Why don't the good skiiers ski big turns when safe to do so?

A snowHead

I realise being able to ski tight linked turns, zig zag motion, is essential for narrow reds and blacks, right?. Also going off piste you'd want to follow the guide closely rather than wonder about doing big turns incase there is a crevasse.

However on wide blues I still see better skiers ski in this way. Why? Do you find it fun? For me on wide blues it's much more fun to make big turns at speed and really feel the G forces and wind rush past me. If I manage to carve the turn the acceleration can feel electrifying.

A snowHead

PisteHead,
I ski fast wide turns when it's clear and safe to do so. The risk of collision is greater using wide turns, because speeds are higher and you're using more of the width of the slope. So in answer to your question, on wide blues, yes, I'd like to be skiing high speed carved turns, but only when empty. Blue runs will normally be inhabited by beginner/intermediate skiers. I would probably scare the sh*t out of people if I skied through them at full tilt. So if there are people on the slope I use short turns in the fall line, to stay safe.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Try the 'flying kilometre' that's fill your underpants acceleration.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Spyderman,

so when people are going past whizz fast doing big time zig-zag it is safer and they really aren't going to pile into us wusses?

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davidpratt15,
I had a go at it a few years ago. 240cm skis the lot. It's like someone strapped a rocket to you and lit the fuse. 142kph and brown underpants

After all it is free

holidayloverxx,
I'm a bit confused by your question. Are you talking about doing short or long radius turns?

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Spyderman,

you see, you are confusing me with technical stuff again - I don't actually know what a radius turn is. What I do know is that when pootling down a nice blue there will be those people who whizz past you doing very small turns
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v fast and we get the sh*t scared out of us Puzzled

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When I do long turns and go across the slope I'm usually able to spot all uphill skiiers so I can decide to continue along the arc of the turn if it doesn't make the uphill skiers change direction for me, otherwise I turn the other way to avoid our paths crossing.

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I prefer to do wide arc turns because it makes me feel more in control of my skiing and it gives me time to savour the run. I would say wide red-marked runs are the best for that. A good example is the red Jerusalem going down to St Martin De Belleville. It's rarely crowded and it's long and winding.

PisteHead, Think that Spyderman, summed it up really

You know it makes sense.

srobbo, your cat seems to be sitting on the apostrophe button - shoo him off the keyboard.

Personally, I do short squiggly turns a) for a bit of variety and b) to show off. Cool

Childish but irresistible.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Personally i turn only when i have to, and then its usually in big arcs with about a 27m radius.

A snowHead

I am a newbe to short zig zaggy turns having been taught them in Zermatt this year.

I asked to be taught to handle narrow icy red/blacks. I used to go edge to edge of wide pistes in lovely wide arc turns that felt terribly elegant but this doesn't work on narrow steeps where I used to hack my way down. Now I confess no matter how wide the piste I like to do the shorter turns (albeit with no style whatsoever like the above are surely meaning, but then practice will hopefully make perfect Blush

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A snowHead

holidayloverxx,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

holidayloverxx, imagine the path your skis take as an arc of a circle; the tighter the arc the smaller the radius of the circle / turn

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Long radius turns will ensure you catch a greater number of children in your teeth. Toofy Grin

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

thanks everyone, so actually more like

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Laughing

After all it is free

I like doing this
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as you can actually experience quite a lot of force in short radius turns, and I've found that on some gentle slopes (like those long road sections) you can actually travel faster by pushing out of turns in a skating sort of way than someone who is going straight

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petemillis,

I gotta learn to do this stuff (I mean skiing like that, not doing pretty diagrams using keystrokes - but that's cool as well Very Happy

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

How about,
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Toofy Grin

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Better yet vary the radius! snowHead

petemillis, nice pole planting Toofy Grin

You know it makes sense.

Personally I'm too good for pistes and only ride Chamonix backcountry- which looks something like this;
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

So now you've met Angus, the "Naked Bootfitter". Yes, Jamie ' Fat Tongue Oliver' look'a'like. He skis a bit like this.

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oouch.
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Toofy Grin

A snowHead

to answer the original question, and humbly submitting that I'm a "good" skier, we do...

SZK forget powder 8s, I like your powder 11s!

A snowHead

This coming from SZK who whilst 'guiding' myself, my girlfriend and a mate down the tourist route of the Vallee Blanche, managed to clock up the most falls- more than the three of us combined.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

That being only seen from behind me! How does my back look? Toofy Grin

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This thread now belongs to our own internal banter. Toofy Grin

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

My usual progress looks like this:

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(It's getting steep Shocked

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Former FIS racer, DH and SG were my favourites. So when I freeski, and when the conditions and pistes warrant, I let 'em rip and carve huge arcs and high speed. This mostly happens at:

1. mountains in the Rocky Mountains (e.g. Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia), where there is a lot of terrain and open area to disperse crowds;
2. mountains in upper New England, where the trail networks help disperse crowds (though not on high-traffic holidays, like Christmas/New Year's and Presidents' Day);
3. pistes in the Alps when there's good snow cover and more open pistes - again, so the crowds can disperse.

But if the area is crowded, or open terrain is limited, I tone it down and work on tighter arcs. The longer skis (either 180cm SX:11s, or 186cm GS:11s, or sometimes 206 Dynastar SG skis) are traded for my 170cm Blizzard Sigma SLCs or 164cm Atomic SL:11s. Both of the shorter skis can handle higher speeds and big arcs, but both are equally at home working on sick, high-angle slalom carves. They're just the ticket here in the mid-Atlantic, where the mountains are small, the terrain limited, and the crowds thick.

But safety always comes first. If there's too big a crowd, even though I'm perfectly happy, in control and safe at 60-80kph, I can't control what others on the piste do. So I tone down the speed, work on fun, small arcs, and go with that.

Does that answer your question? snowHead

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After all it is free

I'm happy when I'm in this position....\II/ Quite difficult whilst wearing skiis!

petemillis, the position and timing of those pole plants worry me.............. Neh Neh

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Help!!

Why don't the good skiiers ski big turns when safe to do so?

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