From all of us at Snowskills.net, here’s to good snow in a cold and wet 2006!
Archive for December, 2005
Tony knows cross country skiing. And what is it that Tony knows? He knows that his toe, knee, and nose should always be in a straight line. (If you still don’t get the riddle, say “toe knee nose” a few times fast.
This is a good tip for those skate skiing. During the glide look out over your nose, down to your knee. Your toes should be invisible behind your knee if you are in a balanced position.
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So, you’ve invested in good outer clothing. And dressed in multiple layers. And you’re not wearing any cotton, anywhere! There are still a few other details to which you’ve got to pay attention to get the best performance from your clothing. Here, in no particular order, are a number of items you should check to get the most warmth during the coldest part of the winter.
Check that all of your pockets are zipped shut. Check that any pit or chest vents are zipped shut.
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Frozen granular, hardpack, scraped off, and bulletproof are just a few of the terms I’ve heard used for hard snow conditions. For the sake of brevity, let’s cut through it all and agree that ICE is a pretty good word for conditions on those days where the snow just doesn’t have much ‘give’ to it. There can be some great skiing in those conditions; it just takes a little more effort physically and mentally to adapt and make effective turns.
You should ski on ice conditions like you’re robbing a bank: “No sudden moves and don’t stand in one place too long”. Physically you need to develop skiing movements that are methodical and patient, relying more on subtlety and than force to generate the turn. Neither your leg steering nor your edging can be abrupt or hard; you’ll want to apply these skills in increments of small doses to keep all your movements as smooth and even as possible.
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Tree skiing could be one of the most challenging terrain choices. Even experienced skiers can be reluctant to ski in close proximity of large, immobile objects from which a collision can only make you worse for wear. Some glades seem to have an aura of a Forbidden Zone, similar in manner that the maps of early explorers marked the edge of the world with; “Here be Monsters”.
Well, not all glades are built the same and running into obstacles is more optional in a glade than conventional wisdom allows. Skiing in the trees is all about finding the open space. Football great Jim Brown said he used to “Run to daylight”. His focus was on going where there was room to go, not fixating on where he couldn’t.
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Skiing is a moving sport; you’ll improve your skiing only when you’ve become comfortable with new skills while on the move. I like the term ‘Moving Balance’ to describe the movements you use to stay balanced and athletic on skis while moving over uneven terrain. In Moving Balance, the position of the body in relation to the feet is critical to the getting the skis to turn with control and ease.
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Were you one of the lucky ones that received new ski or snowboard equipment over the holidays? What is your plan for breaking in that equipment?
If you received new ski boots or snowboard boots, start here. Put them on inside and wear them for about an hour, gradually tightening them to the proper buckle tension. Make sure there are not any pressure points ad by all means if you didn’t size the boots yourself, have a qualified tech make sure you have the proper size.
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Develop mental toughness by skiing new terrain in small doses. To develop glade terrain skills, start with a glade where the pitch is relatively gentle and the trees are generally spread out. Ideally, the glade would be parallel to a cleared trail where you could enter or exit the glade as desired. Pick out your route two turns at a time; then stop, scout two turns, and start again. Add move turns as you become more comfortable skiing in limited area. To improve short turns, ski a narrow trail that goes straight down gravity; an abandoned t-bar line would be ideal. Like a roadway, imagine a centerline that creates two lanes reaching to the treelines. Make your turns so that each turn uses one lane by beginning and ending at the centerline. You’ll use all the trail from treeline to treeline; start by doing sets of five turns slowly. With practice, you’ll be able to increase speed and ski the entire length of the trail without stopping. This is called “corridor” skiing and you can set up a similar situation on wider slopes using the same imagery.
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National magazines report that the typical skier/rider gets between 4 and 6 days of skiing/riding per season. An avid skier/rider gets 7 to 12 days. If you’re getting up to 30 days, your employment is probably something other than full-time with a corporation or you live right in ski country. It’s may be difficult to hear such statistics, but it’s a reality of our sport that many factors can limit the number of opportunities to hit the slopes in any given season.
With such limited days, there’s no easy way to explain to a non-skier/rider the awesome memories that any day of skiing/riding provide. Join any apres-ski discussion at any bar in any country and the topic will be about all the great things that happened that day and all the great things that happened some other day. Skiing and riding builds memories strong enough to physically sense: I personally can still recall the smell of the rope rubbing on my gloves when I skied as a child at a local rope tow area. Even with a limited number of days on the hill, it doesn’t take many experiences to develop strong memories when skiing and riding.
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Snow angels are one of the “cool things” about winter that kids learn early. Turn away from a field of snow, flop backwards, and wave your legs and arms in the same manner. When you stand up, the resulting mark in the snow looks like an angel due to the sweeping of the arms and legs.
The motions that make a snow angel can help you develop strong ski turning movements in your legs. Stand on a flat surface of snow in your ski boots. Set a pole tip on the instep of one of your boots just above the second buckle. Slowly begin to twist your foot around the pole tip without letting the pole wander. Your toe and heel should both be moving a similar distance left and right while the middle of your boot (under the pole tip) stays in one spot. Your boot should be making a ‘snow angel’-like mark in the snow and every part of your leg from the hip down will be moving to create this movement. Notice that you don’t have to move any other part of your body to twist your leg in this manner.
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