 Poster: A snowHead
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abc, I KNOW I do....
In fact I cannot imagine not working on evolving my skiing....
there seem to be plenty of folks that are very happy in their own personal ruts... which leaves me quite happy as the good instructors are easier for me to book 
I just cannot fathom why any attempt by those that are interested in learning to discuss technical stuff end up with people carrying on about how much it would ruin THEIR holiday to have a lesson or how much they HATE reading technical stuff.. etc etc... or blathering on about how they detest instructors from XYZ country/system
People do not run around the happy snaps saying "Oh crap you have an A Frame" or "Too much weight on inside ski" or "get your weight off your heels you tosser!" .... why the problem with posting TECHNICAL stuff in the TECHNICAL forum???
or is having a technical forum a big insider joke on those who think it is for technical discussion while the rest of the place look on chortling as they attempt to do so?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| fatbob wrote: |
" Who is the best skier on the mountain? The one having the most fun."
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Just where is this old saying from? I've never heard it except on these forums...
I could try to get a parallel by suggesting that if I throw a bunch of poor swimmers into an oz surf beach and do not explain rips ... then the best swimmers are those having the most fun.... right up until we have a multiple drowning!!! (yes it has happened and actually they were PLAYING on the edge of the water... half a family drowned in 1 hit...)
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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?
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little tiger,
Sorry for going well off topic but the attitude to learning thing has been interesting for me. I do spend a lot of money on skiing but unfortunately for them (and me maybe  ) very little ends up in instructors' pockets so maybe I should reconsider. I am interested in technical stuff and I think a lot of people are even if they don't post so stick at it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Doh double post!
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 16-05-07 23:13; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
| There is that american ex-racer is there not that has just taken up freestyle and is blowing them all away? His technical skills are just that much better... |
I'm glad you mentioned that.
What many of the new schoolers and parks rats don't realise, is that many of the pioneers (eg: Mike Douglas etc.) all came from solid race backgrounds, with concrete skills and foundations.
Many of the jibbers of today simply can't make it look good, *because* they are missing those concrete skills, whether they be on a box, rail, or in the pipe. It plainly obvious to see in the park, those that have solid foundation skills, and those that have just bought twin tips and gone straight into the park without spending time on foundation skills.
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veeeight, post a checklist of foundation skills or refined skills and you'll start a 'who's an expert thread'.
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comprex,
just follow the link to the article.... it is part of a series on foundation skills at least 1 other article there... maybe 2 i think
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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.
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comprex, 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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.
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| Quote: |
There is that american ex-racer is there not that has just taken up freestyle and is blowing them all away? His technical skills are just that much better...
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Out of curiousity, who is that?
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element, the profile fits a few people including Shane McConkey and Daron Rahlves.
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You know it makes sense.
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petemillis wrote:
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veeeight, I'd be pleased to see your skiing myths posts bumped up again - it'll save me having to keep searching for 'em
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Me too, particularly since I have singularly failed to master the search facility on here (it just took me for EVER to find Ray Zorro's instructions on posting smileys, which I had forgotten)! Whilst I don't understand everything I read - especially about the construction of skis, as I am of such a non-scientific bent - I feel I might be able to learn something if I read carefully the advice about what I should actually do with the skis/my body. And I think that one always has more fun when one is doing something well and not struggling/doing it badly. So, as someone said, please bring 'em on veeeight, that would be great. I know I'd learn more with real live instructors during weeks in the snow, but since I'm earning peanuts currently, that's not really an option.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| comprex wrote: |
| element, the profile fits a few people including Shane McConkey and Daron Rahlves. |
Tanner Hall, poster boy for the gangsta pants steeze ski generation was on the junior US mogul team IIRC. I'd bet scratch the surface and most big freestyle/freeski names have some similar sort of background or a dad who was an olympic medallist/ski school director etc etc.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| Whilst I don't understand everything I read - especially about the construction of skis, as I am of such a non-scientific bent - I feel I might be able to learn something if I read carefully the advice about what I should actually do with the skis/my body. |
I think part of the issue may be that of involvement by the original poster. I sense, and I may be wrong about this, a fair bit of 'I'll just sit back and read' philosophy by questioners.
If one doesn't paraphrase or restate what they have learned though reading, how is it different from just sitting back and watching an instructor without allowing the instructor to see them perform the task?
I think that the threads that stay on topic are the ones in which there is active on-topic dialogue between learner and teacher or knowledge sharers. Don't sit back, get involved, and it will stay on-topic.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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comprex, What are you saying? That we should ask questions about what we read, and the experts on this forum will provide answers? Unfortunately, I don't always understand everything that the experts post on here about technique, the language seems extremely technical sometimes. I'm reasonably body-aware (because I do a lot of Pilates) but, for instance, some of the stuff that I've been reading about ankles has me really struggling, I can't make out how ankles can actually do what is being described! And, if one is learning in a 'virtual' way, one can't replicate the sensations or the effect that one's particular skis and boots have on the whole scenario. But I'm certainly willing to try and learn if the experts on here are generous enough to be willing to teach. I guess I feel a bit daunted, though. Perhaps I should just shut up and go away. (But it's occurred to me that I don't want to go the way I did with my piano playing: I reached a very acceptable standard - advanced intermediate on piste, you might say, just where my skiing is - and because I was finding it so hard to hoik myself up to the next level, and my tastes were meanwhile far out-running my abilities, I just gave up altogether and haven't touched the piano in years. Don't want to do that with skiing.) Ugh, stop wittering, woman. I'll get my coat. 
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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?
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Hurtle,
re the ankles thing...can you sense making "tension" in the main arch of your foot? This is what happens when you pronate... you tension that arch to prepare it to weight load and then weight load it... shifting weight from being evenly distrubuted between the ball of foot near the base of large toe and the smaller area near the base of small toe and the heel... this means you carry weight more along that large arch on the inside edeg of your foot and also more on the ball of that foot... This is what happens as your foot walks naturally... it PRONATES to help with weight bearing and pressure.. and SUPINATES to allow the foot to lift and travel through....
Anyway... when i transfer weight from being STANDING EQUALLY on both feet to standing on ONE foot I feel that arch tension in order to prepare me to take the weight shift onto that foot...
Pronation also has some rotation of the long bones in your thigh... which helps to drive the ski edge into the snow as does the weight shift... This is what I feel when I do the "ankle" stuff on snow... I "roll my ankle" which involves pronation of foot... (actually doing an ILE I simply extend that leg a tad and the rest just happens)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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little tiger, Interesting, thank you.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hurtle, re the ankles thing. It's not you, many many many many (including lots of instructors) folk are completely unaware of the importance of the providing mobility in this joint, even though it's inside a stiff ski boot.
Yes, you can edge with a locked up ankle joint (by using your knees and hip) but ultimately you cannot initiate nor finesse your edging without "rolling" your ankle.
Watch (and I hesitate to mention this) someone doing tai-chi. Particularly when they are on one leg, and notice which muscles and bones they are using to stay in good balance. It's all in the foot, and ankle.
Many recreational skiers edge by moving their hip to the inside, which puts them into a "locked" position. Racers move to the inside from the ski up - ankles, knees, and finally hips.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I really enjoy just rolling the ankles when on flat pistes (especially narrow ones). Once you get the hang of it the amount that the ski turns is quite amazing. I find it helps one appreciate the imortance of edging the ski and the mechanics involved
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Hurtle, If you ask the specific question, I'm sure we'll all try to help. I guarantee you won't get any technobabble from me - ever. I'm totally unscientific too. 
fatbob, you are cheating somewhat, because (if I understand right) you already ski at a much higher level than most Snowheads. However, no instructor in their right mind would ask you to do one legged skiing on a knee without ACLs - but you would have to tell them! It's surprising how many people don't tell us about affective injuries.
veeeight, "snuggle and squeeze" into the tongues of your boots! Very true, and the lack of ankle up angulation caused me to ski disgracefuly at the EOSB resulting in a time that certainly wasn't worth the excrutiating pain I knew would (and did) result from running gates ........ damn ........... I knew there was a reason I don't do that anymore! Yes - bring back the "Skiing Myths" - excellent stuff.
Basic skills: balanced position on the skis, lack of rotation, use of the ski's shape, understanding of the basic techniques. Right everyone - add to this.
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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.
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easiski, Yes fair cop although I don't consider my standard that high compared to many people I see/ski with and a number of snowheads I have skied with in the past year. I have however, as an adult hacked my skills together with the help of very little professional input so just as I am curious as to the impact a properly fitted hi-performance boot might have on my skiing I'm curious as to the amount of incremental benefit I might get from a few probably private lessons with the right instructor. Apologies to anyone to whom this curiosity comes across as negative.
I vote for an expanding skiing myths topic list:
How about "Breakable crust is never fun"?
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fatbob, Interesting! the point in vis a vis your "fun" point, is that inevitably a decent skier will be able to have more fun than a mediocre one. there are more places to go, more types of turns to make and so on. that was basically my point.
As you say, you're largely self taught, and so are JT and Lampbus, but you guys are in the minority of people for whom watching others works. Most people can't tell who they should be watching anyway (that one with the legs glued together doing a sort of breastroke down the mountain), and are not good at putting vision into action. I think anyone who can do this is very fortunate!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Personal opinion - Self taught skiers are, I find, the hardest to get to change their skiing. They also tend to be the ones that get the most frustrated at a higher level when they decide that what they are doing isn't working for them in some terrain.
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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.
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easiski,
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Hurtle, If you ask the specific question, I'm sure we'll all try to help. I guarantee you won't get any technobabble from me - ever. I'm totally unscientific too.
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Thank you! As it happens, I am seriously thinking of going a step further than getting your advice online and coming to Les Deux Alpes to get your tuition in person! Got to do a bit of saving up first, 2007 will have been an incredibly expensive year for holidays. How enjoyable or demoralising do you find it having to identify and then undo pupils' bad habits? I think that's always a problem with adult learners in any skills (certainly musical instrument playing, for instance) and some teachers are better at/enjoy dealing with those adult learners and their already acquired bad habits more than others. I fear I have loads of bad habits 
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
bend the knees or flex the ankles achieves the same thing
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aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  (Not the Blizzard of)
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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veeeight, but isn't it all down to each person (and possibly their instructor) finding the mental triggers that work for them? The triggers don't necessarily have to be accurately descriptive so long as they induce the correct/effective movement?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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eng_ch, Yes, provided it's just a trigger.
In the case of there being no difference between bending the knees or flexing the ankle, well, those two things have completely different outcomes.
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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?
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| veeeight wrote: |
| In the case of there being no difference between bending the knees or flexing the ankle, well, those two things have completely different outcomes. |
Which I think is what JT was alluding to in the second part of his sentence that you ignored?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I didn't ignore it as there is no way in this world that it achieves the same thing, even if you know what goes on after that. Perhaps you'd like to enlighten me?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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veeeight, no need for enlightenment - I simply read that sentence as being JT's personal trigger, hecne my initial comment. Why, how did you read it?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Even if JT is using his way of thinking of this as some type of personal trigger, and even if it's working for him, it's a good point veeeight raises about the contrasting fore/aft balance roles of ankle and knee flexion. Flexing the akle forward moves weight forward. Flexing the knees moves weight back. Those who have trouble getting out of the back seat can sometimes find resolution with the simple suggestion to stand up (extend the knees).
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Thu 17-05-07 22:41; edited 1 time in total
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| Quote: |
| Why, how did you read it? |
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bend the knees or flex the ankles achieves the same thing
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FastMan,
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Flexing the akle forward moves weight forward. Flexing the knees moves weight back. Those who have trouble getting out of the back seat can sometimes find resolution with the simple suggestion to stand up (extend the knees).
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I can remember being told - and actually do this - to lean against the front of my boots to get my weight forward. Is this, essentially, the same thing?
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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.
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Who do people automatically assume that bending the knees put you in a bad position. If you think bending means a kind of sitting then you are doing it wrong.
eng_ch is right and I know what position I want to get in.
You can drop the hips, bend the knees or flex the ankles and if you don't know what you are trying to achieve, you can be wrong in any of them.
These mantras can be useless on their own.
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I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that getting virtual tuition here is a lost cause - for the simple reason that none of you folks can agree on anything!
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FAQ
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thereby adding value here. 
So I do appreciate others like me "not to spoil it". 
