What are you guys talking about and why does it matter. It's just skiing! You stand on your feet and you tell them where you want to go. Going through hinges, counterbalancing etc... sounds interesting but it takes what is simple and turns it into a quagmire. I couldn't even picture in my mind what you are talking about in the Upper Body/Lower Body ? Countering Actions thread as I am not that analytical nor do I care to be. You sound just as bad as the PSIA group trying to make skiing this ultra-elite sport that is so difficult to get good at. Stop It!!!!!!!!!! If you are a professor in the field you would want to understand the depth and meaning of what you are talking about but not the general public.
Go back to the idea of KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid! What is skiing? A wonderful lateral movement sport much like dance, soccer, basketball, tennis that went it is done right has beautiful flowing rhythmical movements. It allows you to use gravity to pull you down the hill and you get to play with it by going as fast or slow as you want by managing its pull with the shapes of the turns you make. It's the freedom of floating down the hill like water flowing in a stream feeling light as a feather using your skis as tools to take you where you want to go while singing a song of joy.
That's what skiing should be about not a search for the perfect position, stance, alignment, turn shape, drill, carve, skid, nonskid, steering, non steering, edging, non edging, weighting, unweighting and I could go on and on. It's about playing, having fun, feeling different movements, stances, turns, the way the snow feels under your feet, the noise your skis make on the snow in a turn, the wind rushing by your face, feeling light on your skis & not heavy like an earthmover, beautiful scenery and did I mention having fun! I could also go on an on. I have never felt that there are any bad turns on a ski hill as long as someone is making it down the hill and having fun, just more efficient ones.
For those of you that are teachers in this forum you must remember that above all else and for those of you that are learning you must learn to explore.
I don?t go down the hill worrying if my canting is right or if my counter is correct I go down the hill moving like I do in my other sports and low & behold a strong carved turn will happen every twenty, forty, or fifty yards and all of the other things that I need to be doing will already be happening correctly because those movements are already ingrained in my movement patterns. It took over 30 years of , skiing, being coached, racing, teaching and coaching to understand this and now I can share it with my fellow skiers in a couple of hours. You need to be a big kid as you learn, trying new movements and playing while you do it just like you did as a child. You will find that some movements will work smoothly and efficiently while others will not. Which ones do you want to continue to use?
Teachers don't need to teach students new movements in skiing (but they have been erroneously taught to) you have to adapt the movements your students make all day long to being on snow and their skiing. You need to explain to even the top expert how their skis, boots and poles are actually tools and how they are designed to assist them on the hill along with working with the normal movements they use in their everyday locomotion.
You must teach the tactics of working with the hill and how it affects them as skiers when they don?t. How using their peripheral vision will help them feel that they are going at a slow controlled speed instead of looking at their feet and feeling out of control as the ground speeds by and they cannot see where they are going. How they can use the terrain to their advantage, the need to make subtle adjustments in stance and turn shape when going over a knoll into steeper terrain etc...
The normal skier or even racer for that matter does not have a clue that if you do not adjust your stance slightly forward when going over that knoll the hill is going to shift you into the back seat instead of back to a centered position whether you want it to or not. The US Alpine Ski Team has been a prime example of this lack of tactical knowledge. They also don't realize that if they continue with the same turn shape that gravity is going to take them for a ride. They just know that for some reason every time that they do go into new terrain they suddenly go out of control and it scares the crap out of them making them ski defensively. The same thing happens in moguls.
By the time a person is an intermediate or advanced skier they have a clue about turning, shifting weight (a term I detest), edging and balancing albeit for 80% of them poorly. They are uncertain of how to put it all together and that comes from one place. That place is standing perpendicular to the hill no matter how steep it gets or nothing that you try to teach them about being more efficient will ever work as the feet, ankles, legs, boots and skis will never work properly if you are not using them like you are standing or running on a flat field.
In another thread this evening I read about the case of a young woman and the problems she had in her skiing. People talked about edging properly, less steep terrain, boot alignment, etc... and not once did anyone say we need to cover some tactical ideas with you so you can understand how more efficient skiing works. Number one do you understand how your equipment is designed to work and number two do you know where your break is on the ski and how to make a hockey stop? She had classic signs of not knowing anything about the above and you wanted to teach her something different about her skiing! How?
It is hard to move forward and to try to teach someone something new if they do not have an understanding of the basics. Give them the basics; tell them how the blending of a balanced stance, proper rotary, efficient pressure changes and appropriate edging skills lead to rhythmical movements on skis. Let them know about tactics, help them to feel confident on their skis and they will make significant advances in their technique. Who gives a crap about little toe/big toe this, counter that, javelin this, balance drill that, when if the student has an understanding of how their equipment works and by using it tactically the way it is designed to be used those movements come naturally.
It is keeping it simple when you ask them if they play soccer, basketball, tennis or if they dance and does skiing ever feel like that to them. If it doesn't than go help them make it feel like those sports because when it does this sport is so much more fun! Give them a chance to feel good about themselves and what they are doing. Don't fill them up with drills and technical information as that is what all the other instructors have done and they will appreciate your teaching so much more. They will want to ski more and not get frustrated that they are never improving because if they don't know the basics and tactics they won't. I for one try to let people guide themselves to better skiing by letting them learn what movements are stronger and more efficient. Their body will tell them what is right or wrong not me.
I also don't understand what the big deal is about learning to make a wedge or not as I use it all over the mountain at various times in a ski day, you just have to understand the difference between guiding the legs toward each or in the same direction. I also don't give a hoot about steering i.e.; rotary movements as there can be a lot or virtually none depending on the type of turns you are making. I like to feel my skis sliding on the snow in what I consider a soft or subtle carve and not a complete race carve every turn. I understand that a great skier is lazy and will not need to overdue any movements when carving but that is not a picture that the normal skier sees when they watch the other people on the hill. They see the people that are doing things wrong, not right, as those visuals are off in the bowls and mimic those movements which are inefficient and off balance. Good visuals are what is needed not whether a wedge is proper or not or if a person is using a tiny bit of correct rotary in their turn shape.
As far as carving goes it takes a ton of strength to handle the forces that are created in a pure carved turn and most of the people that come to the hill on a given day are no where near in the shape that is needed to carve at high speeds all day long. They just want to be able to go down the hill feeling comfortable, in control, avoid a serious crash or injury and look good doing it. Working with the hill instead of fighting with it along with understanding how to use the equipment they are on goes a long way toward achieving those goals.
You hold up Bode as the new ski king just like the ski king before him and on an on and where does it get everyone other than more confused. I don?t want to ski like Bode or any other World Cupper unless I am on the race hill and then I can only ski as athletically as my body and conditioning will allow. Bode is a phenomenal athlete with great reflexes that really skis like crap until he gets on his feet and moves athletically instead of always fighting from behind. He did not start winning more consistently until he made that subtle adjustment forward in his stance and started working with the hill instead of against it and when he falls back into his old technique I cringe at the danger he puts his body in as he goes wind milling of the course at 80 MPH.
Each person is built differently and will have certain movement patterns that only their body will allow them to do. For those outside of the norm a certain amount of canting and alignment will be needed and you should recognize when that is appropriate but it is not the first thing that should be addressed as I have stated above there are others. It is fun to see skiers that have been told that they need this or need to change that and when they learn how their equipment works and how the hill can be a friend that things just click naturally with a little guidance. They can finally understand what they are supposed to be doing instead of trying to do something and wondering why. They do smile, they do have fun and what is most important they want to go out on the hill more.
It used to be that you had to work at it to make a perfect turn and now you really do not have to do much at all. The new skis are fun and make skiing efficiently so much easier but they have their limits like any tool. Most of the time it is enjoyable to not have to work so hard but after awhile it can be awfully boring and I will bring out a pair of original shaped skis, since all skis had a side cut built into them it was just never big enough that teachers would talk about it and go out to work for those perfect turns I reached for years ago. It is a fun change and it is nice to feel how quickly those skis can go from turn to turn compared to the new skis!
For those that read this missive I thank you for your time an attention and I hope this will generate some positive discussions on better skiing! As I know that what I say will not be accepted by everyone and shouldn?t as it is always ok to disagree with others opinions (unless your George Bush) sorry Harrison you left me no choice. I only ask that you open your mind and explore some of the areas that I have talked about whether you are a teacher or skier that is trying to improve.
For those of you that are wondering who the h*** is this longwinded blowhard and who let him on here. I am the person that had someone that I did not really know come up to me out of the blue many years ago when I was fairly new in Park City and gave me the nicest compliment anyone has ever given me. He told me that in all of his years in the ski industry that I had the best feet on snow that he had ever seen and asked me to work with him on a ski testing program that he had been developing. I was the head of Peter K?s on hill ski testing for many years after that and he still asks me to come out and test for him as he continues to value my opinion and my feet. I don?t think I have ever really thanked him enough for that compliment or for allowing me to be part of his team for the past 14 years and I would like to publicly thank him today!
Thanks Peter! I look forward to many more years of skiing & friendship to come with you and Sue Ellen.
Sincerely Yours In Skiing
Mark