What is a "proper" wedge? Second video in a three part series highlighting inside leg activity. A description and lesson for the wedge turn. SkiStrong tip jar www.paypal.com...
Been watching your videos cuz there's still no snow where I am 😢 I'll be taking one of my friends skiing for the first time and your beginner videos have been really great teaching tools so I can be a good teacher too!
Debra, thank you so much for your videos. Using the teaching and breakdown of techniques from your videos, I have been able to teach my wife how to ski over the past few years while keeping our relationship fully intact and even improving my own skills substantially! I think she'll be able to tackle her first black diamond runs this year.
Amazing. Well done for teaching this to your wife, that's great. I am watching Deb's videos for the same reason. My wife and I are off to Alpe D'Huez in a few weeks and it's a last chance for me to get her skiing. She hurt her knee trying years ago and I've only just tempted her back. However, she refuses to go to ski school as she's worried they'll push her to progress too quickly. So it's down to me to be the teacher, but I've not focussed on the wedge turn since Zermatt in 1979... So, we're going to be on the gentlest of slopes in the daytime and re-watching Deb's videos in the evenings. I'm praying hard that she gets it, is able to do it, and wants to go again next year. In truth I also want to get up to the top of the mountain and ski for myself at least some of the time (and need to remember to rewatch Deb's brilliant ankle flexion video!).
They're good if you stop in an awkward spot, and don't want to have to hop turn to head back downhill. Just set up a little wedge and let gravity pull you into the turn. Backward or forward, depending on the situation.
Where I go skiing, if you use the wedge, passerby's automatically call you a rookie or noob. I'm like whatever, at least I know how to stop and turn when I want/need to. I look at it as a tool in my toolbelt when I'm skiing. If I need to use it, especially when I'm on a decline that isn't steep enough to warrant a hockey stop. It's actually really cool to act like a noob in front of a beginner skier. If you show them the basics and how to execute them, pointing out stuff like softening up the uphill leg to make it just follow along through the turn made a world of difference for me.
The use of the inside leg being the focus in a wedge is seldom discussed and an interesting concept vs. the inside leg being the focus in a parallel turn. Back on skis tomorrow and will give it some thought and effort. Thank you.
Ok. I focused on the inside leg while wedging today. I found that employing rotary of the inside leg I was able to keep the tips “even” and avoid the inside leg being left behind. It created flow and prepped the inside ski for the upcoming turn.
Thanks Deb! I’m not teaching this season, but I think my ski school needs to update their introduction to wedges, especially for adults and kids over 7 years old. All of our students show up with some version of shaped skis these days (kids are usually on hand-me-downs , ski swap, garage sale, Goodwill, etc.).
Love those foundational points being emphasized, what's learned here works all the way up the skills ladder. That intro was awesome, Deb. I'm guilty of over-valuing the firmly engaged edge and under-valuing the brushed turn.
Funny the timing of this video. I’m going back to basics this season starting with my wedge. I plan on developing my power wedge to get my inside legs muscle memory built and natural. Letting my skis come parallel naturally not forced. I really feel new skiers skip through this hugely important fundamental skill because they want to get parallel as soon as possible.
very well presented, wedge turn lesson, that includes all the turn fundamental skills. and you know that wedge turns can work very well in light powder
I’m confused about the mechanics. Since the wedge is almost totally skidded with high steering angle, how does edge manipulation/engagement affect the turn? Is the idea to get the inside ski all the way onto its outside edge like in a carved parallel turn, or just to get “enough” pinky toe pressure?
The shortening of the inside leg helps to regulate pressure and tipping towards the pinky toe helps to regulate edge. Lessening edge angle is also an edging skill. Flattening the ski away from a high edge angle is important to be able to brush , smear, feather the turn. Feathering a turn is a hugely important ski not only in the wedge turns but for all turns depending on the outcome you are looking for
Hi. Very interesting. Got a question though - I'm used to teach the wedge turn with a bit of movement (up and down) and a bit of weight shift on the outside leg. Could you, in a few words, hint on the difference between that (that was 30 years ago, according to Alain) and not shifting the weight (as suggested). Not sure I got that difference. Kind regards,
I'm an aged person who was introduced to watching skiing at the 84 games and tried skiing in 88 several times (lessons etc.) with straight skis. I've recently been told while being on the slopes with my daughters ski team that I ski like it's still the 80s (turn the skis in to the turn and "kick" the tails around) my upper body is pretty quiet. I also have a foot that over-pronates and so flatten my right ski is an issue but I reduce the impact by reducing the pressure on that ski. My question, is how to break old habits and what are your thoughts on super corrective insoles in ski boots? Thanks
I came up through the certification ranks many years ago so maybe my information is out of date. I thought the whole premise of the ATS (American Teaching System) was the idea of 'common threads', yes? That the movements we were teaching at the lower level were amplified at the higher levels. Of course when Alain says it with his awesome French accent, ya can't resist.
I wouldn't call these "techniques" "modern". On relatively flat slopes, sure, you can follow these techniques. When things get just a little steeper, pressuring/weighting the downhill skill with your legs and upper body will be vital. How do I know? I just taught someone wedge turns next to a magic carpet. Then, once we went up the chair lift and entered a true green trail, we had to "commit" to the downhill ski a lot more. My .02.
What I describe in this video requires many compounding movements that build into a high performance turn. When dealing with a first day never ever skier or a beginner an instructor must choose what building blocks to use first and it all takes time. I have very much unused with with beginners, no prob
Little ones -- it's good to remember that little ones, their heads are disproportionately heavy and they'll do bigger compensatory moves as a result. Balance is trickier for them. But the surest way is to not over-pitch them on terrain. Make it flat enough that they can learn to earn a bit of glide and speed in a turn. Too steep and they're defensive. Defensive skiing habits are terrible foundations. The worst you can instill, they take a lot of work to un-do if the skier later wants to become accomplished. Don't expect too much too soon, basically. Either as the parent, or as the child skier. Every child has a different temperament, different native athleticism, different urge to follow gravity, different self-protection vs "take a risk" POVs. Two siblings can be opposites.
Thanks but I was looking for some teaching tips. Since you bring up some parameters. Kids COM is way high compared to adults, they have short tibias and lack leverage on the boots to flex them and they lack strength too. As far as coordination their cerbellum and motor cortex are undeveloped and vary among kids in their development. It's common sense to select terrain they can manage with ease.
@@spineguy444 My comments were from my own time spent teaching kids, lots of them, mostly K-8 grades but some college kids too. Quite a few 3-4-5 year old never-evers in solo lessons as well. I've coached junior lacrosse also (middle school). It can be easy for me to forget what struggles I went through athletically in elem and middle schools, so I tend to favor the view of the kids who aren't athletic, and who don't have much crossover sport experience. The terrain pitch is a big one and another thing that can be hard to remember -- what felt steep and "too fast" as a learning kid skier. I can't use myself because I was born loving to go fast. One of the reasons they may have a tough time flattening their skis and letting them be pivot/steer-able is the pitch has them instinctively "on the brakes" in the only way they know -- dig in an edge, hold it secure. Reflexively, even if you tell them to flatten their skis, they might not easily do it.
