2022 New Zealand focuses (Rookie Academy)

[mike_m]

Hello, all,

Back from New Zealand and the Rookie Academy Advanced Program. Always a terrific experience. Three weeks training with a different world-class coach each week. The conditions were unusual for New Zealand. Normally, early August through early September is prime, mid-winter snow. This year, New Zealand had historic snowfall in June, then it turned to spring! The result? Each morning started as rock-hard ice turning to deep, heavy slush bumps by 2 o’clock. Challenging! (But good training snow, right?) Well, as Bob Barnes used to say (and I repeat often to my clients who complain about conditions), “Snow is either good or it’s good for you!”

I thought you might enjoy my key takeaways from the academy. Underlined portions were a particular point of emphasis. I find it interesting that virtually all the major ski teaching systems around the world seem to have merged. All the coaches I’ve skied with over the past few years are emphasizing the exact same points. If you compare these focuses to my takeaways post on the PSIA National Academy last April, I think you’ll find them very complementary.

Anyway, let’s get to the good parts!

Trainers:

Jonathan Ballou:
Head of training at Aspen, two-time PSIA Demo Team; Interski demonstrator

Josh Duncan-Smith:
New Zealand Demo Team; Interski demonstrator; CSIA Level 4

Jamie Kagan:
Ski school director, Verbier; Irish Interski head coach; CSIA and BASI Level 4​

Focus first on what is attached to the ground. Start low to the snow, gripping with the outside ski. To accomplish this, you need constant functional tension in both closed ankles, but particularly in the inside foot and ankle.

The Beginning of the turn:

Before starting downhill, lift the toes and front of both feet (dorsiflex) to close the ankles and activate the tibialis anterior (shin muscle). This commits you forward and plants you on the strongest part of your new outside foot, the calcaneous bone at the front of your heel. Throughout the turn, constantly press forward off that part of your outside foot to propel you where you want to go.

Start each turn quite low and compact with an engaged core. Use a committed pole plant to lighten both feet, pull them back above you, transition, and roll them over diagonal to the slope. To transition, use your aggressively closed new inside ankle to lighten and lift the new inside ski (old outside ski) along its entire length (not just the tail). Staying square to the tips, step to, and balance on, the uphill edge of the new outside ski, slide the new inside foot back and drive the new outside foot forward toward the tips. (This may result in a bit of extension off that new outside foot. That’s OK.) Starting square to the tips allows you to hold counter and alignment past the transition so your body position relative to the skis is the same at the end of the turn as it is at the beginning of the next. This allows you to establish immediate grip on the snow with that new outside ski.

To accomplish this, immediately press the new outside ski down into the snow and start to rotate it as if you were pressing down and twisting the cap of a child-proof medicine bottle, then move up the kinetic chain and add rotation/twist of the pelvis and femurs in the same direction. Continue until your pelvis is across your skis in the alignment found using the Schlopy drill (see “The End, into Transition” below.) Let the skis seek the fall line by themselves and, in general, go downhill longer than you likely usually do.

As you enter the shaping phase of the turn, and the previous pole-plant basket moves above you, keep pressing it down in the snow and pushing it constantly forward and downhill. Allow the new outside basket, aligned with your pelvis and low to the snow, to rotate around until you use it for the next pole plant next to your outside heel.

The Middle (the “shaping phase: or “working phase”:

Actively pronate and supinate your feet (roll the outside foot inward; lift the arch of the inside foot and roll it outwards) from the heels diagonally forward across to the balls of the feet (JF Beaulieu equates this to a cat’s paws flattening smoothly). Simultaneously, keep sliding the inside ski back and slicing the outside ski ahead. Resist the turn by pointing your toes opposite the direction the skis are turning. This locks the skis into the snow and prevents the tails from skidding away. There is constant activity along the bottoms of your feet both fore and aft (always strive to stay centered on the ski perpendicular to the slope of the hill), and side to side.

After starting downhill, let the activity in your feet move up the kinetic chain. Lift the inside thigh and cross it over toward the outside shoulder. Tip the outside leg inward to meet it as both legs steer and both knees totally relax low to the snow and you actively pull them to point uphill. To maintain your balance out over the skis, counterbalance the activity of the knees tipping uphill by actively “bowing” with your inside shoulder downhill out over the skis. The further over the skis you “bow,” the further the knees can lower.

When your line is established and the tips are turning toward the fall line, stop steering and tipping the skis, hold your line, and give in to the pressure back from the hill progressively (don’t immediately lighten) as you ski into maximum flex. Bend your outside leg so you always have grip, your skis never chatter, and you are never braced on the outside leg. Let the skis cross uphill under you into transition. Stay strong, but not braced or stiff, out over the outside ski. No squat toward the tails! All moves are subtle, smooth and progressive. No sudden recoveries should be needed; i.e., never put yourself in a position you need to get out of!

The End, into Transition:

To end the turn, tip the pole-plant grip inward, plant and hold it in the snow, then pull it forward toward the tips of the skis to pull you forward, keep you low, and maintain your alignment past the transition. (A modified Schlopy drill will help you feel this alignment. In this drill, use your outside hand to push your pelvis across the skis, extend your inside arm downhill over the skis, and bow out over the skis with the inside shoulder. Hold the extended inside arm out over the skis past the time you start downhill.)

Pole plant at the moment of maximum flex/inside shoulder bowing out over the skis, and relaxation/pointing of the knees uphill. Pole plant immediately at max flex and use it to pull your light feet back behind you. After the transition, rotate both knees uphill, around, then downhill, then start rotating the new inside shoulder and pelvis around in the new direction.

Your skis should be right under you at transition. If skiing with a scissors activity of your feet (inside continually sliding back and supinating; outside continually sliding ahead and pronating), this is the moment the skis are aligned right next to each other. Your feet should feel like they are turning up the hill and rolling over diagonally above you. The actual transition should be quick. The longer you delay or elongate this move, the more likely you are to hold on to the old turn and traverse.

As you transition, look diagonally away from the direction of the old turn to the next apex - your target. Hold your pole plant in the snow to help your CM cross over in the new direction (incline) and your skis will automatically lighten, roll over above you and extend away. Both skis should be rolled over completely before you start downhill.

General notes:

Play with the terrain! Dance with it! Never a dead spot or delay to the next movement. Think bicycle-pedaling continuity. Your skis should feel like they are the bottoms of a rocking chair, flowing downhill in a continuous dolphin rhythm, up and down, and side to side: tips down into the snow, then a moment of balance planted in the middle of the outside ski on the calcaneous bone, then the tips come up as the outside tail grips the snow and actively slices ahead and steers around to shape the end of the turn. The bottoms of the skis are constantly rolling over and riding the curve of an imaginary bobsled banking.

Slower speeds: Use more constant, active rotation/steering of the legs and feet all the way through the turn.

More dynamic speeds: The outside tail deflects more to redirect the skis so less steering is needed.

Short turns: Plant your poles in a straight line down the hill.

How do we actually ingrain these new movement patterns? “Muscle memory” is a misnomer. Movement patterns are learned and ingrained in the brain. To do so most effectively, a fatty insulating tissue called myelin forms a thick sheath of protein and fat around the axons of the brain and acts like insulation around an electrical cable. This strengthens and speeds the electrical signaling in the nerve pathways that connect one neuron to the next, allowing coordination of sensory input, the brain and your limbs. The brain can then process repetitive motions faster and coordinate them more effectively using memory and muscular development.

As you repeat a movement (whether efficient or inefficient), more myelin forms around the nerve pathways reinforcing that movement, helping to ingrain it as your default.

In other words, practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect!

Hope this was useful. Comments and questions always welcome!

Best!
Mike

PS: I think the following video of Patrick Beaetz illustrates all the points mentioned above. Plus, it’s just fun to watch!

 

[LiquidFeet]

Hello, all,

Back from New Zealand and the Rookie Academy Advanced Program. Always a terrific experience. Three weeks training with a different world-class coach each week. The conditions were unusual for New Zealand. Normally, early August through early September is prime, mid-winter snow. This year, New Zealand had historic snowfall in June, then it turned to spring! The result? Each morning started as rock-hard ice turning to deep, heavy slush bumps by 2 o’clock. Challenging! (But good training snow, right?) Well, as Bob Barnes used to say (and I repeat often to my clients who complain about conditions), “Snow is either good or it’s good for you!”

I thought you might enjoy my key takeaways from the academy. Underlined portions were a particular point of emphasis. I find it interesting that virtually all the major ski teaching systems around the world seem to have merged. All the coaches I’ve skied with over the past few years are emphasizing the exact same points. If you compare these focuses to my takeaways post on the PSIA National Academy last April, I think you’ll find them very complementary.

Anyway, let’s get to the good parts!

Trainers:

Jonathan Ballou:
Head of training at Aspen, two-time PSIA Demo Team; Interski demonstrator

Josh Duncan-Smith:
New Zealand Demo Team; Interski demonstrator; CSIA Level 4

Jamie Kagan:
Ski school director, Verbier; Irish Interski head coach; CSIA and BASI Level 4​

Focus first on what is attached to the ground. Start low to the snow, gripping with the outside ski. To accomplish this, you need constant functional tension in both closed ankles, but particularly in the inside foot and ankle.

The Beginning of the turn:

Before starting downhill, lift the toes and front of both feet (dorsiflex) to close the ankles and activate the tibialis anterior (shin muscle). This commits you forward and plants you on the strongest part of your new outside foot, the calcaneous bone at the front of your heel. Throughout the turn, constantly press forward off that part of your outside foot to propel you where you want to go.

Start each turn quite low and compact with an engaged core. Use a committed pole plant to lighten both feet, pull them back above you, transition, and roll them over diagonal to the slope. To transition, use your aggressively closed new inside ankle to lighten and lift the new inside ski (old outside ski) along its entire length (not just the tail). Staying square to the tips, step to, and balance on, the uphill edge of the new outside ski, slide the new inside foot back and drive the new outside foot forward toward the tips. (This may result in a bit of extension off that new outside foot. That’s OK.) Starting square to the tips allows you to hold counter and alignment past the transition so your body position relative to the skis is the same at the end of the turn as it is at the beginning of the next. This allows you to establish immediate grip on the snow with that new outside ski.

To accomplish this, immediately press the new outside ski down into the snow and start to rotate it as if you were pressing down and twisting the cap of a child-proof medicine bottle, then move up the kinetic chain and add rotation/twist of the pelvis and femurs in the same direction. Continue until your pelvis is across your skis in the alignment found using the Schlopy drill (see “The End, into Transition” below.) Let the skis seek the fall line by themselves and, in general, go downhill longer than you likely usually do.

As you enter the shaping phase of the turn, and the previous pole-plant basket moves above you, keep pressing it down in the snow and pushing it constantly forward and downhill. Allow the new outside basket, aligned with your pelvis and low to the snow, to rotate around until you use it for the next pole plant next to your outside heel.

The Middle (the “shaping phase: or “working phase”:

Actively pronate and supinate your feet (roll the outside foot inward; lift the arch of the inside foot and roll it outwards) from the heels diagonally forward across to the balls of the feet (JF Beaulieu equates this to a cat’s paws flattening smoothly). Simultaneously, keep sliding the inside ski back and slicing the outside ski ahead. Resist the turn by pointing your toes opposite the direction the skis are turning. This locks the skis into the snow and prevents the tails from skidding away. There is constant activity along the bottoms of your feet both fore and aft (always strive to stay centered on the ski perpendicular to the slope of the hill), and side to side.

After starting downhill, let the activity in your feet move up the kinetic chain. Lift the inside thigh and cross it over toward the outside shoulder. Tip the outside leg inward to meet it as both legs steer and both knees totally relax low to the snow and you actively pull them to point uphill. To maintain your balance out over the skis, counterbalance the activity of the knees tipping uphill by actively “bowing” with your inside shoulder downhill out over the skis. The further over the skis you “bow,” the further the knees can lower.

When your line is established and the tips are turning toward the fall line, stop steering and tipping the skis, hold your line, and give in to the pressure back from the hill progressively (don’t immediately lighten) as you ski into maximum flex. Bend your outside leg so you always have grip, your skis never chatter, and you are never braced on the outside leg. Let the skis cross uphill under you into transition. Stay strong, but not braced or stiff, out over the outside ski. No squat toward the tails! All moves are subtle, smooth and progressive. No sudden recoveries should be needed; i.e., never put yourself in a position you need to get out of!

The End, into Transition:

To end the turn, tip the pole-plant grip inward, plant and hold it in the snow, then pull it forward toward the tips of the skis to pull you forward, keep you low, and maintain your alignment past the transition. (A modified Schlopy drill will help you feel this alignment. In this drill, use your outside hand to push your pelvis across the skis, extend your inside arm downhill over the skis, and bow out over the skis with the inside shoulder. Hold the extended inside arm out over the skis past the time you start downhill.)

Pole plant at the moment of maximum flex/inside shoulder bowing out over the skis, and relaxation/pointing of the knees uphill. Pole plant immediately at max flex and use it to pull your light feet back behind you. After the transition, rotate both knees uphill, around, then downhill, then start rotating the new inside shoulder and pelvis around in the new direction.

Your skis should be right under you at transition. If skiing with a scissors activity of your feet (inside continually sliding back and supinating; outside continually sliding ahead and pronating), this is the moment the skis are aligned right next to each other. Your feet should feel like they are turning up the hill and rolling over diagonally above you. The actual transition should be quick. The longer you delay or elongate this move, the more likely you are to hold on to the old turn and traverse.

As you transition, look diagonally away from the direction of the old turn to the next apex - your target. Hold your pole plant in the snow to help your CM cross over in the new direction (incline) and your skis will automatically lighten, roll over above you and extend away. Both skis should be rolled over completely before you start downhill.

General notes:

Play with the terrain! Dance with it! Never a dead spot or delay to the next movement. Think bicycle-pedaling continuity. Your skis should feel like they are the bottoms of a rocking chair, flowing downhill in a continuous dolphin rhythm, up and down, and side to side: tips down into the snow, then a moment of balance planted in the middle of the outside ski on the calcaneous bone, then the tips come up as the outside tail grips the snow and actively slices ahead and steers around to shape the end of the turn. The bottoms of the skis are constantly rolling over and riding the curve of an imaginary bobsled banking.

Slower speeds: Use more constant, active rotation/steering of the legs and feet all the way through the turn.

More dynamic speeds: The outside tail deflects more to redirect the skis so less steering is needed.

Short turns: Plant your poles in a straight line down the hill.

How do we actually ingrain these new movement patterns? “Muscle memory” is a misnomer. Movement patterns are learned and ingrained in the brain. To do so most effectively, a fatty insulating tissue called myelin forms a thick sheath of protein and fat around the axons of the brain and acts like insulation around an electrical cable. This strengthens and speeds the electrical signaling in the nerve pathways that connect one neuron to the next, allowing coordination of sensory input, the brain and your limbs. The brain can then process repetitive motions faster and coordinate them more effectively using memory and muscular development.

As you repeat a movement (whether efficient or inefficient), more myelin forms around the nerve pathways reinforcing that movement, helping to ingrain it as your default.

In other words, practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect!

Hope this was useful. Comments and questions always welcome!

Best!
Mike

PS: I think the following video of Patrick Beaetz illustrates all the points mentioned above. Plus, it’s just fun to watch!

Best write-up ever! Thanks for taking the time to get this into words.

 

[4ster]

Just seeing this now. Thank you!

 

[Chris V.]

Mike, thank you for the great writeup. You got to work with a stellar group of trainers, for sure. I have a few questions and comments.

I find it interesting that virtually all the major ski teaching systems around the world seem to have merged. All the coaches I’ve skied with over the past few years are emphasizing the exact same points.

Yes, I'm noticing that too, in my limited experience. Perhaps it took some years, but there's increasing recognition of the fundamental movements need to make modern skis perform. To what extent all this has penetrated to the point of a general improvement in lesson plans for beginners and lower level skiers allowing for rapid improvement, and consistency from lesson to lesson, probably remains to be seen.

Focus first on what is attached to the ground. Start low to the snow, gripping with the outside ski. To accomplish this, you need constant functional tension in both closed ankles, but particularly in the inside foot and ankle.

Always good to emphasize creating movement from the feet up, in both the fore-aft and the lateral planes.

Before starting downhill, lift the toes and front of both feet (dorsiflex) to close the ankles and activate the tibialis anterior (shin muscle). This commits you forward and plants you on the strongest part of your new outside foot, the calcaneous bone at the front of your heel. ...To transition, use your aggressively closed new inside ankle to lighten and lift the new inside ski (old outside ski) along its entire length (not just the tail). ...Slide the new inside foot back and drive the new outside foot forward toward the tips.

This is consistent with recent discussion at SkiTalk on the subject of the desired pattern of changes in fore-aft balance through the turn cycle--good skiers move forward assertively at the very start of the new turn, and progressively settle back as the turn progresses, while novices struggle to get forward at the right moment and often end up being very late with the movement, thus getting most forward at an inappropriate phase of the turn.

Starting square to the tips allows you to hold counter and alignment past the transition so your body position relative to the skis is the same at the end of the turn as it is at the beginning of the next. This allows you to establish immediate grip on the snow with that new outside ski.

Would you elaborate on this? I don't know that I'm understanding you. I always thought of being "square to the tips" as having the line across one's hips perpendicular to the skis, while being "countered" being just the opposite, with the hips turned toward the fall line when the skis are going across the slope. "Holding the counter" would then mean not going square to the tips at the transition but instead allowing the counter to unwind progressively in the first part of the new turn.

Immediately press the new outside ski down into the snow and start to rotate it as if you were pressing down and twisting the cap of a child-proof medicine bottle, then move up the kinetic chain and add rotation/twist of the pelvis and femurs in the same direction. Continue until your pelvis is across your skis in the alignment found using the Schlopy drill.

Here I'm finding myself in disagreement. When the goal is dynamic, carved or carve-ish turns, I don't want to be twisting my feet in the direction of the turn. And then as the turn develops, I want my pelvis to rotate toward the outside of the turn. So I'm confused by this passage.

Let the skis seek the fall line by themselves and, in general, go downhill longer than you likely usually do.

This is good. The skis will shape the turn. Don't try to muscle them into submission.

Resist the turn by pointing your toes opposite the direction the skis are turning. This locks the skis into the snow and prevents the tails from skidding away.

Yes!! Subtalar eversion, ankle dorsiflexion, and forefoot abduction are components of pronation that are pretty well inseparable. And the opposites of those three for supination. So if you point your stance foot toes toward the outside of the turn (forefoot abduction), you also get stronger tipping of the foot onto the big toe edge (subtalar eversion), and stronger edging. (Just the opposite of all that for the inside foot.) I don't know if I'd call this "resisting the turn," but it's just semantics. What may be counterintuitive is that an effort to point your toes toward the outside of the turn results in higher edge angles, and tightening of the turn. When skiers naively try to tighten the turn by an effort to point their toes (and skis) toward the inside, it just flattens the skis, they won't carve as tightly, and they may lose grip. This description is certainly true for carved turns. To make skidded turns, there may be alternative ways of playing with edge angles.

Your skis should be right under you at transition. If skiing with a scissors activity of your feet (inside continually sliding back and supinating; outside continually sliding ahead and pronating), this is the moment the skis are aligned right next to each other. Your feet should feel like they are turning up the hill and rolling over diagonally above you.

But...to get even more dynamic, maybe try reversing that combination of inside foot supination and outside foot pronation a brief moment earlier. Your support will begin to release even as the skis continue in the arc of the old turn and maybe get nudged a bit farther uphill than they otherwise would have...leading to your center of mass being launched toward the inside of the new turn.

The actual transition should be quick. The longer you delay or elongate this move, the more likely you are to hold on to the old turn and traverse.

I expect that the greatest challenge for many improving skiers, as they seek to make more dynamic turns, is to stop holding on for too long to their balance in the old turn. The point at which they should be creating imbalance comes earlier and earlier.

Play with the terrain! Dance with it! Never a dead spot or delay to the next movement.

Great advice for students at all levels. I used to try to talk students into doing much more of this, and would set an example, but only a minority of them would actually copy me.

Slower speeds: Use more constant, active rotation/steering of the legs and feet all the way through the turn.

There's that word "steering" again. Could you describe in considerable detail what you mean by this? I want to hear about specific movements using particular joints and muscles, and explanations of how this influences the performance of the skis at the most basic level!

Thank you again!

 

[LiquidFeet]

Some readers may be unfamiliar with this business of pulling the inside ski back while sliding the outside ski forward. You won't get a tele turn because the two feet will refuse to go far enough to pass each other.

You can create a turn with this movement pattern, or you can use it to fine tune a turn.

It works like driving a tank or a snowcat or a bulldozer. These vehicles can turn on a dime, but they are not "steering." They move on caterpillar tracks which always point forward, not wheels which can be turned to point in the direction of the turn, which is what "steering" means.

A tank turn happens when one track pulls the vehicle forward while the other simultaneously pulls it backward. The amount of pull from each track can be controlled by the driver.

The same thing can be done with skis. Skis can make tank turns.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Lift the inside thigh and cross it over toward the outside shoulder.....

@mike_m, I enjoy reading these posts every year. What a treasure trove of technical advice they hold. I always have questions, but this year I've got only one.

The bolded above is something you wrote last year after Rookie Academy which I had a problem with, and here it is again. The knee is attached to the thigh (femur) and that knee is going to move if you "cross it [the thigh, the femur] over toward the outside shoulder."

The way you've worded this makes it seem like you are saying one should roll the inside knee upward, towards that outside shoulder. If you do that, you will be lifting the knee up away from the snow.

The upward movement of the knee will start flattening the inside ski. This doesn't make any sense, and I know you don't mean to flatten the inside ski because just afterwards you say "both knees totally relax low to the snow...."

So here is my question. Can you describe exactly what you are doing with the inside femur, pelvis, and knee when you say you "cross it [the thigh] over toward the outside shoulder"?

 

[fatbob]

I'd find it really useful to avoid ambiguity if the text for a single turn could be annotated with left and right and left and right edge/ side of foot appropriately.

Because I'm a visual learner I find it way easier to process it that way rather than having to translate from new or old outside etc.

 

[Zirbl]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up for us @mike_m , very interesting post and great that you get into the fine detail. As always, as soon as it gets put into words, there's the limitations of language to deal with - the video's handy, but you can't see what's going on inside the boots, so inevitably, I have questions for you. Not supposed to be forum hairsplitting, just trying to get it straight in my own mind so I can make the most of my time playing with it on snow.

slide the new inside foot back and drive the new outside foot forward toward the tips.

Using what mechanism to slide the feet?

After the transition [...] then start rotating the new inside shoulder and pelvis around in the new direction.

Do that and the foot slide happens automatically doesn't it? Is the foot sliding the cause and the shoulder and pelvis rotation the effect, or vice versa? Or are both a result of the diagonal rolling of the feet you describe?

and roll [the feet] over diagonal to the slope.

Not sure how you mean this. Are we talking ankle rolling here, or literally the feet? I'm picturing the shins moving forward and in towards the apex, diagonally over the skis, i.e. the tib ant is pulling everything that's above the feet towards the apex, and the "rolling" is the use of the subtalar joint. Have I got that right, or is it something else?

immediately press the new outside ski down into the snow and start to rotate it

Rotate it as in pull the inside edge into the snow using the forward and inward rotation of the subtalar joint and the pelvis, right?

Continue until your pelvis is across your skis in the alignment found using the Schlopy drill (see “The End, into Transition” below.)

Struggling with this bit. I THINK you're describing rotating the pelvis across the skis towards the apex. If I keep rotating the pelvis in that direction, it'll soon be pointing down the fall line. But in the Schlopy drill as typically performed, you're counter-rotating the pelvis with the inside half forward. Bit lost here. UNLESS you mean the pelvis is initially rotating towards the apex but begins to counter-rotate as you increase the pressure on the outside ski just before entering the fall line.

The upward movement of the knee will start flattening the inside ski. This doesn't make any sense, and I know you don't mean to flatten the inside ski because just afterwards you say "both knees totally relax low to the snow...."

If I set up in this part of the turn in a dryland simulation and draw the inside knee towards the outside shoulder while retaining ankle flexion, the imaginary edge angle is maintained. And presumably you don't want to increase the angle on the inside ski too much at this stage or you'd boot out. But I'm also struggling with the bit that comes next - "actively pull them to point uphill". Seems like you can't have both. Also, it's not clear to me what I'm supposed to be pulling with.

Thanks again @mike_m for a detailed write-up.

Yes, I'm noticing that too, in my limited experience. Perhaps it took some years, but there's increasing recognition of the fundamental movements need to make modern skis perform. To what extent all this has penetrated to the point of a general improvement in lesson plans for beginners and lower level skiers allowing for rapid improvement, and consistency from lesson to lesson, probably remains to be seen.

@mike_m will probably be able to confirm it for us, but it seems like the Rookie Academy people are quite open to the Swiss, Italian and Slovenian models and also heavily influenced by Japanese skiers. In the early 2000s, Nicola Werdenigg in Austria was coaching shoulder and pelvic rotation into the turn, while most Austrian and German instructors thought she was out of her mind. (See carving-ski.de posts around 2003). Sandi Murovec in Slovenia was emphasising the importance of a similar position during initiation around the same time. (Talks about it in a recent Global Skiing podcast.) And the Swiss federation had it in their racing basics, certainly by 2009 at the latest. Watch most Italian instructors these days and you'll see them doing the same thing, some, but not all, of them with very pronounced shoulder rotation. Meanwhile, the Austrian and American schools were all for early counter rotation or certainly for avoiding and rotation in the direction of the turn. (No idea what the current position of either organisation is. Looking in from the outside, I can only think of Tommy Kirchhoff's "waist-steering". Most of the American stuff I've seen emphasises a strong inside half throughout the entire turn, but it's been a while since I looked.)

 

[LiquidFeet]

If I set up in this part of the turn in a dryland simulation and draw the inside knee towards the outside shoulder while retaining ankle flexion, the imaginary edge angle is maintained.

@Zirbl, and @mike_m, if I move my inside knee towards the outside shoulder in the turn (just as skis pass the fall line), that knee must move higher up away from the snow, and its movement must be towards the outside of the turn. It has to move this way in order to get closer to the outside shoulder, because that outside shoulder is up higher than the knee and it's more to the outside of the turn when compared to that inside knee.

This movement of the knee is going to bring the top of the tibia up away from the snow, and that presumably will bring the top of the boot cuff up higher. In other words, the tilt of the tibia/lower leg will become more upright.

As long as the cuff is firmly bound to the lower leg, the boot cuff also will become more upright with this knee movement, and that change in boot cuff angle will change the edge angle of the ski. That inside ski will begin to untilt, to flatten.

How can the edge angle of the ski not change when the tilt of the lower leg/tibia/boot cuff changes?
How can the inside ski edge angle not begin to flatten when the top of the tibia moves up from the snow?

Is there something in this visualization that is wrong?

 

[Zirbl]

if I move my inside knee towards the outside shoulder in the turn (just as skis pass the fall line), that knee must move higher up away from the snow, and its movement must be towards the outside of the turn. It has to move this way in order to get closer to the outside shoulder, because that outside shoulder is up higher than the knee and it's more to the outside of the turn when compared to that inside knee.

This movement of the knee is going to bring the top of the tibia up away from the snow, and that presumably will bring the top of the boot cuff up higher. In other words, the tilt of the tibia/lower leg will become more upright.

As long as the cuff is firmly bound to the lower leg, the boot cuff also will become more upright with this knee movement, and that change in boot cuff angle will change the edge angle of the ski. That inside ski will begin to untilt, to flatten.

The knee might be moving away from the snow, but the result of it moving up is that the pelvis will drop closer to the snow, so the shins are still getting pulled over towards the snow. Don't know if your edge angle on the inside ski will be increased rather than just maintained, but don't think it's going to be flattened if you have ankle flexion. I also think the movement of the outside shoulder and the inside knee towards each other is more a result of the pelvis counter-rotating as the inside leg is flexed than a deliberate effort to move the knee towards the inside of the turn. More a case of not fighting the natural path of flexion in an attempt to drive the inside knee down towards the snow. I.e. the tilt of the shins results from the pelvis dropping, not from actively forcing the shins and inside knee to the inside of the turn. How pronounced it looks might depend on your Q angle and other alignment stuff. Just mulling it over here, not advocating anything, just how I picture what's being described and tying it to videos by the Rookie Academy coaches.
That doesn't square it with the later bit about pulling the knees inside though, unless you're letting them be pulled by a pelvis that continues to drop. Over to @mike_m ...

 

[LiquidFeet]

The knee might be moving away from the snow, but the result is that the pelvis will drop closer to the snow, so the shins are still tilting relative to the snow.

The pelvis will drop if the skier needs to rotate it in order to rotate that femur/thigh to point towards the outside shoulder. Perhaps this is the reason for doing this movement, the pelvis rotation and subsequent drop. Yes, the inside ski's edge angle should increase, along with the outside ski's edge angle, when that pelvis drops. I bet that's the goal.

I was thinking the skier did not rotate the pelvis, just the femur, aka femur rotation. generating just a bit of knee movement.

I'm glad there are two of us thinking about it here, and am looking forward to reading what @mike_m says.

 

[Zirbl]

The pelvis will drop if the skier needs to rotate it in order to rotate that femur/thigh to point towards the outside shoulder.

Yeah, sorry, it's like it's coupled.

 

[mdf]

@LiquidFeet , I think it might be the move Deb Armstrong describes in her "knee drive" video. When I tried it, I found that moving the inside knee quickly had lots more effect than moving it slowly. Not only does it move the inside ski out of the way to allow higher outside-ski angles, it also changes where your center of mass is with respect to your own body, and the force that pulls your leg up causes the equal-and-opposite reaction force to pull your torso down closer to the snow.

 

[LiquidFeet]

When I do the knee drive thing, I'm carving. I lift my knee aiming it at my inside armpit. That keeps the knee low to the snow, tilts the inside lower leg, and puts the inside ski high on its edge. The higher my inside knee goes towards my inside armpit, the higher my edge angle on the outside ski. @mdf, I better do this fast as you describe, or I can't get'er done before the fall line.

That inside knee never reaches the armpit. It reaches the inside half of my chest, about half way up. Yes, I could do better .

I keep my pelvis/shoulders/upper body more or less square to the ski tips (which have inside tip lead). I do not rotate my pelvis to drop the hip farther, nor do I aim that inside knee towards my outside shoulder.

If rotating the pelvis into a more dramatic countered position in order to get higher edge angles is the goal of @mike_m's description, and if that comes directly from Rookie Academy instruction, then maybe I'll try aiming my inside knee at the outside shoulder and allowing the pelvis to rotate more than normal the next time I'm alone on a nice easy blue groomer to see what happens.

But ... in my head this movement is listed as the classic hip dump. Anyone have experience with rotating the pelvis like this in order to drop the hip? Do you consider it hip dumping?

 

[Turoa Kiwi]

Hello, all,

Back from New Zealand and the Rookie Academy Advanced Program. Always a terrific experience. Three weeks training with a different world-class coach each week. The conditions were unusual for New Zealand. Normally, early August through early September is prime, mid-winter snow. This year, New Zealand had historic snowfall in June, then it turned to spring! The result? Each morning started as rock-hard ice turning to deep, heavy slush bumps by 2 o’clock. Challenging! (But good training snow, right?) Well, as Bob Barnes used to say (and I repeat often to my clients who complain about conditions), “Snow is either good or it’s good for you!”

I thought you might enjoy my key takeaways from the academy. Underlined portions were a particular point of emphasis. I find it interesting that virtually all the major ski teaching systems around the world seem to have merged. All the coaches I’ve skied with over the past few years are emphasizing the exact same points. If you compare these focuses to my takeaways post on the PSIA National Academy last April, I think you’ll find them very complementary.

Anyway, let’s get to the good parts!

Trainers:

Jonathan Ballou:
Head of training at Aspen, two-time PSIA Demo Team; Interski demonstrator

Josh Duncan-Smith:
New Zealand Demo Team; Interski demonstrator; CSIA Level 4

Jamie Kagan:
Ski school director, Verbier; Irish Interski head coach; CSIA and BASI Level 4​

Focus first on what is attached to the ground. Start low to the snow, gripping with the outside ski. To accomplish this, you need constant functional tension in both closed ankles, but particularly in the inside foot and ankle.

The Beginning of the turn:

Before starting downhill, lift the toes and front of both feet (dorsiflex) to close the ankles and activate the tibialis anterior (shin muscle). This commits you forward and plants you on the strongest part of your new outside foot, the calcaneous bone at the front of your heel. Throughout the turn, constantly press forward off that part of your outside foot to propel you where you want to go.

Start each turn quite low and compact with an engaged core. Use a committed pole plant to lighten both feet, pull them back above you, transition, and roll them over diagonal to the slope. To transition, use your aggressively closed new inside ankle to lighten and lift the new inside ski (old outside ski) along its entire length (not just the tail). Staying square to the tips, step to, and balance on, the uphill edge of the new outside ski, slide the new inside foot back and drive the new outside foot forward toward the tips. (This may result in a bit of extension off that new outside foot. That’s OK.) Starting square to the tips allows you to hold counter and alignment past the transition so your body position relative to the skis is the same at the end of the turn as it is at the beginning of the next. This allows you to establish immediate grip on the snow with that new outside ski.

To accomplish this, immediately press the new outside ski down into the snow and start to rotate it as if you were pressing down and twisting the cap of a child-proof medicine bottle, then move up the kinetic chain and add rotation/twist of the pelvis and femurs in the same direction. Continue until your pelvis is across your skis in the alignment found using the Schlopy drill (see “The End, into Transition” below.) Let the skis seek the fall line by themselves and, in general, go downhill longer than you likely usually do.

As you enter the shaping phase of the turn, and the previous pole-plant basket moves above you, keep pressing it down in the snow and pushing it constantly forward and downhill. Allow the new outside basket, aligned with your pelvis and low to the snow, to rotate around until you use it for the next pole plant next to your outside heel.

The Middle (the “shaping phase: or “working phase”:

Actively pronate and supinate your feet (roll the outside foot inward; lift the arch of the inside foot and roll it outwards) from the heels diagonally forward across to the balls of the feet (JF Beaulieu equates this to a cat’s paws flattening smoothly). Simultaneously, keep sliding the inside ski back and slicing the outside ski ahead. Resist the turn by pointing your toes opposite the direction the skis are turning. This locks the skis into the snow and prevents the tails from skidding away. There is constant activity along the bottoms of your feet both fore and aft (always strive to stay centered on the ski perpendicular to the slope of the hill), and side to side.

After starting downhill, let the activity in your feet move up the kinetic chain. Lift the inside thigh and cross it over toward the outside shoulder. Tip the outside leg inward to meet it as both legs steer and both knees totally relax low to the snow and you actively pull them to point uphill. To maintain your balance out over the skis, counterbalance the activity of the knees tipping uphill by actively “bowing” with your inside shoulder downhill out over the skis. The further over the skis you “bow,” the further the knees can lower.

When your line is established and the tips are turning toward the fall line, stop steering and tipping the skis, hold your line, and give in to the pressure back from the hill progressively (don’t immediately lighten) as you ski into maximum flex. Bend your outside leg so you always have grip, your skis never chatter, and you are never braced on the outside leg. Let the skis cross uphill under you into transition. Stay strong, but not braced or stiff, out over the outside ski. No squat toward the tails! All moves are subtle, smooth and progressive. No sudden recoveries should be needed; i.e., never put yourself in a position you need to get out of!

The End, into Transition:

To end the turn, tip the pole-plant grip inward, plant and hold it in the snow, then pull it forward toward the tips of the skis to pull you forward, keep you low, and maintain your alignment past the transition. (A modified Schlopy drill will help you feel this alignment. In this drill, use your outside hand to push your pelvis across the skis, extend your inside arm downhill over the skis, and bow out over the skis with the inside shoulder. Hold the extended inside arm out over the skis past the time you start downhill.)

Pole plant at the moment of maximum flex/inside shoulder bowing out over the skis, and relaxation/pointing of the knees uphill. Pole plant immediately at max flex and use it to pull your light feet back behind you. After the transition, rotate both knees uphill, around, then downhill, then start rotating the new inside shoulder and pelvis around in the new direction.

Your skis should be right under you at transition. If skiing with a scissors activity of your feet (inside continually sliding back and supinating; outside continually sliding ahead and pronating), this is the moment the skis are aligned right next to each other. Your feet should feel like they are turning up the hill and rolling over diagonally above you. The actual transition should be quick. The longer you delay or elongate this move, the more likely you are to hold on to the old turn and traverse.

As you transition, look diagonally away from the direction of the old turn to the next apex - your target. Hold your pole plant in the snow to help your CM cross over in the new direction (incline) and your skis will automatically lighten, roll over above you and extend away. Both skis should be rolled over completely before you start downhill.

General notes:

Play with the terrain! Dance with it! Never a dead spot or delay to the next movement. Think bicycle-pedaling continuity. Your skis should feel like they are the bottoms of a rocking chair, flowing downhill in a continuous dolphin rhythm, up and down, and side to side: tips down into the snow, then a moment of balance planted in the middle of the outside ski on the calcaneous bone, then the tips come up as the outside tail grips the snow and actively slices ahead and steers around to shape the end of the turn. The bottoms of the skis are constantly rolling over and riding the curve of an imaginary bobsled banking.

Slower speeds: Use more constant, active rotation/steering of the legs and feet all the way through the turn.

More dynamic speeds: The outside tail deflects more to redirect the skis so less steering is needed.

Short turns: Plant your poles in a straight line down the hill.

How do we actually ingrain these new movement patterns? “Muscle memory” is a misnomer. Movement patterns are learned and ingrained in the brain. To do so most effectively, a fatty insulating tissue called myelin forms a thick sheath of protein and fat around the axons of the brain and acts like insulation around an electrical cable. This strengthens and speeds the electrical signaling in the nerve pathways that connect one neuron to the next, allowing coordination of sensory input, the brain and your limbs. The brain can then process repetitive motions faster and coordinate them more effectively using memory and muscular development.

As you repeat a movement (whether efficient or inefficient), more myelin forms around the nerve pathways reinforcing that movement, helping to ingrain it as your default.

In other words, practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect!

Hope this was useful. Comments and questions always welcome!

Best!
Mike

PS: I think the following video of Patrick Beaetz illustrates all the points mentioned above. Plus, it’s just fun to watch!

Where was the Academy held ? I saw some pretty awesome training program looking type skiing groups at Mt Hutt and Cardrona this season

 

[mike_m]

Wow, lots of queries. I'll do my best...

Chris V: Holding counter past the transition - Many skiers are in a hurry to go downhill in the new direction. In effect, they huck their upper bodies and pelvis downhill and leave their skis behind! Holding counter with your pelvis gives you the time to shift to the new foot and establish grip. You describe it as "allowing the counter to unwind progressively in the first part of the new turn." I'd agree with that.

Immediately pressing the imaginary bottlecap down in the snow as the skis start downhill - Yep, this was a new one for me, but once I tried it, it really worked. I'm not actually twisting my foot in the negative sense of sliding it/skidding it on top of the snow but, rather, by using the image of pushing down on the childproof cap of a pill bottle with my new outside foot, I establish weight on it completely before redirecting and steering the skis in the new direction. It guarantees early grip and provides more emphatic commitment into the new direction. Give it a try this season!

Steering - Easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. We focused on starting each turn by turning the feet (see above), then progressively, but emphatically, moving up the kinetic chain right up to including the shoulders. All the parts of the body were rotating and driving in the direction of the new turn until the knees and pelvis actually crossed over the skis, which was the cue to transition.

Liquidfeet: Ah, the question of the lifted inside knee and thigh pointing across towards the outside shoulder! Try this: Put one arm against a wall to support yourself, then lean against it, standing on your outside foot. Lift your inside pelvis, knee and thigh and rotate the outside leg and thigh around and inward. Now point your lifted inside knee toward your outside shoulder. You can pull your lifted thigh right up to your chest and that foot need not flatten! I think you'll see this movement pattern in the Patrick Baetz video I embedded, and in any photo/video of a dynamic expert skier in a carve.

In regards your question about "hip dump" in a later post, let's continue leaning against a wall. If you allow your outside pelvis to rotate back and tuck under to lift your inside pelvis and achieve "counter," you are dumping your outside pelvis and in a weak position. If, however, you rotate and drive your pelvis around and across in the same direction your feet and femurs are turning, you are countered but strong! (This is probably the most misunderstood component of skiing!)

Zirbl: Forgive me, but when you ask for the mechanism of how you slide your feet or roll your feet over, I'm at a bit of a loss.

In regards the alignment at the end of the Schlopy drill, I'm referring to holding the countered alignment past the transition as described to Chris V above.

In regards the activity of the inside leg, I hope my answer to Liquidfeet above was helpful. As far as actively pulling the relaxed knees to point uphill, I find that passivity in any part of my body in a ski turn is ineffective. (i.e., asking a client to simply face her upper body downhill as the skis turn across the hill). Actively turning the upper body opposite the tips creates the illusion that the upper body is still, but effective counter is most effectively achieved by activity of the upper body opposite the direction of the ski tips. Same with the knees. I can relax them low to the snow and also actively rotate my femurs to pull them there.

In regards turning the legs and the upper body in the new direction as in the other national teaching systems you cite - This is so easily misinterpreted! Without first establishing grip with the outside foot, turning just the shoulder in the new direction results in the dreaded "upper-body rotation"! However, turning the legs, pelvis, and upper body in the direction of the turn once grip is established can result in a very effective and dynamic turn! (Again, see Patrick's video or any current expert carver.) The inside half is strong, but in a different way than is often understood!

Turoa Kiwi: We were based at Treble Cone, with occasional forays to Cardrona when TC was closed by weather.

Hope that helped clarify. Skiing relies on such subtleties of definitions! I've always thought that 90% of lessons that fail are a result of misinterpretations (either from the coach or the student!)

Best!
Mike

 

[LiquidFeet]

....Ah, the question of the lifted inside knee and thigh pointing across towards the outside shoulder! Try this: Put one arm against a wall to support yourself, then lean against it, standing on your outside foot. Lift your inside pelvis, knee and thigh and rotate the outside leg and thigh around and inward. Now point your lifted inside knee toward your outside shoulder. You can pull your lifted thigh right up to your chest and that foot need not flatten!....

@mike_m, thanks for responding to my questions. I'll need to put ski boots on to do the test above. I have hypermobile ankles so what they do in sneakers has no relationship with what happens when they are in ski boots. I will do it, but not right now.

When you "point you lifted inside knee toward your outside shoulder" ... and .... "pull your lifted thigh right up to your chest," I'm curious what the inside half of the pelvis does. I think I asked this in my long post above, but I'm going to ask it again in different words. I'm still seeking an answer.

I am very curious about this whole thigh thing. So here are my three questions again.

1. At this point in the turn, at or just after the fall line, the inside half of the pelvis is already more forward and higher than the outside half of the pelvis. Does it move more forward and even higher with this thigh action?

2. If yes, does this pelvis movement (higher, more forward) drop the hips lower to the snow and consequently increase the edge angle of the outside ski?

3. If yes to that, is this increase in edge angle the reason to do this thigh movement?

 

[Zirbl]

Thanks @mike_m

Forgive me, but when you ask for the mechanism of how you slide your feet or roll your feet over, I'm at a bit of a loss.

As in the question was worded unclearly, or it's just something you personally feel yourself doing without being sure how?

Think you've answered the foot rolling bit in reply to Chris V.

In regards turning the legs and the upper body in the new direction as in the other national teaching systems you cite - This is so easily misinterpreted! Without first establishing grip with the outside foot, turning just the shoulder in the new direction results in the dreaded "upper-body rotation"! However, turning the legs, pelvis, and upper body in the direction of the turn once grip is established can result in a very effective and dynamic turn! (Again, see Patrick's video or any current expert carver.) The inside half is strong, but in a different way than is often understood!

Interesting, thanks. I can see that if you use the subtalar joint to engage the new inside edge, everything in the chain above it ends up facing into the turn. Plus you already have the counter from the previous turn.

Are you saying that I've misinterpreted what the Italians and Slovenians are coaching, or that the Rookie stuff fundamentally differs in terms of the order of the movements?
I haven't been coached in Italy or Slovenia, but from the outside looking in, mainly at the stuff Stefano Belingheri did for Projected Productions and reading Murocev's book, I really do get the impression they're using upper body rotation without dreading it, seeing it as faciliating inward rolling of the ankles and knees. I.e. in their sytems, the shoulder and pelvis position comes first, not second. The Slovenian approach as described by Murocev seems to be not so much rotation as an openness towards the new turn to make it easier to roll the ankles, whereas the Italians really do seem to be rotating - not right round and throughout the whole turn, but in the initation. I THINK they're driving the subtalar motion via the position of the upper body, not the other way round. But if you've done tech camps and what have you with them, you'll have greater insight into what they're doing.

 

[Seldomski]

Pointing the knee to the outside shoulder sounds like a cue to:
1) Flex the knee --> allows higher edge angles to develop
2) Stack/move COM more onto the outside foot
3) Narrow lateral separation (distance between skis)
4) Level the pelvis

See my avatar for an example of doing this poorly and definitely at the wrong part of the turn.

 

[mike_m]

Liquidfeet: If you try the wall exercise, I'll leave it up to you to tell me what your inside pelvis does!

1. Same answer as above.
2. Usually.
3. Yes, plus it creates continuity of activity throughout the turn, plus it looks cool!

Zirbl: Actually, I was agreeing with you that the European coaches you cite are advocating pretty much the same thing in regards allowing the upper body to rotate in the direction of the turn. It is very effective provided the outside ski is gripping and the upper-body rotation does not displace it. Personally, I love the image of the high-level Italian skiers! (Of course, the fact that I'm Italian has nothing to do with that!)

Seldomski: Pretty much, except that the lateral distance between the feet and legs need not narrow by doing the inside-leg lift/cross. The stance apart can remain consistent from start to finish.

Best!
Mike