Fall-line Skiing Steep Terrain
Today’s objective was to ski a steep slalom pitch (black piste) while turning in the fall-line (not back and forth across the slope) by properly completing the turns. Without going into detail Derin managed this effectively after we had worked on it for a few runs only.
The video does not show the real steepness of the slope. Derin was doing very well because “steeps” are difficult to master and it’s easy to let the skis run away with you or to traverse across the slope instead of linking turns. Interestingly, during the two years she hasn’t skied she has improved in the same way that she has grown bigger and stronger.
Each lesson we do is designed to add a new strength to her skiing but also to reveal the next thing we have to work on to keep moving forward.
We need to both refine and strengthen the “joy stick” movement of the Centre of Mass and also bring the feet a bit closer together – so that the uphill ski does not get onto its inside edge too soon in tight turns. This will be the focus for tomorrow.
Most of our attention is on making sure we do enough skiing – and experiment on different terrain where appropriate – but time spent with proper coaching is really important.
The Three Wise Men were just drinking wine and coffee.