Hope this makes sense - always hard to paint word-pictures!
I have repeatedly been told to lean downhill when turning, and found the fear of doing so more than a token amount a bit of a problem. Now I know this is going to sound idiotic to you, but in my mind's eye I have been seeing the scary image of my whole body held fairly straight, but leaning outwards, perpendicular to the slope, with my skis almost flat against the snow having assumed that using edges in a turn (apart from when in a plough) was called carving and REALLY REALLY hard, so put that one out of mind!.
Now firstly I just happened to see a photo of someone, taken at just the right angle - showing the skier's legs leaning INTO the hill, tipping the skis onto an edge, and just the upper body leaning away, downhill. I had obviously taken this on board, because, secondly, while standing on the tram this morning, I decided to practise my balance, bending knees/ankles a bit and feeling the weight shift through different parts of my feet - then we cornered fairly suddenly -- and I found myself naturally tipped slightly sideways, feet tending to go on to their "edges", knees into the inside of the turn and guess what - I was leaning out a bit as a counterbalance - hmm - quite a learning experience. However whether or not it will translate onto the slope is another thing, but I am very hopeful it will do so on Friday on the Realli-Ski simulator. I can now visualise doing the aeroplane exercise far more clearly too!!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Excellent, NewSkier, so glad to hear you're working on the balance stuff, and the sensory in the feet.
Yes, you're right on the mark with your observations. The legs tip in, to put the skis on edge, while the upper body tips out, to manage lateral balance and direct dominant pressure to the edged outside ski. The technical term for it is ANGULATION. And, yes, think of that when doing the airplane drill. The skis need to be on some degree of edge to turn, even when in a snowplow.
Want to feel it? Hmmmm,,, hope I can explain this exercise with words only. Go get one of your ski poles. Stand in a good skiing stance, with the pole held horizontal against your chest with both hands. Have someone standing on the side of you pull laterally on the end of the pole, as though trying to tip you over sideways. Resist them. You'll find that to do it you tip your feet up on edge, drop your hip away from the pulling of your partner, and angulate your upper body back toward them as you strive to resist their pulling. Their pull provides a good simulation of the forces produced by a turn, and the angulated body position you assume to resist that pull provides a good means of naturally assuming and feeling the angulated position used in skiing.
Very cool to see this stuff beginning to click for you.
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?
look ma! "straight" skis and rear entry boots
you might also like to contrast the shoulders/arms/hands position with that of other cat foods ye purchase
FastMan, Thanks every so much for your tips - I am definitely taking them on board and am sure they will prove beneficial when I get to Snow-land! So, really it's hips hug the hill, eh? The position I had got (wrongly) of what was being asked at this stage was of a cyclist on the camber at a velodrome. It's no wonder any attempt to lean a tiny bit down the hill felt so wrong & unbalanced without my hips going inwards to compensate. Amazing how easily we can get the wrong message. When I think about it now it's obvious, but I had kind of been 'blinded' to thinking about it by focusing on "I have to lean down the slope - eek"!
just lean forward to plant your pole - then you are leaning down hill, and face the front of your body down the hill, not your shoulder or side.
watch videos on utube, see how they face down the hill always. also see how it looks like a figure of 8. don't just watch the video which plays, there are more on the right
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
NewSkier, progress
After all it is free
After all it is free
innerspaceservices, It's just twigged here too - they are using the whole of width of the slope - going completely across the width, yet are still facing downhill. I don't think I do that yet.
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.
Megamum, Most nervous skiers move their downhill shoulder forward in traverse to hide themselves from the slope as it were. this is often sub-conscious.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
easiski, I shall look out for me doing it next time if I remember to. Another thing to add to the list of 'thinks' methinks!!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
There was a thread that mentioned that children learn by imitating - watching other skiers and copying. I try to do that too, but being an adult and a mum, I tend to think far too much, and often overestimate the potential danger of something, which limits my attempts. Now, I don't like being video'd any more than other people, but I have got used to it through frequently having to use it in my development of British Sign Language skills. An exercise I use a lot is to watch a video of someone good, try to copy what they have done and review my attempts on video. I'd like to be able to do the same more with skiing. Seeing myself on video in Tignes made me realise movements I perceive as extreme, or fast actually aren't, when compared with others. My little digital camera takes perfectly good video quality. The video of me in Tignes on Youtube was done with just that. The difficulty is being able to watch it while abroad when I can then try to improve from it - most accommodation TVs don't seem to have any input sockets and no way am I carrying a laptop in my handluggage - too heavy!.
Yes, watching videos' like those on Youtube recommended here is very useful but I don't ever see myself being able to copy what they are doing. Incidentally, Megamum they are facing downhill in the traverse, but look at the angle of the skis; to me a "traverse" is going almost at a right-angle to the fall line, straight across, descending only a bit and not terribly fast either; they are travelling a long way downhill in each traverse, so it's easier to keep facing fowards, but the speed's going to be beyond what I could cope with yet. I'd love to see a site with a collection of video clips of the demonstrations of common faults with exercises to help overcome them and demos of the kind of skiing technique a reasonable novice, then intermediate is aspiring to.
Anyone fancy putting some together - What about in a "Resources" section of the snowMedia Zone? To reduce space if that's an issue, they could be hosted on Youtube? Could there be associated comments though - a commentary on the clips explaining faults/good points and offering advice? Just a thought....
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.
NewSkier, I tried doing just that here by consolidating some training videos as opposed to race clips
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Poster: A snowHead
