53’s Journey

[Erik Timmerman]

Looking at your video, look at the first two turns and watch what happens to the tail of the inside ski. See it is pushing snow toward the other ski? That's because you are beginning your turns by stepping onto the new outside ski instead of by releasing the inside ski. If you did the latter, that ski would flatten and not bite into the snow, causing a little tug on your inside knee. At 53, you do not want to be stressing the knees.

To start a turn, you need to roll your inside foot toward the little toe inside your boot, flattening the inside ski, thereby releasing its edge.

Yup, that's the first thing I see too. That and turn shape, all of the turn happens in one place and then it becomes a diagonal traverse into the next turn. Instead of a turn connected by diagonal traverses you should never stop turning. If the turn is rounded out this will all get easier, this will also include more time with the skis pointed straight down the turn and accelerating. 53, you are putting a lot of work into going slow by grinding against the skis. Remember why you are doing this sport in the first place, you need to feel the need for speed - even if it means you are letting yourself go 4 mph instead of just 2 mph. It is called "Downhill Skiing" after all, let the skis point down the hill a little longer.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Getting your upper body centered over your skis by closing your ankles --- Yup!
Releasing the new inside ski by flattening it with your foot --- Yup!
Narrowing the space between your feet so you can start turns easier --- Yup!
Rounding out your turns by allowing yourself to stay pointed downhill longer --- Yup!
Rhythmic turns timed to a song in your head, to delete that traverse between turns --- Yup!
Directing pressure from outside ski to outside ski by lifting that new inside ski tail --- Yup!

First thing: you need to get rid of your whole body rigidity and the defensive mindset that causes it.
Do whatever allows you to feel relaxed and confident first, so you can tackle these important things next.
Can you figure out how to do this?

Once you're sliding in skier bliss without that rigidity, you can play with these important movements.

 

[Corgski]

@Started at 53

I probably have about the same number of days on snow as you so may not want to take this too seriously but this does reflect my attempts to muddle through the issues in a Manfred von Holstein kind of way.

My impression is that when starting older, balance and proprioception is more of a stumbling block than technique. It is one thing to know what to do, it is another to have the confidence in one's balance that one can do it without falling over. My kids, like me are still new to skiing and consequently do not have great technique but are able to rely on balance and smaller size. Being tall also seems to make it a little more difficult, though obviously this did not hold Bode back. I am mostly past the wedge but struggle with stance width and while can lift and tip, become unstable doing it on varying terrain (where the heck is everyone finding these nice wide smooth green runs I see in videos, the greens I find seem to be more suitable for slalom training).

I actually have very recently started doing what @Seldomski and @Fuller suggest. In Expert Skier 1, the ability to balance on one leg is considered essential. I have also been going through the Eliminate The Wedge Videos with Diana Rogers (more suitable for beginners than the other PMTS material) and she also includes learning to balance on one leg in a easy traverse. I'd recommend these videos even if you are not following PMTS or have not had success with the other PMTS materials which tend to assume higher skier abilities.

I read through Expert Skier 1, expecting to see more emphasis on upper body. To over simplify, the emphasis in that book is to focus on your feet and let your upper body do what it needs to do to stay balanced over your skis. From your videos, I'd suggest that the problem with your stance is not skiing specific, the problem is that it it is not a balancing stance whether skiing, roller skating or standing on a small boulder.

The challenge with fore aft balance on skis is that they do not have the natural feedback mechanism (falling over) that roller skates do to indicate that balance is aft. I have used the Skia blocks to help develop a feel for which body positions keep me balanced, balancing with ski boots on wooden blocks on the floor under the middle of the ski boot also works. The 'Closing ankles' cue works for some people but I found myself subconsciously moving my hips back to compensate. Focusing on keeping my hips forward worked better for me. I find that a good cue that I am too far back is that it becomes nearly impossible to raise the tail of a ski (a little like trying to lift a chair while keeping your weight on it).

 

[Fuller]

I spent most of the morning doing one footed drills and pivot slips on the lower mountain - it was really foggy up top so why waste an opportunity? After lunch it cleared up and I've never felt as good on a pair of skis before. Access to all four edges, a nice flow mixing up the carving and the smearing, I felt so centered, strong and confident it really was a breakthrough. At least that's what it felt like! No pesky reality checks with a video.

The point being that you can get there if you're reasonably athletic and you put the time into it.

 

[Started at 53]

Skied again today, or I should say I tried to ski today. Snow at Ski Dubai was terrible today, it was noticeable as soon as I started to attempt to glide off of the POMA lift. Snow was super sticky, which was not the case on Monday. I gave it a try and it was totally inconsistent. There were patches of very soft and sticky snow, it was akin to the skis having brakes. It was uncomfortable and did not feel safe to me. I would much rather have icy patches than the soft sticky patches. I took 5 runs hoping it would somehow get better but it did not and I called it a day. I was just losing confidence and did not feel like it was a good idea to take a step backwards.

Obviously I am not an expert, but it could very well have been the skis sucked today as much as it was poor snow quality. Coulda been a combination of the two.

Work starts early tomorrow morning, counting the days until Vail now.... hmmm.... 10 days....

 

[Philpug]

Skied again today, or I should say I tried to ski today. Snow at Ski Dubai was terrible today, it was noticeable as soon as I started to attempt to glide off of the POMA lift. Snow was super sticky, which was not the case on Monday. I gave it a try and it was totally inconsistent. There were patches of very soft and sticky snow, it was akin to the skis having brakes. It was uncomfortable and did not feel safe to me. I would much rather have icy patches than the soft sticky patches. I took 5 runs hoping it would somehow get better but it did not and I called it a day. I was just losing confidence and did not feel like it was a good idea to take a step backwards.

Obviously I am not an expert, but it could very well have been the skis sucked today as much as it was poor snow quality. Coulda been a combination of the two.

Work starts early tomorrow morning, counting the days until Vail now.... hmmm.... 10 days....

You know you are making progress when you have days that are steps back. Look at it as a step forward when you can feel that difference. That IS progress. Chalk it up to experience. I am really looking forward to skiing with you some day.

 

[Started at 53]

You know you are making progress when you have days that are steps back. Look at it as a step forward when you can feel that difference. That IS progress. Chalk it up to experience. I am really looking forward to skiing with you some day.

We will be in Heber City March 7-13

 

[Sibhusky]

Sounds like time for DPS Phantom!

Skied again today, or I should say I tried to ski today. Snow at Ski Dubai was terrible today, it was noticeable as soon as I started to attempt to glide off of the POMA lift. Snow was super sticky, which was not the case on Monday. I gave it a try and it was totally inconsistent. There were patches of very soft and sticky snow, it was akin to the skis having brakes. It was uncomfortable and did not feel safe to me. I would much rather have icy patches than the soft sticky patches. I took 5 runs hoping it would somehow get better but it did not and I called it a day. I was just losing confidence and did not feel like it was a good idea to take a step backwards.

Obviously I am not an expert, but it could very well have been the skis sucked today as much as it was poor snow quality. Coulda been a combination of the two.

Work starts early tomorrow morning, counting the days until Vail now.... hmmm.... 10 days....

 

[LiquidFeet]

....Snow was super sticky, which was not the case on Monday. I gave it a try and it was totally inconsistent. There were patches of very soft and sticky snow, it was akin to the skis having brakes. It was uncomfortable and did not feel safe to me .... Obviously I am not an expert, but it could very well have been the skis sucked today as much as it was poor snow quality. Coulda been a combination of the two.....

Warm snow next to cold snow, or skis without wax, or skis with the wrong wax, can make this happen. This often happens with spring snow as you ski over sunny snow then into the shade. But it can happen with consistent snow and the wrong wax too.

I've had something similar happen when the temp gets below zero. The wax can be just wrong. I taught a group of beginner adults once when the rental skis would not slide; the snow felt like sandpaper beneath them. So I taught them to skate and we made unconventional and surprising progress.

 

[Started at 53]

Sounds like time for DPS Phantom!

These were rental skis as I am in Dubai working this week. But I will put the Phantom on my skis prior to Vail for sure.

@LiquidFeet
That is the perfect analogy.... Sandpaper, that is exactly what it felt like. It was terrible! I have experienced the skiing into sunlight and felt the difference before. It was on the turnoff from Success to Rosebud at DV, Rosebud get a lot of morning sunshine. My skis handled it no problem, but I do think today was likely a combination of rental skis and poor snow quality. The snow/ski combo on Monday was very good tho. But there were no soft spots Monday

 

[Nancy Hummel]

Lots of good advice here. I would like to you try something on the flattest terrain you can find or somewhere where you can finish going a bit uphill.

STAND UP!! Stand up so your hips are not behind your feet and do a bunch of straight runs and feel the different posture.

If you look at your stance from 37-44 seconds on the video, you stand up and your legs move closer together. See if you can stand more like that during the whole run. At 45, you go sink down and remain in that stance.

Stand up tall until you feel your heels start to come off the bottom of the boot and then relax your ankles until your feet go down and you feel your whole foot on the bottom of the boot. Do some straight runs without trying to turn and just get the feeling of gliding. Once you are in a more functional stance, it will be easier to do the other things people have mentioned.

 

[Jamt]

Another reason for you to get the feet closer together. Feet separation can cause unwanted external rotary force in inconsistent snow.
With feet together and outside ski weighting inconsistent snow is just some good fore-aft practice.

 

[Carl Kuck]

You can hide a lot with speed on the slopes...

... which, as @Philpug and @Tricia can attest to, I rather enjoy...

 

[Started at 53]

Poor man’s vise, which worked great for the edge tuning and de-waxing. In my absence the past three weeks.... My brake rubber bands were “put away”.... which is SO code for thrown out.... So I had to click the boots in to get the brakes out of the way. The Pocket Beast Pro Edger @2* worked like a charm with the Moonflex diamond stone. Of course the 400 grit is lost in the mail (ordered Jan. 14th) so I just touched up the edges with the 600 grit. My skis were ok, Betsy had a bit of a nasty scrap on one of her edges underfoot. Hard Gummy got it of the small rust spots prior to using the stone.

Part A applied and it is out in the sun

Note, this is a duplicate post from the DPS Phantom thread, but I wanted to preserve it in my “journal”

 

[Monique]

My brake rubber bands were “put away”.... which is female code for thrown out....

Nope, that's some weird bullshit your SO pulls. Don't put it on all women!

 

[Started at 53]

Nope, that's some weird bullshit your SO pulls. Don't put it on all women!

LOL

How about SO code in my house then?

Edited

 

[Monique]

LOL

How about SO code in my house then?

Edited

Sure!

 

[Started at 53]

OpenSnow is showing plenty of snow in the forecast for Vail, looks like I could get my first ever powder days on the upcoming trip.

[/new experience/]

 

[BC.]

OpenSnow is showing plenty of snow in the forecast for Vail, looks like I could get my first ever powder days on the upcoming trip.

[/new experience/]

Having watched your videos and followed posts about your learning experiences.......Your very first powder day(s) will hopefully only be a few/several inches of fresh laid on top of a freshly groomed front side slope at Vail. That little bit of powder on top of a fresh groomer would be a perfect first experience for you.

As you get better, which I'm confident you will.........you'll appreciate the deeper days that lie ahead for you and your wife at DV and in UT.

 

[Monique]

Having watched your videos and followed posts about your learning experiences.......Your very first powder day(s) will hopefully only be a few/several inches of fresh laid on top of a freshly groomed front side slope at Vail. That little bit of powder on top of a fresh groomer would be a perfect first experience for you.

As you get better, which I'm confident you will.........you'll appreciate the deeper days that lie ahead for you and your wife at DV and in UT.

I would have to imagine this is true for everybody who ever encounters powder the first few times. Low expectations are key. And waterproof pants.