Hands, knees, boomps a-daisy

A snowHead

I'm back tonight for my second session of shadowing intermediates on a dry slope.

Last week I was asked to give some feedback to people at the bottom of their run. Nothing complex, first week back, just plough glide progressing to turns.

One fault stood out and it's something I see a lot in general beginner skiing.

The skier has hands down at the knee, the upper body is curved, the knees are bent. Unfortunately there is so little ankle flex that they have their centre of gravity to the rear and are weighting their ski tails, stressing their quads and all the other bad stuff. If they brought their shouders forwards, the weight shift should flex their ankles for them.

To correct this, I have seen instructors tell students to hold their hands forward. Some do this okay, quite a few others end up in a 'sleepwalker' stance, with their arms outstretched and shoulders back so that they now have hollow backs.

So, how come ?

Is there something about having your head above your centre of gravity that feels better than leading with your head and shouders ?

Are the students aligning themselves with the horizontal rather than with the slope ? There's a view from the dry slope so they have an horizon to look at.

Shall I persuade them gently to reach forward and embrace the gradient as their friend or just yell "Lean-a forward or I beat-a you with-a thees-a stick-a !" ?

A snowHead

I like the yelling option - always worked on me! However, I think reminding them that the gradient is helping them to ski is probably your best bet. I think it's got something to do with the fact that they are still a bit scared about going down the hill - they don't want to lose control etc so they subconsciously move back, away from the scary downhill bit!

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Try doing some bunny hops. Hard to do if you're in the back seat, easier if your are centred on your skis. Get them to focus on their ankles to flex forward - could try this on the flat so they get used to the movement and feeling of shin gentle pushing against front of boot.

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Hands on knees is a good 'safety first' start - as it helps to prevent folk tipping backwards on their first run down... but it does result in a very (too) low stance.. usually with lots on knee, but little ankle, flex. Getting the hands away from the knees will alllow a more balanced stance.

Your clients need to be perpendicular to the surface they are skiing on, and need to feel that this is the most balanced position - so anything that get's the moving out of, and into balance is a good thing. I like to to a few exercises on the flat, emphasising balance and appropriate flexion, before moving onto a slope, and then repeat those exercises whilst sliding.

Starting you clients in a traverse, rather than straight down the slope, if space, gradient and friction alllow, is also a good way to avoid being in the back seat.

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the single biggest "light bulb" moment I had was when an instructor told me to stand on the balls of my feet. I'm not too keen on telling people what to do with their arms - distracts them from what's happening down at snow level. It's perfectly possible to ski in a good position with hands clasped behind your back.

The Wozza smith thing about vertical thighs is quite helpful too, and something I try to think about, though possibly at a higher level of skiing.

Bunny hops - yes. Easiski had us hopping the tips off the snow (weight back) then just the backs off the snow (weight forward). One of each. Very tiring but we got the message!

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lack of use of the ankle flex is probably THE biggest problem in skiers. The fact ski boots are stiff makes people think they can stay static in them and rest in the fact the boot is supporting them... that is the point if you try and flex the ankles the power and control is transferred to the ski. Try skiing with boots undone for a while - that will get the ankles moving and the skier will soon learn to make subtle adjustments to stay in balance etc.

Arms in front and all that - one of the main benefits is that it sets people up for learning pole planting further down the line etc... if people get used to arms behind the back or by the knees or whatever it is that much harder to progress until you have unlearnt the habit of arms in the wrong place. Skiing is a dynamic sport... a 'ready' position should be adopted since essentially gravity, terrain, snow conditions are all conspiring together to throw you off balance... why else does a downhill skier adopt the basic position even when they push out the start gate at 0 - 40 mph (above 40 ish mph - the tuck position becomes aerodynamically useful for speed / acceleration)!

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I'll go with most of the above.

I'm not sure about the sexual position advice. I have no idea what that would result in, dislocation probably.

The fear of the slope is more evident in a couple of students who are adopting a better forward postion. They show the tension in other ways, but they don't shy backwards.

I asked one lady who was cursing her performance whether she'd been taught 'hands on knees', but apparently not. It seems that tired quads lead to resting hands on knees to relieve the strain. Her skiing is nothing like as bad a she seems to think and she correctly identified that her weight was too far back.

I'm going to go with the idea that they are keeping their heads level with the surroundings. When waiting for their run, they are usually sideways on and so vertical, when preparing to depart, many people seem to maintain a vertical position and then may go forward a bit once they have started off. In an advanced class we spent quite a bit of time on aligning ourselves with the gradient at the start so that setting off over an edge meant making a positive forward lean to achieve the correct position.

I'm not sure if this is actually mentioned explicitly in the teaching notes. Do we just assume that people will align with the surface ?

I've found that getting my headand shoulders forward as I set off removes those moments of uncertainty that can occur. Possibly there is a balance\perception effect if you move your head while accelerating ?

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Thirty06, generally it's not fore or aft they're concerned about. Getting closer to the snow is their goal. It's a survival thing. Drop the Center of Mass closer to the snow, you have less distance to fall.

Just getting them to extend their knees and stand tall does wonders. The butts automatically come forward, and the need to compensate by bending forward at the waist disappears. Remember to begin the transformation process on easy terrain. Once they're standing up, get them in touch with the base of their feet. Help them develop pressure awareness along the fore/aft plane, and the ability to manage it, both as desired, and on demand.

Driving hands forward seldom does what the instructor hopes it will, because it simply de-stacks more body mass forward, requiring the butt to be thrust further back in response. If anything, have them ski with their hand behind their back. That generally causes the hips to move forward, for the mirror opposite reason moving hands forward causes hips to be moved back.

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Progress is being made.

Interestingly, the lady who clamped her hands on her knees continued to do this in the wedge exercises, but when we got on to bringing the skis parallel to stop she held her hands up in a decent balnced position and her posture corrected itself. the gentelman who was putting his hands into the pockets of imaginary cargo pants was given a ski pole to hold out front; it may not have been as far out as perfect style would require, but he did stand a bit better.

The emphasis for tonight was on pressing the outer ski and steering the knee round the turn. The result in some cases was a decent set of parallel turns without the horrid jerk and slide that is often seen when the 'P' word is introduced.

It is a logistic hassle but seeing a video of yourself is a great way to align what your body is actually doing to what it feels like it is doing!
Preferably as quickly as possible after doing the turns on a decent sized screen (not on the view finder of a camcorder)

You know it makes sense.

thirty06, Get them to think about where their weight is on their feet, get them to 'play the piano' with their toes (and hands out front) or tell them to imagine that you gave put a drawing pin under each of their toes...the act of lifting the toes will bring their weight forward onto the balls of their feet.

I would imagine that your lady is currently probably clenching her toes into her boot beacuse she is uncertian of her speed or balance.

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Hands, knees, boomps a-daisy

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