by h.harb » Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:08 am
My response doesn't really tell the whole story. The part about constantly working to refine, improve and not slide back in my skiing is accurate. As Gregg stated, every serious practitioner of PMTS or any athlete does this. But sometimes it's not enough to just refine the "Essentials of Skiing", sometimes you see that there are a definite technique changes that need to happen. Mostly because skiing evolves and you see that there is a way to do things more efficiently.
Keeping what you have already achieved with your skiing requires a a certain dedication. Every season you should rehearse, practice and repeat movements that define your skiing technique. We get sloppy, if I didn't train this every year. I would find if I don't work on the basics every season, there are areas in my skiing I am no longer satisfied with.
Changing your technique however, especially if you have skied your whole life and achieved certain success with the way you ski, requires even more dedication. It requires an unrelenting constant focus and reminding.
My example is my way of pole planting. From an outsider, no one would have noticed my pole plant was anything but in tune with my turns. But it wasn't good enough for me, because I saw there was extra movement there that was unnecessary and didn't support the cleanest way to ski. I began to identify what was needed to refine and change my pole plant or my arm swing. Mainly stop any arm swing and reduce the amount of pole contact with the jabbing in the snow. This was needed; I sensed, to enhance CA, create a better connection in transition to the new turn and support a smooth transition without interruption of movements.
It took two years to change and by the third year, I felt I had it. Many people will say it's just not worth it. I say before I leave the planet I want to develop not only the most efficient ski technique ever developed, but I want to be able to ski with it.