Tech Camp 2011!

[geoffda]

Man, I've been really tired EOD, but here's a recap of days 1 & 2.

After last year's Tech Camp where I didn't really belong, I swore I wouldn't even think about attending again until I had all of the movements. Last spring, it started to become clear to me that the pieces were starting to fall into place so I signed up for another round. This year, due to the addition of Short Turn Camp, it really is Tech Camp and it's been quite an experience. In addition, it's been a truly international affair. From up North, we have (an alliance of their own) Irwin, Peter, and Michael, representing Whistler, British Columbia (that's Canada for the geographically challenged) and the CSIA. From the East, all the way from Italy, we have Federico. From the South, representing sunny Southern California, we have Rich K. Providing a bit of local flavor we have Yours Truly. Finally, pitching relief, also representing the great State of California and the Tahoe chapter of PMTS, we have Walter, who is great at demoing any PMTS movement you want atr your parties, Bar Mitzvahs and corporate functions. He's wildly popular so book early!

Day 1:

While the Short turn contingent headeded out into blowing snow for a ski-off, us Techies sat around in the lodge and discussed what we wanted out of the camp with Harald who would be owning our experience for the next two days. The Canadian guys are putting on a tech camp of their own for seniors next week in Whistler so they wanted to come away with a good sense of progressions that they could use to develop their client's skiing. I know Irwin knew what he was getting into, but I bet Pete and Mike were horrified to find out those progressions were going to include a whole different way of changing edges. Then again, with the speed at which those two ditched their up move, they might need to surrender their CSIA pins at the border! I can't really remember what Federico was interested in; probably something to the effect of getting within 9% of selected Europa Cup class racers' time in G.S. which is apparently required to *start* training to be an instructor in Italy. I can't speak for Rich either, but I was just happy to be able to ski and learn with a good group of skiers, while hopefully improving my own skiing and learning a thing or two that I could pass on to either help my friends improve.

While discussing motivations, Harald also inquired as to what we were working on in our own skiing. For me (aside from the obvious "sucking less") I'm currently focused on eliminating the last vestiges of a lifetime of being in a squatty stance from my skiing. And with those preliminaries aside, we headed up the hill.

Seems like we should have gotten a warm-up run, but I don't really remember one. What I do remember is immediately launching into a discussion surrounding the mechanics of the Phantom Move with focus on presenting the combined mechanics (particularly the foot pullback) as a single move. We discussed how the foot pullback is critical to tipping and did the usual demonstration of contrasting tipping range with the free foot slid forward versus pulled back.

In the flats just off the Black Mountain Express, we practiced an aggressive Phantom Move while trying to ignore the stance foot altogether and just let whatever happened happen. Obviously, that movement combination will produce a brushed turn of some sort, but it also produces bodily rotation that must be managed. We took that drill a step further and attempted to try to make the stance ski *not* turn while applying the Phantom Move, which we all found was impossible. If you perform a Phantom, you *will* turn. It may not be pretty, but it will happen. You can bet on it.

From there we discussed the mechanics of the transition; release-transfer-engage stuff as related to the Phantom Move. That merged into a discussion of weight transfer and how to convey what has to happen to students. On the first steep pitch of Sundance, we practiced a drill to convey how to stand on the outside ski. In a gentle traverse, we balanced entirely on the downhill ski while repeatedly lifting the tail of the uphill ski and then tapping it back down to the ground. Once the student knows where to stand in the body of the turn, you have to introduce them to the little-toe-edge so they know where they have to transfer their weight to in order to transition. For that, we did the same drill, except that we balanced on the uphill ski (LTE) and tapped the downhill ski. Finally, we combined the two drills, starting out on the down hil ski and tapping the uphill ski, then transfering to the uphill ski and initiating a turn, all while tapping the old downhill ski.

The next set of drills started with balancing completely on the little toe edge while traversing. The goal was to start on both skis, then lift the downhill ski *without* causing any kind of a change to your upper body. IOW, it's like a transition. When you flex the old stance ski, that shouldn't trigger any additional movements that cause you to look like an unfolding lawn chair as you move from edge to edge. That drill was tough for me. I can balance on my LTE just fine during a normal transition, and I can do it if I can stand up, but to do it on a tipped foot at slow speeds for any length of time? FAIL. That's definitely one I'm going to have to put some work into. Yeah, I know I said that last season, but now I truly see the benefit of that skill. Not only does it make your transitions that much better, but you can impress people at cocktail parties with your LTE balancing ability.

After that, we did some skiing with focus on the lower part of Sundance. For me, that meant Way Forward turns. Yep, Harald wanted me actually making turns with my nose hanging out in space like a ski jumper. In deference to the safety of those around me, I went first to ensure that if I careened into any objects they would be of the inanimate variety. Somehow, I managed to make some direction changes resembling turns and since what I was doing felt like complete crap I assumed it must have been at least reasonably close to what Harald intended. Of course when I asked the man where this was supposed to be going, he muttered something about a "science experiment" and then quickly changed the subject. With the steeper pitch looming, I didn't have time to ask questions and instead devoted my energy to figuring out how to maintain a speed well below terminal velocity with my face hanging directly over my ski tips. Since I am writing this from home, rather than a hospital, you may conclude that I managed to survive Harald's fiendish plot.

The next trip down Sundance, it was pointed out that even though you might have spent the last hour going off on tipping to your students, they actually might have had no clue what the hell you were talking about. So maybe rather than blathering on about the subject for yet another hour, you might actually want to get them to experience tipping for themselves. To do that, Tipping Garlands are a good choice (and I hear they make a nice wedding present as well). Anyway, from a slight downhill traverse, you progressively tip as much as you can. That will turn you up the hill and you will start to run out of velocity. When that happens, you release, at which point you can repeat the drill as you continue across the slope. From Tipping Garlands we progressed to what I affectionately call "The Drunken Skier Drill". I assume there is an "official" name, but I can't remember what it is. Anyway, from a shallow traverse, you repeatedly tip the uphill ski quickly on and off edge, which results in a very non-linear track across the hill. It's a good drill for loosening up the legs and getting your tipping working, though I've found that a couple of shots of high grade whiskey works just as well.

I want to say that we went into lunch at that point, but I know it didn't happen. There was video. Mine sucked. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that we did some brushed turns at this point which enabled Harald to take the aforementioned sucky video. Then I'm pretty sure we did some railroad tracks followed by edge-locked carving on the steeper parts of Sundance which is probably why I don't remember going into lunch feeling completely pissed off. Whatever we were doing right before lunch was also when I figured out what Harald was trying to do with the Way Forward thing. After way too many years of skiing squatty, I've grown attached to being close to the snow. As a result, my tipping movements are pure lateral. If the ankle bone is 90 degrees and the center of the shin bone is 0 degrees, I was getting pressure to the side of the boot at 90 degrees rather than 45. Basically, I let my feet slide forward so I can sit down to tip. I'm sure I can do that move better than anybody, but I'm equally sure that I don't get all I can out of the ski when I do that. I never get extended properly so I don't get that long, strong stance leg, so I'm giving up ski bend. I also have to compensate by breaking at the waist which works, but I sacrifice quickness. Anyway, I'm Harald doesn't have me doing Way Forward because I don't know what forward is, he's just trying to force me to *stay* forward when I tip. Turns out, the science experiment kind of works and presto, my skiing begins to change. Upright and reality might be living in the same neighborhood after all...

Anyway, when we looked at the video of the brushed turns after lunch, Harald pointed out that I was pulling my free foot in and then just tucking it under, at which point all tipping just sort of stopped. There was even a little bit of hip dumping going on at that point. Hip dumping! Moi? Didn't I just spend thousands of dollars and multiple camps to get rid of that problem? Can you say refund? Well, as it turns out, each time you come to PMTS camp, you get to learn how to ski all over again. However, on the positive side, the interval seems to decrease with each subsequent camp. So when Harald told me I shouldn't be sliding my free foot in, my first response was, "But the only reason I'm doing it is because YOU'RE doing it!" The HH rejoinder? "Yeah, but I keep tipping!" At which point another lightbulb went off. When you start tipping from flat, you are inevitably going to run out of range of motion because your knee can only move out so far. When that happens, you have to flex to release the pressure and allow yourself to drop down into bigger angles. BUT, the feet still need to lead the tipping. I had figured out how to drop in, but I'd quit leading with the feet. In the brushed carve case, I let sliding my free foot in doorstop my tipping altogether. Thus, yet another demonstration of how increasing your tipping will solve every problem you've ever had, not to mention providing you with a much whiter smile. Tip more? No problem? I've reached the point in my PMTS education where I actually know what to do when somebody says that, so I know I'll fix the morning's issues easily in the afternoon.

After lunch we headed back out with full bellies and a good case of food coma. I'm pretty sure we had a warmup run in there some place, but the next thing I can remember is standing next to Black Mountain Lodge with Harald going on about how we get to do MY favorite drill. Except that he then explains that we are going to be doing Robo-tipping, which isn't my actual favorite drill, thus demonstrating that Harald needs to get with the times. Robo-tipping WAS my favorite drill during my first Super Blue Camp, but NOW my favorite drill is something else which we didn't get to do until today and anyway, the way Harald does the drill it wouldn't be my favorite drill at all because the way he does it is way harder than the way Jay does it so there. Anyway, Robo-Tipping. You are dealt six cards face down...No, wait, that is something else. Oh yeah. There are six positions and you have to move through them as seamlessly as a stock car driver shifts gears. At stock car speeds, almost. Well OK, you actually move very slowly, but with this drill adding motion of any sort makes you seem like you are moving at 200 mph. What you do is this: Weight to the stance ski, tip your free foot crisply to LTE. Tip your stance foot crisply to big-toe-edge. Transfer your weight to the new stance foot. Tip your new free foot crisply to flat. Tip your new stance foot crisply to flat. Tip your new free foot to LTE. Tip your new stance foot to BTE. Repeat. The object of the game is to outlast everyone else in your group in maintaining some semblance of proper sequence and movement. It is a great drill, but when I did it with Jay, we did it on a dead flat and pushed ourselves around with poles. Adding movement makes the drill significantly more challenging (and rewarding). It is also just one more example of something Harald can do on skis way better than you can and you'll just have to live with that. Seriously, watching Harald do this drill is both enlightening and humbling. The man moves with the precision of a Swiss watch.

After Robo-Hell, we started working on the Bullet-Proof Short Radius Turn (BPSRT). I was always sort of confused as to what this actually was (as some of my previous posts demonstrate), but I'd finally figured it out on my own over the last year or so. Anyway, in case anyone is wondering, the BPSRT is a leaner, meaner cousin of the brushed carve. A brush carved turn is accomplished by holding the stance foot back (while tipping the free foot) so that it never obtains sufficiently high edge angle to result in an edge-locked carve. A brushed carved turn yields a round arc. A BPSRT is a form of a brush carved turn, but with a key difference (when compared to a short radius brushed carve turn). That difference is that a BPSRT has a pulling radius. That is, the radius of the turn tightens considerably in the second half of the arc. Accomplishing that requires considerable tipping skill. The reward is a turn that provides absolute speed control, anytime, anywhere. Or as Lito says, "Tout Neige, tout something else." Well, actually Lito said whatever the something else was, but I was born in America so how can I be expected to speak French? The important thing is that the BPSRT is gunpowder in gravitational warfare when everyone else is still messing around with bows and arrows.

At some point during this time, work on the BPSRT morphed into skiing, which morphed into video, which morphed into HH saying, "Hey, if we blaze down right now, we can catch one more run before they shut the lift down." This resulted in us not making at back to the lodge until around 4:30 which earned us snide comments from some of the other instructors who thought it strange that we would rather actually ski than sit around the lodge telling stories about skiing. For a minute I thought I was in an (insert your favorite national ski instructor organization here) locker room. Now that I think about it though, 4:30 was the start of the apres ski function, so really it was a contest between drinking beer and skiing, which might not necessarily be a clear choice in everyone's mind...Then again, the appetizers were free but I had to pay for my own beer. Someone definitely needs to fix that.

Day two:

Sunny skies and a bitter breeze prevailed. The day started with Tech Talk and "The Anatomy of a Turn". BTW, in case anyone is looking for feedback, I would have much preferred a talk on the anatomy of Julia Mancuso at that time in the morning. But it was not to be, so instead we got to hear Harald talk about how the combination of a clean transition and clean living will allow you to avoid going into the fallline. Ever. Yes it is true, with the PMTS approach to skiing, you will never have to point your skis down the hill ever again. Ok, seriously, learning how to enage your edges before the skis change direction is goodness. It gives you gobs of time to work through your transition to set up balance and edge angle before you do go into the fall line. And it gives you a round arc where your skis are engaged from start to finish. This gives you speed control and eliminates the need to jam on the edges at the bottom of the turn like the rest of the unwashed masses. Don't believe me? Learn how to do it. Then go somewhere steep and apply it. Then go somewhere steep and narrow and nasty enough that you are unable to get it done and have to revert to whatever messed up thing you were doing before you learned PMTS. Make your way to the bottom. Contemplate on how much it sucked. Realize that all the way down, on every turn you were hacking your way through, you were just wishing you could get something done in the high C. Trust me. I've experienced what I just described. High C carving is powerful mojo.

After not talking about Julia Mancuso's anatomy, we stayed inside where it was warm and watched yesterday afternoon's video. Yes, it is true. The hazing mostly stops once you make it to Tech Camp! Not only do they allow you more than four hours of sleep each night, you no longer have to drop for push-ups when you screw up a turn. Plus you get some minor perks like getting to hang out in the lodge for an extra half hour until it gets a bit warmer outside.

Like I said at the beginning, I signed up for Tech Camp because I was pretty certain I had all the movements. Well, the confirmation came during this morning's video viewing. The first thing that happened was that for the first time ever, I didn't feel like changing jackets when I watched my skiing. It wasn't Harald (but then who is?), but there was a good skier in the frame. And he was wearing my gear! And he was tipping the living crap out of his skis! Not to mention counter balancing, counteracting, etc. etc! Interesting. So Harald watches. And then he says...NOTHING! Actually, I think what he said went something like this, "I don't really have feedback for you. That was good skiing." I would have just about fallen over in my chair, except the thing was, it WAS good skiing. No bullshit. And when it comes to feed back from Harald, good or bad, you can take it to the bank.

So I'm pretty certain we watched everyone else's video too, but after Harald said I made good turns, I was too busy trying to figure out if Beaver Creek would be too soon for my World Cup debut to actually pay attention. I did notice that Walter was missing. At first I worried that maybe Harald saw him making steered turns and had him killed, but then I saw him later on the hill, so it is more likely that he was just tired of our crap. All I know is if I could just ski more like Walter my father would have loved me more.

The next thing I know is we were up on the hill warming up with focused on skiing. Once again, my focus was on staying upright combined with non-stop tipping action of the feet. I skied like I skied on video and did not suck.

Prior to our warm up run, Harald had warned us that he was going to "throw us a curve-ball" on our next run. I thought that meant that we were skiing so badly that he was going to start throwing things at us, so I was pleasantly surprised when the "curve ball" turned out to be the PMTS version of the Javelin Turn. We did a bunch of these. They were fun. I worked on balancing cleanly on my LTE before releasing and I was sometimes successful and we can change the subject now.

After Harald threw us the curve that we were sitting on (because really, what are you doing in Tech Camp if you *can't* do a Javelin Turn), we did several rounds of boot-touch/counterbalance therapy. For me, counter-balance is so last year, and besides my focus was standing up, so I asked for a pass on the drill. Harald agreed that my counter balance was fine, that I did need to work on standing more upright, and that I should shut up and do the drill anyway. We did compromise though. Instead of having to flex low enough to touch my ski tips with my toungue, I was allowed to just touch my knee (and with my hand, not my toungue). Which was all right. At least according to Harald--for me, it was just one more day of "progress through pain." For some reason, we did a lot of boot touch drills. Oh right, we had to teach some people how to counter balance. I wasn't the only one progressing through pain. And I for sure wasn't the only one improving my skiing. There are now at least two less people in the world who suck at counter balancing.

After boot touch oblivion, we moved on to the "Drag the *Outside* Pole Drill." This is great comedy if you have anyone who is spatially (or counterbalance) challenged in your group. If you think about it, dragging the outside pole forces you to counter-balance. But you have to actually think about it. It is not intuitive--particularly if you were just doing the "Push the Inside Pole" drill because you couldn't buy counteracting if they were giving it away for free. Anyway, you drag the outside pole--as in keeping it in contact with the snow. *After* you change edges you switch poles to start dragging the new outside pole. If you have a large group of students who have no counter balancing skills and are consistently annoying you, I highly recommend this drill for acheiving maximum confusion. It is far more subtle than drills involving clapping yet it has nearly the same potential for creating chaos.

Have we had lunch yet? Nope. Time for my actual favorite drill: Stationary Release To A Full Edge Change On A Slope (With a Layout--at least if you don't get it right, heh...). I love this drill because it is the litmus test for balancing in the High C. You just stand on a gentle slope, skis edged perpendicular to the fall line so you don't move, then you simply release and move onto your down hill edges. Or fall on your face. What was great about this drill today is that I learned something new. I'm now pretty automatic with this drill on a gentle slope, but when it gets steep, it takes me several tries to get it. What I learned today was actually two things. First, the drill is much, much easier if you have that forward component in your tipping movements. Pure lateral tipping, with that back seat squat greatly increases the odds of failure. Second, the key to success is slowly releasing from edge, feeling the skis go flat, and only then committing to that quick move onto your downhill edges. As counterintuitive as it sounds, you must slightly pause at flat. If you try to rush the edge change, you most likely will fail. Of course, the usual disclaimers and warrantees about proper counter balance apply here. Anway, there is a good chance that I'm now automatic with this drill on steeper slopes as well. For me the next thing to learn will be how to disguise my pole lean like Harald does when he casually flips to his downhill edges while standing still on a slope that is too steep for God to stand on.

It turns out that if you are not challenged enough by the Stationary Release To A Full Edge Change On A Slope drill , you can ramp up the intensity of the challenge one more notch by trying to do a Stationary Hop to Edge Change On A Slope. To get that done, you must counteract. Otherwise your skis wash out, and you flail (or proceed directly to planting your face in the snow) but thank you for playing. I tried this drill, did not fall on my face and called it good.

After that, we did some short turns down to the lodge and went in for lunch. We reviewed video, mine was good again. I can't remember what Harald had to say, but I think that there is some rule that if Harald ever tells you that your video is good, it's like a free pass going forward...

After lunch, after we warmed up and maybe did something else that I can't remember right now, Harald told us that he was going to go against his better judgement and let us work on something that had a high probability of undoing every last thing we've ever learned about skiing. It turned out that this was short turns. I thought this was rather odd since we had already been working on short turns. However, it turns out that in the PMTS universe, turns of a radius that would be made in a typical FIS slalom course are MEDIUM radius. Short turns are the radius that you use when you have to ski down a drainpipe. Because how else are you going to complete the line that started on the roof of your condominium complex? We all know how Harald feels about big air. So Harald demonstrated what he meant by short turns and in case anyone is wondering, the man is BACK.

Things I remember about this session. Learning that short turns means fast tipping, but not a fast transition. For the first time in my life, I skied behind Harald matching him turn for turn. I had all the time in the world. It was like being a tourist. I was looking around. Unfortunately, I must have had a lapse in attention because I missed a rythm change when Harald went around the slow sign and I never got back in sync again. But I did stay behind him with no trouble whatsoever. I also watched Irwin absolutely kill it following Harald. They were in absolute lock-step for a good portion of High Noon. I watched Federico making a run where until he got close enough that I could see his jacket, I thought I was looking at Harald. Dr. K put it together on his second to last run and blew everyone away with perfect short turns. The two Canadian PMTS newbies both demonstrated flashes of absolute brilliance as well as consistent and profound changes to their skiing. And for twenty or so turns down the upper part of Ramrod, I made bullet proof short turns that met the Blue Level Cert standard. I know this, because when I asked Harald at the end of the day how close those turns were to Blue Level he said they were there. No bullshit. Of course, he also reminded me I have some stuff going on with my hands that I need to fix. Also no bullshit.

With two more days of camp, I'm pretty excited to keep making changes in my skiing and to see the progress in the rest of the group. It's pretty cool to have moved from "that ain't it" to "yes, but here's how you can refine that movement to make it even better."

[A.L.E]

Thanks Geoff. Another great entertaining report!

When I began reading I was a bit apprehensive, thinking the tale would conclude with "back to the drawing board". I'm relieved the hard work you've been putting in has paid off.

Glad to hear Rich is firing too.

I'm in CO for a couple of days with Diana/Harald in two weeks time. Monsterman, the Kiwis and Anders from the Hintertux crew will be skiing with Harald during the first week of December as well. Monster might get a PMTS posse invite out.

I wonder how many instructors have scores of dedicated students flying in from around the country and from around the world to take ski lessons. I'd wager none would come close to Harald. Remarkable!

[geoffda]

Yeah, I'm really starting to see some hard work pay off these days. If you are serious about your skiing, there is no better way to achieve your goals than PMTS. Maybe Harald can repost my West Wall debacle from a few years ago next to some of my skiing from yesterday; the difference is stark (in a good way)!

Two other things I remembered. First, Federico confessed a secret desire to move to Spain and become a bull fighter so to satisfy that motivation, we did Matador Turns on Day 1. Apparently, even if you don't have any interest in fighting bulls, they can help introduce novices to their first turn. We practiced these by starting off-fallline, then starting directly facing the fall line, leading to rail road tracks in both cases.

Yesterday, we did the Dork-O-Meter (otherwise known as the Hip-O-Meter). It was when Harald told us to start getting set up that Rich K pulled a truly pro move. While the rest of us were struggling to strap our poles together, Rich calmly unclipped his Leki poles from his gloves and said, "No straps; I guess I'll just hold my poles horizontally out in front of me." That was absolutely brilliant. First, it totally spares you having to ski around looking like a gaper, but more importantly it gets you out of having to work on your skiing at all. It is a little known fact (beyond certain select coaches) that holding your poles like that accomplishes absolutely nothing! Since Rich doesn't actually need to work on CA or CB, it was the perfect move!

[Max_501]

Great report! Sounds like entirely too much fun.

It is a little known fact (beyond certain select coaches) that holding your poles like that accomplishes absolutely nothing! Since Rich doesn't actually need to work on CA or CB, it was the perfect move!

To elaborate on this just a bit... Once a skier has started to connect the pelvis as part of CB/CA, holding the poles like this can be an effective tool. To be done correctly, the student doesn't directly move the hands/arms much (if at all). Instead the movement is driven from the torso, with the goal of keeping the poles horizontal during CB/CA. Its one of my warm up drills.

[sgarrozzo]

Hi Geoff,
it is a pleasure read your comments. Unfortunately I'll have to postpone my PMTS meeting because I fell with my MTB and I broke three vertebrae. I hope to ride again my skis in a few months. but I have a lot of work to do!
make my greetings to Federico, and.... can you explain to me what is the meaning of:
"I thought I was looking at Harald. Dr. K put it together on his second to last run and blew everyone away"

have a good time and good skiing!!

[Erik]

When you flex the old stance ski, that shouldn't trigger any additional movements that cause you to look like an unfolding lawn chair as you move from edge to edge."

Uh-oh!

[MonsterMan]

Rich calmly unclipped his Leki poles from his gloves and said, "No straps; I guess I'll just hold my poles horizontally out in front of me." That was absolutely brilliant.

HH is a soft touch, I had planned the same move for a year, however bloody DR calmly handed me her poles complete with straps and promptly skied off with mine.

[geoffda]

Hi Geoff,
it is a pleasure read your comments. Unfortunately I'll have to postpone my PMTS meeting because I fell with my MTB and I broke three vertebrae. I hope to ride again my skis in a few months. but I have a lot of work to do!
make my greetings to Federico, and.... can you explain to me what is the meaning of:
"I thought I was looking at Harald. Dr. K put it together on his second to last run and blew everyone away"

have a good time and good skiing!!

Sorry to hear about your broken vertebrae. I hope you heal quickly! What I meant by the above is that I was watching a skier come down the mountain, but because of the shadows I couldn't see who it was. Based on the quality of the skiing, I thought I was looking at Harald, but it turned out to be Federico. In other words, Federico had a *very* good run. As did Rich K--I've been generally impressed with the quality of his skiing and the improvements he has made. Every day he seems to be making at least one run that can be described as great.

[h.harb]

Federico had a *very* good run. As did Rich K--I've been generally impressed with the quality of his skiing and the improvements he has made. Every day he seems to be making at least one run that can be described as great.

Agreed!

[h.harb]

Sorry to hear about your injury sgarrozzo, Geoff, great post .

[h.harb]

"Anyone can be an expert skier", and Rich, Dr. K proved it. We had a good laugh over that one on the chair together.

[federico]

Geoff, your report is a gold mine.
It will permit us to recall the experience in every single aspect.

Well done, and not only your turns...

I dont write anymore (lot of things I want to say and lot of people I want to thank) ,
cause is midnight... e domani si scia!

Federico

[sgarrozzo]

Thank you Harald and Geoff,
I'll wait for the next report, since reading is the only thing I can do!!
have a good time and good skiing

[ibMED]

Geoff,
Great report!

Very early in your OP you make references to the Phantom Move (PM) and exercises to practice same, done as the first things your group worked on. For the sake of clarity, and to be working from the same dictionary, I'd appreciate knowing a definition of PM. Going back to Expert Skier I, p. 38., HH wrote: "The early lightening and tipping of the free foot is called the PM." Are we talking the same thing?

[Max_501]

Book 2, page 60.