Is There Hope for Straight Ski Veterans?
In a recent article in The Mountain Times, a Vermont weekly paper, Chip Dwyer and Steve O’Connor, both PSIA level III instructors, suggest that skiers who were proficient on straight skis can make the transition to proficiency on shaped skis without relearning the sport. Chip and Steve have put together a drill which includes "exaggerating the skills needed" to help master the art of carving that the shaped ski design is made to offer.
If you have ever watched a skier proficient in carving turns on shaped skis, you will appreciate the beauty of the rhythm with which the skier rolls across the skis cutting a non-skidding line of Cs down the mountain. Can the exaggeration drills Chip and Steve propose really bring straight ski veterans to a degree of proficiency on shaped skis?
The Ski Tip Tester Team
Well, to answer this question for all the straight ski veterans, the About.com Ski Tip Tester Team put the exaggeration drills to on-the-snow testing. Exaggeration drill methodology is not new. Chip Dwyer, also a golf instructor, notes that it is often used by golf coaches to successfully correct flaws in the techniques of pro-golfers. How well it translates to helping skiers assimilate proper technique is what the About.com team set out to find.
The first problem the team encountered was finding a proper subject. The ideal candidate would be someone who was classified as an intermediate to advanced skier on straight skis, but had never been on shaped skis. We found the appropriate shaped ski virgin was a rare specimen, either because they refused to give up their straight skis or were already rotating, counter-rotating, and unweighting on a pair of shaped skis.
The team did settle on a skier from the latter group. Michael used shaped skis for two seasons without lessons and was managing turns on blue and black level trails. However, it was obvious he had neither an understanding why the skis were shaped nor any idea of a technique necessary to take advantage of the design of the skis.
The sequence of Chip and Steve’s Tip Included:
Skiing the student on green terrain. Taking the skier back to gentle green slopes to ski with a wider stance than they were used to on straight skis. This is to let the student observe the tracks of a typical set of turns.
Edging exaggeration drill standing on green terrain. The drill will push the angulation of the ankles, knees, and hips to put the skis on edge and use the ski design to force the radius of the turn.
Incorporating the carving method into every day skiing. This is where the student must consciously remember to use the angulations of the exaggeration drill until it becomes engrained.
Michael had no problem on the green trail. However, it was obvious from his first run that the skis were ankle to ankle and turns consisted mostly of "hockey stop" skidding. He was initially skeptical of the potential built into the design of the shaped ski, until one of the Team physically showed him the sidecut of the ski and explained the why and how of the sidecut in relation to a radius of a circle and to a turning radius being part of a circle.
Transitioning from Straight Skis
Explaining the physics of the shaped ski would also probably help others transitioning from straight skis, because a serious student on straight skis most likely knows the why and how of unweighting. Continuing on working through the tip, Michael was made to ride a wide stance and told how to use his ankle and knee muscles to roll onto the edges in each direction. Stopping at the end of right and left traverses, and looking back at the slightly edged tracks, you could see the light bulb go on as Michael began to bring it together in his mind.
We moved right into the exaggeration drill. Michael positioned himself with skis facing across the beginner slope. He was extended the basket end of a ski pole and told to lean into the hill creating, in effect, a tug of war with the person holding the other end of the ski pole. Rolling his ankles, then pushing in the knees Michael actually assumed a position where his hips were well uphill from his skis.
Accenting The Positive
When Michael’s reaction led to a "You got to be kidding, right?" One of the Tip Team Testers told him to conjure up one of those highly publicized pictures of Bode Miller going around a giant slalom gate. While Michael has no aspiration to race, the mental image of Miller’s extreme angulations, with skis almost perpendicular to the snow, reinforced what the drill was exaggerating to show. Another tester reminded Michael that, while moving on skis, gravity and centrifugal force would be doing the "tug of war" with him.
A tester then assumed the student position and exaggerated the angulation further than Michael had. This way, Michael could get a close up "still action" visual. Here, Chip and Steve’s drill wanted the student to imagine that his boots were full of water and to lean so as to "empty all the water out of their boots." This image really stuck with everyone.
Once Michael had an understanding of the physics and the movements needed to make the carved turns we set out for some free skiing. It was obvious that the exaggerated posturing was locked into Michael’s brain. However, as Instructors Dwyer and O’Conner had predicted, his carving was punctuated with falls and skidding, but he had the team for support and direction.
It’s A Keeper
It was obvious that this exaggeration drill will help Michael to develop smooth non-skidding turns. Actually, everyone on the snow for this drill said they got a better feel for where the body should be in carving turns on shaped skis. The "pouring water out of the boots" visual is what stuck in everyone’s mind during the free skiing. This drill is one for every skier’s toolbox. Do the drill, remember the visuals, and practice.
Chip Dwyer is a PSIA Level III instructor, golf professional and freelance writer contributing to The Mountain Times and Snoweast magazine. Steve O’Connor is a PSIA level III instructor and a member of the PSIA Eastern Demonstration Team. Both are instructing at Killington Resort, VT.
