by h.harb » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:29 am
We are back from a 4 day climbing trip to the south of Colorado. It seems some of the Carver tips suggested here are being used and are working.
Yes, moving the front wheels back to the optional holes (shorter wheel base) makes sharper turns more accessible. Boot tightness is personal. I learned that I can carve tighter turns with shaper bigger angles with a very loose setup. I don?t really buckle my top buckles tight and keep my fore/aft very flexible. Diana on the other hand, sets up her boots with more tightness, but she has very mobile feet.
I found my on snow skiing, boot canting set up, was too aggressive (too bowlegged) for carvers. I tipped myself in and took the cuff in and that helped.
The key to finishing turns more across the falline on Cravers is, as some have discovered ?tipping more?. How do you achieve more tipping; therefore more finish of the turn across the falline. The answer continues to be tip more, or keep increasing tipping at the bottom of the arc, until you face the side of the road?
You have to bend the knees and be flexible with legs at the point of release. This means being dynamic rather than static, create some movement.
I could basically re-write ?Essentials of Skiing?, for Carvers, but it would be the same.
Carvers can be intimidating at first, they require constant alertness, this can lead to tension and static, stiff positions. Skiing is not a total letting go of muscle tension either. There has to be a balance of muscle activity in the legs and hip muscles, between not only which are tense or relaxed, but their timing of these contractions. This coordination allows the tool to function in that environment. The activity of coordinating relaxing muscles and muscle tension or contraction is what you are developing through Carver training. . It?s this balance that allows for movements in the right places and transfers to real positive changes to your on snow skiing. .
Of course developing balance is key to learning these muscle relationships. When you are relaxing; your muscles will act more naturally. But, you will only begin to relax if you are balanced.
How do you become comfortable and develop better balance? Do the beginning exercises again and than do them over, and than revisit them. Go back to skating on Carvers. Make circles and change direction by changing edges. Practice your stepping with thousand steps. Do garland tipping across the slope. Make sure you are completing the arc back up the slope, so you develop a sense for how much you have to tip to complete an arc. Be patient, small changes have to happen at these introductory levels and you have to be aware of them, if you are to incorporate them into your regular training runs.
We have the longer wheel base option on Carvers to make them feel more like skis, because they turn too easily for expert skiers and racers. Becoming a competent skier on Carvers involves a different metric of skiing proficiency. I have seen experts suffer; crying on Carvers, until they learned or changed their approach. How can they be considered experts on snow but not on Carvers? Which approach did they use that didn?t do the job? It?s easy to cheat on snow without even knowing you are doing it.
This is why good race coaches see the value in Carver training. The same mistakes are amplified on Carvers. They can address the mistakes directly. Many experts have some form of cheater move in their snow skiing and it becomes very obvious on Carvers, yet on snow they can hide it. Snow is much easier and more forgiving and it?s very hard to see cheating on snow, especially when it?s well disguised with experience, speed and dynamics.
For instance: leg steerers, foot pivoters and skidders have difficulty. These weaknesses (when they are your only movments you use to ski) are immediately exposed. Skiers who don?t use or have an upside-down balance phase, in their on snow skiing, gain too much speed and are forced into making large turns on Carvers.
Carvers put your skiing under a microscope, for some that?s uncomfortable. For those that want to correct their errors and improve quickly, it?s a great tool.
Last edited by
h.harb on Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.