Whether you understand skiing is really determined by your skiing, not by your writing. If you want to know whether you understand something, put up video. I'm going to answer your questions, but I'm not sure how useful it will be. It is difficult to learn much about skiing through discussions on the internet. Words can help when we are standing on the slope and I can demonstrate what I'm talking about and you can try it for yourself and get feedback on whether you achieved understanding. In any case, let's not let this thread go much further. If you want to understand the books, the best thing you can do is go do the things that you are reading about. With all of Harald's writings, understanding comes from doing. None of his books are meant to be read, they are meant to be done. If people just go do the thing he is writing about, they generally get it. Don't try to parse his sentences. He isn't trying to explain anything, he is trying to offer you a guide to experiencing the things you need to experience in order to develop your own understanding of how skiing works.
Bun-chan wrote:"Tip both feet on edge, starting with the foot that tips toward its little toe edge."
This is exactly what I do, or at least try to do. I keep tipping the inside foot toward LTE throughout the turn while leaving the outside foot passive, i.e., being patient and delaying the edging. I feel the outside foot/ski automatically follows the tipping angle of the inside foot/ski until I reach the moment of releasing the outside ski at the end of the turn.
If this observation/feeling/interpretation of mine is correct, then technically the inside ski, which is leading the tipping movement, must be always slightly more tipped than the outside ski except for the very last moment of the turn.
QUESTION #1: Is anything wrong with my understanding above? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
LTE edge tipping is what starts the process of moving the hips inside of the new turn, which is what causes the stance leg to roll onto BTE. However, once the BTE engages it must be actively managed with BTE tipping. In most turns, the stance leg does not stay passive.
Bun-chan wrote:Also, in her Brushed Curve Turn video, Diana talks about choosing the edge angle of the stance ski (leaving the stance ski less edged than the free foot/ski) while continuously tip the free foot to LTE. I believe this means the free/inside ski is more edged than the stance/outside ski.
QUESTION #2: Again, correct me if I'm wrong here.
Yes, this is true. Asymmetric tipping will start a brush. However, in most cases once the brush starts, BTE tipping of the stance foot will be used to bring the edge angles parallel to carve the bottom of the turn.
Bun-chan wrote:"Try to stand evenly balanced on both feet to maintain similar pressure under each foot."
QUESTION #3: Could someone please clarify this statement? I would like to fully understand what it means. Physically speaking, it is impossible for two skis equally pressured and at the same exact angle to turn parallel. To turn, by definition, the outside ski has to travel longer distance than the inside ski. To put it differently, the outside ski has to travel faster than the inside ski. It's like speed skaters do crossovers to allow outside skate to travel faster/longer to continuously change the direction. It's like "differential" in automobile technology which allows outside wheels to travel faster/longer than inside wheels.
Having said that, since skis have camber, when they are edged and thus flexed, they naturally create curved tracks. However, to create a short "tight" turn, the outside ski has to be predominantly weighted so that it can travel faster than the inside ski. Also, as Harald says, shortening and pulling back of the inside leg creates higher edge angle and more forward pressure, thus, a tighter turn.
It seems to me that all these tightening-turn movements (putting more weight on the ouside foot; shortening the inside foot; and pulling the inside foot back) boil down to one thing: letting the outside ski go faster and slowing the inside ski down relative to the outside ski. Because that's what needs to happen for the skis to turn parallel especially in a short radius.
Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.
You are over thinking this. He is talking about pressure under the foot with respect to weight distribution, not with respect to ski performance. Anyway, the point of this statement is to show people how to access to the carving properties of the ski. This is not how we ski generally; it is a necessary simplification to enable preliminary understanding. Skiing can neither be taught nor understood in the medium of language. It has to be experienced. While everything you say seems reasonable, it isn't interesting because knowing it doesn't make anyone a better skier. Either you can make a carved short turn or you can't and that is completely independent of knowing the physics behind it. There are plenty of folks out there that understand the physics of what makes a ski turn, but couldn't make a turn themselves to save their lives. That is why we try to avoid such discussions on the forum.
Again, go do the thing being described. Then, if you have difficulties come back and ask for help.