Another difficult start to the day with ultra sticky snow – but nothing a hot chocolate couldn’t sort out!
Poppy insists that she is terrible at sports but in reality she is very good. She says she is last at running – but that’s almost definitely because she switches from Poppy to Floppy mode – instead of taking on the challenge. Poppy apparently has a FitBit so I asked her what her highest heart rate is – answer: 1000 bmp – so I agreed that mathematics might not currently be her strong point – another thing she claims to be terrible at. Somehow, I suspect she isn’t terrible at anything. She’s an incredible singer and very obviously an artist and creative!
Martha however is the wise one! Martha wanted both my ski poles instead of sharing them with Poppy and gave a long list of pragmatic reasons why – but I (foolishly) settled for equality and made sure Poppy got to ski with one of my poles too. My regret at not listening to Martha’s wisdom was immediate when Poppy manged to stick the pole in the ground in front of her skis and cause a high speed somersault – thankfully causing more of a fright than any real damage.
However! Poppy’s choreography when skiing with my ski pole was exceptional to say the least. The music used in the video might cause adverts to be played there by YouTube – but it’s definitely worth it! (headphones/ear buds required!)
Paddy – who is actually a first week beginner skier but supercharged with a strong snowboarding background – needed another injection of technique to be more assured of remaining in one piece on steeper slopes. Hopefully the already tweaked back is not too serious and just muscular!
We looked at three separate things: Turn initiation dynamics, Turn development dynamics and Foot Forward technique… ( all within 20 minutes including a chairlift ride)
Turn initiation dynamics
Initially I saw that Paddy wasn’t inclining enough and had to start with looking at the launch of the body into the new turn. The only thing different was the use of the uphill edge of the uphill ski as a launch platform – to eliminate any interference from his under edged ski boot configuration. When this didn’t really change anything it was obvious that the turn initiation wasn’t the problem – it was the turn development following the initiation.
Turn development dynamics
Moving the centre of mass downhill into a turn is physically relatively easy (but hard psychologically) because you are going with gravity. The development of the turn after that however finds you resisting gravity and so competing with the ski trying to lift you up by cutting across and underneath the trajectory of your centre of mass. This creates the illusion of centrifugal force throwing you out of the turn – but regardless of the illusion aspect the result is the same. During the turn the skier has to drive the centre of mass toward the turn centre even harder so as to maintain the development of the turn – until the turn’s change of direction is completed and the centre of mass is intentionally allowed to exit the turn. Once again we worked on an assisted (supported) pivot turn so that Paddy could feel this effect in slow motion. This time it was successful.
Foot Forward technique
This is essentially a skating action that “activates” the outside ski in the turn. In combination with dynamics this is how turn radius is controlled. (requires good control and avoidance of hip rotation) On steep terrain push the foot immediately the moment the centre of mass begins to move into the new turn.
(This is much easier to learn than “pivot turns” and is more fundamental and polyvalent – but pivot turning skills are also eventually essential – for bumps, off piste and narrow gullies)