Background: I stopped racing at 18 in about 1990. I was nothing too special as a racer. I did well at some smaller events here and there - usually in GS or DH. I mostly skied over my head and crashed, especially in SL, where I was the subject of many wagers as to which turn I would blow out in, and how wide an area I would spread my gear across. After racing I kept skiing recreationally about 20 days a year. Bought a pair of 205 cm Rossi 7XKs in 1994. I still have them. I could make them work just about anywhere. I did a lot of all mountain skiing, and become a better all around skier, and got away from having to attack every turn like a joe racer wanna be. I pretty much stopped skiing in 2000. From 2000 to 2021 I skied two days. Out of the blue this year I decided skiing would be a good way to get in shape instead of going to the gym. 5'-11", 190#. I bought a pair of Atomic Redster 183 / 19.4m for groomers, and a pair of Enforcer 100s for versatility. I have not touched the Enforcers, but just spent 2 days on the Atomics.
Uh...this is a bit different. I had a heck of a time figuring out how to truly GS carve on these skis. I thought I was a good skier! My turn entry just did not work, and if you do not start out the turn in a carve, there is no way your are getting into one. I spent my first day skiing hard for half a run, then trying to recover. These skis have a lot of pop and you can really get across the hill, but I could tell I was not proper carving. So day two, I just focused on drills drills drills, trying to get a feel for a proper and true carve. It was very hard to train my legs to initiate a turn with deliberate edge angles. The basic drill video "Learn how to CARVE - 3 EASY DRILLS" on Utube was helpful in re-training my legs and developing some edge angle awareness, and ankle/foot feeling. I had a very hard time doing Garlands effectively, as my inside/uphill leg has a mind of its own and I am so DH leg dominant. The timing from being flat to getting back on a cross hill carve was just not right either. When I went back to linked turns, I still could just not get a turn started in a carve. The initiation would always go wrong, and I would end up skidding early in the turn and blow the whole thing.
Finally, I had to get on a green groomer to figure out what was going on. The issue was TIMING. When you initiate with edge angle, holy moly the ski just does nothing for a bit. My nervous system was trained to expect an instant response when putting a ski on edge, because we had quite a bit of skidding/yawing back in the day. So if I laid the edge on angle, I would cheat to the inside, expecting the skis to load up right away. But now the ski just does not start a turn that rapidly, and I would get way out of balance. In the process of catching my balance, I would end up in the back seat like a kook. So I told myself to be really patient, put the turn-initiating ski on a good edge angle, don't let my body anticipate instand response (stay over the skis so I dont fall over to the inside), and just WAIT till something happens. It was like a switch flipped. I started initiating with edge angle (knees and feet), while forcing myself to not lean in too early...stay neutral and over the skis. After a while, I could link some turns in the flats, and went back to a steeper pitch. It was just wait, wait, wait. Are they ever going to turn? OK they are finally turning. I am going pretty fast. Ok...they are REALLY turning... OK holy crap I have never pulled these sorts of Gs in my life....I need to do some squats.
I still have plenty of issues. I am outside/DH leg dominant. It is like my inside leg is untrained and uncoordinated. Looking at my ski tracks, there are two clean deep knife edge tracks before and up to the "in fall line" phase just after turn initiation. But the inside track then fades and at the high load point in the turn (45-60 degrees past the fall line), it is all DH leg. Also, all the turn initiation feels like it is done only with the ski that will become the DH ski. It does not feel like I am getting the new inside ski on edge. My inside ski wanders a lot. Also, obviously I need to get in shape. The most surprising thing when you link aggressive carved turns (vs 80s style skiing) is how damned fast you get going. It is like you are on ice skates, and the only drag is air drag. So within 3-4 turns I am going so fast my body can not handle the loads (I do not have the feel yet to shorten the inside leg and get the edge angles up while keeping the DH leg less bent).
Any tips on how to get this inside ski to do something useful, and play nice with the overall progression of the turn? Any drills that are good for someone adapting from 80s/early 90s style skiing to a modern aggressive carving ski? I think I am starting to figure out the basics, but I have a long ways to go....
Thanks!
Uh...this is a bit different. I had a heck of a time figuring out how to truly GS carve on these skis. I thought I was a good skier! My turn entry just did not work, and if you do not start out the turn in a carve, there is no way your are getting into one. I spent my first day skiing hard for half a run, then trying to recover. These skis have a lot of pop and you can really get across the hill, but I could tell I was not proper carving. So day two, I just focused on drills drills drills, trying to get a feel for a proper and true carve. It was very hard to train my legs to initiate a turn with deliberate edge angles. The basic drill video "Learn how to CARVE - 3 EASY DRILLS" on Utube was helpful in re-training my legs and developing some edge angle awareness, and ankle/foot feeling. I had a very hard time doing Garlands effectively, as my inside/uphill leg has a mind of its own and I am so DH leg dominant. The timing from being flat to getting back on a cross hill carve was just not right either. When I went back to linked turns, I still could just not get a turn started in a carve. The initiation would always go wrong, and I would end up skidding early in the turn and blow the whole thing.
Finally, I had to get on a green groomer to figure out what was going on. The issue was TIMING. When you initiate with edge angle, holy moly the ski just does nothing for a bit. My nervous system was trained to expect an instant response when putting a ski on edge, because we had quite a bit of skidding/yawing back in the day. So if I laid the edge on angle, I would cheat to the inside, expecting the skis to load up right away. But now the ski just does not start a turn that rapidly, and I would get way out of balance. In the process of catching my balance, I would end up in the back seat like a kook. So I told myself to be really patient, put the turn-initiating ski on a good edge angle, don't let my body anticipate instand response (stay over the skis so I dont fall over to the inside), and just WAIT till something happens. It was like a switch flipped. I started initiating with edge angle (knees and feet), while forcing myself to not lean in too early...stay neutral and over the skis. After a while, I could link some turns in the flats, and went back to a steeper pitch. It was just wait, wait, wait. Are they ever going to turn? OK they are finally turning. I am going pretty fast. Ok...they are REALLY turning... OK holy crap I have never pulled these sorts of Gs in my life....I need to do some squats.
I still have plenty of issues. I am outside/DH leg dominant. It is like my inside leg is untrained and uncoordinated. Looking at my ski tracks, there are two clean deep knife edge tracks before and up to the "in fall line" phase just after turn initiation. But the inside track then fades and at the high load point in the turn (45-60 degrees past the fall line), it is all DH leg. Also, all the turn initiation feels like it is done only with the ski that will become the DH ski. It does not feel like I am getting the new inside ski on edge. My inside ski wanders a lot. Also, obviously I need to get in shape. The most surprising thing when you link aggressive carved turns (vs 80s style skiing) is how damned fast you get going. It is like you are on ice skates, and the only drag is air drag. So within 3-4 turns I am going so fast my body can not handle the loads (I do not have the feel yet to shorten the inside leg and get the edge angles up while keeping the DH leg less bent).
Any tips on how to get this inside ski to do something useful, and play nice with the overall progression of the turn? Any drills that are good for someone adapting from 80s/early 90s style skiing to a modern aggressive carving ski? I think I am starting to figure out the basics, but I have a long ways to go....
Thanks!