Avni was struggling with a bit of a cold/fever so we took it relatively easy – but she was bright and cheerful as usual and managed to make a lot of progress again. We did a warm up run to get back into things as she hadn’t skied yesterday afternoon. Then we worked on side slipping – which Avni was far more comfortable with when her left leg was the downhill one. The main objective here was to learn to also use the uphill ski with its uphill edge while remaining on the downhill edge of the foot inside the ski boot. This is mainly preparation for pivoting.Following the side slipping Avni used the uphill edge of the uphill ski to complete turns – finishing coming up and out of the turn using that leg and hence narrowing her stance considerably – as we had worked on during the pivoting. The far more comfortable and natural stance can be seen on the video along with Avni’s first successful pivots.
Pivoting is about the skis moving sideways and although the centre of mass pulls the ski into the turn support from the pole plant is needed to prevent the body just falling down the hill and flipping the ski onto the downhill edge too soon. Later on dynamics and pivoting can be blended providing a wide range of possibilities.
Avni with Mont Blanc in the background – Italian side.
