Lazy inside ski..

[tcharron]

While out and about during the crunchies last week, where the mountains where all fairly crusty, I noticed I was having a fairly large problem with my inside ski during turns. It's not pronounced in better powder, because with a little depth it doesn't seem to be a problem. After noticing this, I spent a bit of time looking at my turns in general, and I noticed during turns I'm really kicking the outside ski out, and sliding a good deal thru my turns.

Am I relying on my outside ski too much? It almost felt on the crust that the inside ski was just dragging along for the ride, but when I tried to put a little pressure on it during turns, things just 'felt wrong', like I was using much more effort then normal with my waist. I know the best answer is to get a lesson and have someone watch me, but I wasn't sure if any of this may scream 'he's doing it all wrong!' to someone. In powder it's never been a problem. Could it be I've got my boots set too lose, and I'm not gripping in with an edge well?

 

[JimG.]

You have described your problem well...lazy inside ski. And the fact that it feels like more effort than normal in your waist when you try to be more aggressive proves it; at that point you're trying to muscle the turn.

You have to be patient and steer both feet in crunchy snow like that. Stay in the sweet spot on your ski, you need to use alot of rotary skills, but it has to come from your legs, not your waist. And don't try to put your skis sideways...never good in snow like that. You've got to point your tips down the hill.

I've heard this description of good crusted snow skiing: there are only go moves, never any parking; the skis are always turning or starting a new turn, never traversing.

 

[tcharron]

You have described your problem well...lazy inside ski. And the fact that it feels like more effort than normal in your waist when you try to be more aggressive proves it; at that point you're trying to muscle the turn.

That's exactly what it felt like. :-D And in the process, some of the maneuvers that resulted made me look alot like I was in the ice capades trying to do it differently.

You have to be patient and steer both feet in crunchy snow like that. Stay in the sweet spot on your ski, you need to use alot of rotary skills, but it has to come from your legs, not your waist. And don't try to put your skis sideways...never good in snow like that. You've got to point your tips down the hill.

I've heard this description of good crusted snow skiing: there are only go moves, never any parking; the skis are always turning or starting a new turn, never traversing.

Hrm. I was trying to traverse alot when I noticed it, simply because my legs themselves where getting beaten up pretty bad as soon as I got a decent amount of speed behind me. I still have some shape to be getting into, but it was a good start this year at changing habits. So it would make sense that I started to notice it so badly at that point.

 

[JimG.]

IMHO, the 2 most difficult snow conditions to master are:

1) Very heavy or crusted snow.

2) Powder/ice...like powder bumps with boilerplate in the troughs.

I feel that way because you are constantly adjusting your balance to stay centered, so you have less focus for other skiing skills. The best way to conquer that is to just accept it. You are going to feel like you are constantly using your ankles and knees a bit to adjust balance, so expect to feel that way.

Alot of times, other people don't even see the things you feel when you ski.

 

[RISkier]

I'm not a ski instructor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. My only suggestions would be to take a look at Lito Tejada-Flores book and or video "Breakthrough on the New Skis." He talks a ton about turn initiation and the importance of early weight shift. Also gives lots of useful drills. There are actually 3 videos that are available. The first is basically breakthrough on skis which is somewhat dated in terms of equipment but the quality of the video and the explanations are terrific. The 2nd video emphasizes bumps and powder and has some great skiing. The last corresponds to his most recent book using skis with more sidecut. He says the key movement patterns are not different, it's just easier on the newer technology. He uses lots of slow-motion in the videos so you can really see what the feet are doing. Very good stuff, IMO. Another option is to find a good instructor and take a few lessons. I won't give any other specific advice except to say that one of my (many) technical flaws is that I tend to get impatient during turn transition, I have a tendancy to not completely finish the turn and then during the transition I push the uphill (new outside ski) out to initiate the turn. I think Lito's stuff really speaks this pattern.

 

[BeanoNYC]

My only suggestions would be to take a look at Lito Tejada-Flores book and or video "Breakthrough on the New Skis."

Excellent book. Flores makes a lot of sense. His suggestions are easy to remember and quickly translate while your on the mountain. He really helped me achieve some personal goals.

 

[goldsbar]

The conditions you described are very difficult and bring out the worst in everybody. You're probably making the same mistake in all conditions but the effect isn't big enough to notice (but still probably significant and holding you back). That's the great part about tough conditions - they show your faults.

Hard to say without seeing you, but my guess is you're probably spreading your feet too wide and also getting into the backseat to compensate for the hard conditions. This makes it very difficult to tip you're skis evenly and the backseat part would really adversly effect your turn initiation making you try to do all sorts of crazy things to turn (been there, done that).

I'm not suggesting you try to carve through that stuff as it's nearly impossible and you'll wind up going 70mph. However, you should use the same basic motions - tip your feet to turn - and speed up the process with a little rotary (this is where you skid a little for speed control instead of having a clean carve). Focus on pulling your feet back at turn initiation to stay forward.

Nothing wrong with near 100% weight on your outside ski in hard snow conditions. Consciously focus on keeping your inside ski close to your outside ski. Don't focus that much on your outside ski (yes, really), instead, think of tipping with your inside ski.

Again, very difficult to tell without seeing you and without knowing how you perform on basic groomers. Also, I'm no instructor.