My ski lesson with Phil Mahre at Sundown 1/23/10.....

[PomfretPlunge]

...We are big bump skiers and have little skill in the art of carving turns. He then went to work analyzing our technique, form and then strategies and drills to work on. He gave us 1.5 hours of his time. It was incredible! I had NO idea of how little I actually make my ski work. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his clinics, it is well worth the money spent. He ended the session by signing our skis and then a picture to remember the day.......like I would ever forget it?! Amazing. It's so nice to know that people like Phil represent the sport we all love.

Lucky u, MQ, congrats!

Would love to hear about the strategies & drills he gave you?

Cheers
Plunge

 

[MogulQueen]

Would love to hear about the strategies & drills he gave you?

Classified info.....no seriously, some of it would be very difficult to convey to you without a diagram. One of the most interesting things we discussed was that taking gates was A LOT more about tactics than technique. He sketched some different courses in the snow and explained the physics of taking each turn and where we should aim(other side gate if it was a dual race) and where to initiate momentum into the next turn. Another interesting tip was that when going down the course, your shoulders should point in the direction your skis are pointing. He instructed us NOT to keep our shoulders facing down hill at all times.... as I was taught my whole life. In bump skiing yes, in carving up a course, NO. A lot of what he taught seemed counterintuative to what seems like you should be doing. Another example was shoulders being sloped just like the slope of the hill. Shoulders being parallel to the hill. We did a drill of taking our poles and held them out in a tripod fashion with the tips touching the snow at all times. This kept the downhill shoulder down especially when making the turn. Never did the poles come up. Lots of discussion of the mechanics of the ski and the different radius turns they offer. I'm sure some of you know this stuff, but he was very attentive to our skiing and the habits we have. He could have just blown off the whole thing, but he took it very seriously. Very cool experience and not enough room to explain it all. I just hope that I can remember it all!

 

[RootDKJ]

Wow. Very cool. I'm envious

 

[jack97]

unless the other items were things like a night with Jenna Jameson or something....:lol:

:blink: .... never mind

 

[2knees]

:blink: .... never mind

:lol: hey, sometimes you swing and miss.....

 

[PomfretPlunge]

Classified info.....no seriously, some of it would be very difficult to convey to you without a diagram. One of the most interesting things we discussed was that taking gates was A LOT more about tactics than technique. He sketched some different courses in the snow and explained the physics of taking each turn and where we should aim(other side gate if it was a dual race) and where to initiate momentum into the next turn. Another interesting tip was that when going down the course, your shoulders should point in the direction your skis are pointing. He instructed us NOT to keep our shoulders facing down hill at all times.... as I was taught my whole life. In bump skiing yes, in carving up a course, NO. A lot of what he taught seemed counterintuative to what seems like you should be doing. Another example was shoulders being sloped just like the slope of the hill. Shoulders being parallel to the hill. We did a drill of taking our poles and held them out in a tripod fashion with the tips touching the snow at all times. This kept the downhill shoulder down especially when making the turn. Never did the poles come up. Lots of discussion of the mechanics of the ski and the different radius turns they offer. I'm sure some of you know this stuff, but he was very attentive to our skiing and the habits we have. He could have just blown off the whole thing, but he took it very seriously. Very cool experience and not enough room to explain it all. I just hope that I can remember it all!

Diagrams, I looove diagrams

This sounds like some of the stuff I was taught...which is part of why it's been such a struggle to learn mogul technique in the last 2 years after decades of all those tripod poles and sloping shoulders etc. Interesting contrast

Thanxx
Plunge

 

[MogulQueen]

Just a shout out to my buddy Phil.....thanks for all the help on my skiing, I increased my race time by 2 seconds and I got silver!

 

[campgottagopee]

Just a shout out to my buddy Phil.....thanks for all the help on my skiing, I increased my race time by 2 seconds and I got silver!

WOW---2 seconds is HUGE!!!! Nice job!!!

 

[billski]

WOW---2 seconds is HUGE!!!! Nice job!!!

+1 for sure. Just goes to show, racing or not, we all can benefit from shaking bad skiing habits we've acquired over the years!

 

[Warp Daddy]

Just a shout out to my buddy Phil.....thanks for all the help on my skiing, I increased my race time by 2 seconds and I got silver!

thats awesome !