The Warrior Ethos: Why We Leave No One Behind
Yes that’s right – just like the US Marines – we leave no one behind! Today was largely about ensuring Sandy wasn’t left behind as the group progressed. Initially Sandy became bogged down in the beginner’s area and we had to mount a full scale rescue. Ok – I’m only joking – it was a “no falls” day getting off the “death chairlift” – which is always a good sign.
Time wasn’t really lost for the others as we had plenty of exercises to work on…
Skating Step Turns were used to develop better awareness of moving the centre of mass
This eventually progressed to Helen and Chloe padding the inside ski of the turns up and down during the turns to help encourage independent leg action and remove any stemming. I’m hoping Chloe managed to get boots with a canting mechanism… though I’ll look for something to bring with me tomorrow that might help this…
Overall we were able to greatly increase mileage and opportunity for repetition and practise – with some of the group being able to enjoy speed.
Sandy’s breakthrough happened when she realised that she was twisting her body into the turn unnecessarily – that just rolling one foot on its inside edge was enough to make a turn and that keeping the body centred in the snowplough guaranteed automatic transfer of weight always to the downhill ski. That downhill ski would act as a brake through the first half of the turn – keeping the weight on it even though it was the “inside” ski. The uphill ski just requiring the foot rolled onto its inside edge for the turn to take place. The key then is to constantly turn and to “finish” each turn across the hill (almost turning back up the hill. On gentler slopes Sandy should start to experiment more with dynamics and the skis more parallel.
Helen asked about what she needed to change – the answer was “nothing” it all looks great – just more steepness, speed and dynamics for the time being. Lauren needs to come forward to take the strain off the thighs – and avoid the temptation to twist the body into the turns.
