Results for skiers, when no CA or CB is used or coached.

[h.harb]

This is what happens to a skiers, when inclination is the dominant coaches philosophy. Skip the beginning it's pretty useless, the last minute tells the whole story.
A real balance exercise to show what is happening with a skier, would be to have this guy try to lift his inside ski during the turn.

[NoCleverName]

You think that's bad? There's a horror in that same series called "GS Turns Drill". I have no idea what any of it has to to with "GS', "Turns", or skiing. Maybe for ski dancing.

[h.harb]

I didn't realize this was a series, I just came across this piece when browsing You Tube. There is lots of bad information out there.

[nugget]

Did not see much in the way of balance even though that was the title.

[h.harb]

That's right, for a skier who is skiing at this level, he has no skills. He doesn't have any of the "Essentials of skiing". That's what it boils down to. That's why there is no balance here.

He has no CB, little or no CA, no tipping, fore/aft and where is the flexing? Lots to work on, easy to coach if you know where to go.

[François]

I don't understand what your trying to say. Is it that when CA and CB are not focused on, skiers will waste their time skiing on one ski and forcing themselves to make turns while attempting to ski only on their inside ski to work on their balance, when they should be doing something more productive?

BTW I sometimes ski on one ski, but it's usually when making a recovery move or when I get a tip hooked up on a mogul and a ski comes off

[joco]

Looks like a poor victim of the waist steering rubbish from the modern ski racing school crowd. Just another example of the variety of bad skiing advice that is out there. They used to promote Bode's technique as the new model of effective and efficient technique to aspire to. History shows how wrong that idea was.

[h.harb]

Thank you joco, nothing could be more true. I tired to sway some of my old friends, who were coaching young talented kids in the days when everyone was Bode crazy. They thought I was nuts not going with Bode technique, I knew it was his athletic ability, not his skiing technique that was making him a winner. Never bought into Bode's technique or Epic or wide stance, as history will show.

[joco]

Yes you can't rewrite the laws of physics, you have to work with them not against them. I am amazed at how people forget this when it comes to skiing. When I read the waist steering stuff alarm bells went off in my head!

[Justin Meyer]

As the skier in this video I thought it necessary to clarify a couple of things. I originally sent this video to Harald nearly 3 years ago during a series of PM’s regarding alignment analysis and my inquiry for drills to identify such problems. This was not freeskiing but rather an example of a poorly aligned skier attempting to execute high level drills under less than ideal circumstances. Harald’s response was the following:

Re: cant experimentation
Sent: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:38 pm
by h.harb
Sorry to have to tell this, in this way, but you are wasting your time and money with your boot fitter and your coach. This should be a one stop job, done in less than two hours. Your turns are totally different from one side to the other and your alignment is way off. You can expiment with duct tape until you are blue in the face, it won't help. You need a professional. Sorry, that's the only honest answer.

Harald was correct that the alignment was way off at that time; hence the reason for the exchange of messages. As for his OP, he is also correct that lifting the inside ski during the turn is an excellent balance drill.

The drills during the last minute or so of the video have absolutely nothing to do with “waist steering”. In reality they are tried and true exercise used to develop WC skiers which are challenging to perform properly. Don’t confuse the quality of the execution with the methodology behind it as these are two completely different issues.

One of the drills in question is a banana turn and a description can be found here: http://www.youcanski.com/en/coaching/gs_turns.htm

[HeluvaSkier]

Justin,

Thought I recognized that video when I saw it.

Still following Gurshman?

[Justin Meyer]

Justin,

Thought I recognized that video when I saw it.

Still following Gurshman?

Hey Greg,

Just like you follow Harald

Let me know if you ever make it over a little further East to the Catskills.

Regards,

Justin

[h.harb]

No comparison between the skiers, the Helluva's have it, not fair and not even close. Hello Justin, we like you, please keep posting here to show us your methods and how well they work.

[HeluvaSkier]

Hey Greg,

Just like you follow Harald

Let me know if you ever make it over a little further East to the Catskills.

Regards,

Justin

I don't "follow" Harald. I'm not speaking for Harald, but I don't think he wants "followers", but rather skiers who want to learn.

Unfortunately I won't make it in your direction this season. When I leave WNY to ski I'll be heading west, not east.

[h.harb]

If I wanted followers, I'd be preaching, not kicking ass.