by John Mason » Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:25 pm
Both I and Jay have posted on Epic over time and we've both been in "discuss" mode rather than "blast mode".
I personally over the last year have been trying to ferret out with the confusion of terms like "steering" to see if things are similar and just being described differently or if the methods of skiing are pretty fundementally different. And while doing this trying to keep things civil.
Ott, you have been a gentleman in both boards during that year. (but I'm not sure you can take credit for the fact that Jay and I are sane and nice)
I also spoke with John Clendenon since he has a current demo team member working for him how that person handles his PSIA responsiblities. Because, truely from both my and John's perspective, if you do the demonstrations required in PSIA you are not skiing in a compatible fashion with either John Clendenon's or HH's methods. He said it was pretty weird for them as they ski what they know they are expected to do in the PSIA events, but then ski "right" everywhere else.
Now, I don't expect everyone to agree with "right" and "wrong", but I have concluded that these two ways are pretty much actually different. When people say HH is just marketing and changing terms to make money, they are not correct. My recent research into Pre-synaptic inhibition and self experiments to confirm this research pretty much show me you either stand and balance (use a "stance leg - HH" or "establish balance - Clendenon" and tip the other foot using co-contraction of the hip rotators to shut down this rotation, or you activitly steer both legs. This defines the core difference and only about 5 percent of the population can mix the two methods according to the pre-synaptic inhibition research I found. (and those people have a general problem with efficient muscle movement because their co-contration inhibition reflex is broken)
So, like the Lito and HH diner article I have oft posted, there really is a different focus on how rotation is used and generated. HH, Lito, Eski, SkiDoc all believe their way is the better way. BB, Rusty, most of the PSIA literature, believe active rotation is the better way. People can argue forever which way is better. I'm done with arguments that think it's the same but just repackaged. For Clendenon's part he is pleased as punch that 95% of the ski world teaches and is ok with active steering movements. It's skiers stuck in that that drives his business.
I've also met ton of people that have skied both ways, recognize the difference, and have made their choice.
Ott, one of these days the schedule will work out and we can ski together.
Rusty saw me ski on my first ski run of the year on brand new Metrons for a few seconds then we did laps and loveland and never passed again. Since that point, I've skied about 20 more days and got a lot more figured out (especially the PMTS instructor camp).
I look forward to skiing with anyone. It's always fun.