Today was mainly consolidation from yesterday but it was also time to move on to preparing Alp for steeper terrain. Although Alp is comfortable on carefully chosen slopes and and when guided carefully over short steep sections, he has very little control on steeper terrain.
Rather than persist with my standard pivot exercises I removed my skis and showed Alp how they worked on the snow. If the uphill ski is quickly placed on its inside edge (downhill edge) then it can lock on and accelerate downhill (which happens frequently with learning to ski on carving skis). This is what gets Alp into trouble. The wider apart the two skis the more this problem occurs. This is why it’s easier to ski with the skis close together (and why we do a lot of sideslipping in training). When the turn starts with the uphill ski on its uphill edge the front of the ski can be pulled downhill sideways with no resistance – into a quick turn. This fails if you try to twist the ski instead. In the video the fall is when Alp tries to twist the ski into a turn – then the following descent is when he is working on the correct movement – doing better on his left leg than on his right.
On the last run of the day he was clearly getting tired and making a bit of a dog’s dinner of it all – but no doubt after a good sleep he’ll be managing red runs tomorrow.
Yes Alp, if you are going to die on the mountain it’s always better to have your skis on – it’s tradition!
