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Best way to eliminate A frame skiing?

post #1 of 13
1/11/07 at 11:53am
Thread Starter 
Hello everyone,
It's my first post for technique. I thought going relatively fast will eliminate the wide a frame skiiing. However, after watching my own skiing on the video, I still have wide A frame and look.
While I like the wide two footed skiing, but I like to eliminate the A frame skiing or wedge in the early turn initiation. Is there any drill I can do to narrowing my stance a liltle more. Does practicing traverse across the hill with narrow stance help?
Thank you in advance.
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post #2 of 13
1/11/07 at 12:01pm
Initiate your turns by tipping the downhill ski onto it's downhill edge. Edge your inside ski more, put both skis on the same edge angle. Spread your knees.
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post #3 of 13
1/11/07 at 12:03pm
It's hard to say without seeing you ski. Can you post the video?

Are you male or female? Have you had your alignment checked?
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post #4 of 13
1/11/07 at 12:19pm
A frame skiing usually has a large misalignment component involved. Having your alignment set in about the only way you can buy yourself a decent turn.

If A frame skiing is caused by poor alignment all the lessons in the world will probably not entirely eliminate it. Alignment is not necessarily the problem with A frame skiing but I would start there first.
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post #5 of 13
1/11/07 at 1:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by telerod15 View Post
Initiate your turns by tipping the downhill ski onto it's downhill edge. Edge your inside ski more, put both skis on the same edge angle. Spread your knees.
What he said.

A-framing is often aggravated by an alignment issue, as mentioned in several other posts. If this is the case, as it is in many of us, it will be very difficult for you to eliminate it entirely with technique alone. However, if your technique is at issue, paying for the alignment will not automatically eliminate the A-frame.

It might be worthwhile to note that, in general, the term "A-frame" refers to a situation in which the knees are closer together than the feet. It is often accompanied by a stem or a wedge at turn initiation, but the wedge position by itself does not constitute an A-frame.

Quote:
Originally Posted by therusty
It's hard to say without seeing you ski. Can you post the video?
Are you male or female? Have you had your alignment checked?
Better yet would be an on-snow evaluation, although seeing the video would be better than nothing.

The recommended course of action (including what drills to do) will depend on the cause of the A-framing, as well as any other things that might be going on as you ski.
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post #6 of 13
1/11/07 at 1:43pm
A frame skiing is often a characteristic of an overly dominant outside leg and a relatively inactive inside leg. Back when racing skis were extremely stiff, A framing was the thing in racing. You had to have all your weight on the outside ski just in order to bend it. I would stop trying to narrow your stance since, if you're A framing, your knees are probably already together just about as close as they will go. Excercises which emphasize two footed guidance and more evenly weighted skis for starters will be good. You need to develop a more active "inside half" as the saying goes, and lateral movement of the center of mass to initiate your turns. You need to be standing over both feet in a way that lateral movement of the body will flatten the inside ski and then roll it onto the edge which corresponds to the outside ski's edge. I would find an instructor to evaluate your skiing and probably have him start you with exercises down on gentle terrain and gradually move you onto steeper slopes.

Traversing works well for becoming comfortable with parallel edging . While traversing, try moving your body forward and aft, into the hill and down the hill to become familiar with the effect upon your skiing. Experiment with moving your body laterally by simutaneously extending one leg while flexing the other.
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post #7 of 13
1/11/07 at 1:56pm
I am no instructor and take my post with a pinch of salt .. On a gentle slope, when you turn right for eg, place your right hand on the inside of your right knee and push it out actively till your right knee goes across your right ski.. Be careful not to put too much weight on the right ski though. Thats sorta where you are aiming for.. As you will find out, the faster you go the more your legs go under and your body and you will naturally angulate more..

Actually if you have a swivel office chair, keep your feet down and just rotate the chairl clockwise and anti clockwise, this shows you on which side your foot tips when you turn.. Now imagine you are turning right, ie more weight on the big toes edge of the left leg, you will find your right leg lightening and try the knee thing I talked about and you can..
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post #8 of 13
1/11/07 at 2:07pm
Like TRod I would say the most likely culprit is a sequencial release move. Which is neither good or bad. However, if you are endeavoring to make a simultaneous release move it is much easier if you focus a little higher up the body instead of just in the feet or knees. Without getting too technical here I would suggest you consider the idea that just rolling the ankles or knees downhill would leave the rest of the body still in the old turn. (Not a good thing) So roll the downhill ski onto the downhill edge and allow your body to follow and everything will naturally be more syncronized and simultaneous. Better yet, let the body drift diagonally forward (across the skis) and let the edge change happen as a consequence of that move.
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post #9 of 13
1/11/07 at 2:08pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone for your tips. I am a male and 5'11, 205#. It seems I have more problem with the left foot turning right. I have too much edge on the left leg and already have a boot fitter taking some edge pressure off by canting toward inside. It helps somewhat. Is there anything I can do to take off too more inside edge on the left foot. I have some difficulty one foot skiing on the left foot and I have no problem one foot skiing on the right foot when practice balancing on one foot skiing. The boot fitter max out the boot canting and I have Bandit B2 boot with double canting.
Thanks again.
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post #10 of 13
1/11/07 at 2:55pm
Take off your ski poles and put them horisontally behind your knees and grab them from the front. Skiing like this is not a nice experiance and you feel like your a total beginner at first but it puts your leggs apart and eliminates A-frame. I got rid of A-frame when I put my mind to it. As others have instructed, tip your inside knee into the turn and try to apply some weight. Oisin nails it by saying that A-frame has its roots in a too dominated outside ski dominance. You should still have more weight on your outside ski but also activate the inside one by applying some edge and a little bit of weight as well. And practice on very very easy and flat slopes.
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post #11 of 13
1/11/07 at 5:32pm
Well, since no one else has mentioned it, probably because of fear of a PMTS backlash, look into that method.

Both alignment issues and wedge elimination are at the forefront of the PMTS method. I was taught the wedge as a new skier, took many lessons thru the years to improve, but could not advance to where I wanted to be or get rid of that damn wedge remnant. Pmts worked best for me. There are plenty of threads here with info that can guide you since I am computer-challenged.

The books/dvd's can give you a linear progression, but like all sports, feedback from an experienced teacher is the best.
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post #12 of 13
1/11/07 at 5:44pm
PTMS is certainly the way to go if one wishes to progress beyond the wedge turn, but I thought he was looking for something more specific.
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post #13 of 13
1/11/07 at 6:55pm
turnmeloose,

Quote:
The boot fitter max out the boot canting and I have Bandit B2 boot with double canting.
If canting is still a problem, the cant adjustments on the cuff of the boot help adjust for the curviture of the tibea, but not as much for an allignment problem that may be a combination of foot/ankle,tibea, femor/hip and lower spinal allignment. Orthodic footbeds is a good place to start and from there the boot sole can be canted by planing it and adding lifts to make up the material lost while planing. This process is time consuming and costly. Not all shops are equiped to do such boot adjustments.

If your A frame is only during the early part of the turn and goes away after that, I agree with Trod and JSP. You are not releasing your old outside ski edge before you make your new turn resulting in a wedge position that goes away as soon as you release the old outside ski. A qualified instructor can help you with your movement through the transition to eliminate it.

RW
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