’Isère in high winds

High winds at altitude caused the snow practically everywhere to become wind packed and challenging to ski. There was still some good powder in some sheltered areas but in general the unpredictable nature of the wind pack made it tricky to ski.

Haluk needed to recover his form from the end of last season – remembering how to move his body freely.  The key to dealing with tricky snow is to be more dynamic – moving the centre of mass strongly. This of course requires a lot of skilful coordination but sometimes we simply forget to move and tension takes over.

Personally I know that using aggressive pressure and racing type turns on the inside edge – with very strong dynamics – will get you through anything. My preference however is to play with the opposite – keeping the skis flat and on the outside edge as long as possible into the new turn while still placing the body to the inside as the ski pivots instead of carves. There is a great versatility in a skier who can choose either approach at will.

 

 

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment