Max_501 wrote:While this video shows many of the Essentials it is instructive to analyze the movement(s) used for creating the tight turn. Take a close look at the action of the tails as they move quickly across the fall line into the bottom of the arc. What movement(s) is(are) used to make that happen?
Max_501, thanks for this challenge to our MA skills. Here's what I see in his (Greber's) short turn sequences:
1. Skiing at terminal velocity, no matter how steep the slope or how challenging the conditions;
2. Therefore, enormous energy stored in the flexed stance ski on every turn;
3. At the exact moment the skis reach their point of maximum deflection he releases with a super-quick leg retraction (there is no hesitation and this is critical, as any hesitation would dissipate the energy stored in the bent skis);
4. The rapid leg retraction + the energy released by the un-flexing ski catapults his skis off the snow - this is the RELEASE;
5. While the skis are briefly airborne, he Tips them toward the new edges and begins to CA and CB - this is the TRANSFER;
6. The act of mid-air Tipping + CA + CB shifts his skis laterally beneath his CoM so that they're now outside for the next turn ;
6. At touchdown, his pre-tipped skis are already ENGAGED on the new edges;
7. The edged stance ski immediately starts bending under the pressures of landing and new turning forces:
8. He instantly maxes out Tipping, CA and CB... preparing for a return to step 1 and the next turn.
So... we have PMTS-like movements, EXCEPT that some of them (particularly, initial Tipping, CA and CB) occur off-snow. If his skis were on snow, that resistance would make Tipping, CA and CB drop his hips inside - PMTS style. Since his skis are airborne without edgehold or resistance, Tipping, CA and CB move his (lower mass) feet/skis outward instead of moving his (higher mass) CoM inward. The biggest difference between these short turns and a PMTS short turn is this lateral displacement of the skis, vs. the lateral displacement of the CoM that occurs in an on-snow transition.
Note: this is similar to what the Egans/Deslauriers called the "Airplane Turn".
Input from your better-trained eyes is welcome... as always!