Spring is here with a vengeance at Vail..the freeze/thaw cycle is in full bloom. We have rock hard snow in the morning— and I am on the mountain at 7:30 AM some days, and the snow is slush by 11:30. There is a window of an hour or two with “good” snow. At the end of the day, back at the bottom, we are waterskiing. We jokingly call the base of 19 “Lake Lionshead” for a reason...
Why do I mention this? Well, there is something in the skiing world called PMTS. It was developed by some dude named Harald (weird spelling that name...he must be Austrian or something). You may have heard of it...it is a certain set of MOVEMENTS that purport to be a better way to ski in ANY and ALL conditions.
And you know something? This PMTS thing actually works! I am, for the first time, carving an edge on rock hard snow (we don't have ice here at Vail...ha!), AND slicing an edge thru the soft slush. Amazing!
I still HATE that feeling of start-stop...I call it “stic-tion”, but skiing these conditions forces me to pull my feet back on every turn to stay centered and balanced. You cannot push, extend or twist your feet. You simply tip into a turn and tip out of a turn. And tipping onto that little toe edge is confoundingly, amazingly, powerful. My little toe lets me ski in all of this??
I guess one can say that that Harald guy is right (and oh yeah, as is his partner Diana...she of “pull your feet back” fame...now embedded forever in my brain!).
Anyway, three more weeks to go and then back to A Basin. It has been a good year...THANKS to everyone on the forum. I have learned so much!
Vailsteve.