In DH when coaches speak of "cutting off the line" what do they mean? Why wouldn't a racer ski the "cut off line" in training runs?
Speeder, just read this today and sitting around with a cold so thought I would comment. It is unknown why you asked the question (a good Q) so thought I would give some non World Cup answers to "cutting the line."
Disclaimer, I am not a race coach or WC expert like some the the very knowledgeable people here on Pugski. My comments are based on having raced for 25 yrs in strictly amateur competition, primarily police and firefighter races.
When preparing to race a course the competitors will first be allowed to "inspect" the course. This enables you to go thru the course either side slipping or in a wedge, no skiing the course is allowed. You cannot shadow just outside the course and ski regularly as that would be cheating.
Inspecting the course, will be the racers lst opportunity to look at the course and to determine and choose "their line". A WC racer will 100% look at a line differently than an amateur racer. A new racer may pick a line - to just survive the course, get a time and finish. In amateur racing if you listen closely you may hear, "ski the top-race the bottom". In other words survive the top and just ski it, race the bottom where you can somewhat safely push the envelope as it won't be so steep.
Picking a line for inexperienced racers will hinge on; their ability, confidence, condition of the course, steepness, type of snow and their knowledge of racing, how much coaching they have received. In amateur racing a common mistake is -
too straight a line. Without the ability and experience, training and practice a racer will
get late and very soon be unable to make a gate.
Line is so important. Do you know what is on the other side of that roller? Maybe a quick gate, depression, hard fall away turn etc. Absolutely a
must is to inspect your line and to determine where the following happens:
Super G Course. As you are inspecting the course you have to find the places where you are blind to the next gate. The gate on the knoll will have to be taken in a certain way to line you up correctly for the gate you still can't see. Some courses may have 2 or 3 blind fall offs or turns. You must remember these gate and how you are going to take them when you are racing. Most courses will have turns that
fall away, (i.e. turn goes to the right and hill falls away to the left) it is beneficial to record their location in your head so as to be prepared when they occur. Almost all fall away turns you will have to start your turn early and carve your outside ski to keep from
dropping too low and consequently scrubbing speed by having to
get back up to the next gate.
Another consideration while inspecting is to look for "
changes in tempo", places where you will have to change your turn shape and rythmn to meet a change in gate placement or a change in the actual geography of the hill. This can also apply for example if you are skiing a long race that goes from firm snow to soft snow. It is possible that in soft snow you will need another line to prevent hitting the slush scraped into furrows somewhere on or next to the course.
Maintaining speed is what it is all about.
Probably one of the hardest things for a new racer to learn is to ski the correct line. The ability to see two gates ahead of where he/she is skiing and inspect the course correctly and apply that knowlewdge to your run.
An example. There was a Super G at Mammoth in the Police and Fire Games that contained a gate near the finish that was very important. It was just before the course fell off the the right 5 or 6 more gates to the finish which was almost flat. So, to take this gate correctly was to scrape off as little speed as possible to get through the finish with some momentum. Excluding the Expert division almost no one saw that this gate didnot contain a real turn. My old ski racer friend Ted told me to look at this gate very carefully. If you skied the correct line there was no turn on this pivot gate and then you carried a lot of speed thru to the finish. I won this race several times by less that half a second, my line on this gate was sthe reason, not my skiing necessarily but skiing the right line at the right time on the right part of the course.
SORRY GUYS if I got to basic but like I said it is summer, I am sitting on my duff watch the NFL nursing a cold so couldn't resist Cutting the Line from a novices angle. And thanks enjoyed the writings and video's above.