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Speaking of the tech manual.....

john petersen

working through minutia to find the big picture!
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Inspired in part by the inclination/angulation thread, and because I have been reading the (PSIA) alpine tech manual myself after an event at Killington a few weeks ago, I came across 5 interesting words as they were describing edge control in relation to carving....

"access the forces (centripetal force)"

access the forces...

access.

what a cool way to put it. I never thought of it that way. We alter the direction of Newton's object moving in a straight path, because we ARE that object and we have a desire to make a turn. We access centripetal force because its fun and manage those forces to our delight (well, usually to our delight), only to feel a few moments of weightlessness in transition, anticipating the delight of more centripetal forces in the next turn.....

I like this quite a bit.

Our fundamentals talk about managing, regulating and controlling. They talk about the magnitude of forces ( felt as pressure) through ski/snow interaction....sounds kinda dry, doesn't it? or does it?....

regulate the magnitude. I get a really cool picture in my head of bump skiing...like smooth zipper lines rounded out a bit while legs are flexing and extending, poles reaching, skis gliding....

but access the forces... looking for them and searching them out... that is when the fun begins!

This is a bit free verse and an incomplete thought. apologies. Im going to play with this at the hill this weekend.

JP
 

Kneale Brownson

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Start thinking about it in short, round turns and then make them longer and longer. What do you do to "regulate the magnitude"?
 

LiquidFeet

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What do you do to "regulate the magnitude"? If you can already make short radius turns and you are doing what Kneale just suggested ....

1. See your chosen line ahead, full of enlarging turns.
2. Slow down the body movements you are already making, and adjust according to how well that puts you on that chosen line ahead.
3. A lot happens without conscious control when you do this, as it should.


If you don't have a lot of versatility in your skiing and can make only one turn, and it's not a short radius turn, you may need to be more specific in your attention to body movements.
 
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Dakine

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Another interesting concept I was discussing with a tech manual guru is how some parts of skiing are "in the past", some are "in the present" and some are "in the future.'
When you put your COM and stack your bones into the correct place to resist the forces that come when edges are engaged in a carved turn, that is an example of being "in the future" for a bit of time.
A lot of people ski "in the past" where they are essentially making a series of linked recoveries caused by bad technique and balance.
 
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john petersen

john petersen

working through minutia to find the big picture!
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Eastern
played with this on the hill a bit today...and things got very D.I.R.T.y ;)

the conditions consisted of an icy surface covered by a layer of frozen snow marbles, slush, groomer tracks, and, er, frozen grass.

I may be exaggerating a bit...but not much. The hill got pummeled by 2" of rain and 55 degree weather yesterday. the mountain opened late due to having to rebuild the base area and re-connecting a few trail heads with lift exit ramps. I am amazed our groomers could do such a great job of saving the day, even though conditions were unique. (Unique is a nice word for what most consider awful...but honestly, I embraced the challenge of trying out some newfound skills and movement patterns)

skiing on ball bearings and ice was actually very rewarding in a masochistic sort of way! I had to be very very balanced and patient...exactly what Ive been working on lately and it worked well...I was having fun....which is what I was hoping for.

could I access the forces?....yeah...but in a way that asked for finesse as opposed to strength.

more tomorrow, though few runs are expected as we are sold out at the ski school!.... :)

JP
 

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