by h.harb » Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:20 pm
If you compare the two photos look at the top photo. See how he is doing everything to show CA, by pushing his inside ski forward and twisting his hips and not tipping with his feet. His skis are almost flat. His body is not aligned with or to the angles of the skis. He is more focused on the contrived CA than a good turn and well balanced turn. You should never neglect the quality of a turn, no matter how much and crazy you want to show something, people get the wrong idea that way. Compare this to JBotti's picture, everything is organized, his foot and boot/ski angles match and correspond to his body angles.
I have always said in everything I write and produce, also video, the feet are first. Many skiers are over doing the upper body movements, which reduces skiing effectiveness. The skis have to tip, first, then the movements go up the body. Contrived CA or hip dumping, is worst than no Countered hip. With this skier in the example; I would have to teach him to ski all over again. He has no foot awareness. Everything he does, you can see is upper body oriented. He leans, he twists, he extends. He never learned how to ski. Sure he gets down the hill, and he's probably a strong athlete, but this doesn't count if you are using your muscles incorrectly, over working and pushing yourself off balance.
The boots should line up side by side, the hips should be slightly reversed as in the second photo example. I know JBotti is tipping, because that is what we taught him, it is the most important thing, and you can see he is using it. Who is teaching tipping beside PMTS, I'd like to know. I don't mean talking about tipping. I mean really teaching it, and knowing what it is. No one! That is why you see all this funny stuff out there. Add to that, bad footbeds and alignment, and you have what I put up with the montage thread. Look, I would try to help these people, I have never held anything back from them. They must really like the way they ski, that's the only thing I can think is possible, because they continue to teach and ski the same way, get the same results.