Luke & Leonie

We started off with a warm up run as usual, taking advantage of a well groomed and empty piste. The only chair in the sun was the Borsat so I headed straight for it. Luke had a clear idea of what he needed to focus on in his skiing and Leonie needed to work on her dynamics to improve her flow. The Borsat brought us back down to the Bonnevie Stade so I decided to make use of it for working on steeps in security. It’s one thing developing technique but at some point it has to be applied in appropriate circumstances. Most “fall line” skiing is on steep terrain – with braking, pivoted turns in a narrow passage.

 

 

Luke found himself automatically glued to the back of his ski boots again and with a rigid outside leg – despite all of his efforts. I pointed out the need to get across the downhill ski and how this merged with “perpendicular” as the skis turned to point downhill. Getting perpendicular is important for avoiding being superglued to the back of your ski boots – but this didn’t shift things. Softening the legs with selective muscle relaxation however follows a pattern and that most closely resembled “sitting down”. Standing facing across the hill if you “sit down” you fall backwards – exactly what we are trying to avoid. Facing downhill however the body goes into a very secure resting position with pressure against the shins! With skis off you can really feel this as gravity pulls you into the boots. During a turn there is a component of gravity and also the centripetal force from the skis. Once you turn into all of this you can relax and using the front of the boots is not an artificial or forced issue and neither is bending the knee. The hip angulation (with counter rotated base of the spine) then serves to maintain pressure on the front of the ski as the turn progresses and ends up across the hill – because the bottom is still facing uphill on that invisible chair.

 

 

Leonie found herself tending to stem on the steep terrain as a reflexive and mostly unconscious action. We drilled individual pivots starting cleanly from the uphill edge of the uphill ski and made sure that dynamics were applied appropriately – but the stemming remained. The steep was making Leonie tense and the technical issues that emerged from the tension caused more tension. Perhaps the main underlying issue however was that Leonie wasn’t containing the forces through the end of the turn by increasing angulation and so eventually the skis would run away with her. The insecurity that this created just ensured more stemming. Leonie worked on finishing the turns more strongly and began to appreciate how much more effort she needed to contain the forces and develop the end of the turns.

Another place where tight turns are necessary is when there are bumps – especially in narrow gullies – so we used the bumps to encourage the skis to pivot. When the ski tips are airborne the easily swing into the turn following the centre of mass. Leonie became unnerved by the combination of tight narrow turns, steep pitches, bumps and people. All of this together conspired to take her focus away from the internal processes and generate anxiety.

 

While taking a lunch break we were able to watch the World Cup women’s Super Giant Slalom. The following is an excellent demonstration of dynamics at work…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I suggested to Leonie to avoid fretting over the stemming and make sure her attention was internalized in constructive ways. The more you focus on the body the less you are distracted by the outside world and the more rationally you can process events. Leonie still had to work of forming her turns well to control speed on steeper slopes – instead of brushing off the excess speed by skidding sideways. One single turn taken to completion will stop you any time. Speed control is from the line of the turn or the number of turns made. The braking action of pivoted turns is integrated into the mechanics. It’s always the turn itself that should determine speed control – not braking.

For Leonie to improve her flow she needs to use the forces in the turn. It’s not just a case of using dynamics to come out of the turn on the lower ski, it’s about making use of the pressure built up on the ski through the end of the turn to lift you up and out. This is where the completion of the turn is critical and the build up of forces is critical – it has to be then used to link up with the next turn and to move the centre of mass. Leonie experienced this already on the Val glacier when successfully linking short swings on the steep – jumping in a bouncing rhythm downhill over the lower ski. Luke would have been able to exploit this too but his system had shut down by this point so it was just a case of getting down to the bus now.

Earlier on both had skied well in tricky off piste using dynamics – though Leonie still needed to use more – the actual detail here being identical to the issue described above!

 

Grande Motte and Grande Casse

Mont Blanc

 

Luke & Leonie

View from the top of the Bellevarde – sun on the far left and moon on the far right (small dot due to wide angle view)

Starting out with a nice long unbroken warm up run we followed that up with a rapid revision of the previous two days during a single run down into Tignes. Leonie had been a bit unsure of the act of spreading the turn transition over a period where both legs are active simultaneously – coming over the downhill leg while taking over with the uphill leg (outside ski edge). Following that we continued all the way up to the top of the Grande Motte – around 3500m altitude.

My goal for the day was to try to get Luke off the backs of his ski boots  - but instead of looking at it this way I’d decided to direct him towards using the fronts of the skis actively. Ever since we first met he has been effectively glued to the backs of the boots and no amount of persuasion, tricks, torture or technique have succeeded in altering this in the slightest. We had previously discussed posture and looked at pelvic tilt etc. plus Luke now also spends about 2 hours per week on yoga – so clearly the underlying problem was significant and so far, deeply intractable. The problem manifests as an apparent hip rotation – with collapsing posture – the upper body falling off the outside (in the turn) hip completely and the upper body angulating inwards instead of outwards. Meanwhile Luke gets jammed in the backs of the ski boots. All the efforts to use the feet and adductors correctly – to pull inwards, use dynamics, avoid rotation, pivot, ensure perpendicularity and many more things – including directly looking at posture – all failed to rectify the problem.

Basically, instead of focusing on an intractable problem I wanted to extend the work from the previous two days into developing a feel for the fronts of the skis in a fully functional capacity. The hope was that this would change the nature of the issue. We had already worked on most of the components right up to Leonie executing jump turns very well yesterday with good angulation, dynamics and using the whole ski – not getting stuck on the tails. Luke lost it at that point and glued himself again to the backs of the boots so this was the cue to take a more direct and exaggerated approach.

Traversing, with strong angulation – downhill hip pulled back – chest over the front of the downhill ski – I pulled against  Leonie’s outstretched poles so that she could side slip downhill but against the resistance of the front of the downhill ski – pressure on the shin – up on the ball of the foot (foot/ankle extended). Leonie was able to coordinate this and feel it. Luke in contrast ended up in a muddle because his posture simply failed and all the feedback went sideways. We attempted on the spot to correct the posture but it wasn’t happening – and past attempts at this warned me that it wouldn’t be likely to either. Abandoning that effort we retreated to more level terrain and used a snowplough with the body leaning forwards from the feet right out over the ski tips to force pressure onto the fronts of the skis. Releasing the left ski/edge allows you to turn to the left – feeling the force of the pressure on the front of the right ski driving you around (this foot can be rocked onto its inside edge and the adductors used) with the hip placed in more or less the right position automatically by the snowplough. Luke managed this fine and could at least now feel and identify what we were aiming for.

During a drinks break we discussed the pelvic/hip relationship to iron out any confusion. The goal is to first of all align the pelvis to the spine – through pelvic tilt – into “neutral”. For most people this requires tilting the pelvis up at the front and this can induce a tightening of the lower abdomen and the glutes. Separately – once pelvic tilt is established – the entire upper body has to be tilted forwards directly from the hip joints. We use the pelvic girdle as our reference for pelvic tilt and the relation of this to the spine must be fixed and not change. All the flexion must be in the hip joints – which lie beneath the pelvic girdle. This requires a selective release and relaxation of the leg muscles around the hip – but a conscious control and tension in the abdomen to maintain pelvic tilt relative to the spine. The whole upper body including the pelvis becomes one unit and the flexion is isolated only in the hips at this point.

Applying this to the skiing and angulation – when we then pull back the outside hip it also pulls inwards beneath the body (as the body tilts outwards). Effectively the upper body (including pelvis) is perched on top of one hip joint and rotates/pivots around it freely. If the hip moves out from beneath the body you just fall off it onto two legs instead – which is what had been happening to Luke. Ice skaters use this action of the hip naturally – which is why skiing is really built from two fundamentals – skating and dynamics.

The indoor exercise of perching the body on top of the femur of one leg – in conjunction with the clearer understanding and awareness – finally clicked and Luke could feel and understand the stance. Whatever history had driven him away from it – inappropriate ski teaching (pushing out) – not feeling a skating action – simply not identifying the mechanical action – it has now clicked and Luke gets it.

Yesterday on easier terrain Luke already felt the fronts of the skis just though working on technique (angulation – chi hips etc) but postural issues were eventually  overriding this progress and most of his efforts. Now the progress should proceed far more smoothly.

In the video Luke’s stance is mainly correct – but there is a slight rotation at the initiation of turns to the left. This is due to compensating for unconsciously not feeling as secure coming over the left foot at the end of the previous turn. The result is that the posture on the right side is sometimes still not quite right. Even when later on Luke did address this rotation successfully the posture was not fully accurate – it will take work to completely remove such a long term habit!

Leonie just needs to use more dynamics and keep the stance a bit narrower. She had plenty of action going on – just more is needed with the centre of mass. Leonie had been following all the exercises and lack of comment here is because things are going generally well. Leonie fell in some tricky and steep off piste due to backing off with the dynamics and angulation at one point – crossing the skis. This only ever happens when the weight gets far back – but we have not been practicing in conditions like this yet so such outcomes are perfectly normal.

 

 

 

We briefly started looking at dynamics in bumps – to be continued…

 

 

Mont Blanc in the background

Luke & Leonie

Day One

The first video is really just a record of our starting out point.

Luke was just getting warmed up when we took the video and prior to getting to work on technique. The right leg is being defended – being held rigid on the back of the ski boot and with a significant hip rotation – largely due to this knee having been badly injured last ski season. Dynamics are strong – but not though the end of the turn.

Leonie has a wide stance and too much rotation – looking a bit robotic and stiff but with a good basic coordination and dynamics.

 

 

Feet and Adductors

Luke requested that we revise everything from the very beginning – so that seemed like a good idea. Both Luke and Leonie were however comfortable with throwing themselves downhill in dynamics so we could clearly skip that part. It seemed to me that starting from the feet would be appropriate so that’s what we did. After explaining that we need the weight over the fronts of the heels (below the ankle joints) to develop skills we worked on rocking both feet onto their inside edges – using the subtaler joints below the ankles.  When both feet are rocked onto their inside edges then the adductor muscles of both legs are pulled together – providing an anchoring or stabilization of the body through the core.

Skating across the flats on the inside edges of the feet develops the appropriate sensations and the skis are required to be diverged to do this. Next , on gentle terrain we skate around turns by displacing the centre of mass inwards in steps. So far there is no complication because the slope is very shallow. The insides of the feet are used and likewise the inside edges of the corresponding skis.

Skating across a steeper hill requires the legs and feet to remain the same but the uphill ski now rests on its outside edge – separating the edges of the foot and ski. This takes a bit of practice to get used to. The shaft of the ski boot being laterally rigid permits this separation to take place – holding the upper ski on its uphill/outside edge. Skating turns on steeper slopes then requires this action in the last half of the turn.

The skates across the steep hill were practiced and enhanced by stepping uphill slightly with each skate (we even practiced sidestepping to isolate the feelings in the feet). Now the idea was to skate across the hill with about three skates and on the final one step up onto the outside edge of the uphill ski – but remain on the inside (downhill) edge of the foot. From this position the body would fall into a turn. By standing on the uphill edge it is impossible to stem or push the ski out and the centre of mass has to be used. The foot and adductor muscles were engaged prior to the turn initiation and the airborne lower leg would also have the foot on its inside edge and those adductor muscles engaged too.

Luke felt more control over his hip rotation and Leonie immediately developed a narrower stance. Her wide stance had been due to being on the outside edge of her inside foot. The turns were reduced to one single skate at completion of the turn – onto the uphill edge of the uphill ski.

To complete the session we worked on the dynamics for the turn completion. This requires holding the downhill foot well on its inside edge – adductors tight – while making the body pass over the top of this downhill ski while still standing on it. There are quite a few counterintuitive things going on here but Luke in particular was really freed up by the action. The feet/adductors work making the action of the dynamics phases more obvious than previously.

Today I explained that a turn transition can be a two footed issue – supporting yourself coming over the downhill ski but before getting fully across it taking pressure on the outside edge of the uphill ski and extending that leg to help push the body up and out of the existing turn. Both legs and ding different jobs simultaneously – not just only stepping onto the uphill ski or flowing over the downhill ski as separate choices.

 

 

Day Two

The Core

We began with a complete indoors session – boots off – looking thoroughly at the bio-mechanics of the feet, legs, hips and torso – including “chi- hips” and the effect on the base of the spine and posture control. The indoors exercise made it even clearer how significant a role the pulling together of both sets of adductors plays – the pulling back of the hip (counter rotation of the base of the spine) aligning the thighs bones to allow the adductors to work together. Likewise the adductors and feet working this way facilitate the hip being counter rotated (in relation to the turn direction). It’s not the “hip” in reality, it’s the pelvis being counter rotated. Luke had to be careful to correct his pelvic tilt in advance to maximize the effect.

Indoors demonstration included clarifying the relation of this action to angulation and overall rotational control – and for Luke especially the ability to maintain pressure on the front of the ski boot without risk of being launched over the fronts of the skis in deep snow etc. Back out on the snow Luke applied al of this very well and looked far more centered over his skis and feet (instead of jammed in the back seat) and reported that he felt pressure on the shins for the first time ever (without collapsing the ankles).

Working from the Core Is a strenuous action which takes place during the turn transition – the hip is pulled back relative to the shoulder and held there for the whole turn duration. This action facilitates the turn transition and all the associated bio-mechanics. Motion starts from the centre. Global motion of the centre of mass corresponds to this same principle. The Core is no longer passive – it has to be active and posture will then function by reflex. (load testing was done indoors to show how the postural reflexes are triggered). Today the aim was to have a global picture of the overall coordination we are working towards. Luke did well but was tired by the end of the day and lost it a bit – but it will return all the stronger tomorrow.

 

 

Pivot – Jump Turns

Luke knew his pivoting skills were weak and so wanted to work on them. Leonie was vague regarding turn transitions – with a tendency to rush the start of the turns to get the skis securely below her – so it was decided to work on the pivoting. Controlling the hip while pivoting is not easy. Personally I can only be sure to get it completely correct once I have a rhythm going. The pivot really exposes Luke’s weakest points and his hip rotation – so it just needs some work.

One reason for working on the pivot was to encourage Leonie to start the turn with full commitment to the uphill ski. The idea is to realise the ski acts as a brake through the first half of the turn and there is no need to rush it. There is always a “pulling inwards” never a pushing out. The pole is used for support and to restrict dynamics but the pivot is controlled by the motion of the centre of mass. This is very obvious when you pivot on the “wrong” ski and the adductors are still holding the foot on its inside edge but it’s towards the outside of the turn – in which case the only active ingredient is the centre of mass.

Luke needed to work on jump turns to “soften” his movements. Jumping up requires a full leg extension and then landing with straight legs and bending to absorb the shock – smoothing out the process. Leonie managed to coordinate this better but Luke had a tendency to jump from his uphill ski instead of over his downhill ski. Absence of strong use of the poles was clear for both – so we did pivoting exercises on the “wrong” ski to encourage controlled motion of the centre of mass over this supporting ski. If you do not jump downhill slightly then you cannot get over the skis – into perpendicular and then land centred on the skis – you end up jammed in the back seat again instead. Leonie got this quite clearly.

We went off piste and used a few jump turns and short swings in places and Leonie managed to eventually put it all together and stop her rotation – holding good angualtion through the turns – building up pressure and control and then coming up and out over the ski when ready. The turns were short lively and fluid.

I explained that pure pivot has no forward momentum – only lateral slipping. Dynamics is purest when carving and there is no lateral motion of the skis. When starting a turn with dynamics we aim for pressure on the upper ski (either inside or outside edge) and a strong stance on that legs. When using pivoting it’s the same leg but with a reduction of pressure – by releasing the uphill edge grip – to slip more easily sideways. The extreme example is the jump turn where with the aid of a strong pole support the skis are fully unweighted in a jump while swinging into the turn following the centre of mass. There is a full spectrum of pressure. In many instances the new inside ski can be used instead – as a substitute – in either pivoting or carving – but the overall principles/mechanics remain the same. (You can carve or pivot totally with only one ski on)

 

 

 

h

Ice

 

Tignes (View from Champagny)

 

Huge cyrstals – 5 cm across

Drinking Dog

 

Electric Jellyfish

 

Ice Lady

 

 

Ice Toes

 

 

 

 

Ice Swimming

Unfortunately the lake has been drained until next Spring – so it’s time for photography instead of swimming….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don Day 5

La Grande Motte (3563m) would be our objective on this final day. The cable car climbs to 3456m (11,338ft), quite high enough to affect breathing if you are not used to altitude. The shear faced mountain peak next to the Grande Motte is the Grande Casse (3885m) the highest mountain in this particular area. Mont Blanc – to the North is the highest mountain in the Aps at 4809m. Just being at the top of the Grand Motte has a “feel good” factor that is off the charts!

Today’s video clip is Don’s Yoga Skiing – to the music of The Afro Celt Sound System – “Rise Above it!”

 

Mindful Skiing

We didn’t actually get around to any technical work (it had been my intention to focus on the steeps and pivoting) but it was an excellent ski down from the top of the glacier and Don took the time to appreciate it.  Earlier, during our warm up when skiing down from the top of the Toviere, I mentioned to Don that the objective was really to be mindful of our actions when skiing. Overall issues such as speed, other people, conditions etc. just become peripheral and not the object of focus. In a race when the skier nears the end of the course, if his mind leaps ahead to think about the finish, he probably won’t make it that far! When the mind is focused within the body, whether on breathing or some particular movement, feeling or other sense – then we internalize our thoughts. This focus then allows us to relate accurately to the outside world – and keeps us in the present. Being as fully as possible in that moment we lose the stress and tension that often dominate. Skiing isn’t about wondering where you are going, how fast you are going or what you look like (though it is to most) – it is about being one with your senses and the environment you are in (which is second to none!)

 

 

The commercial “holiday” ski industry totally misses this. Even ski racing misses it and bases itself on a violent, destructive process of Darwinian natural selection – producing a tiny number of racers who have unconsciously adapted and understand nothing about what they are doing. When their racing days are over they will quit skiing.

For mindfulness to develop we need to have correct technical information. Standard International ski instruction is about as incorrect as it could possibly be made. It would be hard to achieve this deliberately and can only be paralleled by the same stunning level of incompetence in the medical industry. (Though mainstream science isn’t too far behind these days unfortunately).  Martial Arts, Yoga, Meditation, musicians and artists generally work in the right direction but “sports” gets well and truly sidelined – hence the artificial “recreational” and “elite” divisions. You cannot even “visualize” unless you understand the underlying movements. Much of mindfulness lies in feeling but a lot depends on visualizing. Visual perception is not what people think. The brain can only see something that it understands – hence why the newborn child is blind. The child uses all its senses to build a picture of the world. In skiing, when we have the right information then we can successfully and automatically visualize – enormously aiding the “mindfulness” process.

 

 

I asked Don to ski the steep parts without gaining speed and to value the feedback from the mindfulness above all. His focus had to be on “getting out of the way” and pushing the outside foot forwards plus working from the core. Don skied this first steep part in full control and enjoyed it.

When instructing I carry out the same instruction myself – fixing my focus on the exact same thing. This is never boring, tiring or even too easy – it is always rewarding and fascinating. Mindfulness is timeless and an adventure “within” that just knows no limits. People often comment on my patience – but I don’t need any patience. They comment often on my passion or enthusiasm – all the same source! A master of anything in life knows that he’s not at the top of a pinnacle of learning – he’s just at an open door that opens onto dozens of other open doors without limit.

 

 

Don now has a good understanding of the real fundamentals of skiing and so now it’s largely a case of mindfully applying this. The learning process is feedback driven and you are largely your own coach when working with this information.

Near the bottom of the descent from the Grande Motte Don passed in front of me at a tricky part of the piste and I was immediately worried and hoped he would contain his speed. Unfortunately he let his skis run straight at the wrong moment and being startled by the sharp acceleration he reacted unconsciously and found himself going backwards on his head! Fortunately there was no damage done other than us having a slightly shaken up Don for a while. Returning to skiing after a lunch break was interesting because the shock had put Don on the defensive and his skiing reverted to his previously trained emotionally based  forcing. This was the perfect opportunity to apply mindfulness to overcome a problem. Focusing internally is simply the best way to remove stress and get back on track. Additionally, I asked Don to control his breathing by only using nasal breathing – both in and out. This increases CO2 and Nitrogen Oxide levels and returns blood flow to the extremities for fine control. Don recovered possession of his faculties and his skiing skills in about five minutes flat. I was impressed. Once Don was back on form we spent a few minutes shooting the final video clips.

 

 

 

 

 

Don Day 4

Yesterday was the final day of just directly feeding information to Don. Three days is a pretty rapid crash course in fundamental principles that have taken me thirty years to work out. Our main goal so far has been to establish an understanding and common vocabulary – totally different from any of Don’s previous experience in skiing. We got there. Needless to say this is quite a huge task for anyone to deal with but Don handled it well, feeling real changes, progress and overcoming confusion. The main obstacles to this process come from the fact that international ski instruction is based on appeasing people’s emotions rather than challenging them. People are told to “balance”, make a stable snowplough, push out the leg and start to twist the ski into the turn etc. etc. Those are all utterly wrong things to do and lead to skiing purgatory (intermediate plateau) but they are appealing to the emotions. Everything that actually works is initially unappealing to the emotions and totally counter intuitive. Once the emotional moves are ingrained and the pattern burned into the brain – it literally takes over and injects confusion into any efforts to learn opposing but appropriate material. Don has done seriously well in challenging the grip of this process – a grip that some people can never escape.

I asked Don to use his slalom skis again today because they would be useful for both working on short turns and developing carving skills. Unfortunately we only managed to repeat one of yesterday’s carving exercises and didn’t get very far with it because we were consumed with the more pressing need to work on constructively and safely handing steep terrain. For the first time we were involved in a developmental feedback process where Don could receive correction and more specific information going beyond our basic principles.

Steeps Video Clips…

1. Good control of rotation and lively rhythm (getting out of your own way)
2. Good speed control and attention to detailed mechanics
3. Good use of the front of the ski and control of rotation

 

Upper / Lower Body Separation (or integration?)

Upper / Lower Body Separation had been in my mind for developing the carving and improving the body rotation issues. My intention was to begin with carving and the more static action of applying “chi-skiing” actions with the pelvis – working from the core – and then bring this into short turns. However we gravitated towards just homing in directly on those issues as they apply to short turns and steep terrain.

Two separate exercises were carried out with skis off. First of all we repeated yesterday’s exercise of scribing an arc in the snow with the ski boot. The exercise was extended further though: Pelvis facing downhill with two poles for support (arms straight) feet across the hill. Outside boot scribing an arc and inside boot acting as a support pivoting on its heel. The key here is to use the chi movement as the leg comes around downhill of the body and to hold the centre of mass uphill – increasing angulation. Then the body (facing downhill) moves across the downhill leg supported by the poles and the process is repeated in the other direction. This is a simulation of the internal mechanics and the overall motions of the centre of mass during a tight turn – with upper / lower body separation.

Exercise two was jump turns in the ski boots but integrating the mechanics of the first exercise. The overall goal was to develop awareness of upper / lower body separation. Video clip “one” followed those exercises and the snappy rhythm and mechanics are largely due to the work done here.

 

Perpendicularity

One of the main tenets of dynamic skiing is that the skier orients the body perpendicular to the slope. (This is actually not true for pivoting – but we will ignore that for the time being as it does not involve forward momentum.) A skier in a traverse is in the vertical, travelling across the slope and this is similar to the final phase of a dynamic turn. Going into a dynamic turn requires a tilting of the body downhill so that though the middle of the turn the skier is not vertical but perpendicular to the slope. Supporting the body exiting the existing turn on the downhill ski actually gets the body already close to perpendicular to the slope before the new turn even starts. If we are just following the skis around facing across the hill with the body then we don’t really sense this action for what it really is. Separating upper and lower body so the the upper body is facing downhill at this moment makes it clear that you are launching into the perpendicular very early. Having the body oriented this way (with separation) can confuse movements so in coaching I normally never start using this too soon – waiting until good dynamics and supporting actions are already in place.

 

Closing the turns

Speed is controlled on the steeps by closing the turns – which makes all of the above described issues harder and requires more work. Video clip “two” was of Don working on perpendicularity and closing the turns. Don isn’t quite so fluid here but he is in complete control of his line and speed.

 

Rhythm

Rhythm is a key component in skiing. Rhythm generates stability and resonance (amplification). Racing is about making and breaking rhythm and courses are set specifically to this pattern. Don was encouraged to generate rhythm to help generate appropriate forces and to feel how it all knits together.

 

Racing Timing (Not closing the turns)

On one run I asked Don to try not closing off the turn and to try to exit the turn early while still on the downhill leg. Most of the speed control would come from about 2/3rds of the way around the turn but not at the end. The idea is to exit the turn before you think it is even necessary. This is the start of learning timing that is used for controlled higher speed skiing, including fast skiing on rough terrain or off piste even in cruddy snow. Don felt the effect and enjoyed it.

 

Front of Ski (Ball of Foot/Shin Pressure)

Dealing with ice makes most people freak out. Commonly the only advice is to tread on it lightly as if on eggshells. Wrong! Racers simply use even more aggressive dynamics and sharper skis. The key is simply “pulling in” instead of pushing out. Push the skis outwards on ice and you are on your bum. Skiing well on steep ice is best achieved by exploiting the fronts of the skis – with good upper / lower body separation (upper body tilted forwards at the hip) – standing up on the ball of the foot (to activate the anterior tibialis and stiffen the ankle) – pressing on the shin to engage the the front of the ski strongly. You are still pulling the ski inwards but if it loses grip then you slide with it under control. Don managed this and video clip “three” is with him using the fronts of the skis and this stance also frees up his hip angulation and upper / lower body separation.

 

Classic photograph today of the common fog bank on the Italian border. The other side of the ridge is the Aosta valley leading up to Mont Blanc (peak in the image). This side is La Rosiere ski resort in France just down the valley from Val d’Isere and Tignes.

 

Don Day 3

Another day of clear progress for Don. The first part of the video is an application of Chi-Skiing to counter turn the pelvis against both the turn and shoulders – activating the core muscles and preventing rotation – while protecting the spine. Don experienced fluid skiing for the first time as the body rotation problems vanished and his arms started behaving naturally (instead of reaching with the pole) spontaneously. The second part of the video is on very steep (slalom stadium) terrain controlling the speed with careful use of “get yourself out of your way” dynamics, adductors and feet-forwards technique. Don succeeded and it was important to go this far because it supplies the tools for safety on steeps. From here on in we will work to consolidate and improve on the skills already defined over the past three days.

 

Big Picture

Following today’s warm up run Don expressed some understandable frustration at not quite being able to see the big picture of what we were aiming for. He wanted me to ski and simultaneously call out what I’m doing in the terms we had been working with. Although I do have a conscious dialogue in my own head when focusing on each aspect of movement the reality is that there are many layers of this in the subconscious where about 95% of all activity is controlled. I had to recalibrate my brain quickly into “demo mode” and just call out the points relevant to dynamics (into and out of the turn), skating and timing. To be able to do this I had to explain to Don that if starting a turn from a traverse, where the body is in the vertical (to gravity) and you are moving forwards, you have to stand on the lower ski / leg and fall over it downhill, taking over with the uphill leg as your body crosses over the skis. When turns are linked then the flow of the body across the skis is a rhythmic continuation of the end of the turn. Once this distinction was clarified we were able to proceed.

I put Don’s concerns to rest by explaining that at this stage I’m focused on specific isolated universal skills which will make far more sense to him when they all start to work in harmony. We can’t have the whole without the parts being made first – and ultimately the whole is very much greater than the sum of the parts anyway. Still, it’s reasonable to want some overall idea of where we are headed and Don felt that he required a sort of sketch of that picture to be able to feel comfortable. This is probably useful as it may also help to coalesce all the parts more effectively – or just simply instill some confidence.

Some aspects of perception are developed in sudden shifts – “paradigm shifts” are common. Other issues only slowly come into focus – like a stereogram image that mysteriously takes shape as the brain reorganizes the information. I expect both of those developments with the material being studied here. I’ve seen some people take five or ten years for the “penny to drop” on some of those issues. The great thing is that when it happens it’s always rewarding and worth the wait. Most real skiing skills are extremely counter intuitive – which is why perception is challenged and why it is eternally fascinating and enjoyable. It’s also why there are a lot of numpties out there who bomb around out of control, deluded about their ability and utterly oblivious.

Yesterday I mentioned how the process of learning is really determined by “self organisation”. In any complex system where there are a few rules and constraints between interacting parts then the system self optimizes. Edward de Bono termed this phenomenon “lateral thinking” but that’s not a good description. Like de Bono I found this process out for myself through studying the relevant hard science on “self organization”. This is an “out of control” process and the skills coalesce into a sort of meta-skill. The reality is that for most complex systems there’s no big picture – just an emergence. What emerges depends entirely on the parts and their relationships. We don’t have a linear path to learning that we are in control of – and holding on too hard to that illusion can be detrimental. Always trust your own feelings – pay attention to them and don’t always allow logic to systematically override. Almost nothing about science discovery involves logic – it’s not logical it’s phenomenological.

Some details on the phenomenological aspects of dynamics…

http://skiinstruction.blogspot.fr/2011/01/emperors-new-clothes-part-1.html

http://skiinstruction.blogspot.fr/2011/01/emperors-new-colthes-part-2.html

 

Chi-Skiing

The main goal for today was to address Don’s body rotation issues – but not directly. I wanted to try to teach a special awareness of internal body mechanics that when done correctly might have the desired effect on rotation. I gave a brief explanation of “chi walking” from the brilliant author Danny Dryer as an introduction but then moved on rapidly to the relevant application (which Dryer himself did not think possible in skiing!). Conventionally people are taught to have their shoulders facing downhill towards the end of a turn. Meanwhile the skis pull the legs around the turn and also the pelvis – always causing some degree of twist in the spine below the 12th thoracic vertebra (bottom ribs). The problem is that this twist is in the wrong direction and causes posture to fall apart and for the lower back to be destroyed – plus it blocks the turn development with the lower hip and leg becoming an obstacle.

The correct way to organize the body is to pull the hip back (outside leg) as the ski proceeds around the turn. The hip comes further back than the shoulder making a slight twist in the lower back in the opposite direction from the conventional approach. This twist aligns the femurs correctly for using the adductor muscles and the subtaler joints below the ankles plus it allows the postural reflexes to be activated in the muscles of the lower abdomen and around the spine as well as access to the core muscles. The difference is dramatic. It also refines the “get yourself out of your way” dynamics and allows incredibly fluid turn transitions – which is what Don actually felt.

While teaching this to Don I demonstrated the postural reflexes by asking him to grab a pole horizontally in front of him and lift me up. With the spine in the wrong (conventional) position he just felt his back. In the correct (Chi) position he felt nothing in his back – but instead felt the abdomen contract to protect the back. This is reflexive caused by pressure sensed through the feet and facilitated by good alignment.

http://skiinstruction.blogspot.fr/2012/03/energy-illusion.html  (Article investigating the validity and surprising relevance of “chi” as an energy concept)

 

Carving

Returning to carving exercises (with slalom skis for precision feedback) but now including the new found hip angulation from the Chi posture, Don was able to far better hold an edge on the traverses. This is the first step towards being able to eliminate all the tensions currently blocking the attempts to carve. At lower speeds or tighter (slalom) turns much of the edge angle comes from the hip and this is impossible where hip rotation exists. Don’s “snowplough” and “face the shoulders downhill”  history had taken him down a path of pushing the skis out and blocking with his hip/body rotation and eliminating all natural “get yourself out of your way” dynamics. Good progress was made here and practice is now necessary to take this further.

 

 

Feet Forwards

We finished the day by adding the sensation of pushing the outside foot forwards. This was first done in a static exercise with the skis off – pushing the inside edge of the boot around – cutting an arc in the snow – but preventing hip and body rotation! Don did this with remarkably few complications. Once the “push” sensation is understood it can be applied on skis – the outside ski from the start to end of a turn. The push – combined with dynamics – is the main mechanism for controlling turn radius. This is critical for control on steeps and in racing. Don immediately felt the turns easier and tighter. Initially on the steeps he struggled because he baulked at coming over the downhill ski and so blocked himself. Once this was pointed out it was quickly corrected and the result is recorded in the video clip above.

 

Don Day 2

Today began by correcting the canting alignment of Don’s ski boots and ended with him skiing with overall improved control of speed, turn completion, grip and coordination – as seen in the following video clip.

 

 

Alignment

Don’s bone structure was placing him slightly on the outside edges of his feet  - hence also the skis – thus contributing to a lack of grip. To correct for this the upper shaft of each ski boot had to be tilted slightly outwards. The boot’s mechanism required both canting bolts to be loosened and the rear forward tilt/flex control bolts also loosened. The adjustment mechanism is a bit tricky without a specialized tool but it was manageable and the canting achieved was appropriate. Later in the day Don remarked that he felt the boots were allowing him to stand flat now. 

Poor equipment alignment adds to and compounds the type of skiing issues that Don has been dealing with – the lack of grip – snowplough – pushing skis outwards during the turn  - rotating – stiff outer leg etc. etc… Alignment has nothing at all to do with footbeds and must be measured with the skier seated and legs locked out straight and parallel in front – with the hips flexed and pelvis / spine in correct upright posture. Shops never do this – they have the skier standing, legs bent and feet arches and ankles collapsing but hidden by the stiff boots.

 

Sideslip

Following our warm up run we went straight into a special form of sideslip – forward diagonal in direction,  standing on the uphill edge of the uphill ski only, while on the inside edge of that foot to slightly flatten the ski. This exercise is partly to develop the coordination of standing this way – separating the edge of the foot and edge of the ski – being on only one leg and this being also the uphill leg.

Most turns are actually unconsciously started from this position anyway in parallel skiing but by happening in a fraction of a second people don’t spot it. Any turn where there is very little forward momentum needs to be started from this position and often even fast carving turns can use this too when the skier needs to change line by stepping, skating uphill or having to traverse the hill.

The exercise is also a prelude to ensuring strong pressure on the outside leg of the upcoming turn – which can be started on either edge of the ski depending on how dynamics are being employed. If there is only a traverse before the turn then standing up on this edge allows the skier to fall freely into the next turn on a strong supporting leg. (we’re not ready here to explore all the combinations and possibilities introduced by dynamics here yet! – so I’m keeping it simple…)

 

Skating Step

Skating across the hill can be done by employing the same foot/ski edge separation of the uphill leg/ski as used in the sideslip. Basically we skate across and only use the uphill edges of the skis. The exercise begins with several skates and on the final one just standing up on the uphill leg and allowing the body to fall over with gravity freely into a turn.

One major advantage of this exercise is that by standing up on this uphill ski on its uphill edge the turn can only be initiated by the centre of mass – there is no way the ski can be pushed outwards. The forward momentum makes this far easier than the pivot and also demonstrates that most turns actually start from this edge – not the inside edge as people are led to believe is necessary from snowplough onwards.

 

Skating Timing

The skates across the hill were gradually reduced to one single skate. The key issue here is that prior to the turn initiation there is a strong push up from the downhill leg. Pushing up with the downhill leg is one major element of correct basic timing in skiing. Dynamics alone generates a down/up pendulum motion of the centre of mass – creating a pressure cycle on the skis. The end of the turn involves this up motion and this can be assisted with the downhill leg by pushing up. Note here the leg and ski are not pushed away – the ski grips and the centre of mass is pushed upwards. We are looking for a resonance where the dynamics and leg action are in sync – hence good and powerful timing. Resonance is nature’s amplifier – being why massive bridges can be brought down when a resonant frequency of motion is generated by wind with very little power.

I demonstrated “direct method” skating straight downhill and progressively introducing dynamics towards the inside of each skate – to show how the skating transformed into skiing as the ski began to arc due to the greater edge angles generating by the dynamics – but also how the skating action, rhythm and timing never altered.

 

 

Dynamics Part 2

Don picked up this one quickly! Until now we had only discussed how to accelerate the centre of mass into a turn – and I’d deliberately hidden the fact that we also need to deal with getting it back out of the turn.

Dynamics involves forward motion (unlike a pivot) and with this momentum as the skis cross the hill towards the end of the turn the turn is not completed until the skis are flat and the skier perpendicular to the mountain. This momentary position is called “neutral”. Until now we had only pushed up with the lower leg to step up the hill – but now I wanted Don to coordinate this pushing up to support the body coming across the skis – beyond the vertical and into perpendicular. This is actually how the “up” motion of the dynamic turn is controlled and Don saw this in a demonstration I did of a classic “hanger” turn where I’d stay on the lower ski in an exaggerated way right into the start of the next turn. Don described it accurately as “getting out of your own way”. He also described it as a “controlled fall” – which once beyond the vertical as you exit the turn is essentially correct.

 

Carving

First carving exercises were simple uphill edge traverses across a moderately steep slope. Both feet on their inside edges and both skis on their uphill edges. Holding the skis on edge involved many of the aspects of coordination and awareness that had been involved in the skating. When the skis bite they quickly turn the skier back up the hill so most people are initially surprised by this and unconsciously allow the skis to flatten. Correcting this is easiest by moving the centre of mass more over the uphill ski – at low speed it doesn’t matter which ski has the weight and we need two edges to give a stable platform. Don struggled to hold an edge and track across the hill correctly (leaving a sharp cut in the snow) with the right ski so this will require some practice and awareness.

On flatter ground we looked at how the edges were changed and the body went through neutral by crossing over the skis. This exercise is done statically using ski poles for support. The only way to change direction when carving is through the motion of the centre of mass.

Pivoting

It certainly wouldn’t do to skip pivot practice so once again I managed to push Don into a state of slightly frustrated confusion. Not to worry – some things take time to become clear. The pivoting eliminates all forward motion  (across the hill) so that the body travels directly down the fall line. This is all about getting the ski to slip into the turn from the uphill edge. Dynamics are restrained by use of pole support with the pole planted firmly downhill and most importantly the key difference with regards to skiing itself is that the skis are always downhill of the body – there is no neutral phase where the centre of mass passes across the perpendicular. In fact the body remains almost vertical the whole time. This is used in skiing fall line deep powder, bumps and couloirs – and also skiing very short turns in a narrow corridor at low speed. These are all cases where the skis need to be kept downhill of the skier’s body on the mountain.

Coordination (feet, adductors etc) and timing are the same as for dynamic turns with forward momentum.

 

Practice

During the day we discussed the the most important thing for Don at the moment was to improve his speed control on steeper terrain – where his skis were tending to run away with him. The video clip was taken after he had been working on all of the above and shows how he was constructing his turns far more effectively and purposefully – hence controlling his speed. Awareness of how to structure and organize the components of a turn – through the components of the body, terrain and ski design – with a clear goal and purpose – is what lends towards the real inner rewards of skiing.

 

 

Tomorrow

So far we have deliberately not looked at Don’s overall body management. There is a significant rotation issue that is linked to his “pushing out”  of the skis. This rotation is not just because of his snowplough history but because he was told to “face downhill” which inevitably means facing the shoulders downhill and twisting the base of the spine directly. If anything Don’s rotation is a natural defense of his spine. Tomorrow we will look into this properly and to do so will apply “chi skiing” principles to activate the core muscles in defense of the spine and stop the hip and body rotations.

Don Day 1

Snow and weather conditions being near perfect in Tignes we started out with a warm up run going over to Val d’Isere where there was World Cup training going on. During the run I observed Don and saw that he had received standard training based on the snowplough and up/down timing – and that it would be counter productive to spend any more time “warning up” with such a tiring process going on. Correspondingly we went straight into “dynamics” on the next run.

The video has three clips – before dynamics, working on skating and with dynamics…

 

Dynamics

Standard explanations and exercises were used to introduce dynamics. The menu button at the top of the blog links to the full details. The video shows that Don is already using some dynamics naturally so I had no doubt that he could manage to develop this to more useful levels. In the “before” clip Don skis parallel most of the time – with only a little bit of stemming. This of course would not be so tidy in a demanding situation. The first half of the turn is being rushed with the skis being pushed away from the body and probably the feet being turned into the turn (big toe directing the outside ski) which forces the foot onto the outside edge and causes the leg to straighten and stiffen. The displacement of the skis is how people tend to ski when they have learned initially from snowplough – because they are taught to push outwards and twist the feet in the direction of the turn. The centre of mass cannot be directed in this manner and in fact is generally moved towards the outside of the turn to try to pressure the ski – so the skier remains unstable – with the quads generally burning.

The choice is that you either displace the skis or displace the centre of mass – the two are mutually exclusive. Don had to work at moving the centre of mass and we began just by clarifying this overall objective. Without any detailed work Don’s feedback was that his legs were feeling far less strain and tiredness – so I knew he would now be able to last the whole day !

To take Don on a little further I explained the rocking of the feet from the subtaler joint below the ankle – so that he would have better grip to move the centre of mass and less tendency to twist/steer his feet into the turn. Keeping both feet on their inside edges was emphasized with the connection up through the adductor muscles on the insides of the legs. Immediately Don could feel improved control.

Indoors we looked at the feet and at how heel pressure could be used to develop a clear rocking at the subtaler joint. While doing this exercise we also looked at how bending down with heel pressure locked the ankle – stiffening it through tension in the anterior tibialis muscle (shin) then moving the flexion away from the ankle to the knee and hip. This is of course desirable – but bending with weight not on the heel caused the ankle to collapse and for the boot to take over support – to be avoided! This is only an intermediate stage in a more intricate process – but a very useful way to develop strong, functional skiing coordination.

 

Mont Blanc – Italian side seen from Tignes

 

Pivot

After skiing for a while with more active use of the feet added to support the dynamics I started to introduce the Pivot. Leaving the pivot too late in the learning process is never a good idea – even though it can appear to inject some confusion at this stage. The Pivot has a dedicated fixed page accessed from the menu at the top of the page and this time there are full video demos of all the basic exercises. The main idea was to reinforce the coordination with the inside edge of the foot and to address Don’s concern about stiffening his outside leg. Don was aware of the leg stiffening but did not realise that this was due to pushing it outwards. Pivoting is all about pulling inwards. First attempts were assisted but already, due to the inability to push the ski outwards when starting a turn from the uphill edge Don was struggling. All of this is great for breaking that heavily trained “pushing out” habit – but it is challenging and takes time. When i saw Don becoming tired and flustered it was time to put it aside and return to the dynamics. This was when the penny dropped for Don that it was all about “pulling inwards”. Later on I explained how “centrifugal force” is an illusion and in physics it’s actually centripetal force – a force towards the inside. The skier has no outwards centrifugal force generated by the turn – it is all inwards and needs to be managed accordingly and encouraged – not resisted by a pushing outwards. (D’Alembert’s fictitious forces and “dynamic balance”!)

 

 

Skating

Later in the day we worked on the basics of skating. Initially Don allowed the skis to slip out to the side – with the feet falling onto their outside edges inside the boots and the body moving too much over the skis and flattening them. Just opening the legs and getting the skis wider apart allowed the edges to grip and the feet/muscle sensations to be restored. Flattish terrain was used to bring this skating into turns. Initially Don completely rushed the start of the turn and only started to skate once the skis were already around – this being done to avoid accelerations. I explained that instead of brushing off speed with skidding by pushing out the skis or by snowplough the speed control should come from completing the turn across the hill each time – requiring an acceptance of the acceleration at the start of the turn. In the video clip the skating turns to the left are good but to the right the pushing out is still there – this happening mainly due to the slight banking of the slope causing a slightly bigger acceleration and provoking a defensiveness.

Timing

Timing comes from both dynamics and skating. I demonstrated the difference by showing conventional ski school up/down – pole plant timing and then skating/dynamics down/up timing. When you “fall” laterally into a turn you come down (motorbike analogy) and you come up to complete it. When you skate the skating stride is down – up. They wed together in a natural rhythm and are the fundamental basis of skiing. In the third video clip with Don using dynamics intentionally at the end of the day this rhythm was starting to come through naturally. We need to remove the interference of the “pole plant” arm reach and corresponding rotational issues – but we will get around to that in good time.

Alignment

Leg/boot alignment was checked indoors and appeared to be incorrect – with the boots not being enough on the inside edge. Tomorrow morning this will be adjusted. Also the heavy duty foot beds would be preventing the feet muscles and articulations from being used actively so it is better to replace then with the original footbeds. Alignment was checked when seated – legs unloaded and knees locked out – legs parallel with respect to hip width.