Derin, Defne, day 2

Defne started the day’s skiing with a warm up run and then straight into working on technique. She expressed her concern about doing anything too difficult, but I reassured her that our focus was on technique today. There is always something interesting you can do with your skiing without frightening yourself. The visibility was poor and temperature high, so it was a good day to focus on improving skills. The goal for today was to take the pivoting skills a bit further and show how they apply to both fall-line skiing (braking) and to racing (accelerating). In racing it is about making a rapid change of line, which helps you to stay close to the poles. Yesterday I told Defne we would be trying to get her to ski closer to the poles.

We began with a revision of yesterday’s fall-line pivoting then rapidly moved on to the next stage – “air pivots”. Air Pivots are when the first part of the turn is done with the skis in the air. There is already very little resistance to swinging the skis into a turn when on their uphill edge against the snow – and they provide a certain amount of braking when you do this, but there is even less resistance when the skis are in the air! Defne didn’t like the idea to begin with, because it is difficult to learn and she doesn’t seem to like being confronted with difficulty. She would mistakenly begin the turn first then jump during the turn – but eventually got the hang of starting the whole process with a coordinated two footed jump.  She did the “jump turns” well and then tried to link them together into “short swings” but that takes a lot more practice.

The next stage is to realise that a racing turn can also be started this way, with the skis changing edge during the pivot. The mechanics are the same except the skis land on the downhill edges and accelerate.  This is used to change the line more rapidly at the start of a turn – when there is not likely to be enough pressure on the ski for it to carve tightly enough. Defne had no problem picking this up. In the race course she tentatively tried it out, but remained far from the poles due to feeling a bit unsafe with the poor visibility. Next time she will get the benefit.

Defne gets afraid of skiers close to her, steep slopes and many other things. I explained to Defne that everybody feels fear – sometimes very strong fear. The important thing is to not always allow it to win. We are stronger than out fears – but this is something that we need to learn. Everybody experiences fear but it must never control you and stop you from doing things. People who allow fear to dominate find that their lives become more and more constrained and limited by their fears instead of opening up. Fear doesn’t get less as we grow up – we just (hopefully) learn to deal with it much better.

Defne's issues are really just about confidence. I notice that her confidence takes big swings and usually after a very good day it is followed by a bad one - as she anticipates that expectations of her performance will be higher. When distracted by having fun or just by her own positive decisions at times then she enjoys most things. Confidence or Self Belief is super important.

She has a tendency to interrupt explanations instead of listening and this is clearly a confidence issue too. To help circumvent this issue I explained that skiing is not really about "understanding" it's about perception. What makes skiing interesting is that it opens up many different levels of perception, so the same explanation means different things to different people and we have to be very careful to listen or we can completely miss this. To help, when riding the chairlift we discussed "drawing". I asked Defne to guide me through how she would draw a bubble lift that we could see close by. She started with the cable then the support hanging down and then the bubble itself with the windows. I explained that this is normal but it doesn't work very well because the brain has a name for all of those objects and you end up drawing those objects as symbols because that's how the brain deals with them so that you easily recognise them. If we look at the spaces that those objects make with the surrounding snow then we can't name those shapes and so we use a different part of the brain specialised in "observing". Drawing only those shapes causes the other objects to appear as if by magic. This is a different way to "perceive". There are many things like this with the body and the brain, concerning physical feelings, pain, fear, emotions, how we interacts with objects and space and much more. Skiing is really “understood “ or “perceived” through feeling.

Perception is really developed through listening – it’s “internal”. In music a note is just a meaningless sound, but the size of the space between one note and  another gives it meaning. How many people really "listen" and hear this? Yesterday Defne explained that at school she gets bored with maths because she is ahead of the class. I pointed out that the most important perception regarding mathematics is that it does not describe reality. There is no such thing in nature or “man made” as a "perfect circle" but in maths every circle is perfect. A line is by definition made up of numbers at every point, but we cannot find numbers at every point, there are "holes". The more you compare maths with reality the more problems you find. That's what makes maths really interesting. Relating mathematics to the real world is a form of listening, just like feeling in skiing is a form of listening – all this is perception.

Derin went through more or less the same training process today as Defne but had completely forgotten what a pivot is!!!!! Her body however remembered for her. Derin needed a repeat of the explanation about "pivoting". She had either not remembered or never previously understood the concept of staying on the uphill edges for braking during both halts of the turn. This had to be clearly understood now because we would have to switch edges for the racing pivot. She followed all of this without difficulty.

This is Derin the Tiger (with the ears) attacking the slalom with her new “close to the poles” technique…

Derin was also game for working on her fall-line pivoting in the bumps and we started to introduce the correct timing for compression turns. Every day we will do a little more and she will soon be a competent bumps skier. Tomorrow we have to take this "relaxation" further so that she can bend a little bit more at the knees.  If conditions are suitable we will also begin to look at dynamics in the bumps. On the flat her pivoting was much better when she placed some weight on her downhill pole.

Derin has to be reminded frequently to avoid leaning on the back of her ski boots – which she quickly corrects when brought to mind. For dealing with the "back of the boots" issue I reminded her to "listen" to her legs. We need a clear line of communication between the mind and the legs. When perpendicular to the skis there is no pressure from the boots against the legs and most of the leg muscles feel relaxed.

Derin, Defne day 1

Today’s objective was to get the girls back into skiing, have fun and build confidence. Both were keen to have a go at slalom so we used it to set benchmark times to try to improve on in the days to come. I deliberately avoided working on much technical stuff today so as to get some mileage and feeling into the legs.

Defne likes carving and skiing off-piste on ski-pisted snow. She doesn’t like ice or when it is very steep. She has been doing exercises to strengthen her legs in preparation this year – though at age 10 it’s really still a bit too young for strength training. Her skiing is quite close to the level where we left off last year so tomorrow we will start to develop it a bit more. She seemed to retain a few important things from last year such as a stronger posture, use of the adductor muscles, good arm carriage and perpendicularity to the skis. Her fall-line pivoting was a bit ropey, but that’s a tricky thing to develop anyway. The single biggest change for the next time in the slalom will simply be to ski closer to the gates. I pointed out that when she feels uncomfortable with her speed in slalom we have to stop and work on technique instead. You don’t eat food when you are not hungry and it’s the same for this – if you don’t feel hungry for it you leave it until you do.

On the piste we just worked on turn completion – finishing off the turns. Most people don’t finish turns properly and so have only limited control. They may ski fast on an open piste but would not be able to keep high speed in a race course because they have much less control than they realise.

Derin likes everything about skiing. When pushed she admits to liking off-piste, bumps and slalom best – with off-piste in the crud best of all. Her reason for this is because it’s scary! Today when she joined me she was back to skiing on the back of her ski boots again – but we quickly started to sort that out. She reckoned it was impossible to remember the word “perpendicular” but she did – and she managed to stay perpendicular to her skis most of the time once she was aware of the issue once again. We went into the slalom early and despite a rutted course she did fine, close to her best time last year. After that we did the Tommeuse bumps from top to bottom twice, working on pivoting and sideslipping. The bumps were about twice the size of her so she did well. Then we skied the black bumps run “Campanules” back down to Tignes. Before that we also went off-piste in real crud and worked on the dynamics for the end of the turn – which although scary she coped with very well. The idea was to use the lower ski to bring the body out of the turn perpendicular to the hill – making the start of the next turn easy in the crud. We also worked on kick turns and jump turns on steep wind packed snow off-piste. Tomorrow we will concentrate more specifically on technique.

Awesome Powder Skiing Day

We started off by dropping down from the traverse to the Mattis piste into the “L” valley. This is a stable but quite steep slope in places and the snow was deep, soft and almost totally un-skied. The Scandinavians must have had a hard night on the town because there were none in sight. Normally you just need to blink and 20 of them are in front of you eating up all the fresh snow.

The skiing was far too good to hang around taking photos and film so the shots here were taken after the best of the skiing was done. We were skiing from about 2800m down to 1800m in deep powder the whole way. Laissenant first and then the Signal at Le Fornet were the places we skied and the snow was equally good, deep and soft everywhere. The gullys down from the Grand Vallon to Le Fornet were unskied and full of deep snow – great fun to play with.

 

We had time after lunch to squeeze in a great descent of the Pays Desert  at the Col de l’Isèran (seen in the panorama photo) were the snow was also exceptional even at 3200m altitude. For once it hadn’t been flattened by the wind.

 

 

 

Avalanche zone in the middle of the Grand Vallon – a dangerous section with steep pitches through rocks that should have been strictly avoided. This slide was released by skiers – one of whom paid the ultimate price. I avoided that area for a reason - it's over 30° and convex at the top - plus the risk in the morning was level 4. The slab was 1.8m at the fracture, 150m across and 350m long.

 

 

 

James, William: Technique Development

James and William appeared to have very different problems in their skiing so I had to try to begin the technical session by finding a common denominator. They both struggled most in fall-line skiing – so it was clear that working on pivoting and fall line skiing would be a sensible place to begin. James would always be caught out leaning back and accelerating out of control with no use of his ski poles. William couldn’t stand on his outside ski with a strong commitment and so fell over frequently when his weight went on the “wrong” ski.

 

One Ski

Working on standing on one leg and pivoting on one leg is a direct way to address both issues of leaning back and commitment to the support leg. In a way both are issues of commitment to standing on one leg. The leaning on the back of the ski boot can only work when supporting yourself on two skis instead of one.

James was able to ski on one ski but had very little edge awareness and couldn’t control his speed or turn radius. William predictably just fell over or put his other leg on the snow.

This was more of a test than anything else at this stage. James couldn’t lean on the back of the ski boot when on one leg but he still had the problems of not completing the turns and speed control. William clearly found standing on one leg hard and that’s probably why he skis a lot with his feet close together – so he can stand on two feet. At this stage there were no clear signs of the underlying issues that might be generating the problems.

 

One Ski Pivot

We started working on the “outside ski” pivot without spending any time preparing for this with sideslipping. Standing on the uphill ski the idea was to sideslip with the foot rolled onto its inside (lower) edge and the ski held on its uphill edge. This was quickly achieved so we did the exercise for the adductor muscle awareness by lifting the ski off the snow and pulling the ski tip against my ski pole planted in the snow. William let his heel come out when he did this which showed that he was twisting the leg outwards instead of pulling inwards with his adductor muscles. This was corrected and  the new awareness was then added to the pivot.

Despite their best efforts both were affected by strong upper body (shoulders and hips) rotation. They were leading into the turns with the upper body to try to force the ski around. The hips nearly always started the turn by being forced to the outside of the turn. 

Working on the “inside ski pivot”, which is trickier, the rotation problems were even clearer and harder for them to avoid. They consciously tried to stop rotation both at the start and end of the turns. I explained how rotating kept the body mass to the outside of the turn and made everything difficult. The advantage of stopping rotation and facing downhill is that the body can be shaped during the second half of the turn to keep the centre of mass  low and inside the turn, so as to complete the turn. At the start of the turn rotation interferes with dynamics and so the ski can’t work. The rotation stops the body from falling into the turn and as I explained the skier’s job is to fall – and the ski’s job is to lift the skier up.

 

Windscreen Wipers

The pivot could not improve without eliminating this chronic rotation so this became the main target. Along with the rotation there were significant postural issues emerging. William had worked on posture few days earlier and it appeared to have made a difference because he wasn’t bending his spine in all directions as he had been previously. James on the other hand was hollowing his back and along with his hips his bottom would frequently go to the outside of the turn. This has to be corrected to protect the lower back from injury. I asked James to tilt his pelvis up at the front without letting his shoulders fall backwards – so that the stomach tightened. When James did this he locked up his hip joints and when asked to bend at the hips he bent at the waist only. This was corrected. The pelvis needs to the pulled up but the hips must also be released.

We removed the skis and stood on a steep pitch facing downhill and with the heels dug into the snow. Both poles were planted downhill for support and the legs were rotated in their hip sockets so that the feet swung like windscreen wipers in front – from side to side. Initially both James and William allowed the pelvis to rotate but we rapidly brought this under control so that only the legs moved.  I explained that in this wide stance both skis could pivot independently and both feet could be kept at the same height across the mountain, below the body. The idea was to ski directly down the fall-line with each leg pivoting independently and absolutely no travel of the body across the hill and without the hips or body coming around at all – as they have to when the feet are together. As you can see in the video above they didn’t really manage that level of control but it did contribute to raising awareness of posture and rotation issues.

 

Compression Turns

It was becoming clear that rotation was still not being brought under control so more extreme things had to be attempted. Compression turns are very difficult for most people to learn so it was a long-shot.

The compression turn simulates bump skiing but on flat terrain. It’s necessary to flex the legs all the way to 90° at both the hip and the knees while moving the body down into the turn, relying on strong pole support. The key is to feel the body pulling the skis down into the turn. My hope was that this low flexed position would fight against the tendency for the boys to thrust their hips up and outwards. James had a serious breakthrough with this and suddenly understood how to keep his hips to the inside of the turn. William was a bit slower to catch on but also got there in the end.

The clear breakthrough made it obvious that the rotation issues were coming from up/down timing so after working on the compressions for a while I decided to move on to skating (down/up timing) and see how they would both react to that.

 

Skating Timing

Both William and James can skate well but they were slightly confused as to how this applied to skiing. Working with the “direct method” and knowing they had done this many years ago, I went straight into skating directly downhill and then adding dynamics to get the skis to turn during the skating. William had some trouble understanding that I didn’t want the skis to “rail” as in carving but I wanted a continuous pivot on the inside edge from the start of the turn. He eventually came clear on this issue. At this stage William showed stronger skating than James. James had very little range of movement during the skate but quickly changed that when it was pointed out.

The most revealing thing happened when the skating was then taken directly into the pivot. William completely lost the skate and did the opposite, reverting back to his initial rotation problems. It was now clear that his rotation was coming from this timing problem. He also started to use a downsink/poleplant a the end of each turn and stood up rotating to start the next turn. It looks very much like he has picked up this timing through being taught it – though I have never taught it to him. It is the cause of all his main problems.

James in contrast completely held it together. While William fell apart as it got steeper James managed to bring everything together to work for him. The difference is very clear in the video. James has correct down/up skating timing in the pivot and good control over rotation with good ski edge awareness. William has returned to his old unconscious habits that look like they have been drilled into place by a ski school. The scary thing is that some people only need to be taught that bad timing once and then it takes a lifetime to stop it from dominating everything.

I explained to James that the push up from the skate at the end of the pivot can be used on the steep to push the body back up the hill to really slow down and have a strong braking effect. It can also be used to lift the body outwards – almost downhill to get in a good place – perpendicular to the hill to then fall into the next turn when in difficult snow. It’s vigorous work for the legs and James felt this.

I explained that when skating in longer turns there was only a “pole touch” at the start of the new turn as the body fell into the turn and the pole was only moved by a flick of the wrist. This is in contrast to the strong downhill pole support in braking/fall-line skiing were the feet are always downhill. Either way the pole plant indicates the entry into a turn – not the end.

 

Off Piste

Once William’s predicament was clear I asked him to focus on only downsinking – as in the compression turns – into each turn. This was the only thing that could break his timing and rotation issues. In his final run off piste he managed this to some extent, but not enough to prevent one fall. James gets it right and has a strong basic pivoting platform with good timing, good control over rotation, independent leg action and is well centred over his skis (but just slightly back).

Conclusion

Both boys will have to be ultra careful about picking up bad technique from ski schools or even from their own defensive reactions. They must realise that although it’s fun to blast around they have to take some time out to think – correctly and intelligently – or their skiing will definitely degenerate.

The main problem for both of them stemmed from incorrect timing. James’s reaction to this timing and consequent rotation had been to go two footed and lean against the back of the boots in deep snow. The rotation meant he couldn’t sink down into the turn and complete the turn so he would pick up more speed and then lean harder on the back of the boots – a vicious circle of events. William reacted to the same issue by tilting his head and shoulders into the turn and thus frequently ending up on his inside ski and losing the reflex to stand on his outside ski. This is why he keeps on falling over.  These problems have to be dealt with in a disciplined manner or they can develop into life-long characteristics.

Andrew, James, William – Powder Skiing Val d’Isère

The first sunny day after three weeks of snowing! The choice was “Work on William’s skiing” or “Ski Powder”. The decision was unanimous! “Ski Powder”.

Erring strongly on the side of caution our first run was in the safety of trees at lower altitude. The snow was surprisingly deep and very few skiers had been there to eat up the fresh snow in the previous days. That’s surprising because it’s really the only place to ski off-piste when it is snowing and the visibility is poor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew is still the strongest skier but considering that William was about 6 when I last gave him a lesson that’s not entirely surprising. Both the boys had good dynamics and would ski down any slope, snow type and comfortably through the trees.

William struggles in wind packed snow or when starting off slowly in more demanding conditions. He moves his head and shoulders into the turn and his hips out of the turn so that his centre of mass doesn’t really go into the turn. This means that he tends to get caught on his inside ski and fall over. Even standing strongly on the hip of the outside leg would help to prevent this – but the main issue is being defensive and just inclining the shoulders and not the whole body. Other than that there is not too much wrong with William’s skiing – he has good rhythm and a good range of movement plus he flows well and uses the forces in the turn.

James is a stronger skier, but leans back a lot in the back of the ski boots. This limits james’s down/up motion and the skis tend to run away with him – causing trouble in more packed snow where it won’t slow him down so much. The very limited down/up motion can be especially seen by the complete absence of pole use. He can’t use the pole because he is leaning so far back. James exploits this by letting the ski run a bit more like a freerider – which is good – but it’s mainly because he doesn’t have a choice at the moment.

Andrew knows that he needs to spend less time on his tractor and more time jogging along side it. Andrew’s skiing was technically good, with good timing, good pivoting, good dynamics, good flow and good rhythm. His front summersault and head plant was spectacularly quick and accurate.

Jenny 2

Today’s plan was to revise yesterday’s work to some extent but also to quickly move on to dynamics. Before the session I explained to Jenny how the failure to sink in towards the inside of the turn would kill the dynamics of the end of the turn, bringing her up and out too soon and then also making the start of the next turn difficult.  We were joined at the last minute by William (who I always think of as George) but I would remain focussed on Jenny to try to ensure a useful overall result. When somebody is generally stiff, static and very tense on skis it is a real challenge to change that – both for the skier and the instructor.

Consciously Blocking Rotation

On our warm up run down the Vert we paused to work on linking short pivoted turns down the fall line. I wanted Jenny to remember to sink down through the turn and prevent the body from swinging around. Jenny asked how to stop the upper body and shoulders from rotating and so I explained that the first thing to do was to be aware that they were rotating and then to simply try to consciously block them so that they don’t rotate as the skis come around. We did a few controlled turns working on this on the groomed piste and then continued heading down out of the wind – eventually going up the button lift on the racing piste which is well sheltered and had deep fresh snow as good as any off-piste. I couldn’t really tackle William and focus on Jenny at the same time so I just observed William. His skiing was quite strong and fluid with good dynamics but there were a few quirks that would need to be straightened out at some point.

Deep Powder

The opportunity to use deep fresh snow quickly put paid to any thoughts about revision. Powder snow assists pivoting anyway so this was an opportunity to exploit it and move straight on to the dynamics. I was confident that Jenny understood the pivoting exercises we had already done the previous day and that it would take time and practice to replace her old emotionally driven skills (reinforced by ski schools). Working on dynamics would actually help that process because the pivot is aided by appropriate dynamics.

I asked Jenny to adopt the lower seated stance and keep both feet close together downhill of the body – making a single platform. It’s important to take your own line in the snow to get untracked snow which slows you down. The skis are then pivoted slightly one way and then the other and they are easily swung in the soft snow and aided with the movement into the turn with the centre of mass. I especially wanted Jenny to sink down into the turn and hold the body inside by relaxing and bending the legs – instead of resisting and letting the legs go rigid and then rotating. This is easier to do if the feet are kept together for a solid stable support base. On the steeper terrain Jenny struggled a little but held it together and so it was a good start. William managed a couple of head plants and so clearly indicated that his issues were slightly more than cosmetic.

Video Clip Analysis

We moved onto the longer Mont Blanc piste for a more continuous as less steep run. This is where the video clip is taken. Jenny is moving well here starting the turn with dynamics and maintaining the dynamics by sinking down and into the turn – then using the power of the skis to come up out of the turn. There is a good active range of motion and improved control over rotation. The stance remains generally close and the pivoting is working correctly with everything being pulled inwards. Jenny later commented that the deep snow had helped because she could clearly feel the instability caused by failing to hold the centre of mass down and inside the turn until just before completing it.  Jenny also shows some postural issues on this clip, with her lower back slightly hollowed. This explains her tendency to stiffen and lower her arms and hands. George meantime starts his video clip run with a bum wiggle worthy of any exotic belly dancer! He is pushing the skis outwards although this is largely disguised by his good dynamics. The bum wiggle is an attempt to push the skis around with his hips. When he gets going and starts to use the forces from gravity and skis then the dynamics take over and he looks strong and fluid – which works great until it gets steep and then he belly dances himself into trouble again. His up/down movement is either non existent or out of sync and his pole use reflects this. He gets away with this due to his strong and effective use of dynamics. Overall he is a strong skier.

ChiSkiing

Over a hot chocolate I decided to begin to tackle the issue of posture. Poor postural control not only affects skiing profoundly but it affects long term back health – so it is important to become aware of posture management. The first stage in posture control is pelvic tilt. That is tilting upwards of pelvis at the front to prevent the lower back from going hollow and the abdomen from going slack. This is correct provided it doesn’t lock up the hip joints and the skier can still flex freely at the hips. Standing beside a table we all simulated a turn completion with the upper body facing downhill, so there was a slight twist in the spine . This is often referred to as upper/lower body separation and it feels like the body is winding up tight at the end of a turn – to then be released like a spring unwinding a the start of the next. I then explained that instead of doing this just pull back the hip (on the support leg) and feel the spine twist in the opposite direction. This is the “correct” way to ski because this actually works the core muscles and posture in a way that keep them taught and active protecting the back . It’s how special slalom is done with breakaway poles, the body passing on the inside of the pole and clearing with the outside arm.  The “wind up” twist of the spine in the other direction was used with old solid poles and with protecting with the inside arm – but this causes the posture to go slack and for the lower back to take the full force of any compressions. 

On snow we simplified all of the above to just pulling back the hip of the leg on which you are standing (the outside ski normally) all the way around the turn. For George this is important because it is the opposite from his bum wiggle. George still tried to employ other bends both forwards and sideways in the spine but I pointed out to him that you only bend at the hips – you do not bend the back. Jenny’s posture automatically looked better when she did this with her arms and hands visibly reflecting this by looking more relaxed. Posture has to be practiced for it to become an unconscious habit and skill.

I gave an exercise on chi-walking with the skis off to show how the postural problems actually come from bad walking and running techniques related to wearing shoes with heels. We walked with extending the stride behind to use the large thigh muscles and core muscles with a twist in the spine as the hip went backwards – and using gravity for propulsion – instead of the all too common standard “reaching ahead” with the stride and landing on the heel then using the smaller quads to try to all of the work. When walking or running correctly the foot lands below the body and over-striding is avoided. The exercises we did on skis are derived directly from this understanding of body mechanics.

Pulling the hip backwards has a remarkably similar effect to pushing the foot forwards. It’s almost impossible to distinguish between the overall result except for the effects on posture at the lower back.

Resistance

When Jenny became tired I pointed out that she could turn that to her advantage. The tiredness was due to resistance – the tendency to brace against increasing forces during the turn – which has the effect of “fighting” against your own muscles. (We did the dumbell simulation – arms relaxed and all arm muscles clenched). I explained that when really tired it can actually help to encourage efficiency by helping you to let go and relax those muscles that are resisting.  In ChiRunning to run faster you don’t use more power you simply relax more – and let gravity take you. Likewise in skiing you become stronger by relaxing more – down and inside the turn.

Using the skis

I pointed out to Jenny how people skiing around us were simply passive through the ends of their turns – not sinking down and building up pressure and then using that to control speed and to lift them up out of the turn and into the next. They didn’t finish their turns – they just brushed off speed by skidding instead of using the “line” of the turn. When Jenny applied this she looked very effective and clearly understood and felt how it worked. She was the only skier around using the skis. Good skiers work the skis this way and feel this sort of action all the time.

Jenny 1

Before starting the session we took a few minutes to discuss things. I wanted to know what Jenny felt she was needing to work on. “Position on the skis” was the response – referring to a tendency towards a wide stance and loss of agility. That corresponded to a mental image that I had from from a couple of years ago of a default stance that Jenny would adopt whenever she was uncomfortable. For the first time ever she was on her own – no other family members – so we could just focus on her issues directly without having to look for steep and deep powder for Andrew at the same time. (Which was a shame in a way because there is a lot of it around!)

The sort of stance issues that Jenny has are probably a legacy from the techniques learned at the very beginning of her skiing. Snowplough can do a lot of damage. The outside ski is pushed outwards in a stem and placed on its inside edge then the body weight is shifted towards the outside of the turn to pressurise the ski. All of those things are wrong and impede good development. The wrong leg muscles are being used because the ski should be pulled inwards with the adductor muscles. The wrong edge is used because most skiing and all fall line skiing require the turn to begin with the outside edge not the inside one. The body moves in the wrong direction because it really needs to move strongly towards the inside of the turn. Jenny’s reflex when in any difficulty is to return to the incorrect movement pattern and then this just establishes a vicious circle of insecurity. My feeling was that some solid work on “pivoting” would be the most direct way to change things.

Sideslip

It’s always best to start developing pivoting with the simplest and most basic aspects first. Sideslipping is fundamental to pivoting. Sideslipping is always carried out on the uphill edges of the ski or skis. When you sideslip the body is more or less vertical and the feet are directly below you – which places the feet further down the mountain surface than any other part of your body (taking a line out perpendicular from the snow). The idea when either sideslipping or pivoting is to keep the feet there. The upper edges of the skis act like a brake and you can slip slowly downhill. Most of the weight is usually on the lower ski when sideslipping. With the lower edges not being in contact with the snow either the tips or the tails can easily be swung slightly down hill. If the tips are slightly swung downhill then the skis go into a forward diagonal sideslip – and if the tails are swung downhill then the skier starts to go backwards. Practice is required to become comfortable with all of the directional aspects of sideslipping.

Outside Ski Pivot

To initiate a pivot it’s best to learn to sideslip a little on just the uphill ski with the downhill ski held slightly off the snow. Inside the ski boot the foot has to be rolled onto its downhill edge but the shaft of the ski boot will hold the ski on its uphill edge. This slightly flattens the ski and allows the adductor muscles to be used to pull the tip of the ski downwards and for it to swing into the turn while remaining on its uphill edge. We did an exercise first with the top ski held in the air and with a ski pole placed in the ground between the skis to block the tip when pulled against the pole. Initially Jenny’s heel went outwards which showed her tendency to twist the leg outwards (in a turn). The heel should come inwards due the the tip being blocked and the leg being pulled laterally.

Once the lower ski is lifted off the snow support is taken up on the ski pole which is planted downhill and behind the feet (so as not to get in the way during the turn). The adductors pull at the same time as the centre of mass is moved directly downhill into the turn. The pole allows the centre of mass to move inwards slowly but securely – without the ski changing edge until it is pointing downhill. Jenny rapidly improved with each exercise.

Although Jenny was developing edge control she was struggling to move the centre of mass correctly – and it was being left too much to the outside of the turn and too much in the vertical (often mistaken for “leaning back”). Jenny found it very hard to move the centre of mass inwards (back up the hill) during the second half of each turn.

Inside Ski Pivot

Pivoting on the inside ski demands much more commitment of the centre of mass into the turn – and accordingly stronger pole use. Jenny struggled to achieve this so it was a great exercise for her to do and she quickly improved. The most noticeable issue was at the end of the turn where she didn’t seem to realise how much it was necessary to move in towards the centre. The foot still has to be placed on its inside edge – even though we now have both inside edge of the foot and inside edge of the ski together.

Two Ski Pivot

I explained to Jenny that for soft snow off-piste a better platform can sometimes be provided by having two skis together, pivoting as one platform. This is only the case in direct fall line skiing where the body does not travel across the slope. (The same applies often in bump skiing)

Linked Fall-line Pivots

We worked for a while on linking pivots and concentrating on preventing the body from going across the hill. This is a “braking” form of skiing with the feet always downhill and the skis always on uphill edges. A rhythm can be established. Jenny was able to pivot correctly some of the time and it certainly helped her to maintain a narrow stance. The work of “pulling in” is very counter intuitive and even those who have not been taught snowplough still have a lot of trouble with this. It appears to be instinctive or emotional to want to stem or push outwards  and “resist”. Pushing outwards generates stiffness and stops the ski from functioning or gripping – and so makes the legs even straighter and more rigid. Jenny was managing to improve her control over body rotation much better – so that she wasn’t traversing off across the hill in her tractor turns.

Spinning

We did a small amount of spinning around because this develops edge awareness. Spinning to the left and when half way around, the right ski pole can be used to provide force to continue the pivot. The pivot has to be done with the same edging skills as the sideslip.

Independent Legs Pivot

We worked for a short while indoors with standing on the heels and pivoting the the fronts of the feet like windscreen wipers  - feet wide apart - without the pelvis or upper body turning. Each leg turns only in its own hip socket. Jenny was relatively stiff with this even indoors. On snow we stood on the slope with the feet down below and the top foot advanced. The idea was to repeat the “windscreen wiper” effect with each ski pivoting independently but simultaneously. Once again with some practice Jenny managed to improve – but this was a hard one for her. The idea here is to totally eliminate upper body rotation. When the skis are close together it’s much harder to eliminate rotation – the pelvis having to follow around to some degree. doe to one ski ending up higher on the mountain than the other.

Air Pivots

In the context of wide stance independent leg pivots we did some jumping to start each swing in the air.  This didn’t seem to help much at the moment so I didn’t dwell on it. Jump turns and short swings (rhythmic jump turns) are important aspect of pivoting for more demanding terrain or snow conditions.

Pulling in with the hip

Jenny was still tending to rotate so we worked on holding the hip in tight through the turn completion – instead of allowing it to swing outwards. This keeps the body facing more downhill – but it works because the ski, foot, adductors, centre of mass are all being pulled inwards. Most people face downhill and use that as a position to easily push everything outwards.

Sitting Stance

We worked on a low seated stance in some off-piste fresh snow. This automatically places both feet and knees downhill from the body and gives great security. It’s best to use a close stance with feet together and tight pivots without finishing them off too much – the speed control coming from the snow against the legs.

Upright Stance

On good snow you can stand up straighter and still carry out all of those actions. A very relaxed skier is actually working hard at being relaxed and although many skills are now integrated and unconscious there is always a mental urge towards defensive and inappropriate actions that has to be actively countered. Jenny managed to stand up a bit straighter for the final part of the video clip.

Conclusion

Overall Jenny had a clear feeling for the pivoting movement and muscle coordination and was able to achieve it to a good degree most of the time. Flexibility and freedom of movement will increase as this is developed. The same coordination is required for all turns – but it is most evident when pivoting. Jenny still tends to be a bit too far back at the start of each acceleration downhill for each turn and there is still a bit too much rotation. Dynamics towards the turn completion is the main issue now – she does not move far enough in through the end of the turn – and then consequently fails to come back out of the turn on the lower ski properly. This will be a key issue to continue with tomorrow.

Bourg St Maurice in Snow

 

Eva, Andy–The Storm

Northwesterly Winds

Yesterday’s weather and snow conditions had been close to prefect – but nature has a way of balancing everything out. Today was one of those rare events where everything eventually gets blown into submission by powerful Northwesterly  winds. People trying to learn something about skiing were more likely to end up learning about their current limitations – which although perhaps not flattering is not necessarily a bad thing.

Yesterday Andy responded very well to the coaching but Eva appeared to be confused and subdued. Today they switched roles and Eva stepped up a whole level while Andy found himself more or less tied in knots. Not wanting to leave Andy lost and broken I morphed my half day into a whole one to have a serious go at trying to untie the knots and point Andy in the right direction. Fortunately I had the time available because I’d have felt horrible being obliged to abandon him buried beneath an avalanche of broken ski technique and confusion.

Survival “Warm Up”

From the top of the Solaise we headed straight into the wind for a “warm up”. Rigid outside (of the turn) legs and calf muscles jammed on the back of ski boots provided me with my main visual recollections of that warm up. We simply didn’t have the terrain and conditions to revise yesterday’s work and instead it was “survival” that mattered and making the most of the situation. Regardless of conditions or training exercises there comes a moment where the mental control of tension has to be worked on directly and this seemed as good a time as any.

Bullet Proof Stance

When skiing in unpredictable snow which rapidly changes between deep powder to hidden bumps and then ice, it’s important to have a bullet proof stance on your skis. That is completely incompatible with rigidity, tension and being caught back in the boots. Tension is self defeating and tends to lead to a vicious circle where more tension is produced. The rigid outside leg causes the foot to be left behind during the turn and  the centre of mass to be too far forward – so the terrain and snow tend to pitch the skier forwards – which is then compensated for by leaning backwards defensively against the ski boots – all escalating the tension. To overcome this the best way is to adopt a flexed stance, bending significantly at the knees and hips. We removed the skis and facing downhill adopted a seated position as if on an imaginary chair. When sitting on a real chair facing down a steep hill you would struggle to avoid sliding off it – the resultant force at your feet might be on you toes or even further forwards. By sitting lower you can bring the resultant force back towards the front of the heel. When sliding downhill in skiing you wouldn’t normally need this position to keep the resultant force at this point of the foot, but if you were suddenly slowed by deep snow or a bump or aggressive deceleration from the skis turning you, then this lower position stops the resultant force from shifting forwards (and you from head planting). This low flexed position gets the centre of mass behind the feet (relative to the perpendicular) without creating any tension such as is experienced when leaning against the back of the boots. The skier should constantly feel the shin touching the front of the boot – but not for support – only for feedback. I’d earlier explained that the point in front of the heel where we try to keep the pressure comes from “Chi Running” – and it is also the point to aim for contact with the ground in a running stride. Most common wisdom about barefoot running is to land on the balls of the feet – but everyone I know who does this gets calf problems. Skiing on the balls of the feet also loads up the calves excessively.

Observing and Feedback

We tried this stance skiing but initially there wasn’t much flexing happening. I asked Eva and Andy to watch each other and they could each see that neither was really flexing the legs – though to each it probably felt like there was a lot of flexion. Eva had a tendency to drop her hands low and bend forward at the hips/waist instead of finding the seated position.

I explained that it might be necessary to stand up towards the end of the turn to avoid being caught too far back as this seated position wouldn’t be suitable for going across the hill – though in direct fall line skiing where the body barely travels across the hill that wouldn’t be an issue.

Resistance

Attempting to create even more flexion and relaxation I explained how the muscles fight each other and how we need to make a conscious effort to relax and aim for selective muscle use. Using the arm we did a few arm curls with the arm relaxed and then tried to do them with all the muscles tensed – where it becomes impossible to bend the arm. Andy understood immediately but Eva didn’t quite get it and relaxed her triceps automatically to permit the bending. Yesterday we had already worked on technique to avoid pushing the leg out during the turn and to pull inwards instead – so now we were adding a conscious relaxation and avoidance of “bracing” by selective muscle use. All physical skills are limited by unnecessary muscular tension, but most of the time people are not aware of this tension. It’s not just a question of trying to relax – it’s about perceiving the tension.

Compression Turns

To exaggerate the flexion I introduced compression turns with a turn initiation from a downsink and flexion of the hips and knees all the way to 90° or more. The pole has to be used strongly to support the body falling into the turn from a static position and the pole has to be planted between the heels and the tail of the ski downhill of the body – to support and prevent the body from falling backwards in the extreme seated position across the hill. This also involves pivoting skills so it’s not easy to learn – but it was just being used as another way to encourage a good range of leg movement. The compression turn is completed by standing up before another downsink and poleplant going into the next turn. This is the movement pattern experienced when skiing bumps in the fall line – where there is an actual “compression” from the bumps and then an extension of the legs forwards and down into the trough below the bump. Deep powder fall line skiing has a very similar effect.

Reflexes

While working on stance I reminded Eva and Andy to try to use dynamics. The down/up timing we were using was still linked to skating so there was no need to mention that – but it’s easy to forget dynamics when thinking about other things. Both had their arms and ski poles all over the place but I didn’t feel that we could start to address any of the issues of arm carriage and pole use at this stage. All we were looking for was for flexion of the legs permitting the feet and knees to stay a little bit further ahead of the body. One other benefit of this stance is that when hitting a bump it permits the knees to be forced up in front of the body to absorb the shock – all by reflex. The key in fact for tricky conditions and poor visibility is to get the body to function in a way where reflexes can deal with almost anything and combine this with good dynamics – which also generates stability.

Feet Forwards

After a break and change of skiing sector to La Daille we continued the technical work with “feet forwards” movements being introduced. Recovering from a thorough blasting from the Northwesterly wind going over the Bellevarde plateau – where Eva showed the beginning signs of frostbite on her face – we had hot drinks and started the exercises indoors. Using one heel as a support and pivot point the other leg was swung forwards with the inside edge of the boot on the floor – scribing an arc is it went forwards. I demonstrated how the hip musn’t follow the foot by also swinging around and that it had to be held in tightly with good postural support so that the leg really rotated in it’s socket more than the torso or pelvis being turned. Although I’d demonstrated “upper / lower body separation” with the options for different ways of the spine twisting – clockwise or anticlockwise – I had to avoid this for use on the slopes because like the arm carriage and pole use it was just to much detail for the moment. I explained that this forward pushing had to happen in every turn from the start to the end. It is the main way – when combined with dynamics – to control the turn radius. Pushing harder tightens the turn – but the feet don’t actually change position relative to the body – so rather than causing you to end up on the back of the boots the rapidly tightening turn keeps you correctly centred in the boots (just touching the shin). With a bit of correction Eva was able to control her hips from swinging around in the turn. Until now she had been using a fair amount of both hip and upper body rotation – which would sometimes cause her to rotate at the end of her turns. Now she could begin to fight back and control that.

Holism

First attempts at this didn’t appear too successful, but at some point Eva grasped the overall idea and it all started to work for her. This is quite a common way for things to happen. People think that they are trying too many different things and want to just focus on one or two for much longer. With skiing being “holistic” that doesn’t necessarily work well. When something is holistic it means that it can function okay even with certain parts missing or broken. This is both a curse and a blessing. It allows people to ski with many errors but it also allows them to isolate parts to work on without worrying about the rest. Ultimately the interaction of those parts produces an outcome (or whole) that is greater (and different) than the sum of the parts. It can be almost impossible to tell which parts need to be worked on for the "whole” to jump up to another level – so it’s best to do the rounds and work on all of the fundamentals for a little while and keep moving on. Suddenly things just fall into place.

Skiing Flu

While this happened for Eva the opposite happened to Andy who found himself confused and unstable. What was happening here was the equivalent to the body dealing with the flu. To kill the flu virus the body develops a fever. It’s a great mistake to take something like Ibuprofen to calm the fever because that only sustains the illness and makes it worse. Andy’s fever showed up here as a mixture of confusion and frustration. This should have been time up for the lesson, but I didn’t want to leave Andy with skiing flu on his birthday so decided that we should continue, moving to the last remaining open ski lift, the Rogony, back in the Solaise sector.

Air Pivots - Jump Turns and Short Swings

Not being sure how to cure Andy’s flu I decided to try short swings. Before introducing him to the torture of short swings I excused myself by explaining that as a trainee instructor I would frequently start the day with sets of anything from between 4 to 6 hundred non-stop – allowing the body to find efficiency naturally through going beyond exhaustion. The key here is to do the first half of the pivot in the air. Yesterday I’d explained that the pivot works with just a swing effect from the adductor muscles to aid the centre of mass pulling the ski into the turn because there is no resistance from the inside edge of the ski which is not in contact with the snow until the ski points straight downhill. This can be taken to the extreme by getting both skis off the ground completely. Coordination is quite tricky for many people because the legs have to be coordinated to move simultaneously even though they each feel very different things. The jump is mainly made from the lower leg and it can direct the body anywhere from back up the hill to off downhill into the perpendicular or even further. We practised small jumps uphill to help with the coordination. Andy tended to retract his heels when jumping instead of extending and getting his body mass up high. I corrected this and got him to extend and then flex on landing – which is much softer on the legs. This also improves awareness of moving the centre of mass. Eva was the one who really picked up on short swings and she did impressively well. Andy’s flu seemed to worsen at this stage. When done tightly and in rhythm with no hesitation those turns are called short swings. If there is a one off turn or a hesitation between them they are generally jump turns – used to get out of trouble in deep crud or breakable crust or on a narrow couloir.

I modified the jump to integrate it into the exit from a round medium radius turn, using the combined power of the ski’s uplift and the legs to spring up out of each turn and change edges in mid air with only a very slight swing of the ski mainly caused by the centre of mass moving downhill. Eva was on a roll now but Andy’s fever was raging and he was starting to throw the toys out of the pram with his own frustration at himself.

With Eva doing well it was time to get to the root of Andy’s confusion.

Reset Button - Simplifying and Skating

Watching Andy I could see that he was getting things back to front and sometimes he would stand on the correct leg for several turns then on the wrong one. He would push off from the lower leg for a few turns and then switch back to pushing up with the uphill leg. He would skate for a while then switch to stemming. His timing would flip between down/up and up/down. It was real confusion soup with his body taking over and doing the opposite of his intentions at every possible opportunity. Basically this is a process of becoming aware of old inappropriate skills that had already become automatic and unconscious and how they are also driven by the emotions. Normal ski teaching is extremely lazy and criminally stupid. People are taught to stand on two feet and to “balance” – where skiing is fundamentally a one leg action (there are special exceptions) and uses applied disequilibrium. They are taught to stem out into a snowplough using completely wrong muscle coordination – when they should be pulling inwards. They are taught to go up to start a turn and down at the end – try that one on a bike! They are taught to lean the body to the right to place weight on the right leg – when it’s acceleration to the left that is required. They are taught to begin all turns on the inside edges – and that is not how pivoting and fall line skiing – at least 50% of all skiing - work at all. They are taught to go with their defensive instincts and not to work counter to them. This makes the instructor look good and dumps the problems on the student.

They are not taught to skate and they are not taught dynamics so they cannot develop the appropriate skills to move on to higher levels.

For Andy all this old baggage was landing on top of him as he was trying to develop the correct counterintuitive skills. It was time to hit the reset button. I asked Andy to just stand on his uphill ski – not just on the leg but strongly supporting himself at the hip joint and making sure that throughout the turn that he remained on that hip joint no matter what happened. Most people get defensive and although they may be on one leg they fall off the hip as the body looks for the other leg for security. If you are not a skater (or have not worked on this skill since starting skiing)  then it’s quite hard to stay properly on one leg/hip for any length of time – and a turn takes time. I wanted Andy to just get on that leg and move his body both downhill (lateral to the skis) and slightly forwards to move perpendicular to the hill as the skis turned downhill. The other (inside) ski can be held very slightly above the ground or padded up and down to give feedback and stability through the rest of the turn. I wanted him to feel the simplicity of it. This is when it came clear to him that his tendency was to always to want to go for that uphill ski stem as he had been taught to do for years. The idea that the centre of mass displaces and not the ski was still profoundly alien to him. He managed to feel this simplicity and to become aware of his trained and emotionally supported impulses that were getting in the way. At this point I considered the fever to have broken – which was just as well because it was now 5pm and the lifts had just closed.

Andy had a clear enough picture by the end that he will know what to work on for a while to bring about the changes that he wants. Cross country “skating” skiing will definitely be a great help and any skating that can be added. Eva had done a generous amount of skating as a child which is why she connected with the correct movement patterns. Andy had never skated.

I did warn Andy that when I coach couples it’s always the woman who “gets it” and shoots ahead leaving her partner behind. The more macho guys can get really upset about it! Women seem to be more in tune with their bodies and “listen” with all of their senses. Men tend to use their strength to try to overcome everything. Good skiing is very counterintuitive so it requires a strong internal dialogue with the body – a lot of awareness. That’s why it’s great.

Eva, Andy Val d’isère

 

Preparation

Neither Eva nor Andy had skied at all this season so we went straight to the “Vert” training piste which was in excellent condition for warming up and regaining confidence. While they were getting comfortable I was just observing. Both felt at home with wide turns at a medium speed on a well groomed slope – which is standard for classically trained skiers. Neither could cope with short turns very well and both fell apart off-piste. This quickly established that despite significant personal differences both were around the same level. Classical ski instruction had left both with a collection of different issues that are completely insurmountable if tackled directly. Eva was in the back of her ski boots despite trying to press forwards and Andy was unstable  and skidding due to his up/down timing being inappropriate. Those were the most obvious issues so I decided to use them to start coaching from a common denominator – and the most appropriate place to begin appeared to be with skating.  There isn’t much point listing all the apparent faults with their skiing at this stage because the real issue is with the faults in the previous instruction. My aim was to exploit their strengths and move on from there with a completely new understanding. 

 

Initial video showing “on the piste” skiing before changing anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Face de Bellevarde prepared for World Cup Giant Slalom this morning.

 

Skating

For both skiers the aim was to develop a feeling for integrating skating into skiing. For Eva this would help to get her legs bending and take her off the back of the ski boots. You can’t skate with either of those things happening. For Andy this would force his up/down timing to invert  and become the right way round. Along with the skating there are several supporting aspects that we would be looking at. First of all I checked to see if both could skate and it was clear that they could. Given that they could both skate we attempted a “direct method” by simply skating straight down a gentle gradient and feeling the skis generating an arc during the skating. I emphasised that skating had to continue – the legs had to keep working and there should be no sudden switch to “skiing”. 

We did some exercises skating across the hill – stepping uphill  - which gives the feeling associated with the end of a turn as both the ski and the leg lift the centre of mass upwards. The direction of the motion of the body is not important at this stage. We then went straight into doing 3 skates per turn, down to 2 skates and then back down to 1 skate.

 

Feet

To support the exercises we worked on awareness of the feet. Both had learned to press on the front of the feet and push on the shins. This clearly had the opposite effect on Eva who was completely in the back of the boots and in Andy’s case it made him very unstable. With Andy there was a noticeable twisting of the ski into the turn – which was also present for Eva but slightly less obvious due to her being in the back seat. I explained that we try to remain centered in the ski boots, just touching the shins lightly against the fronts. This is most simply achieved by placing the weight through the heels – though that can be refined later on. When the weight is on the heels the feet can be rocked laterally – this is because the subtaler joint between the ankle and the heel can be isolated. Standing across the hill I asked for both feet to be rocked uphill (uphill edges) on the subtaler joints.  This causes the downhill foot to go on its inside edge but for the forefoot to rotate outwards; pressure can be felt on the inside of the ankle and against the outside of the little toe. The uphill foot is not so important but it would rock onto its outside edge – this being mostly for symmetry.  It was important to notice here that this is the opposite of twisting the support foot (downhill foot) inwards. We did some skating with the feet rolled over like this and taking it into turns. Even when simply skating along the flats with both feet rolled inwards it could be felt as a natural skating stance. This protects the knees from injury because there is never a twisting or torque inwards of the knee.

 

Adductors

To bring more support to the skating action we began working on using the adductor muscles. Just rocking the foot onto the inside edge at the subtaler joint you can feel the adductor muscles tighten on the inside of the leg up to the groin. I now wanted there to be an active pulling inwards with the adductors on the leg on the outside of the turn throughout the skating action. I explained how in snowplough people are taught to push the leg outwards into a stem and that this is the wrong coordination for skiing. We need to always pull inwards towards the turn centre.

The combination of skating timing, feet rolling and adductors was already quite a lot to deal with – but both did well and managed the exercises. Eva felt muddled at times but that’s also normal because there is a lot that we hadn’t covered and when skating off the lower leg sometimes the body can appear to be moving in the wrong direction for the next turn – but I assured her that she was doing the exercised correctly and was feeling the appropriate things – including the rhythm and constant working of the legs. She also managed to get off the back of the boots much of the time without even trying. Andy looked much more stable and secure from changing his timing.

 

Video after working on skating for a while…

 

Dynamics

During a drinks break over video feedback I explained the basics of “dynamics”. Back out on the piste we started with my standard exercises of pressing against the shoulder and moving both slowly and with an acceleration to experience the different resultant effects at the feet. Pressing hard against my shoulder put pressure on the far ski as did accelerating the body rapidly towards me. Moving slowly over towards my shoulder put pressure on the near ski. The way of moving changing the outcome totally. I explained that this acceleration was the key to starting a turn with the centre of mass. Poor skiers displace the skis by pushing them outwards but good skiers only move the centre of mass. We did a few “swings to the hill” in both directions and then some complete turns before setting off and using dynamics in skiing. Andy noticed straight away that it was less tiring on the legs. At one point when both were standing across the hill facing me I asked them to put their weight on the right legs (which were uphill) and then asked them which way they moved to do this. Both had moved to the right. I wanted it to be clear that when skiing to get pressure on the right leg you accelerate to the left!!!!!!! Andy was very aware that he had been taught the opposite in ski school.

We applied the dynamics slightly off piste just to show how nothing changes for long turns. I asked both skiers to forget about trying to face downhill and to just follow the skis around the turn – which simplifies dynamics greatly at this stage. Andy tended to push his hips into the turn to begin with and Eva dropped her shoulders in – but we worked a little to correct and simplify this. I briefly explained to Andy that “angulation” comes naturally from skating – not from moving your hips about.

 

Pivoting

Prior to finishing the session I wanted to start work on pivoting. Neither skier had any awareness of being able to initiate a turn from the uphill edges so we began with sideslipping and then sideslipping on the uphill ski only. I then added the rocking inwards of the foot (uphill ski) and then the pulling of the front of the ski inwards with the adductor muscles. The ski swings downhill easily as there is no edge resistance to stop it. Both managed a few correctly but soon reverted to going across the hill and stemming the top ski outwards onto its inside edge. That’s normal at this stage. I just wanted to  introduce the concept because it is a major issue as all fall-line skiing requires this action. This is required for bump skiing, couloir skiing (keeping the feet below the body) and deep powder skiing in the fall line. It’s a way of braking by constantly sideslipping on the uphill edges – but it looks like smooth turning. The muscular actions and timing otherwise remain the same as we had been working at already. We did one exercise with pulling the ski tips against my pole stuck in the ground – so that the heel came inwards as the tip of the ski was blocked. This verifies that a lateral pull with the adductors is being used and not a twisting or torque with the leg.

 

Conclusion

Eva and Andy went to late lunch and would hopefully be back out to practice later. I explained that to simplify things just think of moving the Centre of Mass inwards, pulling the adductors inwards and rolling the feet inwards – everything towards the centre at the same time. The pivoting is tricky to learn at first and extremely few people are clearly aware of the roll of the edges (even professionals). The brainwashing of “inside edges” from snowplough to racing is total. Dynamics are still used in pivoting – but only from vertical to perpendicular and not beyond. I explained to Eva that all she needed to do to stay off the back of the boots is to adjust to perpendicular when sliding downhill and that feels physically exactly the same as when vertical going across the hill – you never “lean forwards”. (unless for very specific racing techniques!)

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