Over the past 13 or more years I have been working to perfect my beloved practices of alpine and telemark skiing. It will never be perfect which is why I call it my practice. In an effort to improve my skill, I would keep a note pad in my car and document what did or did not work in my skiing at the end of each day. I am often asked to help others with their turns. Well, below are all of my notes for Alpine Skiing. I am now passing these notes on to anyone that may benefit from my knowledge of skiing 50-100 days per year. My telemarking notes can be provided upon request but those notes are not that much different than my alpine skiing notes. I find that everyone adopts their own style of skiing. The intention of my style of making Alpine and Tele turns is one of smooth quiet finesse coupled with power. The reason for the smooth quiet finesse is because I have had 2 knee surgeries and one Achilles tendon surgery (not all from skiing, I used to play semi-pro baseball). Hence I try to ski gently and quietly, with the least amount of negative impact to my aging joints. One day I desire to ski as long as NBS legends like Joe Long and still rip like he does. Otherwise, my style is also one of short technical turns that are skiddy, smeary, and turny. This is where the power comes in. Admittedly, it takes a lot of power and stamina to smear turns. Most of the terrain that I ski is steep, technical, with variable snow. I am constantly trying to control speed. Hence, my manner of skiing may or may not suit your style if, say, that you are an East Coast blue ice carver. ¡¡¡ My disclaimer is that this is Tele Mikes style of skiing. This may or may not work for you. This may or may not be in alignment with certified ski curriculums such as the Professional Ski Instructor Association (PSIA). There are many other certified ski professionals in the NBS like Russell Fleming and Dino White that can teach the pants off of me about skiing. Those guys are the ski masters. Ive only been able to take my experience and boil it down to 3 or 4 digestible steps. These notes are just the observable wisdoms that I have acquired over the years. Many of these concepts have been taught to me at one point or another by several different teachers including: PSIA Examiners, Professional Ski Racers, and mostly Backcountry Extreme Skiers. But I did not gain wisdom into these concepts until I experienced these ski mechanics in my body. So ultimately, I encourage you to go out, explore your style of skiing, and access the alpine skiing wisdom that is already in you !!! I have broken down my alpine turn style of skiing into 3 steps. Note: Step 0, Stance, is required 100% of the time throughout any point in the turn. The “Cliff Notes” Progression of a Tele Mike Alpine Turn (Note: This description is for turning from left to right. Right to left would be the exact same mechanics, just in the opposite direction): 0. Stance: A strong, proper Stance MUST be enact at all times in order for the tipping/turning, and pressure control to work effortlessly. This stance will flex and extend throughout the turn. Flexion and extension occurs at the ankles, knees, and waist. 1. Pole Plant: Long armed, right handed, soft touched Pole Plant. 2. Pressure Control: Left footed downward pressure control into the snow the nano second we realize that we want to turn right. Its as simple as pushing down or shifting the weight to the left boot, making the left leg long. THIS PRESSURE CONTROL MUST HAPPEN A NANO SECOND BEFORE STEP 3, TIPPING & TURNING. 3. Tipping & Turning: Simultaneously the right foot pulls backward, the right knee rolls the right ski onto the pinky toe side the right boot, and the right hip is pulled back or rotated clockwise all together at once. The Detailed Progression of a Tele Mike Alpine Turn 0. Stance - Stance and Distance Between Skis: After getting winded from doing cardio, we often bend over and place our hands on our knees while standing still. This position of resting our hands on our knees is a great lower body foundation for an athletic ski stance. So go ahead and try this now. Bend over and place our hands on our knees. We should notice that our feet are about shoulder width apart. After removing our hands from our knees, swing our upper body up into a strong athletic stance. Our heart should be shining straight out, not down and bent over. The sun should be able to shine on our beautiful hearts. Note: Unless we are professional bump skiers, gone are the days of skiing with our legs super close together. This stance does not promote independent leg tipping and turning. Nor, is it an athletic stance. When we bend over to rest our hands on our knees, our legs are not so close together that they touch. - Stance Tip for the Fellas: Another trick to knowing if our ski stance is wide enough apart is to ski such that our junk is not sticking to the sides of our legs. The boys should be hanging free and easy, blowing in the breezy, LOL!! - Body Alignment: Stance should be tall but flexed at the Waist, Knees, and Ankles. These are the only points that should experience flexing throughout the turn. - A Snotty Tip: Ski in a stance such that if snot dripped out of your nose then it wont drip on your jacket. - Over Bending at the Waist: A common stance issue is over flexing and bending to far at the waist. The booty will tend to stick out too far back like we are twerking and not skiing, LOL. This ski twerking, booty all hanging out, issue had plagued me for years. This issue would usually occur for me in the bumps. It caused me to make late turns and it depleted me of my energy because my body was not able to take advantage of the effortless turns that are afforded by a properly aligned body. My solution was to: 1) Tighten my lower spine (lumbar) or lower back. This makes it difficult for me to stick my booty out too far. This also helps facilitate a tight core. 2) Ski with my heart to the sun. This not only helps me stand tall but it keeps my chest pointed downhill into the fall line. 3) Focus on the “push down” pressure control move (see Pressure Control). NBS Member Profile (Curtis Moore and Karl Terrell): The Colorado Boyz Curtis and Karl have slightly different stances that achieve the same outcome. Winter Park Ski Patroller, Curtis Moore, skis with a lower very flexed stance, while backcountry sled neck (snowmobiler, LOL) Karl Terrell skis with a very tall, not as flexed stance. But both Curtis and Karl stay very centered over their skis and flex at the same times in their ski turn. Curtis is more of slalom skier, while Karl is more of a Giant Slalom power skier. Curtis probably makes 10 turns for every 3 turns that Karl will make. Either way their individual stances serve them well towards their individual styles of skiing. Neither stance is wrong. It’s more about finding your style of skiing. 1. Pole Plants: - The pole plant is the 1st move that we make to initiate the new turn!! - Pole Plants are also needed to set the rhythm and timing as to when to make each successive turn. - Hold the poles out away from your body like reading a newspaper as opposed to a small magazine. For example, do not hold your poles out like a T-Rex would hold their poles. Hold them out there like a long armed Gorilla! - Make SOFT pole plants, not hard pole plants as if we are trying to stab the last big piece of chicken, LOL! The ski pole is not a walker to be used as a crutch to lean upon. Therefore, our pole plants need to be soft and delicate. If we have a heavy pole plant, then try to ski without poles, while maintaining your form and mechanics. This will help remove the tendency to us ski poles as a crutch or walker. - REACH with your pole in the direction of the new turn. With the upper body facing straight down the mountain (otherwise, know as the fall line) reach for the pole plant at a 45 degree angle to the fall line, NOT directly down the fall line in front of you. If the pole plant is directly down the fall line, then you will need to first ski further down the fall line to ski around your pole plant. Hence, picking up usually unwanted speed and hockey stopping to scrub off speed. - How long should my poles be?: The rule of thumb for ski pole length is to turn the ski pole over and place the handle on the ground. Grab the ski pole directly under the basket. With the pole sticking straight up in the air, your elbow should make, at most, a 90 degree angle. I personally ski longer poles which brings my elbow to a 75 to 80 degree angle. Why? Skiing longer poles allows me to stand taller and refrain from bending at the waist too much. Plus, as the terrain pitch increases past 45 degrees, a longer ski pole gives me a longer reach and confidence. - NBS Member Profile (Billy Biscoe): If you want to see precision pole plants and amazing ski form altogether then ski with Billy Biscoe. I call him the black Stein Eriksen. Billys mechanics are on autopilot. I stole his pole plant mechanics. 2. Pressure Control: - Pressure Control is what allows us to slow down or speed up without making large energy sucking movements like hockey stops while skiing. It also allows us to charge the mountain, keeping our body facing straight downhill, instead of traversing across the mountain. - Pressure control comes from pushing or weighting our ski and boot downward into the snow or unweighting the ski by pulling it back and tipping the ski onto the pinky toe (See Tipping & Turning). - For example, if we are skiing from right to left, pressure control starts the very NANO second that we realize that we want to make a left turn, EVEN THOUGH we are finishing the right turn. (1) After we realize that we want to make the left turn we first reach for the left handed pole plant. (2) A nano second later, we push directly DOWNWARD on our right boot WITH INTENTION! At this point we may STILL be turning right !!! This early edge set creates the pressure control and snow contact needed so that the right ski wont slid out from under us as we make the left turn. (3) AFTER pushing down on your right ski, simultaneously tip the left knee and left boot into the left turn, pull/suck the left boot backwards, and pull back the left hip (see Tipping & Turning below). NOTE: If tipping and turning is activated BEFORE pressure control then the right ski will tend to slide out and throw us in the back seat!- NBS Member Profile (Nicole Tucker): I call Nicole Tucker Grenades. Wanna know why? Because when Nicole Tucker skis, she leaves such a dramatic rooster tail plume of snow and ice that it looks as if grenades are falling out of her pockets with each turn! This is because Nicole generates so much power and force in her pressure control movements. So when you watch Nicole ski something steep, she is able to point her skis straight down the fall line and still control her speed without having to execute a large movements like a hockey stop. When I grow up I’m going to ski like a girl, just like Nicole Tucker. 3. Tipping and Turning - Tipping and Turning allows us to control the steering and turn shape of skiing. We are able to make long turns, short turns, carved turns, smear turns, or straight line if you so desire. My personal Tele Mike Tipping & Turning philosophy can be broke down into three moves that are simultaneously executed….A NANO SECOND AFTER PRESSURE CONTROL! - For example, when turning right, simultaneously…. 1. Roll the right knee to the right2. Pull or suck back the right boot3. Pull back or clockwise rotate the right hip. Let this progression pull you into the right turn as opposed to hockey stopping into turn. The move will feel effortless as the right knee will mechanically force us into the next turn. The left knee will follow, IF pressure control has been applied to the left ski. If this pressure control is not applied appropriately with the left ski, then the left ski will slide out and/or the skis will track in different directions. Not good! Ive been there many times. - Turn Shape: How can we slow down without skidding or hockey stops? We can simply turn uphill and let gravity slow us down. When we are skiing steep terrain, ideally we would like to keep the same speed without having to execute a bunch of bracing moves and and hockey stops. Adjusting our turn shape by turning our skis uphill allows us to manage speed and maintain a consistent speed by simply steering our skis uphill. I find that most of us have a signature turn shape. Some of us make short turns. Others make long turns. My personal turn shape intention is that of water. If a river of water were to be poured down the mountain, that water tends to seek the path of least resistance. Therefore, I too seek the turn shape that gives me the path of lease resistance, like water snaking down the mountain. - Ensure that both knees are turning in the same direction, like windshield wipers. When done right you feel an effortless whooshing turn. - The Money Tip: My personal experience is that I like to keep constant pressure on the cuffs of my boots. The pressure that is applied to the cuffs of the boots is directly translated into the ski to make them turn. This also helps to keep us in the front seat driving the ski, instead of in the back seat hanging on and letting the ski drive the skier. The Money Tip is this - place one C-Note ($100) between the shin and cuff of each boot and ski the entire day. I am willing to bet that you will crush the hell out of those cuffs in a effort to hold onto your Benjamin Franklins!! The by-product is that we will drive the ski, engage strong pullback moves, and stay centered overtop our playful boards. Note: Some ski pro’s will disagree with this cuff pressure mechanic. Again, this is what works for me and my style of making alpine turns. - The Telemarker Tip: If alpine boots where not locked down at the heel, then alpiners would make the exact same turn mechanics as a tele-turn. The pullback move can be initiated by ever so slightly lifting the heel. In essence, lifting the heel too much can be a bad habit as it is more about pressuring the cuff of the boot. But lifting the heel can help remind us to initiate the pullback/sucking back move. Telemarkers lift their heels as a natural progression in their turn. Ultimately we want to pressure the cuff without lifting the heel in alpine skiing. - Hips & Waist: Ski from the waist down. Use your hips to power you into the direction of the turn. It should feel as if our hips are driving the skis. For example, when making a left turn, pull back or rotate counter clockwise the left hip back, while simultaneously rolling the left knee left onto the left pinky toe and pulling back the left boot. This will pull you into the new left turn. Again the right ski MUST be pressured before pulling back the left hip. Otherwise, you will continue to track down the fall line instead of left. - Hip Rotation Tip for the Fellas: When I am making my very best turns, my Stance is in near perfect alignment which allows me to simply pull and rotate my hips into the direction that I want my skis to go. Another tip when I am teaching this core power skiing concept to the fellas is to do what we tend to do naturally which is to follow our penis! Basically, point that thing in the direction that we want to go and essentially your hips will naturally rotate into the proper position, LOL! As long as our Stance is in alignment then our skis will turn effortlessly. This movement with the hips must be strong and deliberate. Not passive and timid. When I feel as though I can make any turn anywhere, it’s usually due to my ability to command and drive my hips. Ladies, this can work for you too, just use your imagination :-) - Salsa Dancing: If we watch a really good Salsa Dancer, we will find that their hips are actually moving in a figure 8 pattern. Imagine bellying up to a bar and sitting on a bar stool that swivels. Now place your hands on the bar to stabilize your upper body. Keep that upper body facing forward and swivel your lower body on the bar stool. What we should notice is that our upper body stays forward while our hips are pulled or rotated back. This is the same movement pattern of the hips in Salsa and Skiing. The hip movement is not a horizontal left and right shifting of the hips (that’s Merengue dancing). Rather, the hips are rotating clockwise and counter clockwise, circularly as if the hips were rotating on a vertical axis. And if the three dimensional technical jargon does not work for you, then just practice your Salsa Dancing lessons, LOL! - Upper Body Counter Twist Tip: In an effort to keep the chest and shoulders facing down hill, the upper and lower body must have separation. It is as if the lower body, from the waist down, is on an active swivel while the upper body is quiet and still (except for the pole plants). For example, if turning to the right, the lower body will tip and turn to the right, while the upper body is still but with a slight upper body twist to the left. This will create a tension to give the skis more pressure control, drops the hip to add tipping, and applies more edge hold on the skis. - NBS Member Profile (Ellen Miller and Mike Manning): Ellen and Mike are amazing and graceful skiers. You kind of have to be if Snowbird and Alta are your home mountains! But if you ski with Mike and Ellen you will notice how they make angles in their bodies within their ski mechanics just like ski racers. They both ski with their chest facing straight down the fall line while their lower body is swiveling and angled separately from their upper body. With their precision tipping and turning mechanics, Ellen and Mike just don’t make bad turns, even if the snow is bad. Carving/Racing Groomers vs Smearing Crud/Powder - Carving: If the intention is to make carvy race turns, then tip the ski onto its edge. Ride the edges of the ski. Use turn shape to slow down by turning uphill instead of skidding the skis. The key to carving is setting a confident edge by committing to pressure control and fearlessly rolling the new inside knee into the direction on the new turn. If done right, you will feel a sudden whoosh into the next turn. - Smearing: If the intention is to make quick smeary turns in bumps or steep terrain, then ski on the bases of the skis, with more of a flat ski as opposed to the edges. The idea is to smear peanut butter with a flat ski and not slice the peanut butter with the edges of the skis. - The terrain dictates the required tipping edge angle. The harder the snow, the higher the required edge angle. More Tips for Better Alpine Skiing: - Patience: Keep your ego in check and stay in your lane. Meaning if you are a strong intermediate skier then tackling a double black tree run may not be a very good progression over learning how to first be comfortable on single black diamond trees. - Ski Very Slowly: Ski everything very slowly. In my experience, if I ski slowly, then I will often find a point in my turn that is sticky or giving me issues. If I ski fast then I will blow right through the sticky or issue point without notice. If I can be aware of the ski mechanical issue, then I can fix it. - Lap a run that is just above your ability until you confidently own it. - Ski with people that are better than you and skiing the terrain that you want to be skiing. Follow the really good skiers and mimic their turns and body movements. - Take a lesson from a NBS ski pro. (It would be great to have a list of all of the NBS certified ski professionals.) - Attend a multi-day ski camp. Many resorts have multi-day ski camps. Some of the best camps that I endorse are at Arapahoe Basin, Jackson Hole, and Whistler. - Ski absolutely everything and everywhere with good mechanics and form: This includes the green run too! Dont just slack off and lean back on those easy runs. Skiing with good form all the time creates muscle memory that will become automatic when you need to make that Oh $hit turn in the bumps or trees. - Look down the mountain: The most important joint in skiing is the eye ball joint! Try to look at least 2 turns or more ahead of your current turn. While skiing keep your head up and eyes on a swivel looking for manageable lines to ski and good quality snow. - Fear Control: Ironically enough I learned how to approach fear management from a ripping Korean ski instructor at Breckenridge. He, of course, had a very Eastern meditative approach to managing fear. Fear can inhibit us from executing our mechanics and lead to an untimely fall. My approach is the following: 1) Quiet the mind and slow the heart rate through meditation, prayer, voodoo, or whatever spiritual practice works for you. This is done moments before skiing the run or line. The mind is powerful. And it can cause you to feel as though you can’t ski a line when in fact you have the ability or the opposite. 2) Visualize exactly how we will ski the line. What ski mechanics will we need to deploy in order to overcome a difficult portion of the line (the crux point)? For example, is it icy which will require a high edge angle or soft snow which we can smear with low edge angles. 3) If I am so overcome with fear that I cant visualize myself unharmed and smiling at the bottom of a run, then I will often chose not to ski the line. - PMA (Positive Mountain Attitude): PMA goes hand-in-hand with diminishing Fear. Smile! Be Happy! Live in the Moment! Cultivate Love! Be humble! Be Thankful! Generally cultivate a positive attitude and this attitude will translate into your skiing. Place this PMA into the style of your skiing. If I listen to music while skiing, I will listen to music that is uplifting, melodic, and has flow. One can almost tell who I am listening to based on my skiing. I will ski with just about anyone at every level…..as long as they have PMA. I would prefer skiing green runs all day long with someone who has a beautiful PMA as opposed to skiing double black diamonds with someone who has poor PMA. - NBS Member Profile (Marcus Price): I have some of the most terrifying, big adventure, oh my God I’m going to die today, moments with Marcus Price. I have seen him jump off of big nasty cliffs and straight line super narrow chutes, knowing that I have to go next. He has such a calm about him due to his mountain awareness, very calculated risky maneuvers, and positive mountain attitude. In Alaska, the helicopter skiing guides gave Marcus the name, Big Mountain for his fearless, fast, and furious style of skiing. If you don’t know Marcus Price or never skied with him, then it’s probably for a good reason. Not many people are able to ski all day long living on the edge unless you have made peace with your fears. Ski Boots - Wow! Ski boots are a fickle thing. The boot is the MOST IMPORTANT piece of ski equipment that we can own. Boots are the intermediary point of contact between our body and the ski. We can have awesome boots and still drive a crappy ski. But a crappy, ill-fitting boot will NOT drive a good ski.- Alignment: Because I broke the hell out of my leg playing baseball when I was a young buck (compound spiral fracture) I am knock-kneed, meaning I have sever pronation. I require boot sole orthotics to help properly align my stance. Remember, Stance is the very foundation of our ski mechanics. A good reputable boot fitter can help us with any alignment issues. - Flex: Flex is a score that determines the stiffness of a ski boot. I like to ski boots that have a 110 flex, which is a relatively medium flex. By comparison, race boots have a flex rating of 130 or more. For my ski style, which is playful and turny, I need a medium flex to accommodate for the steep undulating off-piste terrain. What flex are you? - Buckle Settings: Flex boot stiffness can be managed by the buckle settings. My buckle settings are set in very specific positions!! I place them in the same exact position each and every time. Skis - There is ski length, width, rocker, camber, turning radius, weight,….blah, blah, blah (as my seven year old says). We really need to determine which type of terrain we plan to ski the most and then find the ski that will fit the terrain and our ski style. For me, I mostly ski off-piste and backcountry. So I need a big ski with rocker that can float the powder and crud. But I also need a ski that can carve hardback snow when needed, so the ski must also have camber and side-cut. So my everyday resort ski is the Rossignol S7. It’s perfect for my smeared turns. But, if you are a front-side carver then this is not the ski for that type of everyday terrain. If possible demo skis before you purchase them. They will ski differently. Again, These notes are just the observable wisdoms that I have acquired over the years. Many of these concepts have been taught to me at one point or another by several different teachers. But I did not gain wisdom into these concepts until I experienced them in my body. You will know when you are skiing correctly by how it feels in your body. I encourage you to use your own experience as your own guide, because you are your own greatest teacher. So ultimately, I encourage you to go out, explore your style of skiing, and access the alpine skiing wisdom that is already in you!!!
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 22:25:25 +0000
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