MA for Michigan Skier

MA for Michigan Skier

Postby AlpineAnnie » Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:11 am

Hi All! I'm a P.S.I.A. Instructors from Michigan looking for some fresh ideas on how to improve my skiing! I a fan of HH's Essentials of Skiing, and believe that we should use whatever method works to improve your own skiing or to help our students improve.

I have some video that was taken at a P.S.I.A. clinic and would really appreciate your feedback. I can see in the video of my pivot slips that I need to keep my hips pointed down the gravity line more, and I also see a little stem of my right ski tail on my pivots to the right. I do have a locked (fused) ankle on the right foot which pronates (tips in) pretty significantly. This makes tipping to the Little Toe Edge difficult. I did have the soles of my boots ground down for canting (5 degrees out) to help with this and it did improve my ability to tip to that side considerably. In my medium radius turns, I can see that I'm a little too square to my skis at times and also hold on to the turn a little too long which doesn't allow me to direct my COM towards the new turn very effectively. I also see that I need to relax a little bit in all of my joints so that I'm in a more athletic stance and not so upright.

If you have any other flaws that you see or can offer some suggestions or drills for me to work on to improve my skiing, I would greatly appreciate it! I look forward to sharing many ideas and suggestions with you all and chat with others here who are as passionate as I am about this great sport of skiing!

Regards!

~Annie~

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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby Max_501 » Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:36 am

No comment on the pivot slips because we don't do them and they are fundamentally incompatible with PMTS.

When you ski do you think about FLEXING to release? Its a key component of the Essential's.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby AlpineAnnie » Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:49 am

Hi Max!

Thanks for letting me know about the pivot slips. I do think about flexing to release but probably not enough. I do concentrate on my toes lifting up at the release.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby Max_501 » Sat Sep 24, 2011 1:07 pm

AlpineAnnie wrote:I do concentrate on my toes lifting up at the release.


This is not a suggested PMTS movement. Instead we flex the legs and pull the feet back.

Here's a thread on flexing:

http://www.pmts.org/pmtsforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2851
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby AlpineAnnie » Sat Sep 24, 2011 1:15 pm

We do teach a release at the end of the turn by having our students flex at the ankles. This allows the ski to flatten and then tip to the new edges. I, however don't have much ankle flex and have to rely on using my center of mass and tipping the skis to get me turning.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby Max_501 » Sat Sep 24, 2011 1:43 pm

See the flexing portion of the Essentials Book/DVDs for the PMTS movements for releasing.

Flexing the ankles, as the only movement, at the end of the turn would not release the turn. Exactly the opposite as it brings the hips forward causing more pressure on the skis. Flexing the legs will release the turn.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby jbotti » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:36 pm

Along with flexing, learning and perfecting the no swing pole plant would help your skiing a lot. Reaching with the outside arm for a pole plant pretty much destroys ones CA and CB. Harald dicsusses it extensively and demonstrates it in the Performance Skiing video. There are also many threads on the forum that discuss it.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby AlpineAnnie » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:53 pm

Thanks for the feedback jbotti! I appreciate it! I'm really not looking to argue about who has the best methods. I respect both! I just want to get better. I do flex my knees at turn initiation and try to flex my ankles as much as I am able to. The pole swing is something that has never been pointed out to me before! Now I have something to focus on! Thanks for that! :D
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby Max_501 » Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:07 pm

If you attempt to mix and match PMTS (The Essentials) with a PSIA toolbox approach you will have difficulty getting the full benefits of PMTS.

The video shows an up movement at the release. This is opposite of what the Essentials teaches. This should be addressed before the no swing pole plant. HH wrote a recent blog post about flexing vs up movements here:

http://harbskisysems.blogspot.com/2011/ ... ement.html

Flex to release and then tip the new inside ski to the LTE as much as you can (while pulling both feet back) and you'll be well set up for your next turn.

BTW, tipping to the LTE is much easier if you flex your legs.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby jbotti » Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:54 pm

Yeah, I have to agree with Max, kill the up movement as it is your most limiting movement pattern. The only way to do that is to improve your flexing and truly releasing both skis. Standing up to release promotes pushing off the uphill ski which is occuring in your skiing. I guess it's up to you as to whether you want to eliminate it.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby AlpineAnnie » Sun Sep 25, 2011 5:01 am

I agree with you both jbotti & Max. There is an up move at the end of the turn. That's something that I definitely want to get rid of! I thought that it looked like I was holding onto the turn for too long because I could see that I wasn't ending the turn and starting the new turn very smoothly. I'll have to work on that. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try to concentrate of flexing the legs more to release. I played around with pulling the feet back at the end of last season. if felt a little odd, but new techniques normally do. Thanks a bunch for your help!
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby arothafel » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:11 am

Great post. AlpineAnnie, you're getting some great MA from two of the best!

I have a question regarding flexing and my perception of the beginning or end of a turn.

As soon as I release the BTE on any given turn... I perceive this as the "end" of that turn. Then, the rest of the flexing, getting flat, tipping etc... I've always perceived that as part of getting into the "new turn." Is this incorrect?

The reason I ask this is because I have a tendency to "push-off" my BTE and then force extension... I'm impatient. I've been working on becoming much more patient with allowing things to just happen.. especially with the new stance foot - allowing pressure to build. So, I wonder, if I think of flexing as part of the "follow-through" with the old turn (instead of part of the new turn)... if that might make a difference.

Might this help?
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby milesb » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:45 am

Sorry, I'm going to be a bit harsh here. Annie, your video shows that your movements are steering, extending and leaning. You are probably being trained that way.
Those movements prevent you from having success with PMTS. Best thing you could do right now is build the tipping board described in Essentials ( build it for a fairly low angle at first) and watch yourself in a mirror. However, your ankle situation may limit how much tipping you are able to do. Hopefully Harald or Jay will comment on this as I believe they have experience working with students with this problem.

To give you a quick breakdown,

1. Steering (which you seem to do pretty well) prevents you from balancing on your stance (usually this is the outside) ski. Balancing on your stance ski produces wonderful things. Steering makes balance harder, promotes backseat skiing, and promotes leaning in- in fact trying to angulate while steering looks and feels contrived, because it is.

2. Extending destroys your lateral balance through the top of the turn, making it necessary to recover when the skis engage. Flexing allows you to maintain lateral balance at the start of the turn, allowing much higher edge angles and engagement. There is no "projecting the com" with PMTS, it's already where it needs to be if the movements are done properly.

3. Leaning goes hand in hand with steering and extending. Flexing and tipping allows the proper use of counterbalancing to accomodate more tipping. Proper counterbalancing doesn't look or feel contrived because it is entirely functional.
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby AlpineAnnie » Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:09 pm

Thanks for the great feedback Miles! I didn't think you were being harsh at all, just constructive! I'm going to concentrate on the tipping first and foremost. I have a balance board and that should help me to work on this. I can't get to the little toe edge at all unless I'm in my canted ski boots, but I think that I can work on what you've described to a pretty good degree. Thanks for the great feedback!!! :D

Regards!

~Annie~
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Re: MA for Michigan Skier

Postby AlpineAnnie » Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:17 pm

Hi arothafel!

I agree with your description of the end of the turn starting once you release the BTE and the start being when the ski goes flat and you start to tip to the LTE. I think that I have the same problem that you describe with being impatient. I'm going to work on relaxing like you suggest instead of fighting for it.

Thanks!

~Anne~
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