Feet
Today we started out by looking at how to use the feet inside the ski boots. Snowploughing makes the feet turn inwards and flatten – also fattening the skis usually. Given that skiing is really “skating” we need the opposite – the feet rolled onto their inside edges and turning sightly “outward” – diverging – just like we do when ice/roller skating. This is essential for a good base of support for dynamics and for practically all skiing.
Concerning other aspects of the feet Lewis’s boots appear to be correctly canted as the photo below shows – not far off having the soles level. Lindsay was in pain from a bunion – causing her to lean on the boot fronts to pull the feet back in the boots are relieve pressure – the boot shell needing to be blown out.
Left photo is correct alignment…
Pivot– Side Slipping
There is a detailed page on the Pivot here http://madeinmountains.com/pivo/ including the exercises we did today on the mountain.
We started with an exercise in “joystick” control of the Centre of Mass to show how sensitive the skis are to the motion of the Centre of Mass.
Pivoting is important so that the skier develops awareness of how a ski front sideslips (swings) into a turn from the uphill edge. This permits very short “braking” turns and enhances the turn initiation for dynamic turns when the skis are sliding forward.
The things to take away from this exercise is that “everything pulls inward” toward the turn centre and start the push/skate into the next turn from the uphill edge of the uphill ski even in dynamic turns.
Carving and Angulation
We had a very basic introduction to carving and angulation – mainly with the purpose of opening up new awareness. There are three main areas we typically have to delve into in skiing – Skating/Dynamics, Pivot and Carving/Angulation – so it’s always a good idea to open up all of those topics to some degree.
Alex in the photo below is both carving and angulating (hip angulation). Our exercise today of simply using angulation so as to rail the two skis along their edges in shallow arcs is just a safe introduction to both carving itself and the intricacies of hip angulation. More can be read about hip angulation and protecting the lower back here: http://madeinmountains.com/chiskiing/
For some individual feedback –
Lucy did well accepting to work at bringing her feet together. She needs to believe in herself and realise that everything worthwhile in life is a battle – which is why it’s so satisfying with each little bit of success. Alex (above) didn’t get to where he is by accident – there were a few tears and a lot of bad language along the way. “There Are No Problems – Only Solutions!”
Erin was consistently managing to show a level of change with everything we worked on – just keep it up when skiing for pleasure too. Always focus on your own body and what it’s doing – moving the Centre of Mass.
Lindsay hard to say what’s going on due to this “boot” situation. However the leaning on the fronts of the boots are well compensated for by inclining the whole body backward when skiing – which ironically pushes the feet forward inside the ski boots. I suspect this is all causing a lot of discomfort and distraction. Please get your boot shell modified ASAP!
Lewis you say you have stiff hips – so do you have trouble sitting on a seat? That requires bending the hips. The tension is just a form of resistance – probably a legacy created by skiing previously without have dynamics explained. Tilt forward the upper body from the hip joints and eventually you will find the hips relaxing.
Everyone did well – putting up with intense coaching for long periods is hard when in the context of a family on a holiday meant for relaxing and recreation. There’s no shortcuts to developing rewarding skiing though – but understanding dynamics is as close as you can get to a shortcut!