Ski chatter - Alignment or technique problem

[Uli]

Harald,
I forgot to ask you one question on Sunday at the Camp. I had quite a bit of trouble with my right ski chattering on my left turns earlier in the week. Kris told me to apply pressure to the ski more slowly and progressivly, but I wasn't really successful doing it. On Sunday I didn't notice the problem at all until the very last run and only after I took out the alignment wedge that you had put under my right leg earlier that day (1.5 degree with the high side on the inside).
I am now wondering, if this was merely a coincidence or if the temporary alignment change actually helped me out here? Do you have any other recommendations to get rid of the chatter? Could it be a tuning issue? Or is it just a lack of skills / proper technique?

[Harald]

Thanks for the question Uli. In one way Kris is right, more judicious application of pressure is a solution for ski chatter, but if you have little edge to work with, few skiers are likely to be patient with pressure application. The lack of early grip is probability related to the loss of the temporary shim we installed between your boot sole and binding.

Alignment:
Poor alignment of the knock kneed kind doesn?t allow edge angle and ski engagement to be achieved, so we resort to aggressive knee driving and ski loading. When edge angles can be applied more progressively (as you experienced with the shim in place) the load is distributed better through the turn and the ski won?t respond by jumping under the foot. Alignment and movements are closely related and one can undue the other. Bad alignment can be reduced by good movements, and good alignment can be undone by bad movements. If there is a combination of poor movement and bad alignment it can be very frustrating. My sense from watching you ski is that you can benefit from a complete alignment evaluation. Alignment corrections can help solve your ski chattering problems.

Movement:
As we were addressing on the slopes during the sessions, moving to the little toe edge with the previous stance ski, before you engage the big toe edge of the old inside ski, slows knee drive. Piggy slayer is likely to tell you the story of staying in a bow legged position to change skiing movement patterns. Your big toe edge dominance definitely contributes to late edge grip and ski chatter. Practice with the Super Phantom will strengthen the engagement in transition and help with your ski chatter problem.