MA Just for fun.. Squaw, 4-16-2012 - Page 2

From myself:

From dchan:

     Quote:

I think you may have misunderstood me.  I am not saying that your hips are too far in the direction of the tails of your skis.  I am not saying that you are simply in the backseat.  I am saying that when your skis are going accross the hill, your hips are too much up the hill to the side of your skis.  I am confident that what I am seeing is not an illusion.  If it is it's a really awesome one.  LOL

I can see it in every turn.  This picture shows it:

Again, I am not saying that your butt is too far in the direction of your tails, but that your hips are too far to the uphill side of your skis.  Part of the problem is that you're really straight-legged instead of angulated.  Being straight-legged like that means that if your skis are on edge, your hip will be too far uphill. 

That picture also shows you with too much weight on your uphill ski.  The spray of snow over your downhill foot proves it. 

Good assessment Saunders. He can't get more downhill ski engagement in his current alignment.

Look at the angle at the ankle in these two screen shots.  What do you think?  How stiff are these boots?  What's the effective forward lean with the toe lift plates you've installed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kneale Brownson 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blake Saunders 


Again, I am not saying that your butt is too far in the direction of your tails, but that your hips are too far to the uphill side of your skis.  Part of the problem is that you're really straight-legged instead of angulated.  Being straight-legged like that means that if your skis are on edge, your hip will be too far uphill. 
 

It's a very steep slope, Blake.

^And you want to have more angulation and separation.

I think that is what Blake and Liquid were trying to point out. If your upper body does not have the correct movements and path down the fall line then your lower body can not provide leverage advantage. Not belittling you or boasting my skill level,just trying to help. Which helps me too. It takes courage,commitment and unwavering faith in your technique. Your prolly skiing a double black and I prolly would not even attempt it.

I guess it is a significant advantage for candidates that are from Squaw in this case

Quote:

Originally Posted by dchan 

Several of the candidates were clearly out of their comfort zones on that run. It was steeper than it looks in those videos.
Slider,
Glad the comments are helping you.

Dchan,

What does your calf muscle circumference measure at the top of the liner? (inches or mm)

What is the forward lean of your boot when you measure it (in millimeters) from a vertical line placed behind the heel of the boot.

(place the boot in a door frame and measure to the liner at the top of the rear of the shell .)

A. If you boots have more forward lean

B. or if you have a larger calf,

C. or both of the above

your knee will be pushed forward to a point where you can not load your heels

without pushing on the back of the boot cuff with your calf.  You will sit back in order to get off of the front of your skis.

Also indicated by the need to step some turns.

mike

From Kneale Brownson:

Can we at least agree that he is on his uphill ski here (and in other turns):

That is basically all I am saying.  So far I have made 2 points: 1 is that his hips are too far up the hill and 2 is that his weight is on his uphill ski.... I said this like it was 2 seperate points, but really it's the same point.  Because it's the same thing.  Either his hips are too far up the hill because he's on his uphill ski // or he's on his uphill ski because his hips are too far up the hill.  Same thing. 

The angulation issue that ties into this is a body position thing.  It relates to the problem as well. He is bent forward at the waist with straight legs rather than using his angulation to get his body more in the direction of his skis. 

I can't figure out how to pull a picture from the video which is why I am using a picture someone else pulled.  The best example I see to prove my point is the picture that is on the video as the front page of the video before you press play.  It looks to me that he is close to falling onto his hip on that turn.  Here, don't press play, just look at the picture on it: 

From Kneale Brownson:

Ok, so you want to debate the subject of english now?  I thought an 'opinion' could be a 'point'.  Where is my dictionary....

Also, I am not "picking on" anyone or any thing.  The OP asked for an MA and got one, that's all.  I assume if someone asks for one it means they want one. 

The OP did not react defensively towards anything I said, so it's hard for me to understand why anyone else would when the OP was the only person I was talking to.  I'm starting to think I should make my avatar a target.  I do not understand many of the reactions I get on this forum. 

If no one is trying to react defensively, fine, but it seems that way to me.

From Kneale Brownson:

Then back the video up a couple seconds and see the same thing. 

From dchan

I don't see how steepness would affect what I'm seeing.  Even if I assume it's the steepest run I've ever seen, I don't see how that would change anything. 

I watched the new tilted video and see the same thing. 

If we don't agree let's just leave it at that.  It doesn't matter.  I don't feel like debating anymore. 

I like your intensity in your style as I said before. 

I appreciate you guys respecting my wishes to not have a runaway debate.  I think this forum would be nicer if everyone (including myself due to my irritability) made that effort more often. 

I don't plan on breaking my own idea about that with this post... I saw rod9301's post and this run came to mind because he mentioned degrees.  I heard this backcountry run is 50-55 degrees.  I don't know if that's right, and I haven't skied the run you guys are on, so I don't know what's steeper.  This was the steepest run I did all year though. 

Here are some shots of it I pulled from the video I did this year.  Let's just call this "different" shall we?  Not better, not worse, because it's neither of those things... just "different" body position.  If we could think about things like that there'd probably be a lot less "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts" on these threads.  Those words don't make a lot of sense here anyway when you take into consideration the fact there is not much reason to ski in the first place other than for enjoyment.  If you're enjoying, you're doing it "right". 

I didn't read all the other posts so I apologize if I'm repeating.

Nice skiing Dchan.

You are certainly gripping more than the other two... although their skidding is allowing them to maintain a bit more in the fall line which is not a bad tactic for steeper chutes... especially if this were a bit narrower.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dchan 

 

I also notice in this clip, that on almost every transition from my right turn going into my left turn, I "REALLY" lighten or even pickup my left ski a bit as I move to the new outside ski. Some of this may be me really trying to "get on that new outside ski sooner" but as I think about the "sequence" of events in my head, I am thinking that this might be more a symptom of something else going on.. If I am not strong with that "inside half" as I finish a turn so that it already moving towards the apex of my next turn, I may be getting "blocked" during the transition and thus unable to move my COM "over and down" the hill as cleanly. The move to extend and balance against the new outside ski may be a little premature to my COM actually heading across the skis and towards the new turn.

Yep, I agree with you here... Commit to going down the hill and allow your center of mass to topple into the new turn.... then you can worry about creating pressure on the new outside ski.

DC,

There are two drills I have for this:

1) a static drill where you are standing across the hill and draw a circle in the snow with your downhill pole. Draw it as far down the hill as you can from where you are standing. Then take one side step up the hill. Now try to do a pole touch where you touch the tip into the circle. The idea is that you must launch into a release to be able to reach the circle.

2) make a turn on a blue/green (13-20 degree) run (a little speed helps) with a slight uphill start and with an extreme down the hill pole touch to initiate the edge change. Exaggerate the pole touch position from the above exercise. Reach so far down the hill that you reach the point where you feel you are going to fall (and get a "laid out" feeling). Magically, at this point the new edges engage and "catch" you. It makes a lousy turn, but really builds trust in the toppling movement.

Interesting stuff so far. I would love to share a though and an idea about releases on steeper terrain. So many folks mistakenly believe the release requires falling into the new turn like a sack of potatoes being thrown down the hill. Squatty Schuller talks about developing the greater lateral RoM in the hips and torso to move into the new turn, Barnes talks about this a bit differently and suggests the release is part of the transition but that the new turn starts well before the edge change. With that in mind I would offer the idea that the torso needs to move with the skis but the strong shaping phase will naturally occur later in the turn since the slope itself will make it difficult to create big edge angles prior to the fall line. I question why we would even want that considering how smeary the top of that new turn will be. Could it be that Dchan is in a pretty good stance? I would say so. What would I offer as an area of focus? The long leg, short leg idea but with a bit more focus on reaching with the pelvis (raising the inside hip / lowering the outside hip). That small change will produce a small change in effective inside "leg" length without dropping (or needing to drop) the inside hip quite so far into the turn, or turn the pelvis quite so far across the hill.

The last thought I want to offer is that while we want to be as relatively offensive as possible, an element of defensive speed control is present as well on steeper, narrower terrain. Smearing includes that mixed intent but through the transition I would say Dchan needs to shift slightly more towards the offensive end of the spectrum and leave the speed control to other parts of the turn (shaping phase).

That's a bit of a long winded way to say overall I like his turns and would suggest wholesale changes aren't needed.