Max_501 wrote:What do you mean by stiff? Tip and tail or torsional rigidity?
jbotti wrote:The best slalom ski that both Max and I have ever skied is an Atomic true race room (was used by a WC athlete) slalom ski that had unreal edge hold but was not that stiff (the best flex pattern we have ever felt on a ski). Slalom skis that are too stiff are really not what anyone wants other than Bode Miller at the end of his career (where he kept skiing stiffer and stiffer Head slalom skis). You can look at the results and even with his unreal athletic ability he rarely finished a slalom course on those uber stiff skis. Very few top ten slalom skiers are on uber stiff skis and mortals should never be on them.
h.harb wrote:This is a good start, I wrote this many years ago and there are a few observations and insights that can be added. I don't think it needs amending, as I just read it critically and it still stands up.Harald wrote:
Carving on hard snow and while you are in a carved turn, encountering a patch of slick stuff, can be challenging even for the best skiers. Everything has to be perfect and you can?t relax the lateral pressure of the foot and ankle against the inside wall of the boot. This is the real essence of the edge hold on really slick polished snow. The foot and ankle have to exert their movement capability inside the boot to the side of the boot wall.
Once you have this established you can come inside the arc with the hips. The upper body remains tilted toward the outside ski (vertical zipper on the jacket) and this must be established early during the edge change, this move is called counter balancing. If you can use your ankles and feet (proper footbed with right amount of flexibility for foot eversion is critical) do not try to grip in the upper third of the turn.
This is a very delicate point. Ride on the skis edges and increase the edge angles delicately and progressively until the falline. If you move too quickly or use a slight twist or steer, you are lost. Friction or grip is hard to come by during this phase of the turn, so skiers have a tendency to want to over grip. Over gripping comes out in many ways, knee drive, leg extension, steering, none of these methods will guide you to a carved turn.
Once you are at the falline increase the leg extension and drop the hip into the turn. The inside ski must be tipped aggressively through the whole turn, but stay lightly weighted or pressured.
Keeping the hips up over the boot (fore/aft) is an often forgotten golden rule of ice carving. Once you establish the ankle and hip angles, the leg (shin) can drive rather aggressively toward the inside and front corner of the cuff. If you want to shorten the arc or keep a carve on steep ice this is mandatory. Reminder, the ankle, foot side pressure and hip angle have to be in place before you use the shin to pressure the boot. If you use the shin first, you will definitely lose the tail and possibly the whole ski. Hip counter is also an important component of this successful approach to skiing slick, steep ice.
Obviously any upper body rotation, or dropping of the inside hand during this turn is a sure way to lose the ski. Many skiers can hold and carve on good snow with some rotation of the upper body and leaning, but as soon as the snow gets really slick they are lost.
The other important part of ice skiing is using the proper transition movements. If you are using an up or vertical push from the ski edge, you will never carve on ice. You might bite at the end of the turn, but carving will be lost.
You can learn to make turns like this with a solid program of balancing and ski use exercises.
What we could add here is that in the High C part of the arc, where you are in a flexed/bend knee relationship and coming out of transition, both knees should have the same amount of bend for a moment. Tipping the previous stance ski onto the little toe edge is the key, it has to be done gingerly without a big body parts moving, like hips or torso. This is the tenuous or uncertainty phase of the arc. This is why we advocate holding the previous counter through transition. If you make a movement toward the new arc with either extension or hip reversing, you will skid the tails.
First you have to be able to get into some form of this knee, ski and boot relationship.
Harald wrote:Max, as we discussed, the true Expert doesn?t focus on hands or edging much, the true Expert?s focus is on pressure.
If pressure does not develop to satisfaction, the skier must look for the source of the problem.
Developing skiers don?t have the capacity to know why pressure is not developing, because they have other issues to over come first, such as leaning, edging or tipping, lack of counter, not enough hip angles.
Once skiers know their turn goal and have experience accomplishing it, they focus on pressure, glide, and connection of turns. This is a sophisticated way of skiing, and takes years of proper movement and mental training to perfect.
For example, I never think about body angles, when I need to reduce turn size and increase hold, I think about increasing pressure under my skis. I am often surprised at my body lean and ski angles when I see my photos, as I never feel that close to the snow or that far over.
Notice that the inside hand is always lower, yet the skis are carving and the body is levered over and angled to maintain the arc and turn size desired. The integrety of the body to hold forces, (pressure) is what you look for when analizing expert skiers.
Ultimately a racer has to deal with pressure, as pressure either makes or robs speed. Great edge hold is not great skiing to a racer. Therefore when someone says to me your hand is low or you are leaning a little, they don?t understand that I?m focusing on glide and reducing pressure, as I can get all the edge hold I need at any time. In fact, I try to reduce edge hold and increase glide and connectivity in my skiing..
jbotti wrote:HH skied that last season. He loves it. It is a stiff recreational slalom carver that is not very versatile off piste. Diana said she could not ski it in bumps, just way too stiff. As a single purpose on piste carving ski it is great. Sounds like what you are looking for. Just don't expect much or any all mountain capability.
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