- Skiing Deep Snow and Steep Bumps
- Skiing Steep Bumps
Skiing Deep Snow
Derin’s reactions to the deep snow are perfectly normal – especially with the skis sinking deeply. This was a first time experience. Derin did well not falling even once.
Skiing Steep Bumps
There is very little compression/retraction seen in the video. Look at the video I’ve borrowed at the bottom of this page because it shows the range of movement needed.
Off Piste Technique
- Freeride
- Fall Line
- Traversing and Kick Turn
Freeride
The modern trend is toward using very wide skis and actually skiing with little difference from carving on the piste – long turns and high speed. The wide skis give good flotation. Hidden rocks are always a concern and there’s a lot of risk involved. The drawback with such wide skis is that they are difficult to hold on edge on hard snow or ice when the ski width underfoot exceeds 10 cm. Personally I find “flotation” uninteresting (not being an adrenaline junkie) and that there’s more fun when your skis can sink deeper into the snow and provide a rebound and generate many more turns.
Fall line
There are many different kinds of snow condition that require adaptation to ski but for the moment we will look at predominately pivoting on two skis – which implies fresh, light snow and moderate depth. For off-piste pivoting a seated stance is often needed in deep snow. This works because you are not skiing across the hill, you are skiing in the fall-line – so your bottom is “sitting” uphill. Imagine sitting on a chair on a slope, when facing downhill you would not have your weight falling backwards – it would even be hard to remain on the chair and all the forces would pass through the feet. This works even better with speed. The knees and feet being ahead of the body allow unseen obstacles to be absorbed. People tend to “lean back” when skiing off-piste to try to achieve a similar effect but that only locks up the leg muscles and tires them out.
Just angulating and facing your bottom uphill – plus pulling the outside hip backwards (ChiSkiing) – when combined with inclination into the existing turn – can substitute for the seated stance and even permit the fronts of the skis to be used more strongly off piste – with relatively straight legs and without the threat of being pitched over the fronts.
If the slope is steep enough to get moving properly and the snow is not wind packed then it’s best to keep the feet together and use both skis as a single platform. This usually leads to a natural rhythm and resonance with the skis loading up then rebounding – making pivoting much easier as your skis rebound towards the surface of the snow.
Dynamics is in fact the master key to always nailing your off-piste turn.
If in doubt revert to big Turn Exit Dynamics. When snow is of good quality and offering no serious resistance then pivoting is ideal. Obviously there is a crossover here where various degrees of blending between dynamics and pivoting are possible – depending on snow quality. The worse the snow the more dynamics are obliged.
If the skis can pivot in the snow then as with linked pivots on the piste the pole plant helps the body direct and control the centre of mass. Looking downhill at the pole plant the centre of mass is projected almost diagonally backwards downhill as it crosses over the skis which are still travelling across the slope on their uphill edges.
If the skis can’t be assured to get the skis to pivot then it’s important to stay on the outside, downhill ski and combine the crossing of the centre of mass downhill over the ski with an extension of the downhill leg to generate a lifting up exit from the turn (Turn Exit Dynamics) – then guaranteeing a change of edges to initiate the next turn.
In all circumstances it’s the motion of the centre of mass that has to be active.
In the top photo below the skis are kept flat for pivoting and the ski pole is planted to guide the centre of mass.
In the photo below there is no pivoting – just dynamics – so the skis are placed on their edges.
Traversing and Kick Turn
When nothing seems to work or there is physical exhaustion then just traverse to lose height and execute a static kick turn at the end of the traverse and continue with this until the bottom of the slope.
Moguls/Bumps (Compression Turns)
Here’s a useful video showing proper compression turns at an advanced level. (Warning! – The drills used to “teach” in the clip are mainly inappropriate and fail to show the pivoting nature of bump skiing. However the advanced dynamics used by the demonstrators are correct.)
Competition bumps skiers have their feet close together and many people swear by a “two footed” platform off-piste. This works because both skis pivot always on their uphill edge. The feet are always kept downhill of the body and so are the knees. Using the adductor muscles of both legs pulls the skis together and strengthens the stance. It’s important however to always orient the body on only one hip – preferably the outside one. The hip is the biggest joint in the body and it is very close to the centre of mass. Any confusion around this area leads to confusion everywhere. Motion starts from the centre of mass – so use your outside hip in the turn – pulling it backwards during the turn – to get your reflexes working and your core muscles protecting your back the most efficiently possible.
For bumps the two ski pivot prevents the feet from diverging off in different directions – and it gives two edges for controlling speed in what is after-all a braking form of turning. The overall stance is similar to off-piste but is part of a “compression turn” which has it’s own page here for reference (or soon will have). Avoid resorting to pushing out the heels – it’s always a pulling inwards that’s required.
This is a reasonable visual explanation of how to execute a compression turn…