Mental Thoughts/Images to Keep Weight Forward

[Crank]

I hear what you guys are saying about getting technique down and taking it to the steeps. However, when you first ski something really steep there is a leap of faith you have to make when you truly commit to the fall line.

 

[Josh Matta]

there isnt....

I mean there is if your back and inside, but there is no leap of faith if just repeats ingrained movements patterns.

 

[slowrider]

Confidence in your technique.

 

[Crank]

there isnt....

I mean there is if your back and inside, but there is no leap of faith if just repeats ingrained movements patterns.

I disagree.

 

[Josh Matta]

perception lets us both be right.

 

[YolkyPalky]

Well the leap of faith may be that you are going to be dealing with harnessing a lot more speed and controlling gravity's acceleration on the steeps, than if skiing same the technique on the flats.

 

[David]

The "Oh Shit!" handles are in front of me..reach for them..

Handlebars!

 

[François Pugh]

AND the task at hand is harder when you only have half as much gravity helping to get those edges into the slope.

 

[martyg]

This is money!

Thanks so much. I am fortunate to have a few truly incredible ski Yodas.

 

[Tony S]

perception lets us both be right.

What the hell did you do with Josh?

 

[Crank]

perception lets us both be right.

Funny, before I logged back on I was thinking along similar lines... That maybe if one took your approach you could be spot on. Conversely, a largely untutored skier such as myself could also be right for those with a similar background.

 

[mister moose]

Flexing your toes is another good one for standing on the flat of your feet - which is where you want to be. You want to stand on your tibia which intersects with your foot forward of your heel, just aft of your arch.

I think there's a range. I can be on the balls of my foot, right over the arch, or on the aft end of my tibia. The difference in body position is subtle, but the center of pressure on the boot sole moves.

Then he took a broom handle and stuck in down into the boot, pressing its end downward where the heel of the foot would be. He tilted the whole broom handle forward so it pressed into the front of the cuff at the same time. When the two volunteers tried to lift their ends of the ski, neither was successful. Both the shovel and the tail were "pressured" downwards. The heel pressure came from the end of the broomstick, and the shovel pressure came from the front-of-cuff pressure. Note: there was NO ball-of-foot pressure; nothing was in the boot in that area. Worth repeating: no ball-of-foot pressure at all.

His point: you can give both ends of the ski a chance to grip the snow if you stand on the rear of your foot while successfully pressing forward into the front of the boot cuff. Doing that involves "closing" the ankle, which moves the entire body from the ankle up forward -- all that weight causes the lower leg to press into the boot cuff which keeps the shovel weighted.

I think this is misleading. In all of your 3 instances, there exists a center of pressure on the ski being delivered by the ski boot. In other words, if you put this broomstick-ski rig on a see-saw, there exists a longitudinal placement of the pressured ski rig where the see-saw will balance.

There cannot be more than one center of pressure on the boot sole, and there cannot be more than one center of pressure on the ski. Broomsticks, bending at the waist, cuff pressure, nose rings, lifting toes all contribute, but there remains one center of pressure. Manipulating the location of this center of pressure, and the intensity of the pressure, are the pressure controls we have. Don't make it more complicated than the simple thing it is.

 

[Tony S]

Wait. There are nose rings?

I've skied with Liquid Feet. Nose rings are definitely not on the menu. Just saying. Straight shooting instructor.

 

[MarkP]

I hear what you guys are saying about getting technique down and taking it to the steeps. However, when you first ski something really steep there is a leap of faith you have to make when you truly commit to the fall line.

 

[surfacehoar]

I believe in "pull the feet back" because "defensive" instinct is to reach the feet forward.

Forward pressure really is all about closing the ankle, and I think the most important concept here is to relax (the ankle) and let the boot flex do the work. If you're actively trying to push with the ball of foot, you're fighting yourself.

I don't like "push the bush" because it causes a load shift from the hips to the knees. Resulting in a less relaxed/reactive athletic position. Try this - stand in a relaxed athletic position, then "push the bush" your quads will tense up, and your ability to move/react will be compromised. I can see this helping if you're way backseat, I just think that if you focus on the ankle, then hip and upper body position will take care of itself.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet is the tips of your poles. Hold them up so you're not dragging them behind.

Also, Rebound out of the turn and getting the inside ski out of the way.

 

[Goose]

Keeping weight forward in moguls is even more difficult than say groomed steeps, a continual battle. Thus mogul skiers learn to recognize the feeling of a positional stacked form where the quiet upper body tilts in a perpendicular axis against whatever average slope gradient while the body below the waist independently deals with the highly variable terrain on the snow surface. One learns by inner sense of balance to have the upper body leading enough in front that there is a feeling gravity is just enough beyond a balanced threshold to keep the upper body from breast above, especially arms and head falling down in front at the lead. Sometimes when I sense am slipping further back will bend my upper body over and down a bit lower on a turn or three, out of an ideal stacked form, simply to provide more body mass for gravity to work with in order to regain a forward falling ahead position while also stretching my hands out further down a slope that complements pulling it ahead.

Although there are technical terms and verbiage, videos of, and mental images to help doing so, in the end each skier needs to sense and recognize the feelings of body position and dynamic balance while riding in forward motion standing on skis, and over time train one's inner body muscle memory with controlling mind to automatically perform doing so.

I like this post and is sort of how I view things. While not a mogul skier per say as much as my more youthful days and when I skied a lot more often, I think the explanation above still fits well for general skiing too. While it may not explain things to one looking for technical schooling (an instructor I am far from) but imo its a feeling. A feeling or sense of balance and/or forces/pressures of position and gravity that are just in the right place/s placed on the skis and you just know it. Also perhaps known as the difference between driving (being in totally control) of your skis and like you can go anywhere vs them perhaps sort of taking you along for some of the ride.

 

[L&AirC]

I hear what you guys are saying about getting technique down and taking it to the steeps. However, when you first ski something really steep there is a leap of faith you have to make when you truly commit to the fall line.

there isnt....

I mean there is if your back and inside, but there is no leap of faith if just repeats ingrained movements patterns.

This is a matter of perspective. I don't know what @Crank does in real life, but IIRC, Josh is an engineer. For Josh it isn't a leap of faith; just math. Math that by the way, makes perfect sense. I also would guess Josh skis more per season than most do across several seasons or even a decade.

I think the leap is releasing the edges for that split second and the faith is the new edge will re-engage. As @slowrider stated, confidence is what is needed. It is built in baby steps gradually working up to steeps. This is also why I get so upset when I see little kids in a power wedge on steep terrain. What have they learned other than to brace against the mountain or stem their turns. Crap I have to undo when they finally make it to my group.

The "Up and Over" drill works well for this. Starting on easy terrain and working to steeper, when you come out of a turn lift the downhill ski just before transition (skis need to be across the fall line - "skis to trees"). On the uphill ski, you should be on your uphill edge. I tell me athletes to try to go a little uphill at this point. Once there, still on just the uphill ski (about to be the outside ski), make the turn going from uphill edge to downhill edge (Still across the falline). As you come out of the turn put the ski that is in the air down and at transition, lift the new downhill ski (the one you were just skiing on). Rinse and repeat.

Builds confidence and you know right where your edges are. One of my favorites. I do this often and especially when I get new skis or go from SL to GS skis.

Have fun,
Ken

 

[Varmintmist]

Ohhh, I dunno. I have had to deal with a lot of engineers stuff that was a leap of faith.

 

[slowrider]

Being a good skier is easy. Getting there is the hard part.

 

[Goose]

I think the biggest problem with steeper slope and applied forces/weight (especially for one who is learning it) is to resist the natural logic or thought of "not" wanting to keep weight forward (or in the right place). I think a lot of it (or lack of it) comes from not doing/practicing/skiing with the correct thoughts/technique when on less steep slopes where one gets away with it more. Then bringing that wrong ideology to a steeper slope. I think a good practice is to of course not only slowly graduate yourself but also ski faster on medium grade slopes. I don't mean fly straight down fast but instead gain a little speed and then start applying shorter, more demanding turns on the medium grade slopes and feel the right balance positions and forces to do so. Then once understood (and felt) it imo becomes much easier to then apply even more of the same forces when on steeper stuff. Imo you basically then become use to knowing how to apply the forces in the right place prior to getting on steeper slope.