by Erik » Tue Dec 03, 2013 8:13 am
skijim-
One of the challenges of getting rid of up movments is to develop patience in transition and to sequence the movements correctly. Doing short radius turns is probabaly not doing you any favors in your learning that sequencing and patience. Apart from the drills I will mention below, you might try some garlands, where you focus on the transition movements. Also, the target tipping drill helps me develop patience in transition and focus on tipping the skis rather than stemming/steering them to rush the turn.
For every PMTS essential, you will find out that after you understand the correct movements, you will need to develop "more" of each. Starting to flex to release is something that you can pick up early, but it really takes some focus to learn to continue that flexing movement through the release and into the new turn. Since tipping is the most important essential, that should be a major focus for you at this point. The tipping and flexing work together to get rid of the up movement.
For the tipping part, I would recommend that you spend a lot of time on the slant board drilling the the sequence of tipping off the old edges and on to the new edges. Harald's slantboard videos give excellent demonstrations on how to learn these movements and tie together the tipping movements of the old stance foot and free foot as you progress from the bottom of the old turn to the new High C part of the turn. If you don't have that tipping sequence down solid and you try to rush getting on the new big toe edge, you will be pushing off. Developing the discipline on the slant board will help you develop the patience on the slope to not rush the transition. In addition, I would recommend that you do the "Walking the S-Line drill" to reinforce the concept of what is supposed to happen when in the turn. Harald had an example of the S-Line drill that incorporates the slant board in the slant board video series, but you can also walk the S-line with your ski boots on on the snow (try it on flat ground first before you move onto a slope).
For the double pole drag, take turns with your wife to ski behind the other during the pole drag, and it is the follower's job to yell at you if you don't have both pole baskets on the snow. Every time I have been in a group that is practicing the pole drag, including those who have been to several PMTS camps, it is amazing to see how skiers absolutely lose focus on whether they are dragging their poles or not. Once you can consistently learn to use the external cue of feeling the basket drag on the snow, you can try a variation where you hold the poles sword-style and angled out to the side / \ rather than vertical I I. Doing that will keep you lower to the snow and help to develop deeper flexing.
Erik