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Three
Steps to Higher Edge Angles
In order to achieve a
high-C arc, high edge angles, and a bulletproof short turn for
all-mountain conditions, skiers must have a certain understanding and
degree of movement coordination. There are three steps that, once
mastered, will help you take a large step toward skiing all over the
mountain.
These three steps are:
• Flex in transition: when,
where, and how much
• Flex the inside leg and
counterbalance
• Know where you are on the
hill and in your turns
Step 1: Flex in Transition
Without proper training,
many skiers find it hard to understand and/or perform sufficient flexion
and counterbalancing with correct timing. Most skiers don’t seem to be
able to flex to the extent that expert skiers do, both in amount and
duration of flexion. I think some of this results from a lack of trust
in balance due to insufficient counterbalancing. Also, if the timing of
flexion is incorrect, then deeper flexing doesn’t yield any
benefits. It’s hard to be
deliberate and to emphasize your movements if you don’t know where and
when to do so! You’ll be amazed at how your ungroomed, all-mountain
skiing performance will improve when you flex enough, at the right time,
and maintain balance.
If you come from a TTS
(traditional teaching system) background, you were probably introduced
to flexing or
bending the legs as a way
to finish a turn, and to help to put the skis on edge. In TTS, flexing
the legs in transition is viewed as a separate technique used only
occasionally in special situations, and it’s often given a special name:
retraction or absorption turns. Flexing the legs in transition is a
“bread and butter” staple of PMTS technique – an essential used in all
turns, in all snow, at all speeds.
When to Flex
If you flex too early in
the bottom of the turn, before release, you will almost invariably
extend or straighten your legs in order to get out of the arc. Using up
all or most of your range of flex while you are still trying to grip
with the edges of the old turn leaves you with little flexion to assist
with release. You effectively get “stuck” on the old edges, and have to
stand up to get off them.
Instead, if you keep the
legs extended with the skis on edge until the skis start to point across
the hill, then your flexing (bending) can be coordinated with tipping
the skis from the old edges to the new – this is the goal of Step 1.
How Long to Stay Flexed
Even if you begin to flex
at the right time, there’s still the question of how long to stay
flexed. If you start to extend the stance leg or both legs before the
skis have reached the new edges, you’ll be pushing yourself up, away
from edge angles, grip, and control. You have to stay flexed long enough
for the skis to roll
not only off the old edges,
but fully onto the new edges. Few skiers stay flexed low enough, long
enough – through transition and into the arc of the new turn.
Practicing Flexing
In all-mountain conditions
like powder and deep snow, flexing and turn transitions can be performed
slowly. When carving at high speed on steep terrain, the transition, and
thus the flexing, must be performed quickly. Learning the correct
performance and timing of flexion is learned more easily at slower
speeds, on easier terrain, and in larger turns. Faster speeds and/or
shorter turns often create an urge to twist or
turn the skis, which you
should avoid.
Step 2: Flex the Inside Leg
and Counterbalance
Learning Step 1 will help
you to start each turn with a high-C arc, in balance over the skis as
the edges engage and begin the new arc. Once you have this established,
you need to be able to seek higher edge angles and a tighter arc while
maintaining balance. Tightening the turn arc is a result of
progressively pressuring the stance ski, and it enables you to carve
short turns, to ski the line you want in bumps or powder, and to control
your speed on steeps. That’s where Step 2 comes in.
Progressively increasing
the pressure on the stance ski can be performed by waiting for the turn
arc to develop and take you back across the hill, by shortening and
tipping the inside leg and foot, and by lengthening the stance leg. I’m
not saying that you shouldn’t use leg extension, only that it shouldn’t
be the only or the most aggressive way that you pressure your skis.
We all want pressure on the
stance ski, since it factors into control and edge hold. That’s why most
skiers are overeager to achieve it, but they don’t have the patience to
develop pressure with balance.
Pressure should not be
sought or created in the high-C part of the arc. This is the part of the
turn for patience and balance as the turn develops and the pressure
comes to you. Increased tipping of the feet and ankles, combined with
enough counterbalancing activity of the upper body to stay in balance,
brings the turn from the highest portion of the “C” further into the
arc. I keep both legs flexed as long as possible in the new arc (a
holdover from Step 1). As the arc develops, and I am flexing and tipping
with the inside leg, the outside leg needs to
extend just enough to keep
the outside ski carving. This is the delicate line between success and
failure, between pressuring and overpowering early in the arc.
If you extend too early in
the arc to create pressure, which in turn pushes the body toward the
inside of the arc, you can very (ceasily push yourself out of
balance. Many skiers will find this confusing: “Aren’t we supposed to
get the body to the inside of the arc?” Yes, the body gets to the inside
of the arc, but not by pushing it there. Instead, flexing in transition
(Step 1) and continued flexing and tipping of the inside leg in the new
arc
will bring the body inside
the arc of the skis, with far less risk of losing balance. Pressure
under the stance ski will develop and be felt as your skis come into the
fall line, pointing down the hill. Extend the stance leg enough to stay
in contact with the snow; never so much that you are pushing yourself
away from that foot and ski.
So, if you’re going to take
Step 2, and be patient while you wait for pressure to come to you, what
should you be doing in this part of the arc? Increase tipping and
flexing with the inside leg, which moves your hips lower to the ground
inside the arc, and increase counterbalancing with the upper body. The
skis will be slicing on edge, and you’ll be balanced over them. You are
poised perfectly to increase your edge angles: relax the inside leg and
hip. Bending the inside leg is a deliberate action to reduce pressure on
the inside ski. This is necessary; if the
inside leg is stiff,
extended, and unyielding, you will block the movement of your body to
the inside of the arc.
Step 3: Know Where You Are
on the Hill and in the Turn
In my new book, Harald
Harb’s Essentials of Skiing, the first chapter demonstrates all of
the essentials in the same sample turn. If you look closely at these
pictures you’ll see that I’m always in an arc, on my edges. Transition,
during which my skis pass through flat, takes only two-tenths of a
second or less. As I ski along the arc-to-arc path, I know exactly where
I am and the angle of my skis relative to the slope or fall line. If you
want your flexing and extending to be accurately timed and helpful in
your skiing, then you, too, must develop this spatial awareness. If you
do not know where your skis are pointing relative to the mountain or the
fall line at all times in arcs or through transition, it will be
impossible to time your flexing for release or your pressure
development. You’ll be guessing, and the results will be disappointing.
Let’s look at how we are
oriented relative to the slope, so we can relate to the edging actions
that develop a high-C arc.
Imagine a ski trail that is
bordered on both sides by trees.
Imagine that you are making
linked arcs down the middle of the run, so that your serpentine path is
centered down the middle of the trail. Imagine that there is a dashed
line painted down the middle of the slope, from top to bottom, like the
center stripe on a roadway. Since you are skiing down the middle of the
slope, your path crosses the imaginary dashed line, back and forth.
The moment when your skis
cross the imaginary line is the turn transition. Imagine yourself
curving along on your path, back and forth, and then freeze yourself at
the end of one arc, about one ski length before your ski tips will touch
the imaginary center line.
This is before transition,
so before the release and the high-C.
Both skis are engaged on
their uphill edges, rolled on edge so that the downhill edges are lifted
away from the snow. (Note: if you were standing on the hill, not sliding
or skiing, you would naturally stand on these, your uphill, edges to
keep from slipping sideways down the hill.) Your skis are pointed toward
the trees on one side of the trail – we’ll call this the “original
direction”. You are traveling inbound, pointed at and travelling toward
the imaginary center line, so it’s time to get ready for transition.
Here comes Step 1: bend
both legs and tip the skis toward the new edges. You have to begin the
flexing and tipping a skilength or two before arriving at the center
line, otherwise you will be too late. As you ski across the imaginary
line, both your legs will be flexed, your skis will be essentially flat
on the snow (no edge angle), and both skis will continue to point in the
original direction, aimed across the hill, pointing toward the trees.
This is the only time in
the linked arcs that both legs will be flexed or bent equally. Stay
flexed, continue tipping the skis, and soon you will be rolled onto the
downhill edges; the uphill edges will be pulled off the snow.
For a short moment, perhaps
a ski length, your skis will continue to point in the original
direction.
You are now in the high-C
arc, balanced on the new edges (currently the downhill edges), pointed
toward
the original trees. You are
traveling outbound, from the center of the trail toward the trees. In
order to achieve the high-C arc, you must tip the skis from old to new
edges without a twist or turn; the direction that the skis point and
travel does not change.
This moment of pointing and
traveling outbound, with your skis still pointed in the original
direction, is truly fleeting.
Immediately after the skis
are rolled onto the new (downhill) edges, the sidecut engages and the
skis start to point more downhill. The tip pulls the skis along the
curved path. This is when we use Step 2: continue to flex and tip with
the inside leg, and counterbalance with the body. The direction that the
skis point does not change abruptly; rather, the skis start by pointing
and traveling mostly outbound, toward the trees.
Steadily along the path,
they point more downhill and less across the hill. Eventually, the skis
point straight downhill, parallel to the imaginary centerline, parallel
to the tree-lined trail edges. For a brief moment, the skis travel
straight downhill.
The skis are still on the
same edges that they were tipped onto in transition. The bases of the
skis would be visible to a spectator standing on the side of the trail,
but not to a spectator at the bottom of the hill.
This moment of pointing and
traveling straight downhill, parallel to the fall line, is also truly
fleeting. Because the skis are still engaged on the same edges, the tips
continue to pull the skis along the arc of the turn. Soon, the skis
point more toward the imaginary center line of the trail, and less
toward the bottom of the mountain.
You are now traveling
inbound toward the imaginary line, coming from the edge of the trail and
traveling toward the center. This is the lower-C or bottom portion of
the turn arc. The ski bases are now visible to a spectator at the bottom
of the mountain.
Skiers naturally trust the
lower-C, bottom portion of the turn arc because here they can lean
against gravity in order to put the skis on edge. There’s less need for
tipping the feet and legs than in our Step 1, and less risk of losing
balance than in our Step 2. Imagine that you are making an emergency
stop, digging your edges into the snow for the most grip. Now, take this
effort and concept higher into each turn arc. As soon as you roll the
skis onto the new edges, in Step 1, pretend that you need to increase
edging as if to stop. Don’t skid or rush, but use
the additional tipping
effort to shorten or tighten the turn radius.
To improve your timing,
spatial awareness, and coordination of movements, ski slowly and
practice making your turns round through the bottom of the arc. Keep
tipping the skis on edge until you are about one ski length before
touching the imaginary center line with your ski tips. Then, flex and
tip in the other direction while ensuring that your skis continue to
point and travel in the original direction. Pay attention to the three
steps, practice them individually and together, and your skiing will
show definite improvement.
By Harald Harb, President
and PMTS Trainer
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