 Poster: A snowHead
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I have noticed that many an off-piste guide/instructor does a little ankle push-out for the first turn. I will begrudgingly admit that it makes it easier to get going from standstill on a steep slope.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The greater sidecut on skis means they turn much more easily so 'unweighting' and rotary movements are no longer taught - keep the upper body quiet. This has meant anything between snowploughs and parallel turns has mostly gone. You'll either love or hate modern piste skis depending on how you ski, either they will turn like a dream or you'll find them hook-y.
A lot of general use skis are much wider now since wide skis have been made to hold an edge well on hard snow and have the benefits of suface area for soft snow you could only previous get by buying longer skis. Previously more tricky conditions like crud are easy to ski on these and you don't have to lean back in powder.
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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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I have a video with Phil Smith demonstrating use of stem turns on tricky terrain. Get through the fall line fast, with no acrobatics or heroics. OK not an expert technique maybe, but looks good to me.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| James the Last wrote: |
| Aren't stem turns essential for those moments when you're standing still and you've GOT to turn on a pinhead? |
Nope. I rode a monoski everywhere through the 1980s and never felt the urge to stem. Riding snowboards the same applies. With two skis, the fastest way to turn is to turn - which in my case means a parallel turn, both skis. It's a totally different instinct.
The usual argument for the plough is that you need if it's too narrow to ski properly. Perhaps there are real world places like that, but I never found them and I looked harder than most. In any case, the price most English skiers pay for a technique they will never need is not worth it.
Actually I was shocked when I bought my first "learn snowboarding book". They taught (at that time) the English "kick your back leg out" turn technique, and then tried to convert people to riding properly. Just the same mistake they made with skiing: teach people a bad habit, then try to teach them a good one. Weird. Time for another glass of this rather excellent Pinot Noir I think..
As someone kindly pointed out, you have whole threads to argue about that, so I'm heading off topic...
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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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philwig, Threading through the odd steep rocky forest section a stem turn has got me out of trouble plenty of times. I would not have liked to jump turn that terrain. And how many ridge entries into couloirs may need a quick change of direction? But yeah, for general piste skiing it should be taught just after the basics... apart from queues... you ever seen people who can't plough or do schussy quick steps actually plough into the people in front?
I have, many times. But I think that it should be taught in context, not as a general open piste skiing tool.
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Yup, ploughing is very useful in traffic where wanging skis sideways is at best going to upset people nearby and at worst cause an accident because the guy doing it wasn't able to keep going in a straight line. On my shortest skis if I couldn't plough I'd go from taking up one person width to nearly two meters.
I'm amazed that anyone thinks the steering through the back leg thing is a British invention though! I guess someone peed in philwigs weeties today.
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15 years of perpetual bitching - ( and that's just us blokes) 
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