Ihamilton wrote:Ditto John's comments. Geoff, I am about the same height as you and John are, although I think you are at least an inch taller than I am. I am 6' 2''. I am trying to get my feet closer together but they are about the same width as your feet in this video. I reviewed video that Diana shot of me at the tech camp. The conditions were about the same as in your videos and I try through out the turn to get my feet closer but certainly I am wider than Harald, Diana or Walter. We are taller than those 3 so is this a result of height, or is that something else I am going to have to improve on?
Thanks everyone.
Irwin, I'm actually only 6', but I dobut height itself makes a difference. I do have tibial varum (some bowing of the tibia) and perhaps that factors in. For myself, I tend to gravitate towards fist-width when I ski. That is just where my balance seems to work best and I'm most comfortable standing on my skis at my typical speeds. I was also one of the few who had to widen my stance to learn how to independently tip my feet. That said, the insides of my boots are scuffed and much of the Head logo has been scraped off. So clearly, my stance isn't always what it may seem. I was using a wider than normal stance in the bigger angled turns as I was doing kind of modified power release turns.
We teach with ultra-narrow stance because it helps promote dynamic balance, makes the movements that produce good skiing easier (which, in turn, increases the odds for student success) and allows us to use the boot-edge touch as an external cue that students can then use to verify they are doing things right. For learning, narrower is better (and you need to be able to demo it). As skiers progress beyond the intermediate ranks, however, I think stance width becomes more natural and more variable. As long as your stance is narrow enough so that it doesn't hinder your ability to balance or perform the necessary movements, I wouldn't think it is something you necessarily need to change.
OTOH, you might decide that you like the look of Harald's skiing and decide to make the change for reasons of style. Whether you would be successful, I don't know. It's funny because I've been feeling like my skiing is good, but wondering why it doesn't look like Harald and Diana's. Even more funny, various people have been telling me for several weeks now that my skiing looks very much like Harald and Diana's. About all I can come up with is that our bodies are unique and we should be happy with whatever style emerges as we master the movements. Form follows function, but it may be that we don't all get to end up looking exactly like Harald.