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Uke

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ut
One of those words that you run into all the time in skiing talk but just what does it mean? What is being transitioned?

For me the transition that is taking place is that of the body from one side of the skis to the other. To do this I have to establish separate paths for my skis/feet and my body. The more divergent I can make those paths the quicker I can get across to the other side and go the other way. I accomplish this by releasing the body and the skis edges at slightly differing times/rates, he body and the feet cross the new edges engage and away I go.

So, what does transition mean to you?

uke
 

HDSkiing

You’re Sliding On-Snow; Don’t Over-Think it!
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The age old question: Is the transition the finish of the last turn or the initiation of the new one? If one were to look at the point between the finish and initiation as a “knifes edge” you would be either in one or the other except for that very specific moment where you were truly doing neither, but does such a point exist? Is it when the skis go flat? The more dynamic faster/shorter the turns the harder it is to define that point. One might say that a transition is only theoretical in that it is to a lesser or greater degree part of the last turn or part of the next turn...

I don’t or at least won’t pretend to have an answer other than as a Ski Nerd I enjoy the different perspectives!
 

T-Square

Terry
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For me the answer is two edges on the snow, four edges on the snow, then two edges on the snow. (If you’re a snowboarder then divide by 2. Yup, higher math. :duck:)

There’s a lot more involving how to make that happen. However, two edges, four edges, two edges boils it down to its simplest.
 

razie

Sir Shiftsalot
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It's a very dangerous part of the turn! Forget the goblins, it's worse: here's where the skis are not on a solid edge, the skier has no platform whatsoever (well, most, I would guess) and this is where most of us just let go of coiling and pivot those sticks and destroy what could have been an awesome turn!

Here's what we should do instead, in 2 thousand words:

mik-gs-uncoiling.jpg


...note the zero pressure, even as the skis get to like 45 degrees and the new outside leg started extending...
 
Last edited:

BornToSki683

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Apr 27, 2017
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Park City
One of those words that you run into all the time in skiing talk but just what does it mean? What is being transitioned?

For me the transition that is taking place is that of the body from one side of the skis to the other. To do this I have to establish separate paths for my skis/feet and my body. The more divergent I can make those paths the quicker I can get across to the other side and go the other way. I accomplish this by releasing the body and the skis edges at slightly differing times/rates, he body and the feet cross the new edges engage and away I go.

So, what does transition mean to you?

uke

I like your description well enough. Ever heard the term "finitiation phase"?
 

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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Nov 17, 2015
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Great White North (Eastern side currently)
What transition means to me:
Transition is the process of going from one turn to the next turn. Since the skis and the centre of mass take separate paths, it seems fair that we can apply the term to either one or both. It starts when the old turn begins to decrease (at the apex), and it ends when the new turn is started. For the skis that usually coincides with edge disengagement and edge engagement. For the CoM it begins when the radius of curvature of the CoM's path begins to increase and ends when the radius of curvature of the path passes through infinity (CoM travelling straight) and the CoM enters the new turn.
 

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