The main focus of the two sessions was to get Rocco skiing. The patient work on day one definitely paid off by day two.
Most of this session was just about applying the technical material that was introduced yesterday and going for longer and longer runs to get some mileage.
The video shows the great level of improvement today as Rocco is practically parallel skiing all the way down .
Tiggy also greatly improved with a clearly growing understanding and demonstration of dynamics.
Phillip has had other things to occupy his attention since yesterday – so I was just glad that he managed to come along and see the others improve.
Foot Forward
For skiing down a narrow channel where tight turns were required I introduced a “foot forward” exercise – to push the support leg forward through the arc of the turn. This static exercise with the skis off generates the actual sensation of pushing the foot forward that is felt in skiing. The foot never actually gets ahead of you when skiing – it just makes the turn tighter.
Skiing Backward
When assisting Phillip through a pivot turn again I was confronted once again with an immovable object. It became clear that this was because Phillip was standing against the backs of his ski boots and on the tails of his skis. later when skiing on a wide gentle slope we skied backward and it was amazing to see this causing everyone to end up hard against the fronts of their ski boots and skis.
Phillip registered this fact and when shortly afterwards he tried a pivot with pole support on his own he used the sensation against the front of the ski boots to make the pivot successful.
Ski poles are to support the centre of mass in the right place to facilitate pivoting and the very rapid transition from one pivot turn to the next.
Side Slipping
We also spent a moment side slipping – just by moving the centre of mass slightly downhill and keeping the two skis together. Developing this skill is essential for the pivot and just for general skiing use.