Progression and Skills for Dolphin Turns

[WildBillD]

I have watched several videos and l read many threads on how to do dolphin turns. I was hoping I could pulse this group on ideas on how to start a progression that would enable me to put this movement pattern into my mogul skiing tool box.
At this juncture, I have a solid short radius(I think any way), with seperation,can do pivot slips and speiss turns, but the dolphin turn is still on the to do list
I can pull my feet back under my hip while in moguls. These are my starting point skills.
I woulld appreciate it if someone could give me a progression and skill development plan

 

[Seldomski]

Watching thread...

Few times I have tried to do dolphin turns I ended up smashing my toes into the front of the boot pretty bad and swore off doing them as a result...

 

[crgildart]

 

[Bad Bob]

Been playing with the Dolphin Turn with our ski school trainer. Neither of us know what we are doing but it has been interesting.
We started out practicing repeatedly closing the ankles in a shallow traverse. Then we started trying to follow it up with pulling the tails up after we got the tips off the ground. You REALLY want some soft snow for this drill. Then we found a grooming spine and tried putting a short radius turn in the middle of this.
Marc's are starting to look pretty good. Mine feel like a ruptured duck. But I'm trying.
Do feel like this drill has enhanced my crud skiing working up and down the ski.

 

[James]

Have you tried it on a mogul?
Like a lone one, going across the hill. It’s much easier to practice if the surface supports the lift part. Trying to start out on flat can just screw things up.
Be tallish going in, up, then pull feet back and drop tips. There is something to the timing of upper body, but you can sort of figure it out by results.

 

[GB_Ski]

Funny that you posted today. I just found this yesterday. Actual progression steps start at 3:42.

 

[Chris V.]

The Section 8 video looks great. This needs to be my next project, as it's something I never figured out for myself. Looks like it will be a real cardio challenge, LOL.

 

[geepers]

The Section 8 vid above is the best progression I've found.

Dolphins on a smooth groomed pitch are challenging so best is to find a ridge or pitch of small, well spaced bumps. Even a bump a couple of inches high makes it easier.

Do a couple of runs of dolphins and your abs will know it. Great way to wakeup the ankles, TAs and calves for short turns and bumps.

 

[Scruffy]

Practice, practice, and one more time, practice. That vid ^^ is good. Work on it; it's not easy and you shouldn't expect to just magically turn in to Flipper after a few tries. I've got it, but I still work on it just standing around waiting for others on flat snow. As @James said, use terrain features at first to get some lift, but once you've got something that resembles a dolphin down, you can do it from a stand still ala the ollie vid @crgildart posted, but beware the ollie is a little more backside centric than you want-with the dolphin, you don't want your weight too far aft.

 

[crgildart]

ou can do it from a stand still ala the ollie vid @crgildart posted, but beware the ollie is a little more backside centric than you want-with the dolphin, you don't want your weight too far aft.

The dolphin turn is essentially a moving ollie at the end of your turn. You hippity hop off your tails then shift forward as you land. The trick is to pop off your tails and spring FORWARD so you don't buttplant trying to start the next turn.

 

[James]

^ In the vid at 1:40 and 2:30 he starts with single bumps. Start there.

 

[WildBillD]

Funny that you posted today. I just found this yesterday. Actual progression steps start at 3:42.

Thanks GB_SKI -Never saw this progression before. I have seen national team guys and PSIA examiners, as well as Paul (from Ski instructors Academy in Austria) and others do dolphins on green flat slopes, so I assumed that's where to start before taking it into the bumps.

It was challenging for me to try it on green -blusih terrain without bumps and met with little to no success. I guess this is one of those rare times when it is easier to try a manuever in bumpier terrain than on a groomer.
Thanks for the feedback so far, if there are other helpful hints please post them

 

[Scruffy]

Thanks GB_SKI -Never saw this progression before. I have seen national team guys and PSIA examiners, as well as Paul (from Ski instructors Academy in Austria) and others do dolphins on green flat slopes, so I assumed that's where to start before taking it into the bumps.

It was challenging for me to try it on green -blusih terrain without bumps and met with little to no success. I guess this is one of those rare times when it is easier to try a manuever in bumpier terrain than on a groomer.
Thanks for the feedback so far, if there are other helpful hints please post them

Be careful with trying dolphin turns in the bumps themselves until you've got them dialed in a bit, especially any decent sized bumps on a good pitch. A groomer ridge, or a single small bump like a skier pushed up pile would be a better place to learn and practice. Although you'll want to eventually use dolphin turns in the bumps, they are harder to use in the bumps than while skiing along on groomed snow. Remember, what goes up, must come down. It's easy to get launched off a bump playing with these. If you don't have the second half of the move dialed in you'll most likely be back--not a pretty position to be in the air and back in difficult bumps. Also timing your landing is a key to success in the bumps. At the end of the second half of the dolphin, you're going to be be flexed with heels to butt and tips down. You want to land on the back side of the top of a mogul so you can immediately extend down into the trough. You do not want to land on the front side, or in the trough if possible.

 

[Fuller]

Your home mountain may or may not have these attributes but I've been doing a lot of low angle tree skiing this winter and sometimes there are runouts through the woods that are straight, single tracks that go over hill and dale for a hundred yards or so. They always seem to get a lot of short wavelength bumps in them that can buck you off if you don't have the timing right. There's a bit of a thrill in being locked in and making the best of it. Done right it feels like a pump track where you gain speed but actually have better control. Once you have the timing it's pretty simple to add some turns too.

That Section 8 video is great, I've had it bookmarked for years and go back to it occasionally.

 

[Delicious]

Funny that you posted today. I just found this yesterday. Actual progression steps start at 3:42.

I can't help but notice his uncanny ability to return to a perfect, centered cg over and over again. Now, try it w/o poles!

 

[Kneale Brownson]

Here's my buddy Mike Hafer doing dolphins when he was on the PSIA demo team:


The video was made at Boyne Highlands in Michigan.

 

[Chris V.]

Mike Hafer's are huge.

 

[geepers]

McGlashan making it all look so easy. (It isn't.)




McGlashan making it look like a sport for 22 year olds.