MA Request for East Coast skier

MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby davey » Tue Jan 12, 2021 1:44 pm

Hi,

I am a long time follower of PMTS, although I have never had the opportunity to attend any of the camps. I live in NY and never had the chance to go out west for the camps and get my alignment evaluated. Everytime I ski, I try to work on all the essentials: balancing on LTE in the transition before getting on BTE, tipping the free foot, pulling back the free foot, CB, CA, and flexing to release.

This is the first time anyone has really evaluated my skiing so I'm not really sure what to expect. I'm looking for what I need to focus on to improve. I would like to get bigger angles at the start of the turn(high C part). Looking at the video, I see that I have some A-frame that I've been aware of forever but can't seem to get rid of. Also, I see that sometimes my skis are not parallel, but my tips diverge in something like a reverse wedge. I think this happens when I lift my free foot but don't place it exactly parallel to the stance foot. Maybe I'm afraid to cross my skis? Not really sure what is going on but it can't be a good thing.

I'm skiing on an old pair of Fischer RX8's in 160cm and Fischer RC4 Soma WC 100 boots. I apologize that the video is not ideal for MA but this is all I have for now. The conditions were typical eastern hardpack/ice. Thanks in advance for any help.

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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby jbotti » Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:16 pm

Next time you have video shot, read the commentary below and try to follow it. You will get much more out of the MA forum if people have good video to view your skiing.
Taking video for MA:

Stand about half way down the run. This depends on length of run and amount of terrain you can see. Generally I try to split the visible filming distance so I can get an equal number of turns from the front and back. Video at least 5 turns of the front, as the skier approaches, and then at least 5 turns from back, as the subject skis away. Pan smoothly as the subject passes keeping the skier in frame so we can see a side view. Use the zoom and OIS features if your camera has them. I suggest a max of 10x-12x zoom which will help with image stability. Disable the digital zoom in the camera menu. If your camera has an optical zoom that exceeds 10-12x try to find a function that locks the zoom at 10x (or as close as you can get).

Using a camera with good OIS and zoom systems helps a great deal. Panning and zooming smoothly is a skill that takes time to develop. You can practice by filming cars (or bikes) coming downhill. Try to find a road that has a 35 MPH limit (give or take) and find a safe place to stand even if it means you have some trees and cars blocking some of your view (sidewalk or in a yard – note that the sidewalk may be too close to the road to get a nice zoom out and smooth pan as the car/bike passes so standing farther away might be a better approximation of filming a skier.) The key is to practice steady smooth zooming out as the subject approaches and then smooth steady panning as the subject passes followed by steady smooth zooming in as the subject pulls away.

Drill - Start with the camera zoomed all the way in (full optical zoom but not to exceed 12x, the subject is far up the hill so will look very small in the viewfinder). As the subject comes toward the camera don't do anything other than move the camera ever so slightly to keep the subject centered until it takes up about half of the frame, at that point begin to smoothly zoom out so you keep the subject roughly the same size and try to keep the subject centered in the frame (avoid big jumps in zoom level). As the subject passes your position you will pan (rotate your body from looking uphill to downhill) while zoomed all the way out and then begin to zoom back in as the subject pulls away, try to keep the subject roughly the same size (about 50% of the frame) for as long as possible.

If you are serious about taking good MA video get a camera with OIS, optical 10-12x zoom, and a viewfinder. While an LCD screen can work in some conditions it makes taking stable video much harder and they are difficult to see on bright sunny days.

Samples of good video for MA purposes:
Balance: Essential in skiing and in life!
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby davey » Tue Jan 12, 2021 6:44 pm

Jbotti,

I apologize for the suboptimal video. I don't have access to a camera with 10x OIS but hope to get one eventually. I was hoping this video would provide enough information to see at least some of the more obvious issues I probably have in my skiing.

Thanks for the feedback.

-Dave
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby willwingpang » Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:57 am

Hi Davey

You're SMIM movement will be Tipping.

In your free skiing, you may have or have not noticed is that the inside ski, both left and right turns, is barely tipping. You are still outside ski BTE dominant, thus you see A frames most turns , AND insufficient complimentary CB and CA.

Start off on a much gentle slope, being a stationary learn and recognise the tipping angles of both feet, remember BTE always follow LTE. Begin with small tipping angles and gently increase them, the bigger the angles become, the more you have to use CB and CA with your pelvis and torso.

Use external cues to see if you are doing with correctly, looking down on your skis similar edge angles, tipping feet order, using video, O frame etc

When you start to get the idea of tipping between lower body and upper body, try downhill slipping and garlands.

Happy skiing, Will.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby go_large_or_go_home » Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:16 am

Dave,
Welcome...if you are willing to put concerted effort into learning PMTS and following the advice given here - despite not going to a camp, your skiing will improve beyond recognition....

First thing first...you need to get your boots aligned. You will have to research/ ask on this forum who can help you in the NY area...however, there is a quick fix - see here: http://www.skibootalignment.com/index.html...essentially, you will been stuffing trail maps between the the liner of your boot and the shell. 99% of skiers need alignment work and 99% usually need it on the inside (big toe side) of the boot...This will get you started...don’t be surprised if you need quite a lot of material, and both legs will be different...trail and error until you feel like you can ‘balance’ on either leg...

Secondly, buy the book ‘Anyone can be an Expert skier’....start at page one and slowly work your way through each exercise...video yourself doing each exercise..you will need to get used to watching yourself and skiing on the bunny/ nursery slopes...post video of your exercise to get the coaches to comment...

If you stick to the progression your skiing will rapidly improve as you learn how to balance and relax....

Don’t be surprised if you have to go back and relook at a drill...

Don’t be surprised if you have to tweak your alignment as your balance becomes more natural...

With this system, you can learn how to ski bumps, powder, carving etc all from the green/ blue runs...

The biggest battle will be with yourself as you undo habitual movement patterns. It will feel horrible at times - this is natural... don’t be tempted to skip a stage until your have nailed it...

Enjoy.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby RyanAllen » Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:03 pm

go_large_or_go_home wrote:there is a quick fix - see here: http://www.skibootalignment.com/index.html...essentially, you will been stuffing trail maps between the the liner of your boot and the shell.


No disrespect intended to the forum member, but I would not do that. Your cuff alignment will be completely FUBAR'd among a myriad of other unintended consequences. If you can't get to HSS for help, start with the Alignment Manual and related video's. At least then you will be better educated to try and find a local shop that can help. Or better yet, just go to HSS anyway.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby ErikCO » Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:41 pm

RyanAllen wrote:
go_large_or_go_home wrote:there is a quick fix - see here: http://www.skibootalignment.com/index.html...essentially, you will been stuffing trail maps between the the liner of your boot and the shell.


No disrespect intended to the forum member, but I would not do that. Your cuff alignment will be completely FUBAR'd among a myriad of other unintended consequences. If you can't get to HSS for help, start with the Alignment Manual and related video's. At least then you will be better educated to try and find a local shop that can help. Or better yet, just go to HSS anyway.


Get the alignment manual and/or start with shims (https://www.tognar.com/ski-binding-cant-strip/). You are a lot less likely to mess yourself up than by indiscriminately playing with your boot cuff by stuffing things in between the liner and the shell. Get 0.5, 1, and 1.5 degree shim material, cut 2 inch long strips, put duct tape on the thick side, then place them under the heel of your boot between the heel and the ski brake. The alignment manual and ACBES 1 have a number of things you can do to get yourself headed on the right track, but it is going to be very hard to get your alignment correct without having a pro do it. I've watched Diana and Walker fit a good number of boots over the past few years and, while I could probably probably do a decent job with a person who has very normal anatomy, if you have anything significantly off about your base musculoskeletal alignment, I would be totally lost.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby ToddW » Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:11 pm

Tognar was out of shim material a month ago. The fallback is strips cut out of an old credit card or hotel room keycard duct taped to the heel. There are several posts here from the 90s describing that. If his footbeds are appropriate for his feet, he may get some mileage from that.

There are at present no East Coast businesses that can actually help a NYS skier’s alignment needs, although many will offer this service. Don’t get lured in by them or let them make irreversible changes to your boots.

Dave, what’s the geographic range of NY / PA ski areas you can realistically visit on a weekday? If you post this info, it may catch the eye of a skier who has been to a few PMTS camps ... there are several in the area. Weekends and holidays are a bad idea for amateur instruction or alignment tweaks due to the robust crowds skiing “red” days this year.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby davey » Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:06 pm

Thanks so much for all the feedback. I truly appreciate this wondeful forum.

I already read "Anyone can be an Expert skier" from many years ago but have to admit I never did all the drills. I'm always skiing with my family or group of friends and sometimes find it hard to work on things by myself. I do what I can when I can squeeze it into a run. I think I have a good understanding of the concepts and probably erroneously figured I could incorporate the correct movements in my skiing without doing all the drills. I obviously need to work on all the drills.

I'm sure my aligment is not perfect. I've tried in the past to use the duct tape under the boots method and canting the cuffs but was never sure if there was an improvement. I felt the difference but wasn't sure if it was for better or worse. I hope I will be able to get a PMTS certified alignment someday.

I ski mostly in the Poconos area of PA. I really wasn't aware there were PMTS camps in my area at all.

Thanks again and happy skiing to all.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby ToddW » Wed Jan 13, 2021 8:12 pm

Sorry I wasn’t clear enough. I don’t know of PMTS camps in that area, but there are several forum members from downstate NY and neighboring PA who have themselves attended multiple PMTS camps in Colorado and might be willing to share some of what they have learned,
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby HighAngles » Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:23 pm

RyanAllen wrote:
go_large_or_go_home wrote:there is a quick fix - see here: http://www.skibootalignment.com/index.html...essentially, you will been stuffing trail maps between the the liner of your boot and the shell.


No disrespect intended to the forum member, but I would not do that. Your cuff alignment will be completely FUBAR'd among a myriad of other unintended consequences. If you can't get to HSS for help, start with the Alignment Manual and related video's. At least then you will be better educated to try and find a local shop that can help. Or better yet, just go to HSS anyway.


This skibootalignment.com site should be avoided by PMTS skiers (honestly all skiers). Not that it's 100% wrong, but there's enough inaccurate and poorly described elements of alignment that it can truly create problems for those who aren't versed in the correct alignment methodology described in the PMTS alignment manual. The best thing I can say is that at least the author knows that the goal is to get the center of the knee mass situated correctly over the ski and not just make the ski flat to the snow, but that's about it.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby skijim13 » Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:05 am

I see you are skiing at my home mountain, my wife Lorie and I ski there every weekend we are both hardcore PMTS skiers that are going to camp number 8 next week. We used to teach at Blue mountain until we discovered PMTS. Next time you are there you are welcome to ski with us.

Jim
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby davey » Thu Jan 14, 2021 8:22 pm

skijim13 wrote:I see you are skiing at my home mountain, my wife Lorie and I ski there every weekend we are both hardcore PMTS skiers that are going to camp number 8 next week. We used to teach at Blue mountain until we discovered PMTS. Next time you are there you are welcome to ski with us.

Jim


Jim, that's very kind of you to offer. I might just PM you next time I go. Unfortunately, I'm usually preoccupied with my 6yo son to be able to work on my own skiing. I'm hoping next year he'll be ready for PMTS.
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby go_large_or_go_home » Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:53 am

It seems that my post re: skibootalignment may have been misunderstood..

Firstly, re read my post...Davey is on the start of his journey and his boots need fixing before any meaningful MA can be given..and in the absence of an HSS boot tech, this is good a enough fix until he can get to one..

Without alignment, pmts is almost impossible, especially if you fall into the the ‘majority‘ of skiers issues with boot alignment..see the Italian demo ski team below to see the majority issue:

Image

In the absence of an HSS boot fitter - The quick fix i suggested will get you to within 80% of alignment and therefore in a place where you can now start to practice & execute pmts movements..hopefully, you will then see the importance of boot alignment and then seek out an HSS boot fitter or better yet, go to a camp..

The beauty about pmts is in its simplicity, but it requires you to be able to balance. Imagine if on your initial attempts with pmts drills, you simply can’t balance - why then would you bother with continuing with the program or listening to the advice from a friendly pmts skier?

When I started with pmts - I simply couldn’t balance properly. And through massive amounts of research I discovered this quick fix...it instantly made a difference - enough for me to commit to the program and eventually seek out HH, get my boots properly sorted and attend camps..

The alignment manual is a great source info and greatly deepened my understanding. But, it is aimed at aspiring boot technicians who have access to specialist equipment. I did consider becoming an HSS boot tech after reading it tho..

On my last camp, my alignment changed over the week - (I think it was due to muscle conditioning and movement pattern development - first days back on the snow). It definitely gave DR and Walker something to think about. Anyway, Mid week, I experimented with using trail maps to readjust/ asses and tweak my alignment. This was then fed back to DR - and my findings confirmed what she then subsequently found. The corrections made from the initial setup were staggering - in the opposite direction.

The point being, that I was able to make a ‘good enough’ fix until I could get my boots re-adjusted..having knowledge of what good alignment fells like helps.

As any of you no doubt discovered, trying to convince a skier that their boots aren’t helping or that they need to try pmts is a minefield...I have had great success with ‘quick fixing’ skiers boots on the side of the slope. It may not be perfect, but it works enough to make an instant improvement in their balance..

Try it on a skier who hasn’t had boot alignment and could do with it..grab a handful of trail maps and stash them in your pocket. Fold them to make about a 2”x1” rectangle..then layer up about 3-4 to create a decent thickness. Loosen the cuff buckles and power strap and carefully stuff them between the liner and shell. Be careful not to stuff them too low, as it will cause a pressure point on the ankle bone. Re-tighten up the boots - note, the cuff is now slightly thicker, so you will have to loosen the buckles slightly..

Image

You might have to use a different thickness for each leg. You are just trying to get the centre of knee mass somewhere closer to the middle of the foot..note, that during the day, the maps will move, so they will need to be checked/ repositioned. You can normally tell as their balance regresses..

Once I found what thickness worked, I taped them into position..the rest is history..

Remember, to 99% of skiers and boot techs, getting your boots worked on is all about comfort...I have wasted enough money on boot specialists to only discover that my quickfix achieved vastly superior results...enough to get me on my pmts journey and enough to get me to HSS..

Please read this on the spirit that it is given. Davey is at the start of his journey. I can see that his boots aren’t helping and sadly, no manner of MA is going to help at this stage.

As I originally stated -1. gets boots fixed. 2. Get acbaes 1 - work through it methodically and do not skip a drill...3. Post video of progress so that the coaches can help..

Ps. Sorry if I am coming across as grumpy - being in perpetual lockdown and no skiing this season is having its toll..
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Re: MA Request for East Coast skier

Postby RyanAllen » Fri Jan 15, 2021 6:54 am

Compliments on a solid defense of your suggestion. If cant shims can be found through Cantology, Cold River, SVST, etc., I'd go that route. Even after going through the HSS alignment I am still trying to get it dialed and keep a few half and one degree shims in my ski jacket to make little tweaks (between heel and brake). Also, for the PMTS learners I just want to say that IMO following the Essentials book and videos is going to be a more reliable path for progress. They aren't doing many of the ACBES drills at the camps I attended recently, and a few campers (myself included) had a very difficult time unlearning the lift and tip. We were told to stop doing that, and I quote, "lifting is not tipping." The lift and tip will also tend to trigger a extension of the inside leg, also very difficult to unlearn (personal experience here!). Remember, PMTS evolves over time, it's not supposed to be like biblical canon. I'll try and post more on my camp experience later. Build your turns on tipping and flexing. The upper body coordination will be a natural compliment.
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