Eagle eyes wanted!

Eagle eyes wanted!

Postby JohnMoore » Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:41 am

Forgive my somewhat obsessive hammering away at this MA thing, but I'm very keen to get a greater understanding of exactly what is going on my skiing. To that end, I have split out a section of a video featuring one turn into single frames, viewable here:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/109723051 ... 49/SkiTurn

I'm doing something weird with my turn. I do lift and tip (my free ski comes right off the snow, but with the tip higher than the tail), but I can't work out what it is I'm actually doing, and I was hoping some eagle-eyed observer would be able to analyse this turn and explain the error of my ways...
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Re: Eagle eyes wanted!

Postby jepoupatout » Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:19 am

Hi John, during the release of the turn from picture 26 to the end it will help to move your skis back to improve your fore and aft balance. Also from picutre 11 to 26 if you could continue tipping you will end the turn in better balance.
Hope it wil help.
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Re: Eagle eyes wanted!

Postby Max_501 » Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:13 am

Lift the tail (keeping the tip on the snow) and tip ALOT (there is very little tipping and what is shown is late). Pull the free foot back and horizontally closer to the new stance boot earlier. The sponge drill would help as well as working on the basic phantom turn on easy terrain.
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Re: Eagle eyes wanted!

Postby jclayton » Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:57 am

John ,

Pics 1 to 11 , you have too much weight on the inside ski and your outside hand is very high , way too high, contributing to an inside lean . ( Pole drag exercise )

Pic 12 , you are starting to lever off the uphill ski before the downhill ski is released .

Pic 20 , the resulting , inevitable , “A” frame . The new BTE ( Big Toe Edge ) overpowering the old BTE . Here is where you should see a clear “O” frame , new LTE leading the new BTE .

Pic 20 to 26 , the old inside arm is coming up and around , ready to LEAN into the next turn

Pic 20 , is where the body should be neutral , the beginning of the “ Float “ stage . Then a few frames later should be starting to CB and CA . at Pic 37 you are still square but with a lean , and there never is a float stage ( simultaneous BTE’s engaged )

Pic 30 , you finally get off the old BTE but the weight is so far back that only the tail is engaging , on the stance ski as well . To turn from this back seat stance is very hard work and not good on the knees , especially in that heavy snow . No wonder it feels awkward .

I would say important things for you to work on are ;

1. Balancing just on the LTE after lifting the old BTE and keeping it close the the LTE ski . Garlands .
2. Get a feel for releasing off the old stance ski and having both skis flat for a finite period as you go across the slope . Balance on a narrow stance and slide the skis back and forth to get a feel for Fore/Aft balance also during this extended float .
3. Stationary tipping exercise with the necessary immediate CB . You look quite young , do this exercise even if you fall over . This will tell you that the transfer of CB is not fast enough . ( make a tipping board )
4. Pole drag exercise .

Harb Carvers are great for all of these . In my experience they have cut a lot of time off the learning period . I ski now only ( crisis , crisis ) about 20 to 25 days a year and didn’t start until I was 37 . Carvers are the best preparation for a holiday . It is great to be able to rip after only a couple of hours of drills to start the holiday .
skinut ,among other things
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Re: Eagle eyes wanted!

Postby idahorob » Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:31 pm

John, I appreciate your determination in this MA. I'd suggest taking these still photos and comparing them, side-by-side, to Haralds "sample turns" in the Essential book. Either print yours and put them next to the book, or put the book next to your computer screen.

What are you doing that keeps you from moving like he does? What's he doing that you're not? Then you'll need some strategies and tactics (many are already suggested here) of how you can move towards the sample turn. And it sounds to me, with the limited number of days you have, not to mention the season is quickly ending this year, that Harb Carvers may be the way to go. On the other hand, how about a trip to Argentina? :D
No matter where you go, there you are.
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Re: Eagle eyes wanted!

Postby JohnMoore » Sat Apr 03, 2010 4:19 am

Great observations, guys, thanks a lot. The reason I'm obsessing about this now is that my skiing season is now over, but I've sufficient memory of how the skiing actually felt last week to be able to imagine how I could change things, even 'feel' it in my legs, if I can focus in on it enough.

jclayton wrote:Pics 1 to 11 , you have too much weight on the inside ski and your outside hand is very high , way too high, contributing to an inside lean . ( Pole drag exercise )


Interesting! I think my timing is a little out with the poles as well, which probably contributes to the lean. The weight on the inside ski is an odd thing, because in normal skiing I have virtually no weight on my inside ski. This year I've been doing a lot more skiing in soft snow, though, and I've been focussing on distributing my weight a little more when the snow seemed to demand it (to avoid sinking in). I was doing the same in this soft slush. I was wary about the kind of knee injuries you can get in slush, and I was giving it a lot of 'respect'. Probably gave it a little too much, though! The other odd thing I was trying to do, which I don't normal do, is a very abrupt 'pull the skis out of the snow' move. Probably a lot of the turns in my video are effectively little hop turns, and as such are certainly not good PMTS turns (and probably unnecessary in the conditions anyway). On some other runs this trip, though (sadly not captured on video), I was getting quite a bit of 'pop' out of the turn and was actually leaving the ground as a result.

Pic 20 , the resulting , inevitable , “A” frame . The new BTE ( Big Toe Edge ) overpowering the old BTE . Here is where you should see a clear “O” frame , new LTE leading the new BTE .


What was puzzling me here about what I'm doing is that I'm not actually stemming as such, at least not in the way that I understand it, in that my 'old BTE' is actually off the snow - the edges are not fighting each other. But the timing is definitely out, and my feet need to be further back under my hips.

You look quite young , do this exercise even if you fall over .


Why, thank you! I actually turn 50 this year, so no spring chicken any more. But a liberal helping of sacrificed maiden's blood smeared into my skin, morning and evening, helps me look younger than my years.
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Re: Eagle eyes wanted!

Postby jclayton » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:31 am

Have a close look at Pic 16,17 , knees together and heels separating .

To ski slush successfully your feet need to be closer , you won't need to muscle your way around as you are doing now , or as you put it abruptly pulling the skis out of the snow . Also more risk of knee injury .

A nice smooth flex to release works great in slush , abruptness is just what you don't want .

Also you are getting some " hip dump " to the inside of the turn . I don't think you need so much angle here
skinut ,among other things
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