 Poster: A snowHead
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Advanced level bumps and steep off piste
compression turns work everywhere, especially when normal carved turns are not possible.
biggest revelation for me though was getting taught to initiate the next turn a long time before i had been. projecting (or launching as i liked to call it) into the next turn on steep slopes is, although at first quite intimidating, the way to get more control and proper turns on a steep pitch.
Actually, having said all of that.... the biggest thing i learned this season is that i wouldn't have found all of that out without getting a proper lesson focussed on that type of skiing. No matter how much you read about it, you'll never learn as much as actually getting out there with a properly qualified instructor who knows what they're talking about.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 6-04-11 10:00; 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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| gatecrasher wrote: |
scooby_simon,
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Might have to do the one my parents used on me for boat bits....
"We'll pay 1/2 once you have saved up 1/2"....
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Hmm... Not sure if you'll get away with that one! the trouble is they grow out of them so blummin quickly, mines on her 3rd set in 18 months!! and as they get beyond 130s and go to wood cores etc. the cost goes up to around £300+ a pop. Going back to what you were saying about kids managing well on race skis in conditions we probably wouldn't consider ideal, my daughter actually chose practicality over "huhumm!" possibly fashion this year and ditched her trendy twin tips for her race ski's, she definitely skied with more "grunt" on them in all the conditions we came across, admittedly only around 18inch's max, but if you apply the skiers height method for sizing kids skis, their weight vs ski length ratio can in a lot of cases be considerably lower= more float. |
yep; know we are going to be shelling out considerable dosh!
We have an advantage that my daughter also skis well; and in my opinion will actually be better than my son; we are planning to hand down kit so it all should all get used twice!
He's also a bit of a hoarder and saves his money for "big things".
Agree with your theory on kids and skis; at Michael's age (9) and his build (slight approx 32kg) he floats over most stuff but has the skills to drive the skis. He's slightly less than 1/2 my weight; but his skis are 75% of the length of mine (173 vs 130) and thus provide a load more "float".....
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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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scooby_simon, agreed, my sl skis are only about 15% longer than the daughters sl's but again she's only half my weight! So I opt for longer fatter one's to keep up in most conditions or try to anyway! Lol!
I've got 5 years between our two, so twice the cost, bugg#r! 
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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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| gatecrasher wrote: |
scooby_simon, agreed, my sl skis are only about 15% longer than the daughters sl's but again she's only half my weight! So I opt for longer fatter one's to keep up in most conditions or try to anyway! Lol!
I've got 5 years between our two, so twice the cost, bugg#r! |
Ouch! mine are 2 years apart so hopefully skis can be handed down.
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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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| scooby_simon wrote: |
| gatecrasher wrote: |
scooby_simon, agreed, my sl skis are only about 15% longer than the daughters sl's but again she's only half my weight! So I opt for longer fatter one's to keep up in most conditions or try to anyway! Lol!
I've got 5 years between our two, so twice the cost, bugg#r! |
Ouch! mine are 2 years apart so hopefully skis can be handed down. |
scooby_simon,
Paint them in this years colours, you'll be fine!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Take your clothes off ..
Allright, stick your jacket in your rucksack and feel the wind
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New shiny boots 
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Fnd a 9 year old who skis like the wind and try to keep up or look silly
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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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Finally, something sensible
Turn the tip with your toe, then angulate (hugely) with your knee .. the wonders of skiing arrive
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My "Aha!" moment was looking down at my legs, going up a long drag lift, and realising that whilst my left knee was nicely above my left binding, my right knee was way inside my right binding. And that angling my leg outwards to put it in the right place was virtually impossible (and very uncomfortable).
"Aha!" I thought. The reason I can't ski one-footed on my right leg (which I can on easy slopes on the left) is not because I'd completely useless, as I'd begun to fear, but because of some technical hitch.
I might be quite wrong, of course - maybe I am useless - but I shall go and see CEM and see whether he and Andy whatsit can line me up a bit better. My OH has been a lot more comfortable since they did him.
Then next season I shall look forward to another "Aha" moment. either "Aha, I can ski on either leg" (and do other things requiring me to be right on the outside edge of my right ski) or "Aha, what a waste of money that was!"
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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pam w, I'm sure you'll be very comfortable once done by CEM and Andy... 
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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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Hurtle, why the " " ?
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Snowdrop, My choice of words might, perhaps, have been better. 
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, just was curious... I do not know who Andy watsit is and how he " did" your OH but I nothing but cried since I was " done" by CEM,
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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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pam w, had similar to this, to cut a very long story short, I had to tightened up one boot much tighter than normal due to a blister i'd got the day earlier, I then noticed on a drag lift one ski kept diverging in, the only way to stop it was to constantly steer and manipulate my leg, 2 more hours of skiing later one leg was in agony! I left the rest of the party and struggled to even ski back to base, I was just about to give up but then decided, Bug*er it! , grabbed an allen key and tweaked said painful legs cuff adjustment (Im not recommending anyone do this mind) after a couple of anxious runs a lightbulb came on, not only had the pain & diverging gone but suddenly so had my "bad turn" I'd always put down to my ability/weak side etc. All of a sudden my smooth drawn out turn one way followed by the usual sharp abrupt one the other, was now smooth, smooth, and symmetrical both ways, skiing suddenly became effortless! ish!! 
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Wed 6-04-11 23:47; edited 2 times in total
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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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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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GrahamN, we were practising jump turns at Hemel with Scott the other day and I said that double pole plants helped me. He raised no objection. He also had us jumping deliberately into the fall line - and it scared me doing that at Hemel, let alone on a steep in the mountains. 
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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GrahamN,
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When the snow is soft/deep though the poles will often plunge into the snow
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ah, good point.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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GrahamN, watch Scott Schmidt in The Blizzard of Aaahs... If you watch closely enough, IIRC, you'll see he does much the same thing on a number of occasions.
Mind you, I don't think he's stiffening up at the prospect of straightlining anything...
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gatecrasher, I'm reasonable sure the boots are fine - don't think it's a cuff alignment issue. I have no pressure points or soreness from my boot (and I have proper insoles). My skis don't diverge on the drag lift either - but the right one is lightly on the inside edge, whereas the left one is flat. But as I said above, I might be barking up the wrong tree and I might get told there's nothing wrong with my legs (well, nothing which should affect my skiing.....).
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pam w, The symptoms you describe are exactly the kind of thing that alignment changes can fix. Moving the cuff won't help though.
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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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rjs, Good. That means I can look forward to my "Aha" moment next season. 
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| Hurtle wrote: |
GrahamN,
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When the snow is soft/deep though the poles will often plunge into the snow
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ah, good point. |
Bigger powder baskets.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| GrahamN wrote: |
| This may be a bit controversial though, and is thoroughly disliked by an instructor I had on a later trip. |
I was out social skiing with a friend who is a guide on the Grands Montets a couple of seasons ago. I was doing my lovely, pretty BASI fallline turns. He was doing big, ugly sweeping turns with a fairly large traverse in between.
All of a sudden I found myself down a rather large hole that I'd not seen and hadn't had time to react to.
He pulled up to the edge of the hole.
"My skiing isn't as pretty as yours", he said, "but I'm not the one who's in the hole. I bet you're glad this wasn't glaciated."
(I'm paraphrasing. He took the wee wee out of me first!)
He skied off again. Not being "on duty" he didn't see it his problem to he me recover from my own stupidity.
The point being, of course, that guides ski for safety and to stay safe. Not for flamboyancy or to look "pretty".
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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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| Spyderman wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
GrahamN,
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When the snow is soft/deep though the poles will often plunge into the snow
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ah, good point. |
Bigger powder baskets. |
Or less lard.
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Mine was instead of doing the miles to cover the resort just find what you like or challenging and repeat a few times.
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, rjs,
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I'm reasonable sure the boots are fine - don't think it's a cuff alignment issue.
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The symptoms you describe are exactly the kind of thing that alignment changes can fix. Moving the cuff won't help though.
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Agreed not the same, It was more the drag lift thing that sparked my memory, I'm not entirely sure why this worked and as mentioned not a recommendation, but to be honest at the time I really couldn't have cared less! I do know that both of my knees mass certainly aren't positioned ideally over the skis or in fact in similar places to each other. I have always had posted footbeds and keep promising myself to get a full alignment check, but after having such a profound outcome by this "quick fix" am a bit concerned to change 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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FlyingStantoni,
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"My skiing isn't as pretty as yours", he said, "but I'm not the one who's in the hole.
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"Conjured up a great picture!!" 
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Poster: A snowHead
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gatecrasher, I wouldn't be looking to change anything if I hadn't had a persistent problem skiing one-footed on my right foot. With two feet on the snow you can bodge it (or, I should say, I can bodge it....). But with only one, it does show up the problem. I can ski quite a long way on just my left leg (on an easy slope) but really struggle on the right, and it feels very unstable because I just can't get over onto that outside edge properly, when turning right. It had not occurred to me, till the "Aha" moment on the drag, that this was down to anything other than incompetence on my part and a need to practice more.
It's not a boot problem - I have new Zipfit liners and no boot-related excuse for lack of lateral control.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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pam w,
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but really struggle on the right, and it feels very unstable because I just can't get over onto that outside edge properly
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I think your not alone in this... "what side do you carry your wallet/purse!!" sorry best answer I can give
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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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gatecrasher, I think drag lifts are a great way to detect alignment problems, T bars are even better than Pomas.
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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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| FlyingStantoni wrote: |
| Or less lard. |
Oooh that hurts.....because I know it to be so true .
Guide British or local? All the French (or Valaisan) guides I've used have been supreme at both (safe and pretty). Ski only powder 'S'es down absolutely everything though - whether it be steep, flat, narrow, wide, deep, crust - unless straightlining at Mach schnell.
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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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First "Aha" was properly nailing fast angulated linked carves in Schladming December.
Frist "Arrghg" was popping my ACL in Val d'Isere January
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Imagine you're sweating your way up a hill in the Lake District. What you think is the top is getting steadily closer. you think your almost there; then suddenly you realise you are heading for a false summit, the real top is higher, steeper and further away. Worse still, you realise that this higher top might also be a false summit, with something even nastier lurking behind it.
My aha! moment is something like that. I've been working towards what I percieved to be 'competence' in my skiing for years. Now I've got just good enough to realise that I've barely begun the journey.
Still, it's a fun journey
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Ankle flex
intermediate (so they tell me!)
Having started skiing with nigh on zero flex in a previously damaged ankle, I have worked on it and now can achieve a reasonable amount. This year I have started to make use of it. Thing is, the time spent with the inability to flex has ingrained some habits hard to replace... but am working on it. Now working with a chiropractor on my spine, to even up muscle tension and develop core strength as I have arthritis there. Putting that together with a good look with him at the x-rays (which the NHS tell me will cost me £35 and a 6-week wait to acquire!), will hopefully mean I can ski next year with less fear of causing damage through falling.
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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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On-piste, approx. 50 hours on telemark.
My second trip this season, on telemarks, and I finally was able to do more than survive, and do some actual tele turns down some steep icy reds. Then on the last day in VT I was on a beautiful blue with perfect spring snow, and felt I was just nailing the tele technique! Everything seemed to come together and it was the best days skiing I've ever had.
I've got a long way to go i'm sure, but I look forward to getting some tele lessons and practice in to work my technique over the off-season!
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FAQ
before I get in trouble for being reckless
