Why do most instructors introduce speed control with a braking wedge?

[bud heishman]

Why do most instructors introduce speed control with a braking wedge?

 

[graham418]

Because its the easiest? How else would you do it? Its hard to use turn shape to control speed if you don't know how to turn yet.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

They don't know how to turn yet so a gliding wedge is the easiest way for them to have some control and stop. Next up is a hockey stop but you need a little speed for that so unless I get a student who's a hockey player we don't go there right away.

 

[Uncle-A]

I think they should go back to teaching GLM.

 

[Bad Bob]

You can create a default way to stop pretty quickly to a never ever. The more timid the student, the more comforting the wedge.

 

[Nancy Hummel]

Some students refuse to "go" before they have learned to "stop".

I teach a two part "emergency brake".

Item 1: Rotate the legs towards each other.
Item 2: Spread flat skis into a wedge.

This introduces the concept of leg rotation from the beginning. It is not the "push the heel out wedge".

As we progress, students can turn the legs in the same direction instead of toward each other.

Yes, I teach turning up the hill as a method of speed control.

 

[Steve]

I don't see what's wrong with teaching students to tip and edge their skis. A braking wedge, involves a lot of edging, showing just how effective the edges are. It also teaches fore/aft movements, as a braking wedge on your heels doesn't do the same thing as on the front or the middle of the skis.

The idea that it's a no-no and shouldn't be taught is closed minded. Students want to learn to slow down first, then to turn. Yes on a very shallow beginner slope I teach them to go across the hill. In fact they start off that way. But if you withhold a basic survival technique you're doing them a great disservice.

Leg steering is an advanced technique. Edging and pressure management imo can be taught and learned easier. To steer your legs you need to be perfectly balanced and right on the center of your foot. That's not easy. Pressure the fronts of the skis and the tails wash out and the skis turn. Add some edging to that and you've got turning.

Braking wedges are pressure and edging. Sue me.

 

[François Pugh]

I have no quibble with instructors teaching a snow-plough, or a snow plough turn; I do think it's a bad idea to teach it as a means of speed control. I would prefer they teach it as a means of using edges to go in a different direction, while explaining that as a side-effect it will slow them down if they pit one edge against another and have them fight it out, determining the winner by which one has more weight and more tipping angle. This naturally leads to the next step in the (very) old progression which is why are you making your edges fight each other? - Have them cooperate.

They should tell them turning up hill controls speed, as does proper braking (hockey stop) which will come later.

But then again, I'm not setting the ski teaching standards (probably a good thing).

 

[Uncle-A]

Too many people after their one hour lesson use it to take themselves to a slope that they don't belong and they end up hurting themselves and sometimes others.

 

[graham418]

When do you introduce a hockey stop? Turning uphill? What skills does the student need in hand to move on to these?

 

[Seldomski]

Ever go to a roller skating rink? Or ice skating? How many people do you see struggling to even stand upright and are clinging to the rail? Turning requires more balance than simply standing on skis.

There's no rail in skiing. Braking wedge gives the never-ever a rail to go to when they freak out mentally. I don't see a real alternative here - maybe inflatable bumpers on some of the runs? I guess some students may have enough sliding sports background to skip the braking wedge, or learn it but never really use it.

Too many people after their one hour lesson use it to take themselves to a slope that they don't belong and they end up hurting themselves and sometimes others.

I've met people on mountain before that asked me how to turn... and they unfortunately were not joking.

 

[Dakine]

"Why do most instructors introduce speed control with a braking wedge?"

Because they are going too slow for a parachute to work, anchors are dangerous and falling down isn't intuitive.
Start with a little kid and they will do it instinctively.

 

[rustypouch]

Because it's simple, and works quickly, especially on the bunny hill, with students with too big rental boots and often limited athleticism. From the braking wedge, I get students to shift weight from side to side to introducing turning and speed control that way, then onto more pivoting and changing edge angles.

It depends on the students. With athletic students with good body awareness, I'll spend a lot of time with one legged turns. Parallel comes quickly then, and they figure out the wedge on their own. Most students can't handle an hour on one ski, even if sometimes the results are better.

 

[Uncle-A]

Ever go to a roller skating rink? Or ice skating? How many people do you see struggling to even stand upright and are clinging to the rail? Turning requires more balance than simply standing on skis.

There's no rail in skiing. Braking wedge gives the never-ever a rail to go to when they freak out mentally. I don't see a real alternative here - maybe inflatable bumpers on some of the runs? I guess some students may have enough sliding sports background to skip the braking wedge, or learn it but never really use it.



I've met people on mountain before that asked me how to turn... and they unfortunately were not joking.

I have met them too, I figured that they were too cheap to get a lesson.

 

[Jilly]

The wedge is used for stability too. 2 feet with weight equal on both feet is better for learning. Straight running to brush out tail on one side will start the turning process. Brush out both tails, and you slow down. Training wheels.

CSIA's "fast track to parallel" tried to do away with the wedge completely. It didn't work with someone that was not athletic, well balanced, or wasn't used to movement in motion. They reverted back to wedge.

 

[slowrider]

OMG I still use the gliding wedge

 

[James]

Mainly because the beginner area is too steep. Choice is doing it themselves or having the condo do it for them.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Like it or not it is a valid technique, we all use it. Unfortunately, how experienced skiers use it and what is taught is not the same application.

Experienced used it for minor speed adjustment in confined slow speed settings, among other methods depending on setting.

Inexperienced use it as BRAKES regardless of speed.

 

[HDSkiing]

OMG I still use the gliding wedge

Me too! (Well not all the time).

Why do most instructors introduce speed control with a braking wedge?

So I’m keying on the “speed control” aspect. Certainly it works (below a reasonable speed), & it’s something that provides NE’s with the confidence that they can stop. But it can also be painfully fatiguing and over time that “security” becomes defensive skiing, which many, many recreational skiers continue to engage in even as they increase their skills. Or in the worst case becomes what we call a “death wedge.”

Once a student can glide in a wedge to a stop we should really introduce turning, reinforce early that turn shape & size is key to speed control as they negotiate increasingly more challenging terrain, where a braking wedge can still be utilized either in transitions or as a fall back.

Eventually we want to see skidded turns with matching edges at the end of the turn rather than a hockey stop which is pure braking.

Anyway that’s how I read the question and where I would take it. Great thought provoking concept to discuss!

 

[LiquidFeet]

Why do most instructors introduce speed control with a braking wedge?

I usually don't teach a braking wedge until the very end of the never-ever lesson. They do need it in the lift line, and they will figure it out anyway so I address it as we finish up. The first 95% of the lesson is learning how to feel secure while enjoying the glide, which a braking wedge will destroy but a "gliding wedge" will preserve.

I have them learn in a wedge because having them ski parallel on day one is especially difficult in the short time allotted for our beginner lessons. Their control over balance is too tenuous. Most of the beginner lessons I've taught are only 1.5 hours, and that impacts how I teach. I wish the lessons were longer.

I choose to teach them to manage their speed by doing two things - completing their turns and choosing the corridor width for their descent. They learn to stop by fully completing a turn (a "turn-stop").

We start by skiing in a circle. In a wedge they glide in a curve downhill, walk back uphill either side-stepping or with a herringbone ... repeat. They do this in both directions, over and over, until they can use the outside ski to make the turn in both directions. At the bottom of the circle I encourage them to be standing fully on the outside ski so they can move the inside ski to match. Some can let go of the support given by that inside ski and do it, others can't. But they know this is the goal. In the process of doing this circle they learn that at the bottom of a fully completed turn their skis bring them to a stop.

Then we line up and link these completed turns down the hill. They will not have done a straight run at all, so no braking wedge. All of this is on the terrain dedicated to first runs.

Next we go up the beginner lift. On this run they will encounter a longer, higher pitch. But they know that the tool to control their speed is a turn. We do a few completed turns one at a time finishing each with a "turn-stop." No braking wedges mess this up. Then we line up and link some turns, almost coming to a stop with each turn. Half way down we stop and discuss another way to slow the downhill travel - do a traverse between turns. Since the slope is big we can start skiing in a wider corridor, and work on changing those traverses with short turns into C-shaped wider radius turns. They are learning that they can use corridor width as well as completed turns to eliminate fear and enjoy the glide.

At the bottom of the run, approaching the lift, I introduce heading straight downhill in a wedge to slow down. This is the first time they do a straight run. At this point it is obvious to them that using a wedge to brake is not nearly as effective at slowing their speed as is a completed turn.

There are big reasons not to teach a braking wedge (which is different from teaching first turns using a wedge). Relying on the wedge to stop in that first lesson morphs easily into reliance on the wedge as a security blanket with weight staying heavy on both skis. I've seen it too often. Once that is embedded in their heads and in muscle memory, skiing parallel becomes difficult to learn.