We can take a tip from the Aussies for sun protection in spring skiing conditions. Living on the hottest, driest, and flatest continent on earth, Australians are far more aware of the dangers being in the sun than most Americans. Teaching skiing Downunder was unique in many ways, perhaps most notably that you’re a lot closer to the sun in the Southern Hemisphere than when you’re in North America. The Aussies’ national motto for having fun outside is “Slip, Slap, and Slop!” and it’s a good mantra for spring-time skiing and riding as well.
Archive for March, 2006
When moving down a slope, control requires turns and turns need to be efficient and efficiency comes from strong turns and strong turns come from good balance and good balance comes from steady edges and steady edges make a turn round and round turns give you control. As in all things in life, everything goes full circle! So, how do you accomplish any one of those factors? Forget that goal; you can have it all if you use the mental image of a train while making turns.
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O.K., the Torino 2006 Olympics are over, so we’ll no longer have daily demonstrations of awesome skiing and riding. Reflecting back on the alpine skiing and riding events, it’s the higher speed events like the Downhill that made the biggest impression. The memory of how those racers were oriented to the path of their feet is useful to understanding the difference between edging and angulation in skiing and snowboarding.