35

[Uke]

Old dog new tricks.

Learned something brand new (for me anyway) last season. A centrally weighted, edged ski moving across the snow surface self pivots.

I have for thirty odd seasons been a proponent of active steering of the skis. Gently guiding the tips of the skis to point you where you want to go. Emphasizing Guiding the inside ski and letting the outside ski follow. The outside ski always follows no matter how fast or far you point the guide ski. I did wonder on occasion just what the mechanism was that caused the outside ski to follow. Had several plausible though lame explanations over the years but in my lessons I just called it ski-snow magic.

Now I think I do understand. The front of an edged, bent ski moving across the snow surface encounters the snow more forcefully than the tail so the ski wants to pivot under the foot of the skier. I beleave that this is the torque that TG talks about. I was just starting to play with moving the pivot point around under my foot when the season ended.

So, it looks a if instead of actively guiding the skis I'm simply controlling the degree to which I allow the ski to guide itself. Then again maybe its just ski-snow magic.

uke

 

[Steve]

Gellie says that if you move the pivot point ahead of the toe piece that the tail of the ski turns more than the tips, thus turning your legs for you. In addition to the torque, he shows that it also encourages more torsion in the front of the ski.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Ron LeMaster has pages on this self-steering effect with diagrams and arrows somewhere in his book Ultimate Skiing.

 

[HardDaysNight]

In 10 years or so PSIA will embrace this concept. Then they will claim they invented it and declare that any other way of getting skis to turn is a sure way to fail their exams. Too funny