Maybe No Powder is a Good Thing!!

[jbotti]

Before we get 50 guys form TGR coming over and flaring up another war, let me say that I love to ski in powder and I really wish there was lots of snow everywhere (and I use fat skis in it!!).

My point is that without and powder to chase I have skied almost exclusively on groomed terrain this season, and I have worked hard on improving my carving. I am clearly skiing at my highest level ever and alot of it has to do with intense focus while I have been skiing on cruiser blue terrain.

Yesterday after 3 days of skiing at Beaver Creek/vail, I went up with my friend Thor to ski on the birds of prey slope. Let me first say that I have new found respect for anyone who straightlines it on pitch like that!!! I was on Head SS and I proceeded to arc into my first turns expceting that I would have to bail shortly due to the speed. Amazingly, I was able to maintain the proper fore aft balance and tighten the turn when I needed to and carve the steepest sections of the run. As little as a month ago this would have been impossible. On really steep terrain my balance would drift aft , and my ability to tighten turn would disappear.

Harald in his book says that he rarely has to focus on his fore/aft balance, and that after years of work this part of his skiing is generally in place. Well, it has not been in place for me. It has required an immense amount of work and focus to improve in this area.

I spent three days with my friend Thor pointing out every turn where my balance would drift. Once my balance was in place and I was consistently skiing centered, he was relentless with getting me to go after higher and higher edge angles. The results were amazing and at times I was flirting with booting out as my ankles were consistently hitting into the snow. This was a very cool (and somewhat disconcerting) experience for me becuase I knew that I was maxing on edge angles!!

For the first time in my life, I was dying to ski steeper and steeper terrain. My confidence was overflowing.

High edge angles without proper fore aft balance don't get the result!!!

Dialing in the balance so that it would hold up in the steepest terrain took months of skiing on cruiser blues focusing on very specific thoughts on each run (my 5 have been : shin plastered to cuff, sternum up, free foot pullback into the apex of the turn, avoid leaning in (counter balance) on my left turns).

Max 501 said "do the drills". I am saying the same thing in a different way. Quality work on manageable terrain is where one can improve.

Chasing Pow is the best!! But I I know that when it finally shows up this year that I will bring a new level of skill to skiing it!!!

If there is a better ski anywhere in the world than the Head Super Shape, I have not been on it. They are just plain skiing nirvana!!! JB.

[vseh]

Could you comment on what's meant by "sternum up"?
I usually aim to be a little forward flexed at the waist to bring my shoulders over knees and feet, possibly about 10 degrees or so from the vertical and this can vary according to knee etc flex. I've been taught the "ready" position as per tennis (or at least the mental concept) where I won't be rocked too much out of balance. There's some nice side shots of HH on page 24 of Essentials, showing dynamic forward bend.

[jbotti]

There are two ways to keep your weight somewhat forward and over the skis. One is to bend forward, compensating for the fact that your hips are back. I have had a bad habit of doing this. When I keep my sternum up or "headlights facing forward" the only way that you can keep your weight forward is my bringing your hips forward as well. This is a superior position to ski from as the hips are centered over the skis. If I focus on keeping my sternum up, and keep my shins plastered to the front cuff of the boot, I end up in the right position.

I have also found that it is easier to acheive higher edge angles in this somehwat more upright position. Engagement of both egdes happens earlier in the turn which helps with higher edge angles.

It may be that you don't have the same issue that I have had. It has been important for me to have this as a focus. JB.

[Max_501]

There are two ways to keep your weight somewhat forward and over the skis. One is to bend forward, compensating for the fact that your hips are back. I have had a bad habit of doing this.

I see this in junior racers all the time. They are getting pressure to the tips but not in the way we'd like to see. The sternum up idea is a great one!

[skidaddle]

The notion of hips forward and sternum up is helpful to me as well. One of the things I noticed recently was that when I am practicing going upside down with Phantom to achieve the high C, that it often puts me in the back seat due to acceleration. It finally occurred to me that being thrown into the back seat (acceleration) was at least partially a good thing. My edges were more cleanly engaged and my ski loaded. In the past I would "slap myself" for getting on the back of my skis. What I really need to do is figure out how I can better achieve the acceleration and have the skill/posture/stance to pull it off with fore/aft balance intact.

Any tips/drills for this would be welcome. I have been meaning on looking it up in ACBAES #1 or 2 but haven't gotten around to it.

TIA
Skidaddle

[dewdman42]

Use the New Javelin Turns described in Essentials.

Focus on pulling the free foot back more during your turns.

Definitely focus on driving your pelvis and hips forward as you transition into the top of the turn.

Being thrown into the backseat at the top of the turn is not a good thing unless you make a living performing ACL surgeries.

[geoffsep1963]

[Definitely focus on driving your pelvis and hips forward as you transition into the top of the turn.
quote]

Please elaborate, is this something different to fore/ aft balance?

I thought we were supposed to aim to pull back the free foot or both feet if necessary to get positioned over the hips?

Thanks

Geoff[/quote]

[dewdman42]

Yes, pulling your feet back do help to keep your hips from falling in the back seat. Your feet are your Base of Support(BOS). Where your Center of Mass(COM) is relative to your BOS will partially determine your fore/aft balance. So pulling your feet back, when you can, is a way to influence fore/aft balance. But that is a general comment about fore/aft, not really a specific primary movement.

To my understanding, PMTS generally talks about pulling your free foot back during the turn. The reason is to avoid scissoring your free foot too far ahead of you as you finish the turn, which would put you in the back seat for the transition and begin to stand on that foot.

I know for my part, that I consciously nudge my pelvis a little bit forward as I transition across into each turn to make sure that I do not fall in the back seat as my skis fall into the high-C part of the turn..diverging away from my COM which is moving inside. During this part of the turn you have to stay on top of it and make sure your hips do not fall in backseat.

When I was in Harald's shop we talked about keeping the hips forward and he showed me a picture of a WC guy with his outside leg extended and leaned forward, maintaining a forward position. This is NOT about pressing on the shins of the boot so much. It is about making sure that the hips are out of the back seat.

For me, I have found the two biggest things to help this have been free foot pullback during the entire turn and consciously nudging my pelvis a bit forward as I cross-over in transition using core muscles.

[geoffsep1963]

Thanks Dude,

is that slight thrust of the pelvis anything to do with counter?(acting) or a definite push forward ?

[dewdman42]

no, not related to counter acting...

not a "push" either. You don't want to push off the outside ski to move your CM across at transition as has been taught in some places. Not to move laterally or forward either. I said "nudge" for a reason. Just don't allow your hips to fall in the back seat at and slightly after transition. Its easy to let happen during that part of the turn.

Harald is going to kill me for mentioning this perhaps. Nudging the pelvis forward is not in any of the PMTS manuals. That is just how I think about it to make sure I remain stacked and out of the backseat after transition. Some people also talk about making sure there is a bit of a diagonal movement across as you transition (ie, a bit forward).

However, this is not PMTS. PMTS typically says that movements from the feet up will make everything happen as it should via the kinetic chain. That is why free foot pullback is the key primary movement here as I understand it.

[Max_501]

Learning the proper free foot pullback is not easy, but if you do so you'll find that your fore/aft balance will be much improved. Its takes practice and drill work to get it to a point where it happens naturally in your skiing. Harald specifcally says not to move the hips but to move the feet.

Chapter 7 in Essentials is a must read for fore/aft balance.

[NoCleverName]

The reason is to avoid scissoring your free foot too far ahead of you as you finish the turn, which would put you in the back seat for the transition and begin to stand on that foot.

For some reason, I think this is the only time I've ever seen why this needs to be done. I'm sure HH has it down somewhere, but it never registered.

Thanks

[dewdman42]

There are probably other reasons for it. but this is one of them.

[Max_501]

The main reason to pull the free foot back is to maintain fore/aft balance by keeping your feet under your hips.

[vseh]

This is an interesting thread, learning the different ways in which people think about movement. This is the nice thing about PMTS, various ways are presented to explain the one movement, typically with external cues.

I, for one, find ?hips forward? a very difficult movement to grasp, especially on a pair of slippery skis. The command to ?pull the free foot back? is a far more effective command for me and achieves the same effect of maintaining the relative position of hips and knees.

Similarly, the command to ?weight the outside ski? is not nearly so useful as ?take the weight off/lighten the inside ski?. I don?t know exactly why this is but the latter is certainly a much stronger command.

Coming back to the start point, I remain a little confused as to what?s meant by ?sternum up?. A vertical orientation of the trunk puts me somewhat in the back seat and activates my quads. A slight forward flexion seems to produce better skeletal stacking.

I am certainly not talking about the position seen in young kids where the backside is ?way out the back? and the trunk heavily flexed forward.
J botti or Max 501, do you have a picture to which to refer or a reference to a picture in one of H.H?s books?