It’s all about creating momentum down the hill. Load the ski and use that energy to take you into the next turn. Such a great feeling, closest thing to flying!
Takes a ski type that has enough stiffness in tail and enough spring to really help propel the skier from one edge direction to the next. Carving skis can't be flimsy or soft flexers in the first place, if you want any sort of edge stability at medium or higher speed, anyway.
l like rolling progressively onto max edge angle pressure... roll in smooth, then roll faster, then snap into max edge angle at the apex... bouncy bounce!! just need to control it enough to go into the next turn smooth too
Hello from Germany. Thank you for this kind of explanation. For someone with a technical background, this is one of the best I've ever seen. It couldn't be easier to demonstrate the physics of carving. Are you an engineer? Well done, thank you very much. 👍
Imagine a corridor that is straight down the fall line. Choose how wide suits your speed and how much G force your fitness level allows you. The apex and max g force and max inclination should be on the left wall for a right turn and up against the right wall for a left turn. The snow has to be firm enough to hold the edge and the ski needs to be tuned sharp enough too.
So your max G force will always be EXITING the fall line, your NOT going to feel ANY G force entering the fall line. This has to do with physics of circular motion, right, you have the velocity of the previous turn combined with the Net force pushing you down the hill when you enter the fall line. So the Apex of the arc can't possibly be in the fall line, this is absolute Nonsense. SO DONT USE APEX to describe an arc thinking your so cool. Now once in the fall line this is the fastest part of a ski turn, your skis are pointed straight down the hill, although they are on edge following an arc. Your boots and skis are taking you in a new direction, your center of mass DOES NOT WANT to follow this NEW direction, ENERTIA, think Newton's first law. This is where you start to FEEL this G force, the skis and boots carving and directing your center of mass into a new direction. You the skier FEEL it as centrifugal force. But it is centripetal force from the ground pushing against your ski which you Ballance against, with your com INSIDE the arc. Take a physics course ski dad before you talk such nonsense
Excellent video and I really like that you are giving people an end goal image before getting into drills. My main question is around contacting your hands to the snow. I've never really built confidence to do this. How much force / pushing are you doing with your arms? Is this essential to balance when you are deep in a high-edge-angle turn?
The “knuck drag” is something I developed after racing. Like everything in skiing there is a range to the usefulness and implementation. First, I developed a strong core with good upper body lower body separation as a racer. And today my core movements remain strong and disciplined. When my hand goes to the snow the first reason/feeling is just giving me an idea how close I am to the snow (how much angulation I have). The second thing is it gives me enhanced balance. In a turn I am standing/balancing on the skis pushing to the outside. It is the same as standing on one foot next to a wall. Balancing on one foot is easier when you put your hand on the wall. Obviously balancing on a bent ski is harder but the concept is the same. The third level of Knuck Dragging is using it to pull more radius. In an extreme situation. Firm snow or tight turns I can fully lean on the hand, literally put my weight on it so I can get more edge angle by extending my legs longer. I do not have good video of this yet so the “Knuck Dragging video” will have to wait. In short, the Knuck drag is a passive move and the focus is on upper body lower body separation and core stability.
Single most important thing....keep your upper body perpendicular to your skis. It feels like pushing your upper body down the hill. All the rest happens automatically once you do that.
Very good point. They’re are a few things that the student skier must now adopt is the float between turns..”weightlessness “ feeling and making the commitment to modulating the pressure which determines the radius of the turn. Once the student gets these new skills, you have given them a gift of how joyous skiing can be. Thanks for making this video.
JF Beaulieu talks about imagining skiing up against the side of a bowl as you arc from turn to turn in one of his older videos. I think he is getting at the same idea as you talk about as a wall.
A number of entries here have talked about tipping the skis. That is the most important thing you can do. When you tip your skis properly from the toe piece all the issues of line and pressure go away. So lets learn how to tip a ski. Where Dad has drawn his X is the point where you are reaching and stretching with your legs and toes, without this there is week tipping. The effort to tip a ski as early as possible ie. don't wait for the fall line, make it happen at the X. Where Dad has drawn his X is the point at which the body has moved over the skis downhill allowing this reaching to take place this is how to get horizontal early in a turn. Just before Dad drew his X you have fully achieved the goal of the previous turn to release the skis and achieve a moment of weightlessness hopefully in balance, this action has taken place in every ski turn anyone has ever made, how well you reach tip and balance is the measure of achievement. and yes when you get really stretched out it feels like skiing in a halfpipe or skiing off a wall. An issue that I feel evolves from convenient jargon. Your knees move because your femur moves its the biggest strongest part of your body. Knee angulation is i fact the femur moving easily from the sacrum. On a muscle discipline basis its the femur moving but when you skiing at speed its ok to think knees. Both femurs move together that's rhythm the inside femur moves up easily and early, just mastering the elegant entrance of the inside ski into a turn and getting the inside ski tipped is the subject of another book. The outside leg has formed your power line. The compressing forces through the outside leg are all in one line there is no lateral bending of the lower leg just rotation and tipping. Look at every step a skater takes just the same, good cross training.
Hello from Italy!! Very good stuff in this video , this Is real skiing , no freels , but , what about shoulders ? A little bit of leveling could help to get even more grip and ride that wall?? Thanks
True, but if the snow doesn’t call for it why do it? In all these shots I was trying to express my fluidity and joy of skiing. Even though I use these turns as my teaching examples I was not trying to ski with PSIA form, USSA form or anyone else’s idea of what good skiing is. I was just being me. If the snow firms up I will most likely level my shoulders to maintain grip
Great explanation! Thanks a lot! I observed very high vibrations on your outside ski. I have similar behavior on my ski on high speed turning Dose it mean the ski is running over the speed limit of it? Thanks
It could be the speed limit of the ski The speed limit of the ski is the point where you can no longer keep a balanced outside ski pressured So it may be the conditions or the tune, not necessarily the Ski itself. Or most importantly, the skill level of the skier
If the non-resort instructors that you're referring to are free-lancers or underground instructors be cautious. At virtually all ski areas it's illegal and law enforcement can get involved. They usually are uninsured and their training my be minimal or usually non-existent. It can become an issue when popular area ski schools are sold out during peak periods and skiers seek instruction from some random referral. However, area managements are always on the look out for underground instructors.
Hey Ski Dad, what's your opinion on hand position? I see your left hand frequently drag behind your hips at the completion of turn. Others keep the uphill hand forward of the hips, still others keep them even more forward, just behind the knee at turn completion, but I suspect they may actually be robots.
I believe the Austrian Ski Instructor stance with respect to the hand position and motion is “anything that has a positive effect on the turn”. I like that statement. In my case the left hand moving behind me is a counter rotation move as I am compensating for a slight lack of balance in my rotary.
@@skidadTV thanks for that reply. I am trying to improve the composure in my hands and your response got me thinking, what movements in the rest of my body I'm compensating for.
The first thing to check is your tune. The skis need to be very sharp to ski on ice. After that it’s all up to you. Generally speaking ice exposes the flaws in your technique. If you can’t get the tip to bend then you need more pressure on the front. If you loose the ski in the middle of the turn it probably means you are leaning inside. Get the skis tuned first then build your confidence up with some edge sets on a steep pitch
About the outside knee. Just look at your own video to see that you extend your outside knee, until you get to the apex point. Of course you do not extend it totally, but it is easy to see that you do this and it is a necessary component of carving turns. If you extend this knee too much, you risk to skid out at apex, so you must be sensitive and careful with this knee extension, but it is wrong to claim that you do not extend your outside knee. After apex you flex both knees in order to unload your skis and this is done by a knee flexion of both sides, more at the outside of course. You should feel, during the start of your turn, that you bend your outside ski quite much by this careful knee extension.
Great video! Could you make a video on how to increase edge angles? Are there any drills we can practice to achieve that high edge angle so we can do hand drag naturally. I’ll be in park city from now til New Year so I can practice those😁 I feel that is what’s blocking me rn. On a steeper blue run I feel I’m not toppling fast enough to get the angles before the gravity pushes me back up. Also I often find my inside leg is blocking me from leaning inside more, like it starts to bear weight.
Just slide your tails into the top of the turn then focus on being strong and balanced with maximum pressure on the outside ski. The balance is much easier to feel from the fall line to completion
@@skidadTVjust found you channel and really enjoying it. Your style is exactly the goal I'm aiming for, probably never reach it but it's a good target. Like the chap above getting my ankles over enough is the main issue. I turn better to the right and I think that is because i snapped ACL and MCL in a football injury 30 years ago in my left knee and o think the lack of flexibility that is at least part of the issue. But had a bit of keyhole surgery clean up in September so hoping they may help. But any pre season edge drills would be great.
@@skidadTV thanks for the reply - much appreciated. Some great ideas there although the facilities you have in a US city compared to a sleepy English village are a touch different!! :)
I like "the wall" concept. I am a serious recreational, over 70 yr. old skier who is obsessed with improving. I am trying to get that low in transitioning to the new direction, but can't seem to get out of the downhill "wall" and end up picking up more speed than I can handle,although I can do this angulation better on my 155 slalom skis. Any suggestions?
@@skidadTV Could very well be. We met at a race camp in Les Deux Alps, France. Her Dad or Uncle designed the Ski Nautique with the motor in the middle of the boat. She was one of the Junior Olympians squad from Tahoe. Adele Allender, Edith Thys. They were kids but really fast racers.
Thanks a lot for your videos. One question after the transition you fall into the new turn while you staying on the new outside foot and shorten the new inside foot, right?
I couldn't disagree more. First, you've got a good point on the first part of the video, by focusing on the transition, but you contradict yourself lat the end saying one has to forget about getting the beginning of the turn carved out. One thing doesn't go without the other: it is by getting early edge engagement that you get to have grip through the middle turn and obviously getting out of it with accumulated speed and control. Second, though the perspective you present at the beginning is true and useful, it is certainly not the best or first thing to focus on to learn how to carve and to control speed in steep hills. It would rather be edge angle, inside leg control and turn shape. Third, by the time you aim to learn to carve properly, you have already a decent level in which you know the progression of weight transition to the outer ski allows you to do a turn, regardless if carved or skidded - but here it is your main focus. Assuming you can ski decently but can't carve yet, and you want to, your next step would not be how to put weight on the outside knee but edge angle. To anyone out there trying to improve their carving, go check out this video, and practice it's three progression steps, one after the other. That will get you further, faster: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1IDwoN_fdJA.html
Unfortunately your not specific nor accurate. The Apex is NOT on the arc, it's inside the arc. If I was skiing around a gate in a race course, the GATE would be the Apex. The Apex is NOT the fall line. Your explanation defies physics it defies reality. Your living in a dream world. An alternative reality. Absolute Nonsense.
