"Epiphany Pad"

[jkevin7]

I've watched Harold's 1st and 2nd dvd's at least 15 times each. Last night I read a Ski mag article about the mogul camp at Aspen with the "Ski Doctors". I read about something I have not seen before, the "epiphany pad" near the ball of the foot. The writer stated "I finally begin to understand why that little patch of skin is called the epiphany pad". What exactly are they describing?? I'm taking newfound pmts knowledge to Telluride in 4 weeks and need as much information as possible! Thanks in advance.

[patprof]

jkevin
Go back to this home page and on the left-hand side under "Technique" is the Aspen Method. Open that and you will find what you're looking for.

[John Mason]

John Clendenon teaches that experts skiers know how to use the Little Toe Edges. Most skiers do not. Most skiers use and ski off their Big Toe Edges. John will teach you that for bump skiing balancing on the uphill little toe edge as you are about to make your turn (PMTS super phantom works the same) you can balance better to make your turn because there are gobs more nerves on that side of your foot then the big toe side of your foot. Maybe this is what he is talking about.

The way John teaches bump skiing was identical to what Max from Canada taught us at the November PMTS instructor camp. These types of very short radius turns he described must be able to be performed in a groomer lane as part of one of the PMTS cert tests. He demonstrated 180 degree turns in a ski length. Basically - balance on the uphill lte and then crank your inside ski in a strong phantom move while keeping the stance foot flatter. This turns you in place if you want. We worked about 3 runs on this at the November camp and was told by Max that not only does this work great for bumps but if you find yourself on a steep that you can't handle these types of turns let you go down anything with control.

John adds to this the idea of better balance is available on the LTE's because of the greater nerve density on that side of the foot.

[jkevin7]

Thanks John, Extremely interesting to hear some of what they teach at the camps.