As a Level I instructor, I am working on my MA skills. Here is a video of someone skiing in powder and I would appreciate comments about my MA and your own MA observations.
I skip the first turn entirely, as it is the first turn, and focus on the second and third turns, the second turn being the one in which the skier is passing the camera. To me, it seems that balance and stance are pretty good. The upper torso and the lower leg are pretty much parallel and the skier is over his skis.
Looking at ski and snow interaction, I think tipping and edging is happening after the fall line. Or, at the least, the highest pressure is after the apex of the turn, after the fall line. So, the first part of the turn is more rotary; the last part of the turn is more edging. If the skier wishes to edge earlier in the turn, he would benefit from more angulation at the top of the turn, to project the upper body down the hill. In order to do that, the skier ought not allow the poling arm move back so much after the pole plant. Keeping the arm up and forward, making the pole plant more a flick of the wrist, would facilitate projection of the upper body downward and, hence, the ability to get on an early edge.
The skier is releasing the turn by flexing the outside leg which, in the context of powder skiing, is a very good thing since a rising-unweight would actually push the skis down into the powder and make a rotational turn initiation more difficult, because the powder will resist the skis' rotation and because it would also be biomechanically more difficult to rotate, when extended, without also rotating the upper body.
So, if it is the skier's desire to charge down faster, or ski steeper terrain in these conditions, work on the poling and work on the angulation to project the upper body down. On steeper terrain, in particular, the current turn will result in a long drop down the fall line before the turn finish, resulting in much energy needed to control speed at the end of the turn and earlier fatigue. Perhaps use railroad track drilling on groomed runs to work on the poling and the early angulation and ski-tipping. Making turns in tighter trees, really tight, early tipping would also result in greater nimbleness and the ability to make shorter turns.
Though the MA I write is not exclusive to powder skiing, relevancy to powder skiing is appreciated.
I skip the first turn entirely, as it is the first turn, and focus on the second and third turns, the second turn being the one in which the skier is passing the camera. To me, it seems that balance and stance are pretty good. The upper torso and the lower leg are pretty much parallel and the skier is over his skis.
Looking at ski and snow interaction, I think tipping and edging is happening after the fall line. Or, at the least, the highest pressure is after the apex of the turn, after the fall line. So, the first part of the turn is more rotary; the last part of the turn is more edging. If the skier wishes to edge earlier in the turn, he would benefit from more angulation at the top of the turn, to project the upper body down the hill. In order to do that, the skier ought not allow the poling arm move back so much after the pole plant. Keeping the arm up and forward, making the pole plant more a flick of the wrist, would facilitate projection of the upper body downward and, hence, the ability to get on an early edge.
The skier is releasing the turn by flexing the outside leg which, in the context of powder skiing, is a very good thing since a rising-unweight would actually push the skis down into the powder and make a rotational turn initiation more difficult, because the powder will resist the skis' rotation and because it would also be biomechanically more difficult to rotate, when extended, without also rotating the upper body.
So, if it is the skier's desire to charge down faster, or ski steeper terrain in these conditions, work on the poling and work on the angulation to project the upper body down. On steeper terrain, in particular, the current turn will result in a long drop down the fall line before the turn finish, resulting in much energy needed to control speed at the end of the turn and earlier fatigue. Perhaps use railroad track drilling on groomed runs to work on the poling and the early angulation and ski-tipping. Making turns in tighter trees, really tight, early tipping would also result in greater nimbleness and the ability to make shorter turns.
Though the MA I write is not exclusive to powder skiing, relevancy to powder skiing is appreciated.
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