Thanks Bob

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Thanks Bob

Postby A.L.E » Tue May 01, 2007 4:11 am

I spent a few days with Bob Hintermeister a couple of weeks ago and had a fantastic time sorting out my skiing. Bob is a great coach.

The old addage of perception is not reality is so true and the video reviews certainly showed that early on. My counterbalance and flexing were virtually non existent so we spent a fair amount of time working on those areas. I still don't have the flex sorted completely but the counterbalance has come a long way.

The other Essential that was eluding me was tipping, not that I wasn't getting the skis on edge reasonably ok, it was that tipping to the LTE always felt restricted. It just felt awkward and it never seemed possible to tip to the extent I knew was needed to achieve bigger angles. But what I discovered was the tipping all of a sudden became so much easier once I started to really flex that inside free leg. So for me the Essentials changed order a little, I concentrated on the flex which led to the easy tipping and then all I had to remember to do was counterbalance early and Bob and I could celebrate.

Bob hopefully is sorting out a video CD which I may put up here but in the meantime a few shots here taken by my 13yr old son on our last day in Colorado gave me a great feeling that I am making progress. I've got my eye on the first camp of the season starting 28th November at A Basin, anyone here likely to be attending?

Feel free to tell me what I should be concentrating on and what's going wrong with the skiing images below.


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Postby A.L.E » Tue May 01, 2007 4:53 am

As a bit of backgroud I am 42 and have been skiing spasmotically in Australia for 20 yrs, although between 93 and 2000 I did not ski. The years I did ski amounted to on average maybe a week per season. In 2000 I travelled OS to ski for the first time and attended a YES Improvement Camp in Whistler...it taught me next to nothing despite being with a full cert instructor for the week. I happened to read an ACBAES advertisement a year latter in a ski magazine and so ordered the books. Since then I've attended a PMTS camp in Fernie and last month spent a few days 1 on 1 with Bob Hintermiester. Since 2000 I have probably averaged 10 days skiing per year. Total lifetime skiing I suppose would be about 120 days.
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Postby patprof » Tue May 01, 2007 5:06 am

A.L.E. Looks like you've got you're counter balancing and acting dialed in. Like you-really focusing on flexing the old stance leg at release paid big dividends for me this year. But you can't flex that leg much if it wasn't properly weighted through the bottom half of the previous turn. As usual-Harald is right--so much of PMTS (and great skiing) is about free foot/leg management.
"I can't dance and I can't fly-but when I ski I can sometimes do both!"
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Postby Max_501 » Tue May 01, 2007 7:14 am

Great angles! I'll bet those turns felt great.

A few things that will help you get to the next level.

1) Maintain balance on the outside ski

2) Pull the inside foot up more (when you get it out of the way you'll be able to drop farther into the turn).

3) Tip the inside foot more and keep tipping throughout the turn.

4) Maintain balance on the outside ski

5) Include your pelvis in the counter balancing movement as described here:
http://www.harbskisystems.com/harald/061028.htm
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Postby jclayton » Tue May 01, 2007 7:47 am

A tip which , when I remember , helps me a lot is to keep tipping more and more throught the turn and feel the most tipping just before transition . There does appear to be a slight "A" frame .

Also really feel the ankle pushing on the free side of the boot .
Pretty good for 120 days ( and for an Aussie )
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Postby A.L.E » Tue May 01, 2007 12:45 pm

Max_501 wrote:Great angles! I'll bet those turns felt great.

A few things that will help you get to the next level.

1) Maintain balance on the outside ski

2) Pull the inside foot up more (when you get it out of the way you'll be able to drop farther into the turn).

3) Tip the inside foot more and keep tipping throughout the turn.

4) Maintain balance on the outside ski

5) Include your pelvis in the counter balancing movement as described here:
http://www.harbskisystems.com/harald/061028.htm


1. Yes, the snow spray comparison off the ski bases in frames 5 and 8 indicates the balance is not as outside as it could be. I did notice that so when I was choosing an Avatar shot I looked for a shot with a more even spray. But looking again at the avatar image it shows a little of the same problem. Is that what brings it to your attention?
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2.Yes, although I was very pleased with the angles from these shots, not least because my wife had been ribbing me for the last 2 years after Max Sherwood tagged me as a "banker' after the first run at Fernie, but it is clear that the next step for me is to flex the inside leg more to get it out of the way.

3. Yes there is very little evidence of a gap between my knees which is so clear with the PMTS instructors, that slight bow legged appearance indicating the active tipping is happenening not just rolling over or turning the feet to turn. When practising leaving rail road tracks at slow pace on the flats Bob stressed the point jclayton makes about "really feeling the ankle pressing the side of the boot".

5. Thanks for the link Max, on the evidence of my photos I fit pretty much with your image in that comparison with Harald. I think that dynamic look Harald shows has a lot to do with the aggressive pelvis work together with the arm positions and of course the the pulling the free foot closer, you now have it too. I'm thinking it also must assist with keeping me out of the back seat?
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Postby A.L.E » Tue May 01, 2007 1:10 pm

jclayton wrote:A tip which , when I remember , helps me a lot is to keep tipping more and more throught the turn and feel the most tipping just before transition . There does appear to be a slight "A" frame .

Also really feel the ankle pushing on the free side of the boot .
Pretty good for 120 days ( and for an Aussie )


I can get a pretty decent "A" frame going in the bumps too!

Not sure if your tip about the most tipping just before the transition is the same as what Bob and I worked briefly on, but he had me doing a last second extra tip up hill just before edge change which had the effect of speeding up the transition and got my COM falling into the turn much quicker. It was a pretty dynamic sensation which we only touched on late one afternoon after sorting out my counter balance. Apologies to Bob if I have not described this correctly.
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Postby jclayton » Tue May 01, 2007 5:33 pm

Yeah , that extra tip just before transition gives everything an extra "kick" , feels great . Also throughout the whole turn feel the tipping get progressively greater as thought the free foot is trying to always keep ahead ( laterally ) of the stance foot , trying to keep the O frame intact .
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Extra Kick

Postby geoffsep1963 » Tue May 01, 2007 6:22 pm

how does the extra tipping to get "extra kick" work timing wise with bending the outside leg at the end of the turn to bring that ski back up with the free ski? Do you increase tipping during this phase of the turn? or is tipping reducing by then ?(refer essentials figure 3-35)

edit ( by the way nice skiing and great photos)

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Re: Extra Kick

Postby A.L.E » Wed May 02, 2007 2:34 pm

geoffsep1963 wrote:how does the extra tipping to get "extra kick" work timing wise with bending the outside leg at the end of the turn to bring that ski back up with the free ski? Do you increase tipping during this phase of the turn? or is tipping reducing by then ?(refer essentials figure 3-35)

edit ( by the way nice skiing and great photos)

Geoff


The Essentials does not talk about this skill as far as I can see. The timing of the extra last second tip is about frame 4 in the "sample turn" as shown throughout the book. As you prepare to pole plant and your about to commit to the new new turn, tip the free foot one last time. It has the effect of directing the skis slightly uphill but your pole plant and intended momentum of your COM wants to go the other way. The uphill movement of the skis excelerates the legs travel speed under the body at the same time the COM is falling into the new turn. It really commits the intended COM into the turn so the release and edge change is kind of given an extra zip. Certainly it's not an "Essential" but was a fun thing to play with. You would need to have a solid establishment of the Essentials before diverting thoughts to this skill.
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Postby A.L.E » Wed May 02, 2007 3:50 pm

The other excercise from The Essentials book that helped so much to get bigger angles and get that feel of straightening the stance leg was the Power Release. Being able to keep a safe stable feeling with the inside leg support and at the same time straighten out that outside leg was a real key for me. For the first time I got that great sensation of a straight leg and to be honest it was pretty easy from then on to replicate it naturally in turns, provided I had the counter balance working well.
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Re: Extra Kick

Postby vseh » Sat May 05, 2007 1:30 am

A.L.E wrote:
geoffsep1963 wrote:how does the extra tipping to get "extra kick" work timing wise with bending the outside leg at the end of the turn to bring that ski back up with the free ski? Do you increase tipping during this phase of the turn? or is tipping reducing by then ?(refer essentials figure 3-35)

edit ( by the way nice skiing and great photos)

Geoff


The Essentials does not talk about this skill as far as I can see. The timing of the extra last second tip is about frame 4 in the "sample turn" as shown throughout the book. As you prepare to pole plant and your about to commit to the new new turn, tip the free foot one last time. It has the effect of directing the skis slightly uphill but your pole plant and intended momentum of your COM wants to go the other way. The uphill movement of the skis excelerates the legs travel speed under the body at the same time the COM is falling into the new turn. It really commits the intended COM into the turn so the release and edge change is kind of given an extra zip. Certainly it's not an "Essential" but was a fun thing to play with. You would need to have a solid establishment of the Essentials before diverting thoughts to this skill.

Excellent series of photos and great demonstration of counterbalance. Looks like wonderful snow, lets hope we get some in Australia this year
In terms of the last moment tip, are you describing "When do we flex without releasing" on page114 of "Essentials"?
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Re: Extra Kick

Postby Max_501 » Sat May 05, 2007 7:41 am

vseh wrote:In terms of the last moment tip, are you describing "When do we flex without releasing" on page114 of "Essentials"?


This is an expert movement. I still can't do it properly. Its the type of thing you do after you get all of the essentials nailed, you have the tightest arc you can get using those essentials, so you throw that move into the mix to tighten the arc up a bit.

Basically I've decided not to worry about it until I get everything else dialed.
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Re: Extra Kick

Postby A.L.E » Sat May 05, 2007 1:29 pm

vseh wrote:
A.L.E wrote:
geoffsep1963 wrote:how does the extra tipping to get "extra kick" work timing wise with bending the outside leg at the end of the turn to bring that ski back up with the free ski? Do you increase tipping during this phase of the turn? or is tipping reducing by then ?(refer essentials figure 3-35)

edit ( by the way nice skiing and great photos)

Geoff


The Essentials does not talk about this skill as far as I can see. The timing of the extra last second tip is about frame 4 in the "sample turn" as shown throughout the book. As you prepare to pole plant and your about to commit to the new new turn, tip the free foot one last time. It has the effect of directing the skis slightly uphill but your pole plant and intended momentum of your COM wants to go the other way. The uphill movement of the skis excelerates the legs travel speed under the body at the same time the COM is falling into the new turn. It really commits the intended COM into the turn so the release and edge change is kind of given an extra zip. Certainly it's not an "Essential" but was a fun thing to play with. You would need to have a solid establishment of the Essentials before diverting thoughts to this skill.

Excellent series of photos and great demonstration of counterbalance. Looks like wonderful snow, lets hope we get some in Australia this year
In terms of the last moment tip, are you describing "When do we flex without releasing" on page114 of "Essentials"?


The mechanics of the description sound like the same thing but in a different context.
We weren't doing it to tighten the arc for any particular reason we were doing it to speed up the edge change and give the COM a bit of turbo boost.
Racing in gates would be one area where the arc tightening and excellerated edge change would be very useful.

Yeah lets hope we have a decent season in Oz this year. I am though spending more time skiing OS as a result of the ridiculously high price of skiing at home where our lift tickets and accommodation are as high as just about anywhere in the world, without the surety of decent snow. Not to mention PMTS instruction is really only available in North America and it's the only type I want.

Japan is the next family destination in a couple of years where the quantity of powder makes Alta and Snowbird look like deserts. :wink: No PMTS instructors there yet but that might be changing I hear.

All OS snow holidays should be finished off with a stopover somewhere like this to warm up again!

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Postby vseh » Sat May 05, 2007 3:38 pm

Hi ALE
Couldn't agree more about your sentiments concerning skiing in Australia, they've just about priced themselves out of the market. Fortunately I'm a club member and skiing is only part of the attraction of going to the Snowy Mountains.
I'm sure you'd enjoy Japan I skied Niseko this year, Just one warning - if you're taking the family make sure you get Australian-style accommodation. My family stayed in an old Japanese pensione, my wife still hasn't forgiven me, however the hospitality more than makes up for any problem.
I take it that Peter and Scottie are still still talking about basing themselves in Niseko, it's a lot easier to get to than Fernie. Fernie does have some serious steeps which aren't at Niseko (not that I can ski them anyway).
The usual stop-over on the way back from North America is Hawaii but I don't recognize the lodging style - where did you stay?
Your photos are again excellent.
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