Help me correct my technique (slight A frame)

[razie]

Off topic but could this misalignment cause calf and knee pain?

Knee pain? Yes, some misalignment can cause knee pain as the force vectors won't line up and stress some joints.

Calf pain? As in sore after skiing? Discomfort while skiing?

 

[Rdputnam515]

Knee pain? Yes, some misalignment can cause knee pain as the force vectors won't line up and stress some joints.

Calf pain? As in sore after skiing? Discomfort while skiing?

I figured for it would surely cause knee pain, my wife gets calf pain when skiing sometimes. I’m wondering if there could be an alignment issue beating up her calves.

 

[Chris V.]

...there are also hyper links to other skiing as well (the blue text).

Ahh, yes. Easier to navigate here on my desktop computer than it was on my silly phone. That's some strong skiing. Kudos for always wanting to improve.

 

[Jamt]

There’s nothing wrong with boots or alignment. Competent skiing in challenging, variable terrain. The most significant issue is the relative lack of early new inside leg activity - begin to release the old outside ski earlier and work on shortening and tipping that new inside leg more aggressively and you’re golden. Easy adjustment for someone with your skills.

Agree with this. Generally there is good dynamic skiing, but you sometimes end up in situations like this

You are powering the outside skis with a lot of fore pressure, and that is fine if you want the ski to turn by itself. It does this by hooking up the ski in front of the CoM (i.e. the force under the ski is in front of the force acting on the ski from above)
The problem is if the inside ski is not also doing this the skis will separate. Particularly in soft grippy snow if the inside foot is lazy it will separate from the outside since it gets stuck in the snow.
In addition to what HDN said above I would also focus on pulling the inside ski back and make a conscious effort to keep the inside boot closer to the outside. Important also to not become static throughout the turn while doing this. It is all continuous movements.

 

[Jilly]

Calf pain for your wife...she may need a heel lift.

If after you try @razie , fit test, go get some smiley faces on your knees. Your skiing will love you.

 

[Don Boyajian]

Agree with this. Generally there is good dynamic skiing, but you sometimes end up in situations like this
View attachment 153975
You are powering the outside skis with a lot of fore pressure, and that is fine if you want the ski to turn by itself. It does this by hooking up the ski in front of the CoM (i.e. the force under the ski is in front of the force acting on the ski from above)
The problem is if the inside ski is not also doing this the skis will separate. Particularly in soft grippy snow if the inside foot is lazy it will separate from the outside since it gets stuck in the snow.
In addition to what HDN said above I would also focus on pulling the inside ski back and make a conscious effort to keep the inside boot closer to the outside. Important also to not become static throughout the turn while doing this. It is all continuous movements.

This is really helpful. Thank you so much. When you say "focus on pulling the inside ski back", do you essentially mean just closer to the position of the outside ski (feet closer together), or something else?

I'm going to dedicate the weekend at whiteface to some of this...I'll make sure to get some good on piste clips.

Thank you!

 

[Jamt]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much. When you say "focus on pulling the inside ski back", do you essentially mean just closer to the position of the outside ski (feet closer together), or something else?

I'm going to dedicate the weekend at whiteface to some of this...I'll make sure to get some good on piste clips.

Thank you!

Yes, and it is important not to "stand" on the inside while pulling it back. A cue that works for many is to "tip, lighten and pull the inside foot back". In soft snow there is a certain feeling for what "lighten" means because if you do it too much the outside will sink much more compared to the inside. In those cases you have to put more effort in keeping the inside boot close to the outside.

 

[tube77]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much. When you say "focus on pulling the inside ski back", do you essentially mean just closer to the position of the outside ski (feet closer together), or something else?

I'm going to dedicate the weekend at whiteface to some of this...I'll make sure to get some good on piste clips.

Thank you!

You have a tip diverging issue as well.
So the ‘pulling back’ the inside ski will help.
What happens when you pull back your inside ski is that your inside foot ankle will be flexed more and you will feel more tension on your shin muscle.
Deb Armstrong in her recent youtube clip explains the same mechanism by ‘driving inside knee forward’ which would do the same thing.
Also you need to focus to drop your inside knee towards ground to make more space between your knees.

 

[Don Boyajian]

This video seems helpful. Thank you all!

 

[tube77]

These.

 

[Don Boyajian]

Thank you all for your input. I'll try to put these tips to use. Hopefully they can translate to all the funky snow conditions we ski in the NE backcountry. I intentionally tried to include clips in tough conditions, because that's where the flaws come out. I don't know what's wrong with me...maybe it's my inner east coast skier soul, but I just love skiing in bad conditions. It's really the ultimate test - to make bad snow look pretty. It's also self serving; the better my technique, the more I'll enjoy the backcountry on the less than perfect days (which is often). Thanks again all!

 

[razie]

Calf pain for your wife...she may need a heel lift.

Yeah, was thinking fore/aft could be off, making her pedal too much. Without more info, worth trying

Agree with this. Generally there is good dynamic skiing, but you sometimes end up in situations like this
View attachment 153975

I'll disagree.

One time is fine, couple times it's fine. In every turn to overshoot a bit - ok, technique maybe. But in pretty much each and every turn to end up jammed so far on the cuff like this, on even a simple soft slow run like this one?

That's not fine. This dude has skied a lot of backcountry and he's fairly competent at it. To know and be aware that he can't release the skis, he must have tried adjusting a bunch of things and didn't work.

Who else has a cuff that folds so easily and drives your knee in like that in a slow soft turn?

OP - this is a fairly big stretch of the Achilles tendon:

P.S. The technique advice is all fine and would definitely improve the skiing - but I would still take a hard look at the equipment issues I mentioned. @Noodler gave a simple solution to try as well... and I added a simple test to gauge the setup.

 

[Don Boyajian]

Yeah, was thinking fore/aft could be off, making her pedal too much. Without more info, worth trying


I'll disagree.

One time is fine, couple times it's fine. In every turn to overshoot a bit - ok, technique maybe. But in pretty much each and every turn to end up jammed so far on the cuff like this, on even a simple soft slow run like this one?

View attachment 154141
That's not fine. This dude has skied a lot of backcountry and he's fairly competent at it. To know and be aware that he can't release the skis, he must have tried adjusting a bunch of things and didn't work.

Who else has a cuff that folds so easily and drives your knee in like that in a slow soft turn?

OP - this is a fairly big stretch of the Achilles tendon:

View attachment 154142

P.S. The technique advice is all fine and would definitely improve the skiing - but I would still take a hard look at the equipment issues I mentioned. @Noodler gave a simple solution to try as well... and I added a simple test to gauge the setup.

I appreciate this response - the reason I included this clip is because it was a particularly blatant example in some weird snow (maybe hard to tell in the clip) It was a remote slide (which meant I ski very reserved) that I had never skied before and approached from above (so also skiing reserved), and it also had very wind affected snow. It's not an issue that I always have, but it comes out worst in that type of skiing condition, and most typically in the backcountry. Slide skiing in the northeast can be very strange snow. One turn can be a crust, another can be wind affected pow, and then the next can be a couple inches of snow on top of water ice. All part of why I love it, and on a light touring setup needed to reach most these places, it's a very good test of technique.

I will also say...I tried my touring boots on, and to keep my skis flat, I'm definitely a little knock-kneed to do so. Not really the case with my Lange RS130. For comparison - see the attached clip where I've skiing a slide at a resort in my resort skis and boots. There was a crust in the snow this day, but I don't think it affected my technique nearly as much (maybe due to my equipment, maybe because I was skiing more aggressively).

 

[geepers]

I appreciate this response - the reason I included this clip is because it was a particularly blatant example in some weird snow (maybe hard to tell in the clip) It was a remote slide (which meant I ski very reserved) that I had never skied before and approached from above (so also skiing reserved), and it also had very wind affected snow. It's not an issue that I always have, but it comes out worst in that type of skiing condition, and most typically in the backcountry. Slide skiing in the northeast can be very strange snow. One turn can be a crust, another can be wind affected pow, and then the next can be a couple inches of snow on top of water ice. All part of why I love it, and on a light touring setup needed to reach most these places, it's a very good test of technique.

I will also say...I tried my touring boots on, and to keep my skis flat, I'm definitely a little knock-kneed to do so. Not really the case with my Lange RS130. For comparison - see the attached clip where I've skiing a slide at a resort in my resort skis and boots. There was a crust in the snow this day, but I don't think it affected my technique nearly as much (maybe due to my equipment, maybe because I was skiing more aggressively).

You can share youtube vids as follows:

1. Start the clip on youtube then click on "Share"

2. When this dialog box pops up click on "Copy". (To cue the vid at a specific time click that "Start at.." checkbox before the "Copy".)

3. Go to the SkiTalk post, right click where you want the vid to appear in the post and use 'Paste". It will insert text that look like this....

but when you finally post (or preview) it will automatically convert to the youtube clip. Like this...




This will mean we can quickly view your vid without having to download it, scan the file for viruses and all that system protection stuff.

 

[Don Boyajian]

You can share youtube vids as follows:

1. Start the clip on youtube then click on "Share"

View attachment 154154

2. When this dialog box pops up click on "Copy". (To cue the vid at a specific time click that "Start at.." checkbox before the "Copy".)

View attachment 154155

3. Go to the SkiTalk post, right click where you want the vid to appear in the post and use 'Paste". It will insert text that look like this....

View attachment 154156

but when you finally post (or preview) it will automatically convert to the youtube clip. Like this...




This will mean we can quickly view your vid without having to download it, scan the file for viruses and all that system protection stuff.

Got it. My bad

 

[razie]

I will also say...I tried my touring boots on, and to keep my skis flat, I'm definitely a little knock-kneed to do so. Not really the case with my Lange RS130. For comparison - see the attached clip where I've skiing a slide at a resort in my resort skis and boots. There was a crust in the snow this day, but I don't think it affected my technique nearly as much (maybe due to my equipment, maybe because I was skiing more aggressively).

Good contrast - you dug in the first right footer, but see the cuff supported you and just burried the ski and threw you up - that looks like better support as opposed to letting you outski the ankle's range of motion like with the other boots. But there may be shin bang in really bad snow and stuff, manageable though with some booster straps and/or padding - you'll have to figure out what works better for you. Try some things and see the outcome. I think softer is worse, overall.... you're motoring through this stuff.

You could try the plastic things that Noodler showed - might help and it's a reversible change. Lateral setup, dunno - some boot fitters may have an answer for the boot model.

cheers

 

[Don Boyajian]

Good contrast - you dug in the first right footer, but see the cuff supported you and just burried the ski and threw you up - that looks like better support as opposed to letting you outski the ankle's range of motion like with the other boots. But there may be shin bang in really bad snow and stuff, manageable though with some booster straps and/or padding - you'll have to figure out what works better for you. Try some things and see the outcome. I think softer is worse, overall.... you're motoring through this stuff.

You could try the plastic things that Noodler showed - might help and it's a reversible change. Lateral setup, dunno - some boot fitters may have an answer for the boot model.

cheers

Thanks - really appreciate your insight!

 

[Noodler]

Good contrast - you dug in the first right footer, but see the cuff supported you and just burried the ski and threw you up - that looks like better support as opposed to letting you outski the ankle's range of motion like with the other boots. But there may be shin bang in really bad snow and stuff, manageable though with some booster straps and/or padding - you'll have to figure out what works better for you. Try some things and see the outcome. I think softer is worse, overall.... you're motoring through this stuff.

You could try the plastic things that Noodler showed - might help and it's a reversible change. Lateral setup, dunno - some boot fitters may have an answer for the boot model.

cheers

Lateral setup can be done on touring boots with careful heating of the shell. The plastics used in touring boots will readily "mold" and adapt to your lower leg alignment, but they will only take lower heat for less time. Most folks should find a fitter who has experience with heating touring boots for alignment purposes. Me? I just throw caution to the wind and play the role of the Guinea pig.

 

[Sanity]

No groomer resort skiing clips, though I’ve been doing a lot of it at whiteface lately. Got me a pair of performance skis and everything. Kinda love it, which is why I’m getting all into technique. I’m self taught, and always just kinda skied without any thought. Now I’m trying to dedicate some time to technique. I’ll try to get some carving clips. Here’s the only non powder resort thing I have- it’s frozen bumps on Outer Limits at Killington on a foggy day when I thought it would be funny to ski in denim overalls. I’ll get some better resort clips this week skiing hard and carving down something steeper, if I can. Thanks again.

Sometimes on a steep, narrow shoot you need to initiate with a jump, but on the clip attached with the post above, it's not necessary, and the A frame and stemming is coming from this technique of initiating the turn with a hop. Definitely in this particular clip, don't start the turn with a 1-2 hop. Instead, to initiate the new turn, shift weight from the old outside ski to the new outside ski. Look at your clip associated with the post above, and right where your skis are coming off the ground, that's where you should be shifting weight to the new outside ski. Make the turn with the skis on the snow. Keep the forward pressure, and the ski will come around. When the bumps get bigger and the skis tips can't stay on the snow, because the ground drops away from the tips, you'll need to rotate the skis at the top of the turn, but still, don't start with a hop. It's effortless to rotate the skis at that time as you crest the bump. So, either use the terrain to help initiate the turn as if you are hopping, but without hopping, or shift weight and let the ski turn, or use the virtual bump with retraction. As a last resort on the steepest and narrowest stuff, use a hop.

Start on the groomed where you can make really quick turns just by shifting weight from one ski to the other. Perfect that turn, then use it until there isn't enough speed control or space. Then you can add in a jump at the beginning, but only then.

 

[Jamt]

I'll disagree.

With what? Did you watch the other clips and conclude that none of them are good dynamic skiing?