How to transfer to steeper slopes?

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How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Eiszapfen » Sun Apr 28, 2019 8:59 am

Hello,

I have done a lot of garlands, tipping excercises and the TFR excercise. Then I followed up with some upper body training like holding the poles over the stance ski. It works pretty good on blue slopes, it feels good and I feel that I can solidly balance on my outside ski.

The thing is that I have trouble transfering it to steeper slopes. I especially experience that my free foot, which is lifted,tends to cross over the stance ski at the tip right after the float. It does not feel completely parallel anymore and it really throws me of. I tried to tip my free foot more, but that didn't solve the issue. Also it leads to my legs stiffening.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Kind regards from austria!
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby geoffda » Sun Apr 28, 2019 10:24 am

Make sure you are finishing your turns strongly counteracted and holding your counteracting until you are on the new edges. Lack of CA at the end of the turn (or lack of holding it) will cause the tips to want to cross as you describe. If the hips are allowed to follow the skis at the finish of the turn, the femur of the old stance leg will have too much internal rotation and the tips will want to cross when you lift. Counteracting undoes that rotation, and will help keep the tail of the ski engaged at the finish of the turn. Ideally, improved CA will fix the tip crossing, but in the interim, a quick fix is to point the toes of the free (lifted) foot slightly in the direction of the new turn to uncross the ski tips and bring the lifted ski parallel with the stance ski. If you happen to be rotating your leg as part of the lifting movement (which you don't want to do), pointing your toe to keep the skis parallel will help you fix that as well.

The bottom line with moving to steeper slopes is that not only do you need to be solid in all of your movements, but you will need more range of motion in all of those movements. This takes time and practice to develop. What you need to do on gentler slopes is work towards developing movements that will support more tipping (resulting in higher edge angles) than you are currently skiing with. Note that this can be done with brushed turns. Spend some time working on higher edge angles, then go try a steeper slope. If you are successful, then you can gradually start spending more time training on steeper slopes. If you are not successful, then stay with the terrain where you can continue developing your movements. Eventually, you will find success on steeper terrain.
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Eiszapfen » Sun Apr 28, 2019 12:01 pm

Thank you for your detailed answers! I will try to implement it.

About the CA, you said that I should hold it until on the new edges. But don't I have to switch from facing the old stance ski to facing the new stance ski (which is still uphill) to have CA in the high C when I tip to Lte? So I cannot hold the "old" CA until I am on the new edge? Hope this is comprehensible :)



Thanks!
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Erik » Mon Apr 29, 2019 10:56 am

See Harald's slantboard demonstration of holding counteracting until on the new edges at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=185wmE73Mao
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby h.harb » Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:16 am

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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Eiszapfen » Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:02 am

Perfect, those two videos answer my questions, thank you guys so much for your time!

I wish you a good time in Hintertux Harald, I am currently at the Kitzsteinhorn... I hope I can join one of the future camps!
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Eiszapfen » Wed May 01, 2019 8:58 am

Keeping the CA at the release definitely helps.

I also found out that I try too much to stay forward. My skiing in bumps improves a lot when I feel the pressure more on my heels, but its more taxful on the thighs... Is this a correct experience?
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby ErikCO » Thu May 02, 2019 9:39 am

I do not believe that what you are describing is a correct experience. Pressure on heels and taxing thighs sounds like you are not in proper for-aft balance. As to why you find your skiing to be easier/better in this position, it's hard to say without some from of video.
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Eiszapfen » Thu May 02, 2019 3:11 pm

Yeah that is also what I thought :)

Also I ski best when doing very short turns. When I try to lengthen the turns it throws me of completely.

I am currently skiing alone, but I hope I can ski with a partner soon to get some significant videos
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby jbotti » Thu May 02, 2019 3:47 pm

Weight on the heels makes pushing on tails easier and is to some degree a requisite move for pushing the tails to make the skis come around quickly. In bumps if one does not have a PMTS SRT, that will tend to be the default move (pushing the tails). Best to stay out of bumps because it will just reinforce non PMTS movements.

I encourage you to post video. Even HH can't properly diagnose one's skiing from hearing or reading about it.
Balance: Essential in skiing and in life!
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Max_501 » Thu May 02, 2019 8:27 pm

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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Eiszapfen » Fri May 03, 2019 6:12 am

Thank god I do not look like that :D
I will get my brother to ski with me and then post in MA.

I am always wondering why there is older folks on slopes, that can ski bumps perfectly. They do not seem to know about pmts and their flexing looks quite limited. I am always stunned how they do it.
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby Vailsteve » Sat May 04, 2019 7:44 pm

One tip that Diana drilled into me was to STRONGLY pull my feet back under my hips. Literally, I yank my feet back at the top or high C of the turn. Heluva has a great video on foot pullback...both static and on snow.

For me, this was a critical step in skiing steeper terrain. A strong foot pull back prevents your skis from shooting forward, and it sets up almost perfect fore/aft balance that allows the ski to create a very short radius turn back across the hill.
I am at the point now I can let my skis drift forward a bit, and then at any point in the turn, pull my feet back, lift and tip, and bingo, the ski makes an effortless turn. Great feeling...

As you know Turning across — or even slightly back up — the hill, allows for great speed control. So I practice a lot of riding on (and holding ) my uphill little toe edge across the hill before releasing it.

And, as HH demonstrated, brushing the carve/turn is the ultimate in control. I spent most of this season working on my brushed carve turns....that, and my CA. THAT is a real bear to master!!

Skied peak six at Breckenridge today. Pretty good snow for May...may get to 120 days yet...unreal.
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Re: How to transfer to steeper slopes?

Postby geoffda » Mon May 06, 2019 5:34 pm

Eiszapfen wrote:Thank you for your detailed answers! I will try to implement it.

About the CA, you said that I should hold it until on the new edges. But don't I have to switch from facing the old stance ski to facing the new stance ski (which is still uphill) to have CA in the high C when I tip to Lte? So I cannot hold the "old" CA until I am on the new edge? Hope this is comprehensible :)



Thanks!


The transition is a delicate time. If you try to move your hips while the skis are flat (before they have engaged new edges), you will slide the tails. That is why you have to wait until you have engagement of the new edges on at least one ski. Meanwhile, you can't just start the new CA since at turn finish your hips are fully counteracted relative to the direction of the old turn and you have to unwind all of that. In a short turn, you will not have CA in the high C. You will be unwinding the old CA at the top of the turn. At the fall line, your hips will be facing your skis. You will develop all of the new CA in the bottom of the turn. There are good diagrams of the relationship between hip CA and the direction the skis are pointing in a short turn in Essentials.
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