Mark Feedback
Following a good long warm up run alone from Aime 2000 to La Roche 1500 we worked on angulation and short turns on the steeps. This is one of the hardest, most unforgiving things to master but any work carried out on this brings rewards. Much improved arm carriage and pole use today plus successful pivoting eventually which opens the door to much clearer direct use of the centre of mass to drive the skis.
Mark also worked on skating timing – pushing up and out of the turn on the downhill leg. Yes this always feels more natural.
Hanger Turns
While leg retraction is the fastest way to get the body across the skis from one turn to the next sometimes instead it is necessary or preferable to direct the body across the hill – where using the downhill ski to complete the turn then becomes desirable.
Visualize a motorbike going into a turn and coming down low to the ground then back up out of the turn to complete it. Then visualize doing all of that on the outside ski of a single turn on skis – letting the ski lift the body up and out of the turn and finishing going across the slope with the skis now flat on the surface. Sometimes the entire turn transition into the next turn can also be carried out on this downhill ski – this being named a “Hanger Turn”. Basically this entails a complete commitment of the centre of mass directed laterally to the skis and downhill.
Leona Feedback
I’m confident that Leona can use dynamics well on a wide piste and moderate gradient. Today the main theme was to pull the adductor muscles together – whether in a narrow plough or parallel.
Steeper icy slopes were used to practise “hip angulation” while traversing so as to begin to develop good grip and control of body rotation – then using a lower ski stem and “feet forward” technique for each turn on the steep.
We had a good practice at side slipping on the steep above Aime 2000.
Leona managed several clean assisted pivot turns after changing her skis for “all mountain” skis with a front rocker which enables easy pivoting.
Below is an explanation of various “pivot” functions…
Short Swings / Jump Turns / Swing Weight
If a jump is made while solidly planting the ski pole then there is zero resistance on the skis so they can literally pivot in mid air – swinging the ski fronts into a turn. Coordination for this is tricky initially and usually work has to be done even on jumping correctly. Most people retract their heels when jumping but they should fully extend their leg in mid air to raise the centre of mass and then flex on landing to absorb the impact smoothly. The soft landing helps to generate a smooth pivot. It’s only necessary to swing the skis a few degrees in the air and then land on the uphill edges to continue a smooth pivot. The pressure cycle and dynamics of coming down into the turn from landing also help to drive the pivot once it has been initiated. When turns like this are linked with a rebounding effect and fluent rhythm they are called short swings. Most people at the start are unable to keep their body from rotating or pushing out the heels/ski tails so they are often unable to use their ski poles properly and unable to keep a good rhythm or accurate coordination.