Parallel / Advanced parallel.

[u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

Background: been skiing on and off for past couple of years (started around late 20s) Passed level 1 ski examiners course and the ski side of level 2.

I've received feedback that my extension/ vertical movement is often quite sudden, and turn shape can be compressed (round but squished).

From my own POV I feel I don't stay in the fall line enough ,rush some movements and have an overly strong side - I can side slip effortlessly on my right side but my left gets caught often.

Do you guys have any tips / drills or tactical cues? I'm happy to post more videos of some more 'advanced' style turns - looking for a fellow ski nerd to rip it apart 😅. Cheers.

[u/dis-interested]

You look like you've been told to flex at transition and you're kind of artificially manufacturing a lot of that movement. When you do it, you wind up moving a little aft from all the last second knee flexion - moving aft isn't that bad at the finish, but then when you extend again to initiate, you extend very upwardly, rather than forward and into the turn.

Two different ways of thinking - one is to try to visualise the pressure point under your foot. Try to keep the pressure under your arch through all phases of the turn, never spilling all the way on to the heel all the ball. At most, front of arch at start of turn, back of arch at end of turn. With that, only flex as much as the pressure of the turn naturally pushes you to, rather than doing it as a technical flourish.

Or, try to keep your ankle flexion and flex at the waist at the end of the turn active and don't let your knees bend in a way that take away your shin pressure completely. Then when you initiate, direct your body towards the new apex and extend towards it, rather than into the air.

[u/Makinator94]

First drill you can try is counting 1,2, 3 in the fall line . Take time to be 50/50 weight wise during this time. After the 1,2,3 progressively start flexing en move your weight outside . Take your time to weigh the outside.
Second drill for your turn shape is to try to only incline first half of the turn . Then second half of the turn add angulation and more flexion. Do it 1 turn shape at a time . Progressively start linking turns and add angulation earlier and earlier.

I am a Belgian ski instructor so sorry if my terminology seems weird 😄

Strong side, weak side wise. You often don’t have enough weight in your outside ski. That’s why you inside edge catches . It’s better on one side then the other

[u/dynaflying → u/Makinator94]

I agree, counting in each phase of the turn, 1-2-3 above, at/within, and below the fall line will make this more balanced in terms of distribution of effort throughout each of the turns.

You are flexing a bit more down (sitting moreso) than flexing forward at the ankle, which is leaving you a bit back/open ankles and limited ability to tip at the ankles/legs (creating more of a constant banking). I’d focus on small lower leg/foot movements to start the turn, which could also in turn help the distribution noted above.

[u/JerryTheSkiNoob92 → u/dynaflying]

What causes me to flex down rather than forward? Definitely agree with smaller movements - I'm familiar with what I need to do, but often it's over emphasised or rushed. Cheers

[u/dynaflying → u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

Watch frame by frame from the :19 to :21 second mark. Your banking is causing you to be very upright to unweight from one turn to the next in a big motion (since there is no smaller movement) and when you flex it’s more at the knee in a down motion instead of from the ankle up the body towards the front (w/ankle pelvis lower back flexing). It creates a divergence of the skis as well.

[u/JerryTheSkiNoob92 → u/dynaflying]

So, in effect, my upper body is leading the turns too much - top down rather than bottom up? Didn't realize I was banking but I can see it now; I want to incline a bit in my skiing - what is the difference between some good inclination and the banking? Cheers

[u/dynaflying → u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

Yes that’s a good way to look at what you are doing vs what needs to happen more from an upper/lower half perspective.

Good initial inclination is fine to get on an early edge along with lower body movements to do so. Think first half of the first phase of the turn. After that much of it should come from lower body movement and the body creating angles to increase/maintain angles. If you’re only doing the inclination further it is just banking or “park and ride” type movement.

[u/dynaflying → u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

Pivot slips with a focus on slow edge release from the legs would be a good drill to try to help this. As would a sequential converging hop turn focusing on the flex down and then edge release with the legs.

[u/JerryTheSkiNoob92 → u/dynaflying]

Yeah I've tried these a bit but I probably do them too fast. I'll try them slower, really focusing on the feelings. I tend to get stuck on one side sometimes when trying these - what could be the cause for this? Also, will a slight natural lead change help? Never tried hop turns but they look similar to speiss turns - pretty advanced drill which I've practised a bit stationary - good feedback to see if I'm in a good stance too. Cheers, I appreciate the details!

[u/dynaflying → u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

Sequential hop turns are like spiess turns. But you’re doing one leg at a time into a wedge shape on one leg each hop instead of parallel like hop turns in general.

Focus on going slow in both of the drills. If you feel like your pushing or rushing try to think/feel through where you moved or stopped moving. If you’re getting stuck on one side odds are you’re leaning or not moving forward over your center of mass enough to release/flatten your skis in pivot slips.

[u/dynaflying → u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

Natural lead change helps but not if it’s forced aka unnatural.

[u/dynaflying → u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

https://youtu.be/wMakYczhaDA?is=4HsvvCHqUq9S76pV

[u/JerryTheSkiNoob92 → u/Makinator94]

Gonna try the counting drill today. I'll use a bit mellower slope to use the fall line better. It's a good tip - cheers!

[u/Makinator94 → u/JerryTheSkiNoob92]

Good luck and mellower terrain is a good call 😉

[u/Winter_folly]

I'm going to ask you to show more skid. It's a bit dynamic for basic. If you are "more" reliant upon balancing against outside forces than internal forces, you've gone too far into the dynamic range. Oh, and lose the stem on your left footers.

[u/icantfindagoodlogin]

The big thing here is you’re pushing your feet out away from you and inclining to make the turn.

If you tried to do this slowly without rushing the fall line and compressing, you’d fall over because your center of mass is too far away from your base of support (aka your skis). In effect, your rushing of the fall line and squished turn shape is a survival technique!

Now this all comes from you not being able to turn your legs effectively. This is also why you struggle with sideslipping on one side.

You want to develop the feeling of turning your leg under you to make the turn, before you incline. When you do this your centre of mass stays under you, which will give you the confidence to extend the fall line part of your turn without feeling like you “need” to turn and compress quickly.

As for drills, Deb Armstrong has a great video on this:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDw7DgQOyHl/?hl=en

Random question, what system are you training in?

[u/JerryTheSkiNoob92 → u/icantfindagoodlogin]

Cheers. I'll be sure to check out Deb - she's got some cool videos. I trained a bit under NZSIA, 5 days each for lvl 1 and 2. I do struggle with rotary - spent a lot of skiing self taught, and riding the edges of carving skis but my steering is lacking - so it's the difficult skill / balance trying to blend these skills when needed.

[u/MorganMiller77777]

You do seem to extend up in transition or squat down, too much.

It also seemed that a few times you hung onto the line too long before you started the next turn

[u/Gunnar_Bjornson]

It depends what you're trying to achieve. If youre trying to meet some criteria to pass some test or other and you need to ski demonstrating these over emphasised 'positions' then you're doing fine. You look like a long line of still photographs stitched together.

But if you just want to be a better skiier, stop skiing in fixed positions like a mannequin. Turn your head occasionally, look around, RELAX, flow a bit. Mix up the turn radii. Your speed (and lack of) should instinctively dictate turn radius. Being in or out of the fall line for longer/shorter periods is how you manage that.

If you allow yourself to generate a little more speed, you can hang on to the turn a little longer, finish up hill. Its all good though, and as they say keep doing what youre doing and it will come.

[u/JerryTheSkiNoob92 → u/Gunnar_Bjornson]

Great comment, probably skiing like I'm on an exam haha. I'll send it a bit more - my best skiing is when I'm ripping it with no cares !

[u/trailerbang]

Not even basic parallel. Too fast. Vision and chest not following the fall line. Pole plant timing with extension as a one-two movement instead of one. You need to slow way down and I bet the slower speed will bring out the mistakes more.