What stands out to you in this skiing?

[Mike King]

Nope, not for me. Sorry. I guess I'll be the lone dissenter and point out the extension releases, too much tip lead, poor ski engagement at the top of the turns, etc. My bar for excellent skiing is much higher (think Reilly, Lorenz, Berger). I won't be posting again in this thread so it's not worth responding to me. I'm only putting up this post for those who might also want to set a higher bar for their skiing goals. She's a good skier, but her technique is not what I aspire to.

 

[WadeHoliday]

For me, what stands out is her relaxed flow down the hill, non static movement, freedom and lack of contrived positions and "poses".
She is moving efficiently and enjoying the feeling of mastery, not trying to look a certain way to pass a test or win a form competition.
Yes, those top level instructors noodler mentions as his ideals are great skiers, but they are also trying to look a certain way, while this Kaylin is doing what works well and feels great, imo. I'm no racer, but I'd put a bet against noodler that this past olympic racer, retired female would beat his ideals down a world cup race course... ?

cheers!
W

 

[WadeHoliday]

nice Mike.
As I mentioned, as Paul notes, he is trying to "look" exciting.
Kaylin isn't trying to look a certain way, she has mastery and is just flowin' and feelin'.
Many of us don't want to "look" exciting, or feel exciting. I like to ski exciting terrain and make it feel mellow, relaxed and boring.
Nice topic to get us salivating on the flow!
thx!

Wade

 

[LiquidFeet]

Kaylin Richardson's professional accomplishments (Wikipedia):

• 2009 US National Downhill Champion
• 2007 US National Downhill Champion
• 2007 US National Combined Champion
• 2006 US National Slalom Champion
• Nor-Am Slalom Champion 2003
• Europa Cup Giant Slalom Champion 2004
• Nor-Am Slalom Champion 2004
• Swiss Junior National Slalom Champion 2004
• Nor-Am Slalom Co-Champion 2005
• US National DH Bronze Medalist 2006
• World Championship Team Member 2007
• World Championships Team Event Slalom - 2nd Place 2007
• World Championships Super-Combi 12th Place
• Olympics: 2006 & 2010, 17th Place in Combined both times

The following stats are from https://warrenmiller.com/athletes/kaylin-richardson-1

sponsors:
Helly Hansen, Volkl, Marker, Dalbello, Athletic Brewing, Arva, Soul Poles, Third Home

Warren Miller Films:
2012 Flow State
2013 Ticket to Ride
2014 No Turning Back
2015 Chasing Shadows
2016 Here, There & Everywhere
2017 Line of Descent
2018 Face of Winter
2020 Future Retro

 

[tch]

As I mentioned, as Paul notes, he is trying to "look" exciting.
Kaylin isn't trying to look a certain way, she has mastery and is just flowin' and feelin'.
Many of us don't want to "look" exciting, or feel exciting. I like to ski exciting terrain and make it feel mellow, relaxed and boring.

Interesting commentary, Wade. I spent 2 1/2 weeks skiing with a friend of mine last winter. He grew up more old school than I did. He didn't really get that my ideal was to look (and feel) relaxed and flow-y over terrain. He wanted to be and feel more active, more "boppy", more aggressive; he thought my approach indicated a certain laziness on the hill. While that comment might fit me somewhat, I knew I was certainly working to get that flow, especially in challenging terrain. I aspire to be like water running over boulders downstream.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Kaylin Richardson's professional accomplishments (Wikipedia):

• 2009 US National Downhill Champion
• 2007 US National Downhill Champion
• 2007 US National Combined Champion
• 2006 US National Slalom Champion
• Nor-Am Slalom Champion 2003
• Europa Cup Giant Slalom Champion 2004
• Nor-Am Slalom Champion 2004
• Swiss Junior National Slalom Champion 2004
• Nor-Am Slalom Co-Champion 2005
• US National DH Bronze Medalist 2006
• World Championship Team Member 2007
• World Championships Team Event Slalom - 2nd Place 2007
• World Championships Super-Combi 12th Place
• Olympics: 2006 & 2010, 17th Place in Combined both times

The following stats are from https://warrenmiller.com/athletes/kaylin-richardson-1

sponsors:
Helly Hansen, Völkl, Marker, Dalbello, Athletic Brewing, Arva, Soul Poles, Third Home

Warren Miller Films:
2012 Flow State
2013 Ticket to Ride
2014 No Turning Back
2015 Chasing Shadows
2016 Here, There & Everywhere
2017 Line of Descent
2018 Face of Winter
2020 Future Retro

So.... she's pretty good at skiing?

I'm halfway to where Noodler is. I like her skiing, but don't love it. I'd mainly like her to be more active with her inside ski and angulate more through the second half of her turn. Anyway, she sure doesn't suck. Or... she sucks at a higher level?

 

[Tony S]

My reaction is not as emphatic as Noodler's, but I admit that while her skiing is obviously excellent it doesn't inspire me the way some skiing does. In particular there is a "quick impact" aspect to her turns that is not my favorite as a model.

It would be interesting to see her on a steeper pitch where she would be forced to have more beginning and end to her turns.

 

[geepers]

View attachment 114772

Like the analysis. One comment:

My on-snow experience this last Oz season is that toppling begins in at least the 2nd last image. As the skis come back underneath the CoM is already beginning to topple outward for the new turn. In between the 2nd last and last image the CoM is on an outward and downhill trajectory and the only real choice is to flex to release and stay low for a very speedy transition (@Noodler preferred style) or allow the body to rise for a more leisurely approach. Either way your CoM is getting off the merry-go-round of that turn.​

​

As I had an issue with grabbing too much angulation too early, I found the flex to release approach beneficial. the transition happens so fast that there's no time to get too stable (via angulation) at the top of the turn. This helped in establishing better angles through inclination and then delaying angulation until later in the turn. Much better feel for balancing against the centripetal force with a lot less physical effort. And in my case plenty of reserves of angulation. Was a lightbulb moment integrating TG's thought on transition and what the CSIA guys had been telling me to do last season wrt increasing angulation through the turn.

 

[geepers]

Nope, not for me. Sorry. I guess I'll be the lone dissenter and point out the extension releases, too much tip lead, poor ski engagement at the top of the turns, etc. My bar for excellent skiing is much higher (think Reilly, Lorenz, Berger). I won't be posting again in this thread so it's not worth responding to me. I'm only putting up this post for those who might also want to set a higher bar for their skiing goals. She's a good skier, but her technique is not what I aspire to.

Reckon there's room for both. Personally I got a lot out of working on flex to release this Oz season. But the transitions happen so, so fast - I wouldn't plan to ski that way all day.

 

[crgildart]

LOL@ the critics. She's NOT EVEN TRYING! She's taking a casual cruise down perfect cord. Put her on some nasty, choppy icy crud and she'd slay everyone here with the exception of maybe two I can think of who might be able to hang with her. No she's not demo team, but she'd soundly beat them in a course and hang with them looking just as good on really difficult terrain.

 

[Tony S]

LOL@ the critics. She's NOT EVEN TRYING! She's taking a casual cruise down perfect cord. Put her on some nasty, choppy icy crud and she'd slay everyone here with the exception of maybe two I can think of who might be able to hang with her. No she's not demo team, but she'd soundly beat them in a course and hang with them looking just as good on really difficult terrain.

We're not comparing her with ourselves, you ninny. Sheesh.

And agree about her not trying.

 

[Mike King]

It would be interesting to see her on a steeper pitch where she would be forced to have more beginning and end to her turns.

Like this?

 

[Mike King]

Like this?

If you go back to the original video, and the one just above, you will see a few transitions where she doesn't rise at all. I'm certain she is more than capable of skiing without rising. But just like Pauly said, there isn't just one way to transition.

 

[Tony S]

Like this?

Yes. Better

 

[Chris V.]

Maybe she's reaching her feet down to make contact with the snow.
View attachment 114777

Good way of putting it. If she had not extended at this point, either her skis would be off the snow or her COM would be taking a different path.

 

[Chris V.]

On the vertical vs. horizontal separation thing, I was looking at her tracks (very nice thin lines, of course) to see how and how much the distance between those tracks changed with the phase of the turn.

 

[Philpug]

We are done here. We went down this trail in the past with the critiquing of Marcus Caston HERE. We have a top level skier that is in dozens of movies and promotional videos that no one here who is questioning her skiing has been in. This is turning into a MA thread of someone who first did not ask for MA and second by people who aren't qualified to offer it.

This will be left here as notification for those who have replied here and in about a day this thread will be deleted. ​