 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm just about able to do the 1 metre kickers but I need some help. I want to fly properly.
Where should my hands be on take off for instance ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Where should my hands be on take off for instance ?
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Covering your eyes?
Sorry, of course someone who has actually done 1M kickers will be along to help shortly. I've only done half that, and that was by accident 
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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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micky, as in 1 metre length or height??
Your arms/hands should be in front of you on the run up to the jump like normal, then as you actually take off things change depending on what you want to do. Grabbing the skis, spinning and flipping all involve moving your arms in some direction, either to start, control or even stop the rotations. They also help you balance as you travel through the air.
How much air do you want to get? And do you want to throw down some trickery too?
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micky, Hope you get some good tips here, as I'm interested in this too.
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Grabbing the skis, spinning and flipping all involve moving your arms in some direction, either to start, control or even stop the rotations.
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Landing rather than crashing is more my aim at the moment!
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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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I just want to go over the jumps and land smoothly, no tricks yet, maybe no tricks ever, it would be so good to just be able to do jumps confidently.
I'm on narrow piste skis. I can do 1 metre high kickers with a wobbly landing 3 times out of 4, on the 4th ocassion I will usually catch an edge on landing and stack.
I think a lot of the problems are in my mind, I'm not going fast enough and I'm leaning back on take off.
Would wider skis make the landing easier, I'm only thinking of park skis, not really wide ones.
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Hey man, here's a simple guide to getting started on kickers!
1. sort yer speed out before you get to the jump! you dont want to be trying to snowplough or speed check up the ramp!!
2. keep your tummy nice and tense before you start and throughout the jump, this will give you a strong centre so you (hopefully!) dont get "thrown" off the jump and land in the back seat.
3. keep your hands foward and stay flexed and centred in your boots as you approach the kicker (so basically your normal skiing stance), as you reach the "lip" then you want to extend firmly upwards and jump. this will help you stay stable in the air and is known as the "pop", this is really important!
4. keep your hands foward and stay flexed in the air really for the landing.
to be honest guys, the important thing is to be confident and smooth. keep flexed and centred on the skis and learn how to pop off the jump, it really will make all the difference and you should have some fun trying it!
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whoa there, just saw your other comment. yes park skis will make a difference, theyve got less sidecut and are more balanced for landings but only get them if you really want to getinto the freestyle and all-mtn riding, although piste skis are not ideal to learn how to jump its not impossibe and just buying twins wont turn your riding around on their own, its all a balance thang!!
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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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I first read the OP and thought I'd keep an eye on the answers not because I want to jump off anything (I DON'T jump off ANYTHING!!), but given the similarities of skiing stance to horse riding stance I wondered if jumping would be similar. I was right - its very similar in terms of the description given above for the body to stop you ending up in the 'back seat'
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Try to keep your eyes on the landing spot, not at your feet or up in the air.
Also helps that that landing is steep enough, then possible bad landing on back of the skis won't hurt that much. In any case, flat foot landing is the best.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Perhaps this is me, but I find it difficult to do a jump while doing nothing. I find it a lot more comforting if I'm doing something with my body such as grabbing the skis etc.c
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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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The basics are:
1. Pre-jump = Relax. Bend the knees. Lean forward. Skis together. Not too narrow or too wide. Adopt a coathanger posture.
2. Intra-jump = Stay forward, relaxed and coathangered.
3. Post-jump = Stay forward, relaxed and coathangered.
4. Stop. Review mentally the jump. Go back uphill and do it again. Repeat 50 times, going a touch higher and further every time.
Make sure the landing is angled, not flat. Or you'll damage your toes, ankles and knees.
Enjoy.
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Keep going, I'm taking this all in.
Any good example videos on Youtube ?
Whitegold, I take it you meant "could" damage... in your last sentence. I'm sure some of the jumps I've done had a flat landing.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Fri 4-07-08 20:22; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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When you people started doing jumps did you always feel confident that you would land ok, or have you all at some point early on made a leap of faith ?
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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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micky,
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Whitegold, I take it you meat "could" damage... in your last sentence. I'm sure some of the jumps I've done had a flat landing.
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If you keep 'flat landing' off jumps it will hurt, it takes away all your momentum and you take the impact with your body. If you watch any video, or spectate in a park you will see all of the jumps have sloped landing area, so you dont flat land, like this has been built.....www.snowmediazone.com/the_zone/showphoto.php/photo/13661
When increasing the size of jumps you doing, dont jump something you think you won't make. Practise your technique jumping and landing in control on the smaller jumps and then progress up to the next size. Doing this you will get a better feel for how much speed you need, how much air time you'll get and not panic when your in the air! You wouldn't go from the beginners area straight to the steepest black when learning to ski would you?? 
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Poster: A snowHead
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I'm just beginning to get to grips with bigger kickers, not big by any stretch, but big enough to get decent air. I was skiing in January and again in late April this year, and in the interim I started going to the gym regularly.
Whether it was just extra confidence or not, I don't know, but being in much better shape really seemed to help with staying centred over the skis in the air. I didn't get thrown back half as much.
A substantial part of it is just confidence and visualisation. If you picture it going well and believe that it will, it probably will. If you tense up and get scared, it probably won't.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I was told (possibly here) to imagine heading a ball into the net on take off, I'm not sure its the best learning phrase and you may pick up bad habits from it but its certainly helped me erm get off the ground. What also helped was watching people do it badly on Youtube A. the bad landings look horrific and make you want to do it properly and B you can REALLY see where they go wrong most of the time by not being forward enough with their hands/ whole body. Of course start small and concentrate on clean landings before going large
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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hmm, i don't really do jumps but there was one up at chill factor e and i thought heck why not, landings were very hard on the body and I was going pritty fast - final 50 meters without turns. So i dont really understand what your saying...
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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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jj193, Was the jump a ramp with the landing back on the slope or made of snow and have a shaped landing?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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jj193, we're probably not talking about the same kind of jump. Haven't been to Chill Factore, but if their 'jump' was anything like the one at Castleford, it's a totally different beast to what you'd probably find in the beginner line in a real park. The speed thing was aimed at the sort of jump which has a ramp up, a drop (knuckle), and a landing past the knuckle - commonly known as a kicker. Looks a bit like a wedge if you look at it side-on. Anyways what a lot of people do is hit it too slow and hit the knuckle when they land, instead of htting the landing. It's a lot harder on you because you're landing on a flat bit of snow and having to absorb a lot more energy compared to landing on a sloped landing. It's not that bad on smaller jumps, but as you get bigger it's really something you want to avoid doing 
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Yeah, I get what you mean.
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Thread resurrection time. - this was all I could find about landing jumps. I'm a piste skier with no interest in playing in the park. Did a big empty red run this morning at Serfaus and given the lack of traffic I was going pretty fast. Went over a bump in the piste and got a couple of feet off of the ground. Which was fine until I landed and promptly fell over. Slid a long way but no harm done. Now I know I could have gone around the bump but I'd like to be able just go over stuff like that. So how do I practice landing?
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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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Good thread @Valkyrie, glad you found it 
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You probably sat back a bit as you landed that's common so you want to land with your weight slightly forward, think about trying to grab the tips of your skis or touch your toes neither of which you will manage on little jumps but it will get you in that forward position it will only be a small movement in reality, to practice I suggest jumping off everything you can find and do it on piste/flat ground also.
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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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My advice, when you take off throw your hands forward and just look at where you will be skiing out when you land. Crashes tend to happen when you anticipate them, tense your body up and only focus on the touch down.
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