 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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| Megamum wrote: |
| weight much more on the tails of the skis. |
No, no and thrice no!! Weight evenly balanced, please don't lean back you will have less control, accelerate more and perhaps cause yourself an injury!
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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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| Quote: |
putting the weight on the tails of the skis seemed advantageous in lifting the tips out of the heavy snow - however it did make them more difficult to control - there must be a knack to off piste - I didn't have it
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The "knack" of keeping the ski tips out of the heavy snow while still maintain control, is simply lift up your forefoot.
There's just enough movement allowed in the boot to translate that uplift of the foot into the uplifting of the ski tips. 
Also, skiing with a bit more speed and NOT turning too far off the "fall line" makes skiing heavy snow less tiring.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Heavy snow? - Go to Australia for a ski season and you will get all the practice you need. Activate the muscles in your inner thighs to stabilise the skis, and in your core to help you with getting knocked back and forth in the clumpy bits. Keep focused on making the next turn DOWN the hill (don't traverse too much) if you are struggling or make a bad turn. The momentum is your friend and will help you out a little. An Austrian Staatliche used to tell me to 'suck it up and keep turning'. The attitude really helped you to keep driving not go riding. Remember you don't want out of control speed - that will lead to a close encounter with a rock or tree, and is unhealthy to ribs, knees, etc. You want to have momentum that YOU are directing and controlling.
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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, maybe have a specifically "off piste" lesson. I did that in January, and it was extremely helpful. We mostly stayed on piste for the first part, practising the right kind of turns and timing, then when we did go into the softer stuff, Stéphane picked the right line for me, then stood at the bottom raising his pole up and down and shouting to get me into the right rhythm. Which I occasionally actually managed to do. Was great fun, and I didn't fall over - or at least, just one slight plop to the side which was no problem to get up from. He showed me some good spots to practice on my own, and I had enough confidence to go back and try it the next day, though the snow was getting heavier. Having succeeded in not falling gave me the motivation to get back at it - I did find it too tiring when I kept falling in the past (despite knowing the crossed pole trick). After a fresh fall snowfall I did some quite good turns down an unpisted black run, though there wasn't a huge depth of snow on it - conditions were really easy, first thing in the morning, before it mogulled.
My breakthrough for 2010 is being able to do some really quite good one-footed turns down blue runs - loads of successive turns on the left foot, quite quick, and not just on really gentle bits. But on the right foot I can still only do gentle bits - and only then on a good day - so for the second half of the season my goal is to practice series of turns on the right foot whenever possible. And do the powder again when conditions are right.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hurtle, so I did LOL
I did try pushing against a pole wondering if it would spread the load across the snow, but there wasn't enough resistance in a single pole to have an effect. I didn't try crossed poles, but it has to be worth trying. Hurtle, don't tell anyone, but when I fell in the deep stuff I floundered like a stranded whale for about 10 mins and then my night in shining armour appeared and hauled me up on the end of his ski pole  So I wouldn't worry about asking not to be tail end Charlie!
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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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| Quote: |
Is it acceptable/polite to request not to be tail end charlie, so that there's always someone behind to help?
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Start off earlier so there's someone behind you?
I've fallen in deep snow enough to believe the "difficulty" in getting up is at least 50% mental: the worry about others waiting is half of the energy expenditure!
When skiing by myself, if I did fall in deep snow, I had all the time in the world to get back up! So I don't bother rushing the process...
- First, take a few deep breath or maybe even laugh out loud for the predicament you're in.
- I generally lay "in" the snow for a few extra second just to relax. It's not like it'll make any difference with that few seconds of delay, in a process that's going to take minutes at best!
- Then, do the cross-pole trick to just sit up and access the situation: Are all your gear still with you? Did the ski came off? How far up the hill is it? etc...
- Hopefully, you still have your skis on your feet or it's at least nearby. Otherwise, it's a whole different problem (having to cover some distance in deep snow to retrieve lost gear...)!
- When it's my turn to wait for my companion who fell in deep snow, I know it's going to be a while. I will amuse myself with a trail map or check my phone messages etc. Shouting instructions from below rarely help the situation -- the exception being if the "victim" doesn't know what to do, though in that situation, it would be best to have someone skiing BEHIND the newbie...
Last, but not least, when you eventually fallen in deep snow for enough number of times, the process become more smooth. (by which I mean both the falling down part and the getting up part  )
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
Is it acceptable/polite to request not to be tail end charlie, so that there's always someone behind to help? Being of an independent frame of mind, I'm embarrassed to do that too.
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Do it - although if I was skiing offpiste with someone liable to take a tumble/loose a ski, I would insist they go in the middle, both for safety and the fact I cba to wait for them to sort themselves out! I doubt your mates will have a problem with it.
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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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If I am in a group with guys/gals who are experiencing off piste or powder for the first time, or even difficult piste conditions for their level of skiing, I will hang back to make sure they are ok, assist the fallen or catch up with them when they have travelled a decent distance. I am a ski friendly boarder
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yoda, every man/woman for themselves for the first few runs 
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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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Always good to have a tail-end sweeper! You can always swap around!!!
Don't forget we erm okish off pisters used to suffer the ignominy also!
I learnt that the hard way just in Verbier where I got my head bitten off by a friend of mine! Jeeze she was mad at me! 
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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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| Quote: |
- When it's my turn to wait for my companion who fell in deep snow, I know it's going to be a while. I will amuse myself with a trail map or check my phone messages etc.
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I normally amuse myself by taking photos of the victim
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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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Yoda, Don't tell my ski companions that or they'll make me go in front. As it is I like to bring up the rear, but that doesn't in any way mean I'm least likely to fall. If they know where they are going we let the kids go first then BMF_skier and then me, in tricky conditions - bad vis, a new run we don't know etc. BMF leads with the kids in the middle and me at the back. However, sometimes he catches me not trying hard enough and then he makes me ski at the front 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I think I'm going to bank my pressie's this year and take some lessons next season. I think I've now got to the point where I can make the new skis behave safely with me and the confidence to have a bash at what an instructor asks me. Maybe I might have some on piste lessons and towards the end of the week maybe ask to try some off piste skills - my god is this really me talking!
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| Megamum wrote: |
The result was second tracks (so tracks in virgin snow) on a pisted slope then covered with about a foot on undisturbed pure powder - what a magic sensation - absolute silence underfoot and no resistance whatsoever - you just slid on and on even when you thought you should have stopped ages before hand.
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It's addictive and once you get a feel for it, nothing else compares to untracked fresh powder.
As everyone says don't lean back, just try to flex your ankles more to lift the tips, take a slightly more direct line than you normally would (the deeper snow will keep your speed down naturally) and bring your skis closer together. But otherwise the technique is the same as for on piste. It just takes time and practice to adjust to the feel and speed of deeper snow. Hiring fatter powder skis will help a lot too, but it's not a necessity. Technique is far more important.
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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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| Quote: |
Hiring fatter powder skis will help a lot too, but it's not a necessity. Technique is far more important.
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Fatter skis will help in enjoying the snow, IF one's technique is too lacking to enjoy it on regular width skis.
But it hides technical deficiency so one is slower to improve.
It's a balance between too easy that it inhibits learning, vs too hard that it discourage learning.
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Megamum, you don't need to get your tips out of the snow. So long as your skis aren't diving you are fine.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I must say I don't think you should be over conscious of "keeping tips up" and suspect, Megamun, that if you are thinking too much that you have to do something special to ensure this, you will end up with your weight off centre (back) and lose some control as has been said. Where I know I start thinking more consciously is in deep lumpy slushy crap where a bit of fore and aft adjustment is needed. Hitting a slushy mogul with a tad too much fore rather than a wee bit aft is quite comical for those watching. The neatness of the somersault out of the well embedded skis can be quite graceful but somewhat embarrassing. 
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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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ccl, I think I hit one of those - a slushy mogully mound - on the 2nd half of the red coming down from Aiguille Rouge - where you start after the mid station - big snowsnake buried deep in it and I stuck a ski tip straight through one of its loops - took the tumble you describe LOL.
When I tried the off piste area I don't think I literally had my weight back, but I was making a conscious effort unweight the front of the skis - it was fairly heavy when I tried it - not like the fresh powder on night skiing night through which I was happy to let the skis run through tips and all. However it was interesting to try the deeper snow in general on my new skis with their extra width (78mm) I think they did a better job than the old narrower ones would have done.
I think what the playing in it all did do was to show me that the confidence is still growing - I am now happy to try something different even if I do struggle in it, and if I succeed then I must learn something in the process.
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