Hot off the slopes of Hintertux

[Harald]

Inside leg bends to increase angles and edge hold.



I?m going to qualify this photo montage before the bickering begins. This is a very steep slope, where the Austrian Team trains slalom. The snow was soft on top, (on Sunday after the camp, in case any campers didn?t encounter these conditions) but ice cubes just 1 inch down. This means ice cubes were kicking out from under the skis, like an ice maker, as the turn was formed.

Although many ask about how to carve on ice, these conditions are almost more difficult, as there is no solid base and the skis have a tendency to move sideways as the turn develops. The ice cubes act like ball bearings.

Oh, by-the-way, the reflection on my forehead is not a bald spot; it's my sun tan lotion, Ha!.

[Harald]

Guess I should resize this!

[joey]

Nice..........IMHO. Should the inside hand be a little higher and lead into the turn? Like the outside hand. Otherwise perfect. I skied at our home Mt. today and it sucked, literally. 63F @ 8:30AM. See you @ T-line.

[Max_501]

Should the inside hand be a little higher and lead into the turn? Like the outside hand. Otherwise perfect.

Take a close look at HH's hips.

Notice the strong counter in the 1st three frames. In the 4th frame he is flexing to release and the counter is decreasing as he prepares to come square to his skis for the float.

Most of us keep our shoulders square with our hips so its a good idea to keep a strong inside arm as a queue which helps to eliminate upper body rotation into the turn, but you can see that HH doesn't have to worry about that.

[Harald]

When you are skiing at high speed on steep slopes and the skis are carving, who asks where the hands are?


Sometimes you have to watch what skis are doing, are they carving, are they bent? The answer in this case is yes to both.

[joey]

True-True.

[Max_501]

When you are skiing at high speed on steep slopes and the skis are carving, who asks where the hands are?

Harald, as counter becomes second nature does the strong inside arm queue become less important?

[Harald]

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..

[joey]

So "Ski Pressure Management" would be the primary issue.
May I submit this photo for analysis?
PS-I like the approach to skiing you have HH.

[Harald]

Please remember, this is not personal, and I hope you have a thick skin, I don't know you, and I'm not putting you down or your skiing down, it is what it is and I'm just analyzing photos. I am commenting on the two frames, avatar and the one in your post, but to me they tell a whole story of skiing.

Joey,

The big thing that stands out is your force or line of force, does not link to the stance or outside ski. Your force line resultant, in this photo (force line is the imaginary line from the CM to the stance ski edge, it lines up that way when it is right or ideal.) ends up between the skis, if you look at where your CM relative to the outside ski sits.

This is largely due to stance width. With your stance as wide as it is and the corresponding minimal body angle, your force or balance is between your feet, rather than going outward toward your stance ski edge.
Notice how your inside shin angle is almost vertical. Shin angles are the true indicators of body angle or lack of it.

In PMTS we always move the little toe edge first and we continue to move it through the turn. The little toe angle creates the inside shin angle.

Correction: Bring your feet closer and tip your inside ski further. Many proponents of wide stance don?t understand the dynamics of skiing. They are what I call lay skiers or coaches.

Here you demonstrate the classic wide stance, not the vertical separation dynamic angulation we strive for in PMTS.

Your Avatar is better, as the stance is narrower, yet there is still a large portion of balance and weight are on the inside little toe edge, which restricts increasing angulation.


Most coaches interpret pictures, rather than analyzing dynamics. They miss the body?s relationship to forces and energy. When I see a skier like the one in these photos I see some fundamentals are being neglected.

Some coaches will tell you that the wide stance helps you, they use wide stance coaching in exclusion of all else, this is very primitive and low level understanding of skiing, but it?s easy coaching, ?Just widen your stance, hey right on?. How many times have I heard that and how many times has it damaged skiing? Almost every time!.

I am not saying I don?t use a wider stance to teach skiing. Nor do I use narrow stance in exclusion to all else. I often use wide stance dynamic exercises and drills, which incorporate flexing and releasing to get a skier to understand dynamic pressuring, not just Passive Park and Ride skiing.

[joey]

Thanks HH for your honest appraisal. I am self-taught so my mistakes are mine alone. I am looking forward to getting professional help at your camp. Thanks, Joe.

[Max_501]

Thanks HH for your honest appraisal. I am self-taught so my mistakes are mine alone. I am looking forward to getting professional help at your camp. Thanks, Joe.

The wide stance is something I see often. Normally I don't comment on it because so many people feel strongly that a wide stance is important for carving.

For the last couple of weeks I've been playing with a wider stance to see how it affects my skiing. When I get wide the inside leg ends up as a support leg which is not what I want. It kind of becomes the 3rd leg of a tripod holding me back from dropping into the turn.

[Harald]

Images from Hintertux are in my new book



Inside leg or shin angle to the slope tells the whole story.

[milesb]

Harald, what do you do to prevent that snow from "breaking away" under your skis at such high dynamics?

[Harald]

Miles thanks for the PM, I was getting disgusted for awhile with what was going on in the forum. Your encouragement helped me realize it?s not about the dummies or jerks. I can't control the dummies let them be, so I am refocused to help the skiers on this forum who participate seriously and that truly want to get help.

About your question:

Developing angles is a gradual process for me. I tryo never hit hard or tip without developing pressure; I develop angles with patience and progressive movements. I know this sounds weird, as it must feel like you have to hurry to get to a high edge angle. I don't feel rushed, I feel like I have lots of time, because the high C happens so early, in the transition.

That said, it does require supreme confidence to set up the high C with patience and counter balancing, especially on ice, in steeps with high speed.

Here is another example for you:


I'll leave the original up as a link if someone wants to see it full size.
http://www.harbskisystems.com/hhsite/%23385%20seq.jpg
I resized this so it fits better, but the link size shows more detail.