PMTS is governed by a set of movements when well orchestrated create a body that moves in unison with the natural forces of the mountain. In my new book, yet to be officially named, it will be titled along the lines of, ?Essentials or Requisites for Quality Skiing? I point out seven components that require integrating for quality skiing to happen. It doesn?t matter what kind of skier you wish to be, whether it be racer, bump skier, all mountain or groomed carver, the essentials do not change.
And the essentails need to be in tact.
From the framework of the book, two of the components appear recently on the forum for discussion; fore/aft movements and upper and lower body counterbalancing movements. In addition to C balancing and fore/aft balancing, I develop chapters that include: counteracting movements, tipping, flexing or bending, pole use and foot to foot pressuring.
Each of these components has its own development phase, testing and reintegration phase. A skier will be able to develop each component separately and learn how to re-integrate them into their skiing.
In PMTS fore/aft balance is mainly controlled, achieved and developed by foot movements at the base of the body. Moving the base, especially when the muscles to lever the upper body are weak and have little pulling power, moving the base makes re-centering much faster and more available. Ideally the upper body to begin with has some kind of reasonable fore/aft bending or hinging ability at the correct places. These places are the ankles, knees, hips and torso. The bending, flexing or Accordion-like folding ability of the body should be somewhat uniform, close to equal angles at all these points.
If a skier?s shins are straight out of the boots (vertical), thigh angles back and vertical upper body, this is not a good picture. In contrast, straight shins, butt out and back, with the upper body and shoulders hanging over the tips, doesn?t present the right image either.
Another relationship we often see in skiers is the over flexed to the extreme low position, with the shins at a radical forward angle, butt low and back and upper body, shoulders, far forward. Some of these issues are directly attributable to the ski boot design, meaning forward lean and ramp angle.
In our shop we often take Lange boots and Tecnica boots, the worst offenders, cut out and off the lower back part of upper cuff, straighten the boot?s cuff and re-rivet the back. This makes a profound difference for those skiers whose shin angle is forced forward by a short lower leg, large calf muscle or other factors such as limited dorsi-flexion.
We see many remedies for these problems and not the least being heel lifts. These issues are all equipment design related, but you should know something about equipment as you could be trying to re-adjust your fore/aft balance, but your equipment won?t allow it.
First let?s tackle the fore/aft balance issue. If you have read any of the PMTS literature you know that we call for pulling the old stance foot, boot or ski back under the hips at or during the release and transition phase of the turn.
By pulling one ski boot back you gain the added benefit of needing to bend the leg as you pull back, which helps to release the CM into the next turn and it removes the old stance ski and leg from interfering with the movement of that CM to the new turn center. The leg bending adds leverage to the hamstring muscles, which do most of the pulling.
Hip extensors and dorsi-flexors may contribute to the pulling of the boot and foot. This is done during transition because the skis are light and can be moved back more easily. When the skis and boots move back relative to the hips or CM, you will be standing more forward at the beginning of the turn. To gain even more tip pressure keep some tugging of the inside or new free foot through the upper part of the arc. If you are on steep slopes you may want to hold the free foot back even longer to stay forward.
One warning, pulling the foot back stops at the knee, hip extension takes over as the CM gains position over the boots. I see many skiers trying to move the whole leg back which disrupts everything and causes rotation.
This is where you have to pay attention. Even though you achieve forward balance with these movements, you should not pressure the ball of the foot. You should also not try to over flex the front of the boot. This sounds contradictory, but if you think about it, the idea makes all the sense in the world.
The idea of moving forward should be to move the CM or hip area ahead of the boots into the center of the new turn. Most skiers think you should try to get forward to pressure the front of the boot. With the CM over the boots you need not push onto the boots with much force and you will achieve tip pressure. With the hips back you need or think you need to push very hard on the front of the boots to achieve tip pressure. Skiing and making the front of the modern skis work for you is not about boot tongue pressure, it?s about where the CM or CG resides relative to the falline and center of the ski. Now that we have that out of the way, I can describe to you what I try to achieve during this phase of the turn.
Note: CM is center of mass, hips belly button area (not Worchester as many of you might have thought) CG is center of gravity baically the same thing.
On hard snow where I really want my edges to carve a thin, clean line, I pull my inside foot back and I hold my new stance side boot from moving forward. This allows my CG (Center of Gravity) to move forward and my boots to hold position. I try to feel the tip of the inside ski on the snow and the back of the inside ski light. You will notice many World Cup skiers doing this.
When I am in this situation, I feel very tall and almost towering over my skis. I feel like I am about to fall forward, but I never force myself forward. I do let my hips fall gradually to the inside of the turn as my edges engage and my skis build pressure. I do not push forward on the skis or boots. I actually keep the pressure, along the length of my foot (bottom of the foot) toward the back of the arch.
If I keep my inside boot back and don?t allow it to move forward through the turn, I can shorten the radius of the arc very quickly by increased tipping of the boots and relaxation of the inside hip to lower back area. I lead the turn, with the inside hip, moving it toward the inside of the turn (tipping and moving forward) this means the mid body with the inside hip.
When and if the inside boot slips forward to early, you get the park and ride syndrome. When the inside boot is forward the hips move back and an artificial non beneficial counter is developed, this causes the park and ride. If you keep the inside boot back your body moves through the radius of the arc with the skis, therefore keeping you in balance fore/aft through the whole turn until the skis are ready to move forward from behind the hips to forward of the hips, which is at the entry to the falline.
That should be plenty to digest for the next few hours. I look forward to your questions and comments.