As a beginner I was sitting back too much. A friend told me to imagine that I'm holding a €100 note between my boots and shins. Definitely helped with pushing my weight forward into the right position. Wish there was a real €100 prize at the end of it though...
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
"Stop it Dad! You're embarrassing"
Usually whilst boogying in lift queues or singing on chairlifts
Re: skiing. Was to do 2 wks back to back
Eat, drink and sleep when you can. (From my grandfather's army training) did him well and has done me well too, so far.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Phil Smith;
To control speed you need to move snow
And
Your connection to the mountain/snow is your ski edges
This may seem obvious but if followed will ultimately lead to a less inhibited/style dominated way of skiing
After all it is free
After all it is free
I had one lesson some years ago that took me from blue run skiier to being able to ski any piste.
There was a ton of stuff that must have sunk in from this 50 year old ESF guy in Morzine, but there was one that really stuck, and it was tailored to me specifically (being a big bloke at 18st). I don't do many lessons, but I do a private one each trip and this brought home the value of 1:1 tuition from an experienced instructor.
"Andreeew, you are doing notheeeng wroong. But! When skiing, sometimes we are on a loooong journeey. When we are on ze looong journeey we must spare ze horse. And Andrew, YOU are ze horse, don't fight the skis, open ze turns, make it easy"
He also made me ski down gentle blues with my eyes closed then open them to look at where my feet and arms ended up naturally.
Totally sorted me out.
I skied my first black run that same week.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
frosty75 wrote:
...He also made me ski down gentle blues with my eyes closed then open them to look at where my feet and arms ended up naturally...
I had exactly the same exercise with boots undone...twas freaky!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I once watched a video (remember those) left in a Chalet in Meribel. It was called 'Dance with the Mountain' and had some old American instructor. It was at a time I was moving towards better parallels and instructors had always talked about putting the weight on the downhill ski. This guy talked about putting the weight on the ski which was on the outside of the turn curve and early weight transfer - essentially putting your weight on the uphill ski before you start the turn meaning you controlled the whole turn with the outside ski. This had me doing perfect parallels with my skis locked perfectly together. I thought I was skiing wonderfully until I saw a video of myself a while back and realised I looked very gay, kind of mincing around the slopes so 20 years on (Last year) and I had a ski lesson on a plastic moving slope and was told I had a very dated 1980's French technique with all my weight on one ski at a time and with my skis too close together which is not good for modern skis.
I now need to learn how to ski again - properly...
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I used to be drawn towards trees, drops, banks, little people, bad snow coverage, icy bits and would either hit one or slow down so much it was almost anti-skiing. Until someone on here said something like 'you'll go where you're looking but hit what you're looking at'. It made me realise that concentrating so much on these things was what was drawing me towards them.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Leave your savings in CHF
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Keep your balls over your balls from as Aussie instructor
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
I once watched a video (remember those) left in a Chalet in Meribel. It was called 'Dance with the Mountain' and had some old American instructor. It was at a time I was moving towards better parallels and instructors had always talked about putting the weight on the downhill ski. This guy talked about putting the weight on the ski which was on the outside of the turn curve and early weight transfer - essentially putting your weight on the uphill ski before you start the turn meaning you controlled the whole turn with the outside ski. This had me doing perfect parallels with my skis locked perfectly together. I thought I was skiing wonderfully until I saw a video of myself a while back and realised I looked very gay, kind of mincing around the slopes so 20 years on (Last year) and I had a ski lesson on a plastic moving slope and was told I had a very dated 1980's French technique with all my weight on one ski at a time and with my skis too close together which is not good for modern skis.
I now need to learn how to ski again - properly...
Sounds like it may have been Lito Tejada-Flores. I wouldn't be in a hurry to unlearn the valuable stuff you learned, if I were you. If you're really doing it Lito's way, it's an awful lot closer to the way the top slalom skiers ski than the currently fashionable skis wide apart style. It'll probably come back into fashion if you hold out.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Eat something before you drink a gallon of beer
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@cameronphillips2000, being well balanced on your outside ski does not mean you will (or should) have a very narrow stance. A good place to start is feet which are hip width apart.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@davidof,
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
rob@rar wrote:
@cameronphillips2000, being well balanced on your outside ski does not mean you will (or should) have a very narrow stance. A good place to start is feet which are hip width apart.
I wouldn't argue with that. But I don't think there's a lot to be gained by getting someone to ski with their skis further apart if they have acquired the balancing skills to ski with them close together. A bicycle is more manouevrable and more nimble than a tricycle.
Isn't the point to stand in a natural stance, no overly wide or narrow (unless skiing bumps). That way you're going to be the most easily dynamic and bio mechanically efficient?
FWIW I used to ski with feet clamped together and still sort of miss it. It's quite beautiful as a style.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
J2R wrote:
rob@rar wrote:
@cameronphillips2000, being well balanced on your outside ski does not mean you will (or should) have a very narrow stance. A good place to start is feet which are hip width apart.
I wouldn't argue with that. But I don't think there's a lot to be gained by getting someone to ski with their skis further apart if they have acquired the balancing skills to ski with them close together. A bicycle is more manouevrable and more nimble than a tricycle.
There seems to be some misapprehension on this forum with regard to ski technique with words such as balance and control etc. Let's not be silly and pretend that developing ski technique is anything other than for the sole purpose of looking good.
But I don't think there's a lot to be gained by getting someone to ski with their skis further apart if they have acquired the balancing skills to ski with them close together. A bicycle is more manouevrable and more nimble than a tricycle.
A trike might be more stable than a bike when going slowly in a straight line, but it is less well adapted to going around corners quickly. Typically the problem with skiing with your feet very close together is that it's much more difficult to use your legs independently, and it's much more difficult to create lateral angles. So the stance lends itself to turns which have a large pivot at the start, as the skier swishes the tails of the skis out to the side. I think there are times when a slightly narrower stance is useful, skiing bumps for example, but as a neutral position hip-width is a pretty good starting point.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
meh wrote:
Isn't the point to stand in a natural stance, no overly wide or narrow (unless skiing bumps). That way you're going to be the most easily dynamic and bio mechanically efficient?
FWIW I used to ski with feet clamped together and still sort of miss it. It's quite beautiful as a style.
Me too, on 207 GS skis, but It looks kind of silly these days doesn't it?
After all it is free
After all it is free
Never offer to buy a round in Norway
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Steilhang wrote:
meh wrote:
Isn't the point to stand in a natural stance, no overly wide or narrow (unless skiing bumps). That way you're going to be the most easily dynamic and bio mechanically efficient?
FWIW I used to ski with feet clamped together and still sort of miss it. It's quite beautiful as a style.
Me too, on 207 GS skis, but It looks kind of silly these days doesn't it?
Yeah I'd foul the edges of the skis all the time if I tried it now.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@J2R, with modern skis you get much better performance withlegs apart a greater edge angles than you can achieve with legs together.
There is much to be gained.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
50ish ESF instructor towards end of second week when I'd been struggling to release edges to sideslip, grabbed my hips and said hips here (in French). Problem solved, always remember correct angle of pelvis now and a decent side slip is such an important get out of jail card when navigational errors arise...
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
About skiing trees."Green stuff bends brown does not."
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
On your death bed you ain't gonna say 'I wish I spent more time in the office'
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
under a new name wrote:
@J2R, with modern skis you get much better performance withlegs apart a greater edge angles than you can achieve with legs together.
There is much to be gained.
This guy doesn't seem to have too much difficulty:
That's a bit narrower than I'd go myself, though. But the advantage of having your feet closer together is that weight transfer from one foot to the other is much faster (and I would argue that that gives you better performance). I'm not talking about legs clamped together here, though, just narrower than seems to be what is taught nowadays. I'm talking the width you see on someone like Marcel Hirscher, and he's OK. Edge angles are a function, really, of how much vertical separation you're getting between your skis and there's no intrinsic reason why legs further apart should give you greater edge angles.
But I am aware that what I'm saying goes rather against the flow of BASI teaching, and would be soundly disagreed with my BASI instructors on here (all of whom would be able to ski rings round me)...[/i]
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
[quote="J2R"]
under a new name wrote:
@J2R, with modern skis you get much better performance withlegs apart a greater edge angles than you can achieve with legs together.
There is much to be gained.
This guy doesn't seem to have too much difficulty:
That's a bit narrower than I'd go myself, though. But the advantage of having your feet closer together is that weight transfer from one foot to the other is much faster (and I would argue that that gives you better performance). I'm not talking about legs clamped together here, though, just narrower than seems to be what is taught nowadays. I'm talking the width you see on someone like Marcel Hirscher, and he's OK. Edge angles are a function, really, of how much vertical separation you're getting between your skis and there's no intrinsic reason why legs further apart should give you greater edge angles.
But I am aware that what I'm saying goes rather against the flow of BASI teaching, and would be soundly disagreed with any BASI instructors on here (all of whom would be able to ski rings round me)...
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
J2R wrote:
under a new name wrote:
@J2R, with modern skis you get much better performance withlegs apart a greater edge angles than you can achieve with legs together.
There is much to be gained.
This guy doesn't seem to have too much difficulty:
That's a bit narrower than I'd go myself, though. But the advantage of having your feet closer together is that weight transfer from one foot to the other is much faster (and I would argue that that gives you better performance). I'm not talking about legs clamped together here, though, just narrower than seems to be what is taught nowadays. I'm talking the width you see on someone like Marcel Hirscher, and he's OK. Edge angles are a function, really, of how much vertical separation you're getting between your skis and there's no intrinsic reason why legs further apart should give you greater edge angles.
But I am aware that what I'm saying goes rather against the flow of BASI teaching, and would be soundly disagreed with my BASI instructors on here (all of whom would be able to ski rings round me)...[/i]
Ski's like my Bil only he has his feet closer together.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
J2R wrote:
This guy doesn't seem to have too much difficulty:...
Look at what he does when he raises his performance rather than doing demo short radius turns on gentle terrain...
Look at what he does when he raises his performance rather than doing demo short radius turns on gentle terrain...
Sure, he opens things out a bit for the more GS style turns, which is normal (for GS, everyone skis with their skis a bit further apart). I think you're doing his skiing in the first video a bit of an injustice, though - those are tight, predominantly carved turns, with good edge angles.
As I said, I don't have a problem with the idea of skis hip width apart. I think it's down to the individual. I do have a problem with the general idea of going wider for better stability, because stability isn't what you need, not when you're moving. What you need is balance. If you've got or have learned good balance, you don't need the stabilisers.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
J2R wrote:
- those are tight, predominantly carved turns, with good edge angles.
Agreed they are tight turns with good angles but not very high performance, not least because of the easy terrain. His stance width in that first video is a fraction narrower than hip width, and at a guess I'd say he'd go to hip width if he wasn't demoing short turns, but skiing them at a performance level. The point I'm making is that skiing with your foot together is ineffective, especially on skis with a 'carving' sidecut. For some people opening up their stance will help them to ski more effectively.
I do have a problem with the general idea of going wider for better stability, because stability isn't what you need, not when you're moving. What you need is balance. If you've got or have learned good balance, you don't need the stabilisers.
How do you describe the difference between stability and balance?
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
rob@rar wrote:
The point I'm making is that skiing with your foot together is ineffective, especially on skis with a 'carving' sidecut. For some people opening up their stance will help them to ski more effectively.
If you're talking about opening stance up to hip width, I doubt we're saying anything different (in terms of the range of width to aim for). I wonder whether people who have learned to ski with a narrow stance actually notice any benefit from going wider, though? Maybe they do. But as I say, it's widths wider than this where I have an issue.
I ski with a fairly narrow stance (probably hip width, in fact, but then I have narrow hips), with only minor variations according to snow conditions. It gives me one less thing to concern myself with, and I like to think I ski equally badly under all conditions as a result.
After all it is free
After all it is free
rob@rar wrote:
J2R wrote:
I do have a problem with the general idea of going wider for better stability, because stability isn't what you need, not when you're moving. What you need is balance. If you've got or have learned good balance, you don't need the stabilisers.
How do you describe the difference between stability and balance?
Stability I think of as a static thing, such as a tripod has. Balance (as applied to skiing) is a much more fluid, dynamic, concept, depending on speed and a host of other attributes which vary by the millisecond. It's a semantic issue, though, I accept - others might have rather different ideas about the meaning of the words (or the words in this context). For me, so much of good skiing is about acquiring the requisite balancing skills that apply in complex movement, learning the ability to balance on a narrow base (one-footed skiing) and to shift balance between feet as rapidly as possible.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I don't get how having your feet closer together makes weight transfer quicker?
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
J2R wrote:
If you're talking about opening stance up to hip width, I doubt we're saying anything different (in terms of the range of width to aim for).
I think hip width is a good starting point, after all, thousands of years of evolution have got us to that point for efficiency in running, jumping, turning, etc (and the not inconsiderable task of childbirth for some of us). Sometimes slightly narrower might help with certain skiing tasks, sometimes slightly wider for other tasks.
J2R wrote:
I wonder whether people who have learned to ski with a narrow stance actually notice any benefit from going wider, though?
I think intrinsically they will, but only if they make other adjustments to their skiing. When I look around the hill the people skiing with their feet clamped together typically have a range of other, more significant, problems rather than just the compromise that comes from an excessively narrow stance. Skiing with feet together, IMO, has always been about adopting a particular style or fashion rather than trying to achieve the best out of your skis.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Sat 17-01-15 15:55; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
