Ski technique

[deadheadskier]

The whole concept of what is "proper" technique is a little shady anyway. You will see skiers out there with sound but not perfect technique, but if they rip and are having fun, who cares? I keep making the example of Hugo Harrison - one of the fastest, if not the fastest big mountain skiers around.

What about old Stein as well? I'm not discrediting modern carving/racing technique the slightest bit, but he seemed to rip down the mountain pretty good back in the day.

 

[RISkier]

Let's see....I read of PSIA, then there's Harold Harb's disciples(sp?), now Edd's army...;-) God have mercy on we the skiing public....

The whole Harb vs PSIA thing is interesting. If you ever look at the PMTS forum there are some who seem to approach this with religious zeal. In terms of skiing technique, Harb presents a specific system of movements and there would definately be both counter rotation and counter balance in all turns and no active rotational movements. In PMTS you would never do pivot slips, for example. Yet some conventional instructors would largely make pivot slips a prerequisite for bump instruction. My take on PSIA is that it's much more of an umbrella organization that tries to provide instructional tools and certifies instructors. I don't really think PSIA provides a system describing what is correct and what is not correct skiing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[koreshot]

What about old Stein as well? I'm not discrediting modern carving/racing technique the slightest bit, but he seemed to rip down the mountain pretty good back in the day.

I don't know, man. Thats one ugly sweater.

 

[gmcunni]

I have never had an instructor tell me drag my poles

i did have an instructor tell me this once. it was a few years ago, i had just gotten back into skiing after several years off. I took a few lessons when i returned due to the change in equipment and having no idea what carving was all about. He had me drag my poles (both at the same time) to level off my upper body. Apparently i was exaggerating my upper body movement to make my turns. Keeping both poles in contact with the snow forced me to keep my upper body level + straight.

I think still "tilt" and every once in a while i drag my poles to square back up again.

 

[bigbog]

...

...lots of stuff here I don't disagree with....

...I don't know, man. Thats one ugly sweater..

:lol: :lol: :lol: ..ROTFL

 

[2knees]

Alot of skiers do a racing style...feet kind of wide, upper body not facing the fall line but instead always in the same direction of the ski tips, wide turns, poles low, behind, and dragging. A large percentage of these folks are on midfats.

You might think "well, those people are racers or ex-racers, and they ski that way racing or not." That may be, but I've been seeing ALOT of these folks. There aren't that many racers.

sounds like the guerrilla tuck to me. poles dragging/body following the tips is not a technique i would aspire to imitate.

 

[deadheadskier]

I don't know, man. Thats one ugly sweater.

Maybe Stein and Doctor Huxtable shopped at the same store? :lol:

 

[Geoff]

I can't relate to the fanatics. I'm a recreational skier. I learned to ski with Austrian instruction at Stratton back in the late-1960's and early 70's with a little junior racing thrown in. My stance is narrow by today's standards. I unweight during my turn. My weighting is probably 80/20 biased towards the downhill ski. I carve my turns most of the time though I tend to get off the edge and let the ski skid a little at the very end of the turn as part of the initiation to the next one.

Here's a little Quicktime movie clip taken at Valle Nevado a few years back. I'm doing relaxed turns on intermediate corn snow.
http://www.geoffdevine.com/geoff_vallenevado2.mov

 

[ckofer]

I hate it when instructors say something and then people take that word as gospel for whatever situation they find themselves in.

Instructors love to tell people to keep the upper body facing down the hill (probably with some instructor trick like "Frame something downhill with your poles"), but then they don't mention that this is only for short turns. Short turns require a turning lower body countered against a stable upper body.

Longer radius turns work best when there is a little movement with the ski. So it's perfectly fine to face the direction of travel when cranking out medium to long radius turns.

I think the point of the instruction is to counter the tendency of many to do the opposite. Watch some learners who manage to bring their downhill hands accross their skis to the uphill side on each turn and repeat at each turn.

 

[bigbog]

....

....I unweight during my turn. My weighting is probably 80/20 biased towards the downhill ski. I carve my turns most of the time though I tend to get off the edge and let the ski skid a little at the very end of the turn as part of the initiation to the next one....

...this is exactly what has been helping me with additional speed control & picking a line in tight quarters on steeps....particularly with my 99' G3s.

 

[drjeff]

What about old Stein as well? I'm not discrediting modern carving/racing technique the slightest bit, but he seemed to rip down the mountain pretty good back in the day.

Up until his collision/hospital stay this year, Stein still was ripping. One of the definate pleasures I had a few times at Deer Valley the past few years is watching him rip down the hill. Knees almost surgically fused together, hair - perfect, BIG SMILE, and then the sound as he'd scream by you at 30+mph was a treat too.

It's one of those moments, where if you realize who he is and how old he is and then on top of it, how good a skier he is(age independent), it's a really cool thing to experience 1st hand!

 

[Geoff]

...this is exactly what has been helping me with additional speed control & picking a line in tight quarters on steeps....particularly with my 99' G3s.

Right, but the racer dudes will pick it apart. I make turns to control my speed. Racers are trying to get through the course as fast as possible. The reality is that the two objectives are contradictory and there is no reason why you would want to adapt a racing technique to recreational skiing. A recreational skier needs to carve their turns but speed control as part of being out there having fun is the objective. My technique is mostly a time warp back 25 or 30 years with a more pronounced roll to adapt to shaped skis. I'm centered and stable. I carve my turns. My technique doesn't break down much in bumps, trees, or steeps. I see no reason to change it even if it is uncool these days.