There were not very many lessons today, so there was plenty of time to ski and work on our own technique. Early in the day we worked on fore and aft balance, the need to adjust your balance from the front to the back in order to stay "on top" of your skis. In the deep powder we currently have, being able to make this adjustment is vital. Too much forward and your skis dive in and make you stop, too much backward and you lose your balance and the skis shoot up and you end up on your butt. One of the exercises that helped me here was bouncing up and down in a straight run. It gave me a feeling for the snow and helped me to adjust to the bottomless powder.
As the snow gets more packed and we generally try to avoid the stuff that is so deep and stops you, my focus shifted today to the concept of the Fulcrum Mechanism. Here is how I've heard it explained. Lift one ski off of the snow and try to "turn" the ski that is on the snow without moving your upper body. It's impossible. Now with both skis on the snow, with both feet locked together, try and "turn" your feet without moving your upper body. It's pretty much impossible again. Now stand with your feet wider apart, at least as wide as you shoulders and try to "turn" your feet without moving your upper body. You can do it! This shows how much more effiecient it is to "turn" your feet without using your upper body if they are a comfortable distance apart. This is called the "Fulcrum Mechanism." What is happening is that in order for your feet to turn independantly from your upper body they need something to turn against while they have weight on them. While in motion, sliding down a hill, this feels like I am transfering pressure from one ski to the other new turning ski as I apply a steering movement to make my skis go a new direction.
I've known about this before, but getting reminded of it today was hugh for me. All of a sudden my upper and lower body were more separate. I didn't need to to exagerated upper body movements to get my skis to change directions. It felt much smoother and more efficient.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
My First Students of the Season
The Mountaineers Program started yesterday. I've been assigned the advanced students. So far there are four youngsters in my class. All of them are back from last year. Two of them were with me before and the other two were with Brad. Parker, 13, and Jake, 12, were with me last year and Jack, 9, and Jessica, 10, were with Brad. It's a cohesive group with the two older boys and the two younger kids. I've been doing some reciprocal learning with them, having them ski with each other looking to see if the other is making the movements we're trying to do.
I find that with youngsters who have started skiing when they hardly have enough weight to flex their boots, they tend to compensate for their lack of ankle flexion by bending over at the waist and sitting back. They tend to bend more at the waist with their center of mass behind their feet. You also see a stiff outer leg. Since these four are a little bigger now, I was trying to get them to start flexing their ankles more. So most of the day we were looking at what happens in our skiing when we do flex our ankles. Through a little bit of explanation, lots of demonstration, and then practice, I hoped to show them how much easier it is to stay in balance if their flexion and extension movements begin in their ankles. The results I hoped for was a more centered stance, better edging capabilities, and easier steering because of their added abilty to flex and extend appropriately. By the end of the day I was seeing much less bending over at the waists and much less of those stiff outside legs. It looked to me like they were in better balance and not working so hard to get their skis to turn and control their speed.
I find that with youngsters who have started skiing when they hardly have enough weight to flex their boots, they tend to compensate for their lack of ankle flexion by bending over at the waist and sitting back. They tend to bend more at the waist with their center of mass behind their feet. You also see a stiff outer leg. Since these four are a little bigger now, I was trying to get them to start flexing their ankles more. So most of the day we were looking at what happens in our skiing when we do flex our ankles. Through a little bit of explanation, lots of demonstration, and then practice, I hoped to show them how much easier it is to stay in balance if their flexion and extension movements begin in their ankles. The results I hoped for was a more centered stance, better edging capabilities, and easier steering because of their added abilty to flex and extend appropriately. By the end of the day I was seeing much less bending over at the waists and much less of those stiff outside legs. It looked to me like they were in better balance and not working so hard to get their skis to turn and control their speed.
Working Now! So Much Snow!
After 17 days of waiting past the scheduled opening date, Monarch opened yesterday. We went from zero percent open trails to enough snow for 100 percent open trails all at once. We got so much snow it was ridicules. I believe yesterday we were reporting over 60 inches at mid-mountain. That's five feet! The level of excitement was pretty high. Everyone was hootin' and holerin'. I was one of the crowd that took the Tumbelina chair first, heading for the Panorama chair. We often ski down a short blue run called B-Line to get to the Pano chair. As of yesterday morning it still had not been groomed. The snow was so deep we could hardly get down it. I think one of the funniest sites I've ever seen at Monarch was looking back up B-Line and seeing so many people up near the top wallowing around in the snow trying to get back up. Everyone was so excited to get to ski deep powder, and yet so many were having such a hard time just trying to get down the hill! My first run of the season at Monarch was High Anxiety. It's one of our steeper runs and usually doesn't even open until sometime in January after we've had enough snow. This is the first time I've ever seen runs like High Anxiety, Kanonan, Lobo, Examiner all opened on the first day! I wish I could say it was great skiing down it, but in reality it was hard work putting first tracks down. The snow was so deep that we could barely make it down. Then if you fell you were likely in for an ordeal trying to get back up.
I was thinking about the class I was going to have and the unique challenges we were likely to encounter with so much snow. The Mountaineers students I was anticipating were likely to not even be as tall as the snow was deep. At first I thought I was going to have to find some florescent tape to string from their skis to make it easier to find them if they fell. But then after skiing a little bit, I knew we would not be doing any powder skiing. I'd decided we were going to pretty much stay on any groomed slopes we could find. One fall and we could be stuck on run for a long time.
Saying the amount of snowfall we just got was extreme would be putting it mildly. I was brought back to my mountaineering days and reminded of the dangers and challenges Mother Nature can throw at you. I have a renewed respect for the mountains and remember their vastness and how small we are.
I was thinking about the class I was going to have and the unique challenges we were likely to encounter with so much snow. The Mountaineers students I was anticipating were likely to not even be as tall as the snow was deep. At first I thought I was going to have to find some florescent tape to string from their skis to make it easier to find them if they fell. But then after skiing a little bit, I knew we would not be doing any powder skiing. I'd decided we were going to pretty much stay on any groomed slopes we could find. One fall and we could be stuck on run for a long time.
Saying the amount of snowfall we just got was extreme would be putting it mildly. I was brought back to my mountaineering days and reminded of the dangers and challenges Mother Nature can throw at you. I have a renewed respect for the mountains and remember their vastness and how small we are.
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