 Poster: A snowHead
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Whilst we were away in April Nick L managed to take some video of me on the last day (its the same piece as Nick L posted in the thread in the snow events section), but I think for a critique I should post it in this section. I know not all the turns are anywhere close to parallel, that I go better right than left and I should be facing down the mountain more, but has anyone got any more comments that I could work on next time I'm on a mountain with skis please? Thanks
[img]https://snowheads.com/the_zone/showphoto.php/data/759/thumbs/Megamum_0001.wmv[/img]
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 9-07-08 11:24; edited 1 time in total
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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 saw you on the first day of the bash going half that speed on less gradient so well done.
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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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Megamum, You're initiating your turns with plough, which is fine. When you rotate your inside ski to match your outside(downhill) ski, try and bring it a bit closer, so that your skis are more hip width apart. ATM your skis are becoming parallel, but they're too far apart which means that the inside(uphill) ski is staying on the inside(big toe) edge, like it would be in a snowplough, rather than being on the uphill(little Toe) edge.
Action plan for you; Rotate the uphill(inside) ski so that your feet are hip width apart. Feel pressure under your little toe on your uphill ski. Try and rotate earlier and earlier in the turn.
When initiating a new turn rotate the uphill ski only to achieve a plough, don't rotate both skis. As the matching of the skis starts to take place earlier ans earlier in the turn, you'll become more confident and less reliant on the plough to initiate your turns.
Finally, well done, huge improvement on the last time I saw you. 
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Megamum, Yeah baby ! Big improvement on the other video you've posted.
To help you improve further I'd suggest finding an easy slope and try and feel for the outside ski gripping the snow earlier and earlier in each arc. Do what you are doing, but be patient with the start of each arc. This will help give you more support from your skis and will help you stay balanced.
In the video, the start of some arcs are a little abrupt, which is causing the ski to skid and making you unbalanced. Feeling more support and grip from the O/S ski help with Spyderman suggestion too.
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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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The reason you are clinging onto your plough on some of your turns seems to be a lack of confidence rather than not knowing what to do or not being able to do it. Maybe spend some time on a gentle slope skiing along on one leg for a short time then changing to the other leg, just to get used to the feeling of balancing on one leg and transferring your weight from one side to the other.
You know what you are trying to do, it just seems as if you don't have the confidence to get your centre of mass inside your base of support on some turns. Being more comfortable when balancing on one leg and transferring weight from one side to another should help you build that confidence.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Some nice skiing with great posture and balance. All good suggestions by the others... I would have a go on some easy slopes and making some bigger, wider turns. At the end of each turn try to ski with skis parallel going across the hill but feeling more weight on the downhill ski than the uphill. Once you are comfortable skiing parallel across the hill perhaps try raising the tail of you uphill ski a little bit as you are going across... then maybe see if you can pick the whole inner ski up as Rob suggests.
I would also like to see a little more movement and less tension. Try extending your whole body upwards at the start of the turn by breathing in and getting "tall", and the exhale and sink into your downhill ski during the bottom of the turn. You turn mainly using a twisting motion (which is fine) but to progress you could increase you range of movement and start to feel the edges a bit more...
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You don't need perfect technique when you are enjoying yourself.
Three Jägertees and sing an Apres ski song on the way down. 
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Looking good - I hope you were having fun too. I hadn't read DB's comment when I saw the video but my immediate thought was "get some music in that helmet". And have a couple of vins chaud....
As a complete non-ski teacher I'd also venture the view that those "Saturday night fever" turns would be great for you and you feel much less of a tit doing them to music. (You do look just as big a tit of course, but who cares)?
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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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Megamum,
Nice solid turns...good speed in control so nothing wrong, IMV... just a bit more confidence will tidy a few things up...
If you ski that line and pace with the skis a bit more parallel, which will come soon, you'll have made the next breakthru'
Well done..!! 
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Megamum, Wow Stance is perfect looks really good and most important you look totally in control of your speed and line. On one or two of the turns it seems like you are initiating your turns to the right with a slight shoulder rotation but to be honest its tiny and easy to fix But it might be causing the sharper starts to your arc
Your stance is good and that is the hard part!! Well done I would go for what Spyderman, said to help improve and also as a few people said RELAX skiing is fun so chill. Get the feet closer together and on your next few trips to the slopes start to remove the plough HORRAY... God by the time I get on a bash you will be carving the place up
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Megamum, I think that the videoing technique was particularly good
Joking apart, you got a heck of a lot faster in the course of the week and your confidence had clearly improved too. It will be interesting to see how you handle the small slopes at Resort X next season.
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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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Nick L, Oh, yes, excellent videoing technique - many thanks for that. It's nice to be able to see how I was doing.
When I think of that last afternoon when we hoofed it down from the top to catch the last bubble its a bloody good job I'd got some more speed under my belt What a giggle that last bit was!!
Thanks for the comments folks - the easy blue in Switzerland is the place to see if I can work on those turns, but in terms of the smaller slopes there I want to crack that bloody cambered blue from a confidence perspective and I have the 4 reds in the resort clearly in my list of goals for next February - I'm only there for the week with the children so they should be sufficient to keep me interested. I'll get my Swiss friends to grade them for me and try the easiest first. Even if the technique is not perfect I think I have found a method of getting down that will work in most red places (even Orelle in the middle of a warm saturday afternoon when I got cross ). I discovered that if stood on the eventual lower (outside) ski on the turn hard it would bite under most conditions except ice. I could almost hold the entire weight on it which felt nice and secure.
B.t.w. I think I should be starting to look at reds seriously, now I've done a couple - if anyone whose seen me ski in VT doesn't think I should be looking at reds on a voluntary basis and possibly by myself (though I think my Swiss friends would come with me) on a competency basis maybe they could let me know before I get into mischief  Also, I do know that Swiss reds will be differently graded to French ones - ranging from bluey/reds to blacky/reds
skimottaret, exhaling and inhaling, up and down, yes, I wasn't doing it was I - not in that video - its funny how you know what to do, but when you actually should be doing it you don't It's not down to poor teaching though - I've been told about it lots by most of my instructors, its down to poor interpretation of all the instructions when I'm by myself The New Gen instructor had me doing it and when I remember it does help 
JT, Ordhan, That's me Megamum the control freak - when I'm in control of the mountain I'm much happier - its when the mountain takes control of me that I'm liable to lose it (bloody Orelle red!! )
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Megamum,
I wouldn't worry about it, everyone gets bitten back by the hill at one time or another, it's how you cope with that and recover, that is more important. Lack of concentration, a stone, rocks or ice here and there can knock you about a bit.
In your video, you can see one or two turns that aren't as you'd want in an ideal run...but everyone will have that to a lesser or larger degree.
As for colour gradings... try them, see where they challenge you and then go back to your safe run and work though it. As long as they don't knock your confidence for 6, it is ok to have a mini-crisis, it gives you perspective.
I'd say confidence is the most important thing, and in somes ways it will get you further than sheer technique...
If isn't much use being able or thinking you can ski anything... and then not having the confidence to do it... that sounds like a waste of time to me...
But seriously, expect good and bad days and don't get too down ..or up for that matter. Its a sporty pastime and is supposed to have fun.
Looks good to me
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You know it makes sense.
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| Megamum wrote: |
| JT, Ordhan, That's me Megamum the control freak - when I'm in control of the mountain I'm much happier - its when the mountain takes control of me that I'm liable to lose it (bloody Orelle red!! ) |
Even experienced skiers are intimidated by the slopes they ski, your red could be their steep black bump run or steep offpiste route. A lot is in the head - if you fight with the mountain (try to control it) it's like trying to paddle upstream in a fast flowing river, you gotta go with the flow.
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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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Megamum, Well if you are in Control that is the most important thing of all!! Dont be focusing on colour grading just look at the slope and ask yourself can I get down this in control if the answer is YES you ski it. If the answer is no Yoy go practice and come back and ski it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Dont be focusing on colour grading
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A very good point. there's no reliable relationship between blues and reds etc even in the same resort, let alone different resorts, different countries. And the snow quality (and the number of people around) makes a huge difference. Find a slope you enjoy, and build confidence on it; there's no magic in the colours. And I agree with the comments above - we all get intimidated by bits of mountain, whatever our level. I was glad the instructor who took me down my first bumpy black slope, in La Plagne, didn't tell me in advance! I still wouldn't choose to do it unless I was feeling bouncy and the conditions were good.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Megamum, are we having a meet in a fridge sometime this summer? I can make Tamworth, or given enough notice can get to MK, but that's really too far without an overnight, so need to work it in with one of the cheap Travelodge book early deals. Of course if you fancied a real expedition, with the children, you could come up and stop here with us overnight and do Castleford (1 hr away) or even Manchester (a bit over 2hrs).
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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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Butterfly, Lots busy this early summer. Hospitals all over the place at the mo. for family members and no time to take breath. Might hit a snowdome at some point, have to see how it goes. Useful to know we can stop if needs me
I will respond to the PM's I have received (and thanks for the time spent sending them) when I get a moment - thanks folks
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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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N.B. I don't think its a case of getting hung up on colours Fond vs. Rhodos is a good example, but when you know you are using a drag lift and the only option once you are up there is to ski down and you happen to 'know' its graded red, it does rather tend to focus you.
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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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| Megamum wrote: |
| when you know you are using a drag lift and the only option once you are up there is to ski down and you happen to 'know' its graded red, it does rather tend to focus you. |
I can identify with that, being wary even of unknown blues, as I have found some seem more like reds sneakily pretending to be blue and would be seriously shaking at the thought of there being one choice only and that choice being red! I am getting better though, as at one point in LDA I chose to take a steeper route than the one Easiski was planning to take me; it was the blue, (I think it's part of Signal) that drops down to the funicular station below the Glaciers restaurant) and I elected to take the direct route, not the alternative route that was available. I looked at it and knew it was no steeper than I had skiied before and the snow looked good - and indeed it was!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Butterfly, You did surprise me there H.
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easiski, I know - proved my main stumbling block is confidence I guess - because it looked like something I had done before, I believed I could do it so it was ok!
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