by geoffda » Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:59 pm
The title of the thread says it all. If you can't get a slalom radius out of a slalom ski, it means you don't know how to tip, plain and simple. To make a slalom turn, you must be quick from edge to edge and the quickness must be maintained as your tipping brings you to your maximum angle where you release and repeat.
Monster called it; your problem is that you are dumping your hip. You are extending, or pushing off, so that you can get your hip to move laterally until it gets outside your base of support and pulls you onto your edges. Yes, you eventually get some nice angles (albeit without the ability to control speed), but it takes forever for that to happen. You'll never get a slalom radius turn with those movements because you can't get your angles fast enough.
The quickness you desire can only be accomplished by flexing and tipping. You don't need to push your hip outside your base of support. Flex and tip until your range of tipping motion is exhausted and you should be perfectly positioned to let the hip drop down if you are relaxed enough to let it happen. The more you flex, the quicker your tipping movements will bring you into the turn. For super tight radii, it becomes a retraction-type movement. Your skis may not actually leave the snow, but you will feel a definite lightening as you suck them up and lay them over.
Slow brushed carves are your ticket to improvement. You won't be able to dump your hip when you are doing them, and it will allow you to focus on real tipping. If you want to get better fast, you'll need to live in brushed-carve-land until brushed carves are every bit as fun as edge-locked carves (and believe me they are). When you reach that point, you'll know you understand tipping. While you are trying to figure out tipping, practice the tipping drills regularly. I find tipping garlands to be very useful, but my favorite is static release to new edges on a slope. You will have to work up to the latter, but it is a great measure of how well you understand tipping.
The advice from HighAngles is spot on, but you aren't ready for it yet. Fore-aft matters, and eventually you will need to learn how to really load the front of the ski, but for now all you need is to be able to be over your skis so you can tip them. Keeping the free foot pulled back as you practice your brushed carves should be sufficient to keep you forward enough for your tipping to be effective.
Counter-acting and holding on to counter (per Matt) is also something you will need eventually to truly perfect the slalom turn, but again, it should not be your focus now. Focus on the feet first.
I know it will probably seem like a bitter pill to swallow that you came out of camp and you still aren't tipping, but trust me, you aren't alone in this. I've been exactly where you are (as have many others on this forum), and I wasted quite a bit of time resisting slowing it down and working on the brushies because they weren't fun for me either. What I didn't realize at the time was that the only reason they weren't fun was because I didn't know how to do them properly. It may take some time to develop the movements, but trust me, the investment is well worth it.
Finally I should point out that being able to make edge-locked turns on blue terrain or above with speed control requires a very high level of skill at any radius. Only PMTS black level instructors are required to demonstrate the skill, so don't be discouraged if the journey ends up being longer than you expect.
Last edited by
geoffda on Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:28 pm, edited 4 times in total.