Four Years; A Video Re-cap

[HeluvaSkier]

The other day, shortly after I posted my 2009 skiing video, I went back to my 2006 video footage and did a review of all the video that I have taken of my skiing since then. The changes, as some of you, including Harald, have noted already, are quite drastic. In some cases it would be difficult to tell that you're watching the same skier. I won't say that this video is exciting to watch - because it isn't. It wasn't taken for excitement. It was taken and used as a personal learning tool. It is basically me skiing the same or similar trails with the same or similar turns repeatedly for several seasons in an attempt to "get it right". If you like doing comparative MA, you might have fun with this... I'm willing to put it out there to help others improve (most probably wouldn't be so willing).

For the music haters... turn your speakers off if you don't like the selections.

2006 & early 2007 (2007 skiing starts after the powder skiing clips)
2007
2008
2009

After the 2006 season I decided to commit to really changing my skiing for the better. I basically went back and re-learned everything I thought that I knew about skiing. In 2007 and 2008 I spent a lot of time on flat, green groomers, doing drills and working on specific movements and skills. I purchased new boots in 2008 and 2009, which also helped my progress. It has been quite a learning experience over the last few seasons and has taken a lot of hard work. At first the process was pretty discouraging because I really did have to re-learn everything. Finally toward the end of the 2008 season everything started to fall into place. Looking back, it has been well worth the time and effort spent.

Feel free to ask questions, do MA, tell me how much I sucked in 2006 (if the mood strikes you), tell me how much I suck now (again, if the mood strikes you), or whatever else one would do with a 15 to 20 minutes of carving footage... Enjoy!

Later,

Greg

[Marek]

Well, a lot of improvement, but ...you still don't use your poles, you don't tap them!

[h.harb]

Marek you should refrain from making comments about skiing on this forum, until you have learned more about skiing, as you don't know what you are talking about. Helluva is tapping his poles properly in the 09 video. You are going to be dropped into the TDK poster category if you are not careful..

[arothafel]

Greg
... a huge "thumbs-up!" Very inspiring!

Here's what I see (but admittedly I suck at MA)

1.) The stance became more narrow from the 2006 video
2.) Much more flex at transition - some of the early stuff contained some slight "up" moves
3.) You've always achieved big angles, but your latest skiing seems so much more dynamic.

Great to know that skiers at your level continue to work hard on the basic drills as well as the more intricate movements.

Thanks for posting the videos.

[h.harb]

The main things Greg fixed are, leaning to begin turns, up movements, coming square too early, flexing inside leg, parking in the arc, forward balance. This is a long list; but there is a book about each one of those movement reversals. Continued left turn CB will also help, but the slope we see most of the turns on is banked left; so that may have something to do with it. Can you get video of left turns on a level slope.

[HeluvaSkier]

Can you get video of left turns on a level slope.

I can try to find a spot. I do still have a tendency to lean in on my left turns though - so I can't blame just the slope (I wish I could though!). A few sequences in the 2009 video are on a level slope and I'm still leaning in. It has gotten better lately though - I've spent a lot of time the last two weeks working on this. I actually was able to trace it back to what my arms were doing. I also found that when I CB correctly I can feel it stretch my back, so I aim for that feeling in every turn now. The biggest challenge so far has been getting the CB to start at the hip instead of above the hip (weak position). Before the season is over I'll get some more video though.

[tdk6]

Well, a lot of improvement, but ...you still don't use your poles, you don't tap them!

Marek, Helluva is tapping his poles at every turn. Watch the clip again and pay close attention, its there.

[ChuckT]

HeluvaSkier,

Thank you for posting these videos. To my untrained eyes, you were already a very good skier in 2006, skiing with power and confidence. Judging from my limited experience, I'd venture that you were, even then, far better than the vast majority of skiers on the mountain. So, I am very curious what prompted you to decide that you need to go through the painful process of back to the green slopes, so to speak, to revamp your skiing. Was it your time in gates or a particular problem you wanted to solve but couldn't with your training at the time? Or perhaps it's an intellectual recognition from reading Harald's books that that's the way to ski?

Very, very nice skiing.

Chuck

[zkyle]

Greg,

Nice improvement! You can really see what hard work will get you. How many of Harald's camps did you attend over that time period, which ones did you attend?, or was everything done on your own?

Great job
-Ed

[HeluvaSkier]

HeluvaSkier,

Thank you for posting these videos. To my untrained eyes, you were already a very good skier in 2006, skiing with power and confidence. Judging from my limited experience, I'd venture that you were, even then, far better than the vast majority of skiers on the mountain. So, I am very curious what prompted you to decide that you need to go through the painful process of back to the green slopes, so to speak, to revamp your skiing. Was it your time in gates or a particular problem you wanted to solve but couldn't with your training at the time? Or perhaps it's an intellectual recognition from reading Harald's books that that's the way to ski?

Very, very nice skiing.

Chuck

Thanks Chuck. I took my skiing back to the basics after realizing how much I was lacking in terms of technical skill. Yeah I was aggressive and a strong skier in 2006, but in terms of technical proficiency - there isn't much there. Harald had a big hand in making me realize where my skiing was versus where I wanted it to be; because contrary to what some thought initially, I really was seeking big improvements. I did a lot of reading between the 2006 and 2007 seasons as well as a lot of thinking and independent research on simple things like stance and upper body movements. Every time I did those kinds of things I kept coming back to a recurring theme - Expert Skier 2 - (the one PMTS book I had at the time) made a lot of sense to me. I bought Essentials that season (2007) as well, and that really helped my skiing a lot because it gave me defined areas to focus on that I was clearly lacking in. I guess the reason behind it all was that I wanted to be a faster racer, but that was only part of it - I wanted to be a stronger skier/racer and at the same time be technically proficient and aggressive everywhere on the mountain.

So instead of just reading Expert Skier 2 and Essentials, saying "yeah that makes sense", and like so many others that say "that makes sense" - continuing to ski how I always skied - I decided to put it into practice and see what was possible. I knew it would require me to undo a lot of what I was doing on skis so I just sucked it up, went back to flat terrain, started at my feet (stance first), and slowly worked my way up. I probably took a few hundred runs down green groomers in the 2007 and 2008 seasons... So far it has been worth it.

Later

Greg

[HeluvaSkier]

How many of Harald's camps did you attend over that time period, which ones did you attend?, or was everything done on your own?

None actually - not yet anyway. I suspect I will make it out to the race camp at some point though. Despite not going to camps, Harald still had (and still has) a huge input into my skiing. He can probably recall many long email and PM conversations between the two of us talking about my skiing and technique in general.

[h.harb]

We have been through a lot together and although I have never officially met Greg he's done most of it on his own. He has followed good direction and practiced to make the changes. As you can see by my previous posts, I gave him a long list, but we started on one piece at a time. In the same vein Max501's daughter received coaching at one camp (Mt Hood intro to racing) and this season through the internet with email and video exchanges. She is skiing beautifully and improved her racing tremendously. I wish Max501 would put up the photo he posted to me.

PMTS coaching works extremely well over the internet.

I think Greg will admit that some of his movements he had to correct and reverse, were developed through approaches that headed him in the wrong direction. This was before he found PMTS.

[HeluvaSkier]

We have been through a lot together and although I have never officially met Greg he's done most of it on his own. He has followed good direction and practiced to make the changes. As you can see by my previous posts, I gave him a long list, but we started on one piece at a time.

Since I'm my own worst critic, here is the first list as laid-out by Harald - January 2006:

- wide stance
- up movement
- following the skis
- lazy
- no technical discipline
- immature/untrained movements
- no support for pressure building from the upper/lower body
- grinding on the side cut
- upper body leans away from the stance ski
- no high-C engagement
- no float
- CM sits on inside leg
- no evidence of any balance

...And that is just the first list. It took me an entire season to just scratch the surface of a few of those items. One key point that Harald made to me several seasons ago (may have been at the beginning of 2008 or late 2007?) was that no matter what movement I practice I should exaggerate it to the point where it feels entirely awkward because then I might be doing it enough... and if I happened to be doing it too much it was always easier to tone down an existing good movement than to create a new one where there isn't currently any movement. I think that explanation had a huge effect on how I approached my skiing from then-on.

PMTS coaching works extremely well over the internet.

I think the advantage that PMTS has over other internet coaching is that there is a reference point for it. You [Harald] can tell someone exactly what they need to work on, and reference sections of a book or a DVD to help them get a visual for what they need to be doing as well as well laid-out drills to help with the movement. Other instruction for the most part does not have that yet. It might sound overly simplistic... but in reality it is that simple. With the help of a video camera it is pretty easy to see if you're "getting it" or not.

I think Greg will admit that some of his movements he had to correct and reverse, were developed through approaches that headed him in the wrong direction. This was before he found PMTS.

For sure. Prior to 2006 I was mostly self taught. I had taken pointers from various places, but it occurred to me after a fairly harsh, but dead-on accurate MA from Harald (the one that the above list is from) that I needed a lot more than pointers if I wanted to become a technically proficient skier. Sometimes it sucks to hear the truth about your skiing, but once I got over the initial shock, the ball was in my court to something about it. Starting with my stance really helped fix a lot of issues right at the beginning because I could no longer support myself with the inside leg. This led to a greater awareness of what my upper body was doing (because I was tipping over!), but I still didn't have "real" balance on my skis yet. I don't think that really came until the 2008 season and I was still just beginning to see what was possible when tipping was combined with proper balancing and countering movements.

Of course, this is not to say that my skiing is without issues now...

Here is my current list off the top of my head:
- separate the action of the pole tap and arm movement
- separate any arm movement from having an effect on CA and CB (don't block CA with a pole plant or negate CB movement with dropping the inside hand down and back); the pole exercise from Expert Skier 2 is working great here
- remember that when using CA to swing the inside hip forward instead of the outside hip back
- keep the inside half strong but relaxed
- maintain foot pullback pretty much everywhere
- keep working on symmetrical CA and CB; especially on left turns
- maintain and increase my CA and CB range of motion as I need to call on a larger range of motion and access that range more quickly
- get more float in GS and speed up my tipping/CA/CB timing while still being patient in transition - also carries over to aggressive free skiing turns
- work on tipping; simple, yet always effective
- terrain; less of a "technical" point and more of a personal goal to apply my current skiing on more terrain variations; a 177 IM78 might be on the way

As Harald stated, it has been working on one piece at a time and then putting the final product together. I don't know if it was by chance, accident, or intelligent design that it happened... but the progression I have gone through is very similar to the order that the Essentials are presented in the DVD series.

Later,

Greg

[h.harb]

Greg, this is a great post, thank you. This should be a sticky.

[A.L.E]

I agree with others that your story is inspirational, congratulations great skiing.

I think it would be worth while videoing some slower turns, it will show up other elements of your basic movements that are not as evident when skiing fast. I'm looking for a fluid pole plant and as you note, separating the arm movement from the upper body CA & CB. Things can still look a little bit square at times.