The Black Diamond Sabretooth Crampons are an excellent crampon choice for winter climbing and hiking. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for the ‘Ice’ Category
Since shaped skis have become the norm in alpine gear, it’s become common to see skiers going down the hill in a carved turn pretty much everywhere. To keep up the times, you can improve your carving through effective edging:
For hiking in snow, snowshoes are usually the tool of choice. Climbing in deep snow or ice? Crampons will do the job. But what do you wear for traction when there’s icy conditions without underlying snow? A company called 32 NORTH INC. just down the road from the Snowskills.net headquarters produces several awesome products for increasing grip in freezing conditions. One of their products that any winter hiker should own and carry is called Stabilicers.
It’s probably the oldest skiing tip in the book; stay forward! Having trouble with control? Stay forward! Want to start parallel skiing? Stay forward! Want to ski faster? Stay forward! Fine, got it; can do it great in the living room. But just how does one stay forward on slick, uneven, steep snow at speed? Read the rest of this entry »
Skiing on hard snow conditions requires that you modify your movements to compensate for the slicker surface under foot. It’s like being under a magnifying glass; any small loss of balance is signaled by a much larger movement by an arm, leg, or torso as you try to regain control. You don’t have to always be in a reactive mode when skiing hard snow, however; there are a number of adjustments you can make to your skiing to create steadier balance and increase grip.
An earlier post discussed the importance of using hip angulation to create more effective edging on ice or hard snow. The use of hip angulation in the last half of the turn will improve your edge grip, especially in a longer turn. You can apply that hip angulation more efficiently if you think about your body representing the center of a clock face.
Skiing in icy conditions doesn’t require MORE edging, it requires MORE EFFECTIVE edging. In hard snow conditions, using knee angulation alone may not be enough to give you a confident grip. And using more angulation may be self-defeating as higher edge angles require a higher balance and that’s going to be difficult on harder snow. One technique to generate more effective edging is to apply the hip along with the knee to improve your control on ice.
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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