This morning we worked on eliminating “chicken wings” to be better able to stay forward on the skis.
Both Nikita and The Legend AKA “The Demonstrator” tidied up their performance by starting off sliding straight downhill – because by starting tentatively and slowly across the hill both were botching their first turns and then having to self correct. The Demonstrator showed significant improvement with “dynamic range” after experimenting with an extra wide stance to avoid being chronically “two footed”. Independence of the legs – as in skating -is fundamental to good skiing.
New material for today centred on “Advanced Angulation” – with a view to enabling more control for tackling our first so called “green run” – but other things such as “foot forward” technique help with steepness – or even in a snowplough keeping the weight always on the downhill ski (even when it’s the inside ski) – or simply side-slipping.
Dynamics 4 (Advanced Angulation)
Creating “angulation” is exactly like dropping one cheek of your bottom onto a chair placed at the side of your body. This gives the impression of “facing downhill” in shorter turns – which is actually an effect not a cause or intention. The action is centred on a relaxation of the hip joint (outside leg) and a falling into the turn particularly in the second half of the turn . The turn initiation (short to medium radius) is with the skier’s upper body facing downhill – thrusting the upper body directly downhill while the skis travel across the hill.
