Fore-aft balance... insights from the pros

[esteban525]

Hello all, please take a look at this new post, and let me know what you guys think:

https://fedewenzelski.com/fore-aft-balance-in-skiing-dynamic-is-the-way-to-go/

Cheers!

 

[MissySki]

Interesting article, and the video in there is really nice.

I've never seen dolphin turns skied so beautifully, and the breakdown made it seem way more approachable to try. I'm sure I've tried some form of this drill in the past and never understood you weren't supposed to be jumping specifically in some capacity. It was definitely a jumbled mess that felt super awkward and I abandoned as soon as possible not really seeing the utility in it. Since I often ski on trail ridge edges like the one shown and bumps as well, I'd love to apply this there. And I can definitely use anything that could help with honing better fore aft balance.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Great post. Got more?

 

[cantunamunch]

Interesting.

The trick is to push the feet forward and pop off your tails, and then pull your feet back with your heels up to land on the shovels. The edge change must occur while in the air, so we land and start the new turn.

Anyone else like to dolphin off the lip at start?

 

[esteban525]

Great post. Got more?

Thanks. Yes, there's a whole blog page on that website, with several other posts. You can reach it out here: https://fedewenzelski.com/blog/
Please let me know what you think about them.

Cheers!

 

[Viking9]

I love that Marcels butt is back behind his bindings.
I love that he is not carving.
I love that he is not rolling his ankles.
I love that he is skiing the rear of his skis.
I love that he is using independent leg action.
I love that his skis are getting off the snow.
I love his turns.

 

[locknload]

Great demo and expiation of the dolphin turns! I'm not motivated to really go practice and work on these. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Henry]

A slightly different take on parts of the LeMaster pic...shots #3 & #8 the skier is not really on the tails. At the transition the skier flexes deeply to release the old turn. This flattens the skis for the release, but due to our stiff boots the skier's body must be behind the feet. Because the skier is so light on the skis at this point it isn't really skiing on the tails. Shot #7 is different, we can see the snow spraying from the tails.

"In order to start a turn effectively, we need to move our Center of Mass forward to bend or balance over the shovel of the skis. We must start the turn by engaging the tip of the ski, so we look for “getting to the front of the ski” at the initiation." Again a slightly different take. It might be more accurate to talk about the vertical alignment of the skier's center of mass over the skis' sweet spots which is somewhere forward of the toe bindings. We want the skier's mass over the forward part of the skis to initial the turn, or the forward part of the skis under the skier's mass. The difference is in how one accomplishes this. Here is where the pull back of the feet does the job, pull way back and pull back early as an initial part of the new turn initiation. Somewhat the same for the end of the turn. We want the back part of the skis (but not too far back) under the skier's mass to jet the skis forward at the end of the turn. A slight push of the feet forward does this followed by the release then a strong early pull back to begin initiation of the next turn.

50+ years ago is the first time I heard about jet turns. The ski is loaded in its curve during the turn, then with the skis pushed forward at the end of the turn the curve straightens and unloads and jets forward. We've all probably felt this inadvertently and didn't know why those skis shot our from under us when we had a sit-back moment. Back in olden days Jet Stix were sold, long stiff upward extensions of the cuff behind the calf, so one could load the tails of the skis even more to jet forward at the end of the turn.

 

[Viking9]

The jet turn thing you talk about is what I like to refer to as ” Load and POW “ and repeat with what ever ripple you can find to make it even more effort less and repeatable.
Its tough for me to talk tech, like in the mogul talk with pulling your feet back, I’m a good mogul skier and even better of course in my youth , I’ve never thought about the pull your feet back thing.
Iv‘e only had one lesson in my life and that was forty years ago, Iv’e just always observed in still shots of good skiers their ass is almost always over their bindings and tails.
I also don’t like it when I hear so much talk about the tips of one’s skis, like the two ski carve I don’t think it travels very well.
I think my style and thoughts of course are old school and not much new style , but I sure like skiing shorter skis !!

 

[Sledhead]

Great article! One way to look at it is that dynamic stacking follows the steering angles produced by the path the BoS takes in respect to the path of the CoM. It is a beautiful thing when you see a skier maximizing their capacity in this respect. A poetically kinematic geometry in motion.

 

[2Old4Rails]

Those moguls do not look like they were any fun to ski. I applaud anyone for surviving when it is that solid.