Today Alp’s boots were one full size smaller – which he didn’t really notice because we told him they had shrunk a little due to getting wet yesterday. His feet were absolutely fine in the boots and this must have helped a great deal with respect to edge feel and control.
Almost immediately I started to get Alp to attempt short sections of the descent on his own. Sometimes technical development problems are actually because the person is being supported and dependence on this support prevents them from adapting and correcting properly. Today this risk proved to be justified because Alp responded very quickly and never made any serious misjudgements or mistakes.
Technically the focus was on the same things as when he skied supported – but now he was on his own – with only verbal feedback from me. Alp continued his progress on every descent – just as he had done on the previous two days. There’s still a little lack of coordination with the left leg – hence a bit more of a snowplough safety mechanism cropping up occasionally. We attempted the “blue” descent but it was icy and made Alp defensive – however, on returning to the easier “green” descent he had once again improved.On the video Alp is being encouraged to skate/step his turns to diverge the ski tips and avoid snowploughs. I know that he works with his adductors and is generally making the right moves but it’s easy to become snagged in a defensive plough regardless. In the middle part of the video he is generally turning parallel – on day 3.