jbotti wrote:Highway Star, from your video, when you have both skis on the snow, your skiing shows almost no counteracting movements, and you are agressively leaning in on virtually all of your turns. I would guess that this occurs when you carve as well. This is a major limiting factor in all skiing.
It could be that it was just the terrain, but generally when I see vidoe of people with excellent carving skills in difficult terrain, the basics (counter balance, counter rotation, lateral balance centered and no agreesive leaning in) are still in place even when they are struggling with the terrain.
Carving well and correctly is anything but a piece of cake and this is why racers practice it incessantly every day from when they are 4 until they retire. JB.
Thanks, this is a very useful post.
What do you mean by counter-acting movements - is that basicly keeping your body upright and centered, and using it against your legs? I think I do that most of the time, and can do it at will. But sometimes I like to lean into the turn in various amounts, depending on the situation.
Oh, and I didn't mean to say carving is "easy". It's certainly very hard. Btu I've been doing it for over 10 years, so I've learned and forgotten a bunch along the way. I know the importance of bending a ski and harnessing the energy out of the turn, but also when it's preferable to scrub speed while still making a clean, stylish turn. Or when to not bother carving at all, or when to carve dramaticly in an tight situation. Or how to bend a long radius ski into a tight, semicarved turn by bending agressively from tip to tail.
(FYI: I'm 28, 190lb, 6'1" and ski at stowe and killington mainly (38 days this year). My two main freeskiing skis are 186 head Im88's w/s916's, and 179 K2 Public Enemy's with Look Zr18's. I ski highly modified Raichle Flexons w/thermoflexes and race toungues (very stiff).)