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Why do so many powder skiing videos look like stem turns?
- Thread starter Magikarp
- Start date
OP's video was an oddly awkward choice for the thread title. Since the OP didn't bother to mention it wasn't soft fresh powder, I suspected it wasn't a serious post, but gave em the benefit of doubt. Why I posted above so. But since they haven't followed up with a post, bet someone has only been smiling.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2015
- Posts
- 6,357
I think LF is right that a lot of what you are seeing is an artifact of the GoPro. In this video for example, I don't think Ted Ligety is doing a pizza.
He could be rushing the turn. Conditions could be a contributing factor to that.
When I've caught myself stemming a turn in recent years, it's usually been because I was in a real big hurry to get that outside ski turned and working. Sometimes the stem was warranted; I had enough strength, but didn't have enough mass to torque both old SG skis properly placed before becoming one with the trees after getting launched by a big mogul (note to self: stop treating Mogul runs as DH race courses). Sometimes it's just too much concentration on the outside ski and not enough attention to the inside ski (lazy inside ski/leg).
Years ago it was just laziness and not knowing any better.
When I've caught myself stemming a turn in recent years, it's usually been because I was in a real big hurry to get that outside ski turned and working. Sometimes the stem was warranted; I had enough strength, but didn't have enough mass to torque both old SG skis properly placed before becoming one with the trees after getting launched by a big mogul (note to self: stop treating Mogul runs as DH race courses). Sometimes it's just too much concentration on the outside ski and not enough attention to the inside ski (lazy inside ski/leg).
Years ago it was just laziness and not knowing any better.
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- Sep 30, 2016
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If the downhill ski is being fully weighted and bent then it’s definitely going to make it look more like the skis are less parallel and more of a stem Christi. But that’s expert pow skiing and high speed groomer skiing, the uphill ski sort of just floats along until you transfer into the next turn. What you’re seeing in these vids ain’t the slow moving stem Christi turns taught to new skiers that y’all are thinking of.
That makes it clear.
Even without lens effects, POV doesn’t show what’s going on with ski technique, it would be like holding a stethoscope in the air pointed away from the patient.
I think he is thinking to himself "This powder is not as deep as I thought, I seem to be accelerating." Just my opinion but that's what it looks like to me with the way he is checking himself. He can ski that line cleaner Im sure.
It's very important to keep your speed low enough that you can avoid colliding with other skiers and boarders, even ones who suddenly appear crossing your path right at the exit from a narrow chute. Sure, you could just arc SG turns or go straight down that line, but just because you can doesn't mean you should (See? I've learned something on my journey to becoming an old aged curmudgeon).
Also worth noting, it's much easier to lose 5 mph at 10 mph than it is to lose 20 mph at 40 mph.
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Some time ago there was similar discussion about POV cameras and seemingly wedged turns.
A vid was posted there of Ted Ligety whose turns looked wedged.
Ted Ligety, no less!!!
Yeah, just posted about this or similar vid.
If Ted Ligety pizzas, I want to learn how to do the same.
Man, the boy IZ GOOOOOOD!
I'll say it again. It's often the camera not the skier.
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POV cameras show very little about what the skier is doing, give a poor sense of the nature of the terrain, and to my way of thinking are uninteresting--which would kind of make this discussion moot. But you're all entitled to your own opinions.
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- Dec 17, 2015
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I am of the belief that when tree skiing, there are no style points in the woods because when that tree is coming up fast, it's get those skis turned any way you can. So, for Ligety or any other racer goes, there are no style points on a race course and besides, isn't there a lot of independent leg action in ski racing?
As for myself in powder, I'm an an advanced flail-er, so I'm not pretty to watch but I can lay down a nice looking track.
As for myself in powder, I'm an an advanced flail-er, so I'm not pretty to watch but I can lay down a nice looking track.
I did not suggest he should go faster and I dont know where you get that from. I was addressing the OP's thread about why the turns looked like this... which in this spot is basically asking why a great skier looks not so great. He makes a K shape and it is poor technique. RPA is a pro skier for Salomon.
It's the camera, not the skier.
The camera sees things that are parallel as converging in the distance.
Below is an example that may help people apply this fact to the video we are discussing so they will stop thinking this pro skier isn't skiing up to his purported ability.
In the video below, the climbing skier's arms are parallel, not dramatically wedged. The distance the arms are from the camera, the angle of view, and the kind of lens determine how exaggerated the convergence is. At any angle of view other than 90º, parallel objects will appear to converge.
The camera creates the wedge.
The camera sees things that are parallel as converging in the distance.
Below is an example that may help people apply this fact to the video we are discussing so they will stop thinking this pro skier isn't skiing up to his purported ability.
In the video below, the climbing skier's arms are parallel, not dramatically wedged. The distance the arms are from the camera, the angle of view, and the kind of lens determine how exaggerated the convergence is. At any angle of view other than 90º, parallel objects will appear to converge.
The camera creates the wedge.
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What does it mean to ski that line cleaner? Often people mean carving cleanly without smearing. Not a lot of speed control in carving which is why racers carve at 60 mph on relatively not that steep of stuff compared to some of these narrow shoots. So maybe you mean something else, and it could be arbitrary personal preference without any real advantage. The nice thing about POV is that it's super easy to get the footage. Rather than mince words you can put it up and say this is the better way of doing it. You'll still get an argument, but at least the argument will be further along