Stuck...

[tommy]

I was wondering if anyone could give some advice on how to progress when one has reached some sort of plateau in development ?

Some background: when I found PMTS 3 seasons ago, my skiing ability took a quantum leap. I very quickly went from a "terminal intermediate" to whatever I'm now. After having studied the books & videos, practiced the exercises, and attended my first camp, my skiing improved a lot in very short time. Terrain/conditions that I previously found intimidating or difficult, no longer was any major problem to handle (not saying though that I can ski everything *elegantly*, but I can manage getting down mosts runs more or less in balance...).

However, during past season, and particularly this season, I feel I'm stuck, that is, my skiing doesn't seem to "go anywhere", in any direction, anymore. When I started this season, I was positively surprised that I already the first day could pretty much do all the stuff that I was able to do when finishing the last season, and I was hoping to progress my skiing even further. But, that doesn't seem to happen - for instance, I still struggle to get clean arc's on icy steeps, and my speed can only be controlled with a fair amount of "brushing" in such conditions. I've also noticed a tendency to A-frame in transitions on icy steeps, it appears that my free ski is not parallel, nor edged enough to match the stance ski.

My gut feeling while skiing icy steeps appears to be that I really can't trust that my stance ski will hold its edge, and I don't commit enough/early enough to the turn to achieve sufficient grip. This is really bothering me, not only because I feel I'm stuck, but also because the winter here in Sweden is terrible this season, almost no snow (all resorts rely on machine made snow --> icy slopes!) so I really would benefit from handling such conditions better....

Any suggestions most welcome!

Cheers,
T

[HH]

Tommy, try to get some race training with a local club. Your skiing is beyond what most ski instructors can help you with.

Your commitment to the new turn with strong pressure and edging is now the next step. It's a combination of letting go (fall to the inside) and pressuring (extend the outside leg). Be careful not to pressure too early on steep ice. Ride the beginning of the arc on top of the edges, as you set up the skis in the high arc of the turn, wait until you are close to the falline before you really extend and push on the edge especially on steeps.

Expert skiers relax the mid body (hips, glutes, upper thighs, lower back on the inside part of th ebody) and keep the pressure off the inside ski (bend the inside leg) in the middle of the turn. This allows the body to move into the turn and creates higher and bigger angles. They also turn the body away from the turning direction to set up more extreme counter of hips and should through the lower part of the turn. Edging becomes very strong when you apply these methods.

Sometimes you just need to be challenged by better skiers and a race course.

[tommy]

Thanks Harald, I'll look into the race club thing.

Could you please elaborate the below sentence a bit - I don't quite understand it:

It's a combination of letting go (fall to the inside)

Does "fall to the inside" mean getting the hips from their current low position on the "old" inside of the turn to "fall" to the new inside *after* releasing ?

WRT.

They also turn the body away from the turning direction to set up more extreme counter of hips

I've noticed the past 3 days of skiing on ice that the above advice is very valid - I deliberately focused on "pointing" my inside ("free foot") shoulder and ribs towards the fall line (to the extent that my stomach & back muscles now are really sore... , basically trying to "show my back" to imaginary gates, and at the same time putting more pressure on the ski tips in the early part of the turn, and that seemed to help.

cheers,
Tommy

[HH]

Quote:
It's a combination of letting go (fall to the inside)


Does "fall to the inside" mean getting the hips from their current low position on the "old" inside of the turn to "fall" to the new inside *after* releasing ?

(HH) The answer is yes, to that one, but I was more referring to dropping further inside once you have started the carving action of the next turn.

WRT.
Quote:
They also turn the body away from the turning direction to set up more extreme counter of hips


I've noticed the past 3 days of skiing on ice that the above advice is very valid - I deliberately focused on "pointing" my inside ("free foot") shoulder and ribs towards the fall line (to the extent that my stomach & back muscles now are really sore... , basically trying to "show my back" to imaginary gates, and at the same time putting more pressure on the ski tips in the early part of the turn, and that seemed to help.

(HH) You are right on here. Earlier in November and December I skied with Schlopy and I videoed the Austrians and US World Cup racers in the same course we were training in. Bode is clearly the most aggressive on, as you say, the back on imaginary gate panel with turning the body away from the direction of the turn.

The other real secret to carving on ice is getting the hips ahead of the boots at the top of the arc. This allows the skis to slice forward as they carve. Slicing is much better than holding. Holding feels like gripping. Gripping is not fast but it feels secure. Slicing feels like the skis are cutting, but not necessarily giving the feel of grip, yet they are holding their line.

[Tommi]

Hi T1,

I know your feeling.

For me, this week has been a breaktrough. I have spent MANY hours skiing single ski. First on green, then blue. Now I manage red.

Maybe Harald or other real pros can explain why, but making this exercise makes everything better. Short turn and fully carved racing type turns just become very solid, at least for me. Is it just the balance improving, both laterally and front/aft? And edge control of course..

Could not agree more on the effectiveness of racing training. One season ago I attended a group of hobby racers here in Helsinki to have slalom training once a week on a very small hill. At that time, I felt the training was almost too tough for me. However, another skier, very experienced, said after one training session: I have skied Mont Blanc off piste, and I was not at all so tired as I am now; he looked at the tiny hill and had a grin on his face...

Have fun,

T2

[tommy]

Hi Tee-Too and congrat's to the break-through! Those are the rare moments of joy that really makes all this effort worthwhile!

I have had similar experiences wrt. one-ski skiing: after my first PMTS camp, which was my real intro to the importance of alignment and balance, I started practicing a lot of one-ski skiing. At the camp, I was lousy at it...!

First, downhill ski only traverses (relatively easy), then uphill ski traverses (much harder), then linked turns (pretty easy after mastering uphill ski traverses).

Then, moving to more difficult terrain (green->blue->red->black (if the snow is good), doing the same progressions again, plus adding one-ski "hockey-stops" (skidded turns), inside & outside ski, to my repetoire.

I probably spent at least 25% of my skiing time last season with one-ski exercises. Even riding T-bars and other types of lifts with only one ski on gave good opportunities to experiment & enhance balance (even though most people on the ride gave me strange looks...

But what I really noticed was that my ability to ski "normally", i.e. with both skis was much improved after these exercises. In particular, the weighted release and the super Phantom became much easier, as well as the general feel of doing controlled, linked "well shaped" turns.

I think the bottom line of this "discovery" is again to point out the importance of (dynamic!) balance - if you are comfortable riding both edges of a single ski, then your balance is pretty accurate, and you can peruse all 4 edges of the two skis to your advantage.

Cheers,
Tommy

PS: I've always been somewhat of a "tuning freak", i.e. I like to keep our skis and snowboards vaxed and sharp. Before PMTS, I could notice that the vax was almost exclusively worn out on the inside edges of both skis; nowadays, the vax is consumed pretty evenly on both sides of the skis....

[Tommi]

Wow T1!

I can understand better now Join the swedish team and the world cup!

Do you have good alpine ski clubs having racing activity near Stockholm? Hopefully some of them have high level masters racing.. For your skills, they must have a really good trainer too, to continue your improvement.

Near Helsinki there are two clubs with masters groups, and many more with junior groups. I think I have to check this for myself also again .

Usually I practice 'racing' at the local hill with stubbys (my own). It would be more fun and a challenge to have flexible gates..the hill company have a set of gates, but there is no club (yet)..which is a pity.

I hope we get better conditions here in southern scandinavia, the last days have been really bad with +-0..+5C and storms..

Have fun,

T2

[tommy]

Tommi,

This winter has been lousy so far; we had almost a foot of snow and -10 late november, but it all disappeared early december, and since then it's been above 0 (C) and no snow. And last night's storm almost lifted my roof....!

Anyways, if you ever have your ways to Stockholm, and have a day to spend, send me a PM and let's go skiing; there's a resonable "resort" with some 15 slopes and 15 lifts only 3 hour's driving from here. It's open until end of March.

cheers,
Tommy

[jclayton]

Tommy , I know exactly how you feel , I've just spent a couple of weeks in the Pyrene?s and Val d'Isere . We had lovely fresh snow in Andorra , almost a metre then hard pack in Val d'Isere though many runs had good easy snow . The hard packed runs were always the steepest , Face de Bellevarde for example and it was a struggle to keep the edges carving .
When I did get a good grip I often found the skis juddering through the second half of the turn . I think a lack of confidence doesn't help much either to get the body into the turn earlier .

I remember Harald saying not to surprise the skis , I guess this fits in with the advice not to pressure the skis too early just let them slice , but I still feel my upper body contort too much trying to get the right angles . all very frustrating when I am relaxed on easier slopes and almost feel I can't do wrong . I tried doing my boots up tighter but found this restricted ankle movement and induced some steering . Tension seems to be the killer on these slopes .

I will try out Haralds advice above when I go again next week .

[tommy]

JC,

"couple of weeks in the Pyrene?s and Val d'Isere".... ?!?

Are you aiming for the WC ?

Wish I could spend that amount of time in real mountains asop. to the former garbage dump where I spend most of my skiing time....!

Cheers,
T

[jclayton]

How long are the runs there ?

[tommy]

How long are the runs there ?

JC,

doing linked, short turns, you might manage some 20 or so turns before end-of-slope...! But it's fairly steep, almost always icy, and only 5 min from office, so it's very convenient for practicing technique.

The next best local "resort" is some 2.5h driving away, 15 slopes, 15 lifts, and there you might cram 50 turns.

Then, to get longer runs and more variation, I have to drive at least 5h north west, and to ?re, which is where the Swedish WC races are, takes some 7h driving (and you are still in the middle of Sweden, not north where the reindeers, Ingemar Stenmark, Anja Parson, and Santa lives; going there by driving is some 20h... Going in the other direction the same amount of time, I'd be in Austria....

Cheers,
T