Better Late Than Never: 2011 Skiing Video in HD

[HeluvaSkier]

After receiving requests for this video from members here, other forums... even a few members of other countries national demo teams... I decided to put this together for everyone, and yes, it is in HD and some slow motion. I also figured it was time we had some of our own content up here - hopefully take the load off Harald. All of the clips were filmed at my home mountain, Holimont, by my girlfriend Kathleen [yes, she's awesome; no, she's not available].

You may not immediately notice a ton of improvement from 2010 because most of my early improvements came in the way of boot setup and where I was standing on the ski. I didn't start to evolve my technique a lot until the end of the season. I kept feeling like I was almost onto something, but still falling short until the end of the season - after the video was taken of course. All runs were skied on my [new] Fischer SOMA 150 boots and either my 188cm 27m Fischer GS skis or my 165cm 12m Fischer SL skis.

My personal MA to-work-on list is [this is a stream of consciousness, so if it doesn't make sense... sorry, now at least you know some of what is going on in my head when I watch this]:
- Hold the free foot back more, especially in GS; trust the stance ski, even though it is hard to do on that snow at those angles
- Be patient with extending; don't rush it and create a push at the top of the turn; CB here as needed to stay balanced
- CA more, especially post fall line so you don't have to push to release the turn
- Flex more at times in order to be quicker and if you delay tipping, delay extension as well; timing is a bitch, but it will make the turns snappier
- Don't push at the bottom of the turn; release aggressively but smoothly; keep those damn things on the snow
- Don't think about it, do it; move more than you ever thought about moving before. [interestingly, once I got over this last bit, everything fell into place].
- Core is too tight from how I'm holding my arms and affecting CA and CB. Stand up straighter and open up a bit.

A lot of the above I made great progress on after all of this video was shot. I'm hoping for some big improvements in 2012 now that my boots are dialed and I have some direction with my skiing. Bumps and powder also fell into place for me while I was in Colorado last spring. I didn't ski with Harald unfortunately, but talking to him in person was enough to make a lot of the above list click for me. Thanks Harald! 2012 will be a good season I hope.

In the mean time, you didn't come to read my babble, here is what you clicked for. Hope you like it. If you don't, well, you do the next one.

Cheers everyone.

[Max_501]

Why are you messing around with those skinny race skis? From what I have read you should be on something at least 90mm under the foot for the east coast, add some tip and tail rocker and word is they are even better for carving because of easier turn initiation!

[Matt]

Great, thanks for putting it together Heluva. It's beyond me to MA this so I won't. Nice to see what a couple of years of PMTS can accomplish, even without IRL coaching!

[geoffda]

Thanks Greg. I was sucking yesterday and that was just what I needed to get pysched to get things back on track today. BTW, Blue Camp is happening this week so if HH is slow in responding, that is why.

[HeluvaSkier]

Thanks Greg. I was sucking yesterday and that was just what I needed to get pysched to get things back on track today. BTW, Blue Camp is happening this week so if HH is slow in responding, that is why.

I strongly doubt you were “sucking”, but I know how frustrating it is to have an off day [I felt like I had an off season last year!]. Glad this can be of some help. I’m sure Harald will post when he has a chance.

[dan.boisvert]

Thanks for sharing! It's cool to see your progression over the years, and the video clearly doesn't lie. Now all we need is a few others to do the same and we can do a PMTS infomercial with before and after video of a bunch of people..

[absentskier]

The quality of the camerawork and image clarity is excellent. Impressive slow motion image quality indeed.

[HeluvaSkier]

Add a bullet to my personal MA:
- Core is too tight and affecting CA and CB. Stand up straighter and open up a bit.

Thanks.

[idahorob]

Heluva, you could submit this video as an audition to be in one of those Japanese ski movies!

[HeluvaSkier]

The quality of the camerawork and image clarity is excellent. Impressive slow motion image quality indeed.

I will let Kathleen know. She will be happy to hear it. She works hard to help me get this footage.

[HeluvaSkier]

Heluva, you could submit this video as an audition to be in one of those Japanese ski movies!

Haha. I don't think I'm there... not yet anyway. Given where I'm at now, I can see that obtaining that level of skiing is possible with PMTS. I will have to be able to do more of everything, but nothing will change.

[h.harb]

Short note, just got home, we had a great camp. this is great skiing, I love it, no one in PSIA can match this skiing. It's a PMTS product. The Japanese free skiers can do this, but North American ski schools/demo teams are far behind. I've had requests from a Japanese 7 time, Free Ski champion, to use my videos and book to translate to Japanese, this is great and high respect, from skiers we respect.

They are watching us and we are watching them; funny how good skiing is recognized by good skiers. We don't recognize PSIA and they don't recognize us, but we recognize the Japanese and Koreans skiers.

[arothafel]

Great video, Helluva! The thing I notice most (because I struggle with it) is your pole plant looks way different from your previous video -- more inline with HH's NSPP. I wonder how this plays in to your racing where you need to block. Do you make a conscious effort during free skiing not bring your hands forward - and then change it up for race days/training? I can't wait to see your 2012 compilation reel... ! Kathleen should get an award.

They are watching us and we are watching them; funny how good skiing is recognized by good skiers. We don't recognize PSIA and they don't recognize us, but we recognize the Japanese and Koreans skiers.

Robben Ford, Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather are just a few American guitarists who play to sell-out crowds in Japanese concerts. Typically the audience is filled with musicians and hard-core enthusiasts. They rarely play U.S. dates where the tastes are Lady Gaga, Glee and Katy Perry (PSIA)! You may find this is the case with PMTS! I'll bet your book/dvd sales will be higher in Japanese markets than U.S. Just sayin....

[HeluvaSkier]

Great video, Helluva! The thing I notice most (because I struggle with it) is your pole plant looks way different from your previous video -- more inline with HH's NSPP. I wonder how this plays in to your racing where you need to block. Do you make a conscious effort during free skiing not bring your hands forward - and then change it up for race days/training? I can't wait to see your 2012 compilation reel... ! Kathleen should get an award.

I have been working on my arms/shoulders/chest for a long time now. It started to come together at the end of last season. The run right at the end for example, shows improvement over some of the other runs where I'm in a red coat. What I was working on is dropping my elbows and keeping my knuckles pointing forward and never down. What this allowed [or will allow when I master it] me to do was loosen up my upper body so that I can CB and CA more. It also makes the upper body independent of what the arms are doing - so in a way it makes blocking in SL easier because I don't have to have my body in a perfect place in order to get my cross block. The other place this really helps [for the same reasons] is bumps. Eventually my hope is that my arms start to compliment my skiing more instead of just not hurting my skiing.

[milesb]

Robben Ford, Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather are just a few American guitarists who play to sell-out crowds in Japanese concerts. Typically the audience is filled with musicians and hard-core enthusiasts. They rarely play U.S. dates where the tastes are Lady Gaga, Glee and Katy Perry (PSIA)! You may find this is the case with PMTS! I'll bet your book/dvd sales will be higher in Japanese markets than U.S. Just sayin....

lol, you can be Big In Japan

BTW, very impressive Greg.