MonsterMan wrote:How does one transfer without releasing? I think in the purest sense, RTE holds for all turns.
Certainly, all turn transitions require releasing the old turn, transferring weight/balance, and engaging the new edges. But being able to vary the order in which those three things happen will make you a much better skier. This reordering is defined by the three basic releases and there are situations where each release will work better than the other choices.
The easiest way to see what I'm talking about with respect to transfering without releasing is to consider the static one-footed release drill. You start this drill standing on your LTE with your downhill ski in the air. At that point you've already transferred; all your weight is on the new stance ski. All you can do now is release and engage.
Why would you want to delay the release? Whenever it gets steep and icy, I care very much about speed control. So I transfer balance to the new stance ski, but I stay on my LTE while I'm tipping into the new turn. The release happens late because I want to be well set up before I let go of edges that are holding.
A great way to practice this is the Phantom Javelin. Set the new stance foot down on LTE and ride it for a ski length before releasing the turn and tipping the new free foot. It isn't easy! If you watch Harald doing this drill in the Performance Free Skiing video, you can see that he is doing this.
Again, though, we don't need to get philosophical here. MonsterMan can do all three releases so he is absolutely welcome to disagree with me. His skis will always do the talking. For anyone else reading, simply focus on learning all three releases and your skis will do the talking too.