Nick Hill attacks each turn

 As I've been working on my new dvd and website, I've been looking for great examples of one of the diamond principles that I call Will.  The fundamental principle of Will is the intention to MOVE, to attack.

I thought these shots of Hilly really show that.  Taking all your "stuff" into each turn, confidently, and fearlessly, seem to be such a powerful piece of great skiing.

 Here's a photomontage of the same guy. (photo credits:  Cesar Piotto)



Thoughts? Comments?

A couple of items while I'm on the run this morning.

Hilly is a crud master.  He loves it more than anything and I have a sense of him, in his mind, always skiing crud.  And yes, he could launch big on a moment's notice.

As far as emulation is concerned....I would sell my firstborn to be able to ski like this.

As for attack....it's just the idea of nothing being held back in the transition.  You all have touched on this a bit--both form the point of view of him looking very quiet, and from the point of view of him being in motion.

Rick, I'm fascinated by your pivoting/rotation analysis.  Could you elaborate?  I don't see that as well.  (And I don't mind changing the subject from the idea of Will.  That's one of the beauties of the model.)

As to extension/flexion....this seems a young person's crud style.  I've seen this in Davenport as well.  I tend to flex/extend more with the pelvis. Hilly fully extends his outside leg into the angle, but does not unflex his hips much as he pushes forward.  Here's an old guy in the bumps who projects the pelvis forward more.  Of course, the circumstances and fitness levels are very different from Hilly's ride.

 

 Interesting, Bud. I think in a DVD you can do a lot with stuff like that in order to show the subtleties.  We'll add the graphics and see how it looks.

That run in the bumps was designed to show exaggerated extension in deep holes, making round turns.  

Thanks for you comments, Bud.

Now, back to my original thought:  

We sometimes get quite wrapped up in technical movement analysis.  Although Hilly's technique is "arguable" it is not exactly the point for me.  (On that last issue, I would argue that it is terrific.  I've seen him do that exactly the same way down amazingly steep, cruddy, and bumpy terrain.  He seems to have found a movement and pattern that really is versatile, efficient, and effective.  His training is both Australian and Austrian, and I've not got a lot of argument against their solutions.)

But what grabs me here is what I really want to encourage for all skiers--the idea of everything moving toward the new turn.  There is often an artificial break between the end of one turn and the initiation of the next.  We even used to describe it that way in exam movement analysis.  For me, the magic is to make that break more seamless.  A whole world shifts during the edge change, and to pause there is really a bad idea if skiing is going to be great.  

For me, the overall impression of Hilly here immediately relates to phrases from Bob Barnes's thinking:  Offensive skiing.  GO skiing. (In my model this is Will in service to Purpose)

If I get students (and myself) to "see" and "feel" this sense of "taking it down the hill" through the one arc and directly into the next, then all the great technique they have will work.  If they don't get this, then all the great technique in the world won't do a damn thing.

 Lars, you really have my point here.  And I might use this clip to illustrate several ideas.  This to me is one of the problems with classic movement analysis.  It is so laser focused on technique, that it quite often misses the "forest", or various clumps and configurations of trees.  Are there mistakes?  Sure.  Are there mistakes in my skiing in the bump run above?  Sure.  All of them are part of skiing and all of them can be used to help understand and grow my own skiing.

 Mudfoot, I agree this is very much like walking in its seamlessness.

Skidude72  and Epic are correct, in my view.  It is usually better to look at a turn from middle to middle, or fall line to fall line in order to avoid the transitional pause that indicates, "I'm finished with this turn, now I'll ski across the hill to find a new place to start a new turn."  This traverse to traverse approach is one of the big problems of ski teaching.  Since the main motivation of students is to slow down, stop, and feel safe, we get sucked into stopping the motion in a completed turn.  What they learn about that this first day is very hard to change.  I really believe that one of the big differences between an intermediate and an expert skier is this mental configuration about transitions.  It is a semantical difference that has enormous real life result.

Having said that, I think that staying in motion into the next turn is not the same as rushing the turn or banking.  Those are different issues, that I would treat differently.  "Move, but don't hurry." for example.

ssh's point is an interesting one--especially since he witnessed the penultimate trashing of my knee before I got a new one!  Hilly's more visible movement in the transition, or the edge change, is powerful and directed enough so that he is really well aligned for the middle of the turn.  This, by the way, is one of the strong points of his skiing in my view.  When you do that well, you really can "work" the ski in the middle of the turn without appearing to do much work.  It is clear to me that there is plenty of resilient tension in the legs to maintain what he wishes to maintain in terms of pressure, edge, and twist to carry himself across the hill.  Many skiers, in a radius like this, DO go dead in the middle.  This is the classic park and ride turn you describe, Steve.  I don't think Hilly does that.  I think he "drives" the turn throughout.  But, yes, he's quieter towards the middle, because he can be.

Another way of looking at this I learned from my friend, aikido master, Tom Crum.  He says, "Move like the river.  Be still like the mountain."  He explains that the mountain stillness is not rigid.  It's a dynamic, living stillness full of power and potential.  Some of my best skiing will occur when I carry this idea with me.  It helps me bypass technical thought and just ski.  I certainly see this aspect in Hilly, and in many other skiers whom I admire.

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.