 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All
I'd appreciate any tips on my technique. Unfortunately I've no fancy video to show, just my simple and humble words!
My ski history is:
1 day crash course (literally) in New Zealand 2007
2 days with a lesson in Canada (East Coast not the Rockies)
10 days with 3 full days of lessons in Vail.
By the end I was able to get down Black runs in Vail.
One thing that helped me get my weight forward (and therefore made skiing generally much easier) was my father-in-law telling me to plant my pole when making a turn. This forced me to get my weight forward when entering a turn, as sometimes I would chicken out, lean back....and then it all goes wrong.
I generally make a lot of turns getting down steep runs, with the intention of keeping my speed in check.
My turns I believe are parallel and I need to work on improving them, my ability to control speed, turn quickly when needed and also stop!
Any thoughts/idea would be appreciated.
I'm off to Val d'Isere at the start of Feb!
Cheers
R
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Do you have a specific question? A good pole plant can be very helpful in some situations, so keep using them until it becomes automatic.
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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 suppose whether the pole plant was considered not a good idea was my first question.
My other question is far more vague...how do I improve.
Just wondered if there were any pearls of wisdom that anyone had received that helped them with:
- improving turns
- controlling speed
- making quick turns
- stopping quickly
I know that is hard to give advice without a video, but the suggestion i received to plant a pole when turning I have found to be very helpful.
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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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rossyl, it is difficult to offer advice without seeing you ski. My one generic comment would be to make sure you stand on your outside ski at the beginning of the turn.
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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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What does "get down most black runs in Vail" mean? Groomers that get a bit bumpy if not groomed everyday e.g. the Lionshead runs that go Blue-Black-Blue like Bwana/Safari or almost all of the back bowls? Or solid mogul runs like Highline? If the former then that's no more than Euro reds if ziplining Highline you're already pretty good.
As rob says it's almost impossible to advise other than generic stuff like concentrate on really good complete turns on mild terrain rather than trying to "achieve" the most difficult stuff you can. If you had good instruction in Vail (and almost all instructors I observed were very good) then you should have plenty of pointers to work on still.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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1. Pole plants are good.
2. Pearl of wisdom: book a private lesson for the afternoon of the first day..
Believe it or not, I'm not just being flippant.
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In the last course I did, after throwing us down some bumps (the ones under the plein sud lift in VT), our instructor noted most of us had bad body separation. So we did things like side slipping drills and holding your ski poles in front of you like a serving tray.
The year before that was i focused on flexing and extending my legs during a turn.
Personally, I would keep doing lessons. Instructors pick up on things really quickly to help your technique and give you drills or movements you can try when you're on your own. I've also found that in the advanced lessons, I ski more of the mountain in half a day than I would in a full day with my friends.
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Doing quick turns is the same as doing slow turns, except that you do everything more quickly. This is all down to muscle memory in doing the correct movements to put your weight and skis in the right place; it's stuff that will come after lots of practice. As with most things, some people will progress quicker than others, but no-one can do it straight away.
The above will also apply to speed control.
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