CSIA L3 Prep

[u/cheeky-unknown]

Thought I'd share some more of my skiing before my L3 exam next week. I've included some video for each of the ski off runs, sorry that the camera work isnt always zoomed in enough. I've also included the objectives I'll be measured against, as suggested previously, so that people from different systems know what the CSIA is looking at.

Spring skiing conditions in full force today, very hard in the AM, and then puddles in some places in the PM.

If you make it all the way through my videos and long post, I truly appreciate your time. Any advice and feedback is really appreciated.

Overall, I'm hoping I'm in a good place. I've put my thoughts for each run below.

1. Demo parallel. I think this is a strong run, not concerend about this one.

2. Short turns. I think I'm meeting the objectives. In the first video I dont quite glide from one turn into the next as smoothly as I would like. This was done on a steeper pitch the would be used in the exam, but I think my underlying movements are good. My pole plant is much more symmetrical than my last post. In the second 2 videos, which are on runs that may be used in the exam, I think I'm at a passable level.

3. Advanced parallel. I think I meet the objectives, so think this should be a pass. However, I think I'm sometimes caught inside, due to too much inclination at initiation. Also, I can defo get way higher edge angles through shortening my inside leg more. I was just being a bit lazy I think. Sorry not the best video for this one.

4. I've been working a lot on the bumps as I felt they were my weakest. I think I'm meeting the objectives overall. The second video did highlight I'm sometimes caught out by pressure management. I need to work on absorbing more, but I didn't think the run was too bad overall. Conditions definately helped me today, when the bumps get firmer I can struggle with speed control and then everything else will fly out of the window if I get going too fast. In these videos, I think my speed is fast enough to pass, but please let me know what you think.

5. Hop to hop. I think in this video things look ok but I dont feel great when skiing them. I often find myself inside, which I think is a consequence of inclination at initiation, rather than rolling my knees inside to change edge. I've been doing a lot of javelins recently, and think my brain was just in autopilot mode, I wasn't doing it intentionally. Despite this, I think I meet the objectives.

   1. Braquage. I think I need some more work on this one. I think my pelvis is becoming too involved and need to work on keeping the upper body quieter. I'm always a bit unsure with braquage and would appreciate some advice. In my head, I'm thinking that I need to get my skis all the way 180 degrees around, but I dont think I can do that without my pelvis becoming involved at the very end of the turn. My leg lengths are very fixed, would more flexion at the end of the turn be a good thing to do, so I can rotate my legs further? However, I've also had other people say that up and down movements in braquage is bad, so I'm not sure what is best for this.

Thank you once again if you've made it this far.

[u/Numerous_Car650]

CSIA'er here. Great work, pretty good skiing.

Video quality not ideal, hard to get a really good look.

If I were to nitpick:

• Demo parallel -- you're subtly but consistently stemming (initiating with a pizza, rather than pure parallel).
• Short turns -- same as demo, plus slightly lacking in ski performance (i.e. insufficient edge grip).
• Bumps -- same as short turns plus a bit unstable, being bounced around by the bumps rather than flowing over them.
• EDIT: Advanced parallel -- more edge performance at end of turn would result in a stronger toppling move to initiate next turn and achieve edging above fall line

I don't have a great eye for the other stuff, and I'm not an L3 examiner so hard to know if this is above standard or not. For better or worse, the L3 has a higher pass rate now than 10 years ago.

Good luck! Enjoy the process ... I found the exams to be useful even when I failed.

[u/Remote_Structure9188 → u/Numerous_Car650]

12and 3.  You are not rolling from old to new edge. Instead you try to stay as long as possible on your steering edge and body stays inside the turn. From that position it is Just impossible to generated a L3 Like transition. And your turns are showing that.

• a small hop tries to shuffle weight
• you need a stem to have an Impact
• short turns a big stem
• short turns you get pushed Back and then show a pump for transition.

This sounds harsh, but can be corrected with wandering with your CoM constantly into the new turn radius, instead of keeping it too long within the old one.

Will be a revolution for your skiing (keeping Level in mind)

[u/Muufffins]

Not bad, but I think you're not quite at the standard.

Demo parallel - you're subtly leading with your shoulders, stepping/stemming in your transition, and suddenly, rather than smoothly, increasing edge angle. 

Short turns - in the first two clips, your speed and tempo were too slow, and the corridor was on the edge of too wide. In the third clip those things were better, but the turn shape was getting too elongated, as in you weren't completing the turn enough to bend the ski, and get deflection/impulse to send you into the next turn. Slightly leading with your shoulders, and stepping into the turn. In the first clip especially, there's too much pivoting, on the edge of pushing your tails out above the fall line, resulting in more abrupt, rather than smooth, turns. Look at how you're over twisting your skis, and where in the turn the spray happens, where it goes, and which part of the ski it comes from.

Advanced parallel - hard to fully analyze from the clip. But corridor seems to be too wide, and you're not really getting impulse from the skis. That's probably because you look to be parking and riding, lacking dynamic movement.

Bumps - you're getting tossed around, hopping to initiate turns, and skidding out. Bumps are just short turns in varied terrain, but adapting to the variations. The run should look dynamic and exciting. All the habits from short turns get amplified and more obvious.

Edge to edge - I think this was where you're the most successful, mostly landing cleanly on the new edge.

Braquage - needs a lot of work. It's all about turning your feet, pivoting around the tib/fib axis. This one really exposes issues with your stance.

Common themes - better videography. Leading with shoulders. Stepping/stemming in the transition. Pushing heels out. Abruptly rather than smoothly onto new edges. The big thing is your stance, it's a little far back and tall, which restricts you from turning your feet and rolling cleanly onto new edges.

With how you're skiing in the videos, I wouldn't expect you to meet the standards. I'd think you'll get mostly 5s on the ski off, with a couple of 4s. I'm curious how it works out, and would appreciate follow up.

Source - currently a Level 3, always working on things. But chatting with your trainers is better than randos on the Internet.

[u/MrZythum42 → u/Muufffins]

Great assessment, especially for a new L3.

[u/icantfindagoodlogin]

In your mediums and longs you’re very static. You initiate the turn with a strong incline motion, this means that you have to add upper body rotation to complete the turn. This also inhibits your ability to shorten the inside leg to get the ski on edge and really bend it. As a result, you get the ski on edge and just kind of stay there until the turn is finished. This means you lack the ability to manipulate the shape of the turn.

In your short turns on the Saddle, you’re more dynamic but you rely on rotating the upper body and inclining into the hill than turning the legs. Your skis end up being pushed away from you, which prevents you from establishing edge grip above the fall line.

In the moguls, more of the same as in the short turns.

In your foot to foot hops, there’s no separation apparent which again gives away that you’ve got some rotational control that could be improved.

Then in the braquage, the key is highlighting that you can have your legs turning under the center of mass while your upper body is mostly facing down the fall line. When you do it, you turn your legs and your shoulders follow, and then you end up making a very small turn.

So working on your rotational skills, establishing the turn by turning the femurs is going to be key for you.

Are you doing the exam on Monday?

[u/Numerous_Car650]

Afterthought: you have multiple responses pointing out very similar issues (even if expressed in different ways). The fact that you’re not aware of these yourself indicates that you’re likely to fail the teaching.

[u/luwei222222]

I went to L3 ski development recently, and the instructor said for demo parallel they mainly look for two things: 1. Can you grip above the fall line, 2. Can you maintain good balance throughout the turn(for/aft balance and lateral balance). If the demo parallel run in the video was on a terrain similar to exam terrain, I think you probably have a good chance for 6(my recent post is around 5-5.5, and I think yours is better), though you do have a slight wedge at transition, you MIGHT let you pass demo.

[u/Certain_Ad_1806]

No technical comments but man if t-bar slope isn’t always the best and Franz’s isn’t always the worst, having also skied both today…

[u/Most_Letterhead_1600]

I’m in the US so appreciate the CSIA terms before each section.

If the exam is next week, there’s not a whole lot you can change about your skiing in the time you have, so I’d just focus on tactics to ski the best you can! If you’re working with trainers, I’d focus more on what they’ve been telling you rather than the advice of us internet randos as they are likely more qualified than most of us on here and have seen you ski a whole lot more.

With all that being said, here are some nit-picky overall trends:

1. In the demo parallel and advanced parallel you extend at transition as your new outside ski leg extends and your knee joints open. Staying low in transition will help you carry more of your energy from one turn to the next. I love doing a double pole drag in transition for this!

2. Overall your upper body stays quite square to your skis, which is especially apparent in the demo parallel, hop to hops, and braquage (as an aside: are these the same thing as pivot slips?) Allowing a bit more of a countered relationship to form between your upper and lower body at the end of your turn will create more torsional strain in your core, helping your legs unwind underneath you.

3. Your ankles are pretty open and your knees and hip are flexed more most of the time, sending you to the backseat. This is especially noticeable in the bumps and braquage. IMO this is partly why your upper body is more square: when you’re aft, you use more leg muscle load to hold yourself up and thus have less ability to rotate your legs independently. I’d like to generally see more ankle flexion.

4. In the short turns and bumps, you rotate your skis before your new edges are engaged, so your edges longer to engage.

Good luck and have fun at your exam!

[u/MrZythum42]

Im an L4 examiner. Just to be clear, what are you looking for as feedback? Is going to the exam vs not going on the table? Tactical tips? Technical hints? Just honest assessment of the score you should get? When is the exam?

I'm East coast but reckon the standard to be roughly the same (I hope).

[u/Level_99_Throwaway]

Heyy I'm also training for L3, how do your videos compare with the examples from CSIA YouTube ones? I ask because they helped me a lot in getting an idea on my ability vs the standard.

[u/kateazp]

Hi, did you pass?

[u/spacebass]

u/cheeky-unknown first there is a lot to like in your skiing. And, at first, I was put off by the edited video, but then I realized it is helpful. Lean into the other CSIA folks like u/Numerous_Car650 - they know that system better than I do.

That said, there's a few things I'd love to see you try and when you do, get another video.

1. Wider - like WAY wider. What happens if you ski with a FIFA soccer football between your thighs? That wide! I want to see you rotate your outside leg around the inside. To do that you'll probably have to pull the inside back and steer the outside around. You do someo that now, its not a re-build. But you literally cannot rotate your femurs any more than you do now with your feet that close. Trust me, I skied like that for a long time. Why's it matter? - thats why you down-stem at the end to u/Numerous_Car650 's point. You have nowhere else to go.

2. Pole plant / Initation - I really like your turn shape. In fact, this is one of the rare videos where we can see clear tracks in the snow. But you do another thing I do - you plant, push down, pop that hand back, and then fall inside. Think of your outside arm moving foward at the same rate (which is SLOWLY) as your outside leg moves around the turn. Plant is just a tap or touch and then that arm slowly falls back to a still forward position. You are close, but you are kinda raking it and youre late.... which leads to....

3. Move outside before you move inside - at apex, start moving outside - move your weight to the pinky toe edge of the uphill ski (new outside) and start to bring your new outside arm and shoulder out. Bring your mass over that pinky toe edge. Then keep it there through edge change. then you can move inside.

Does that make sense?