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TS
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What is a soft alignment?
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Anyone here always ski on one foot like Lito Flores?
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What is a soft alignment?
This is true. The statement of skiing mostly on one ski (presumably the outside) is not at all borne out by the reality.
This is also right as I'm stepping onto my uphill / new-outside ski to start a turn in the other direction. I'm not looking for technical perfection, just out having a great time. Not too bad for somebody that only gets a couple of weeks a year on skis. Remember, it's all about the stoke.
cbk
Right on!
There is no "correct way to ski" in spite of what some might espouse.
The idea is to be outdoors, enjoying life, and having a good time playing with gravity and the mountain.
At the days end, as I was skiing a tight and twisted trail named Ledge, I stopped to look long to the east. Mount Monadnock appeared in the distance with the sun and the clouds all upside down. The rose colored peak out of place as the sunshine filtered through vapor water above.
The fact that there were snow skis on my feet meant nothing........
Right on!
There is no "correct way to ski" in spite of what some might espouse.
The idea is to be outdoors, enjoying life, and having a good time playing with gravity and the mountain.
At the days end, as I was skiing a tight and twisted trail named Ledge, I stopped to look long to the east. Mount Monadnock appeared in the distance with the sun and the clouds all upside down. The rose colored peak out of place as the sunshine filtered through vapor water above.
The fact that there were snow skis on my feet meant nothing........
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soft means knocked kneed.
@cbk why get defensive when you posted up a picture on how to do something? It is all about the stoke sure, but you could have more stoke with properly aligned boots, that would let you ski with out massive divergence on your couple weeks a year.
Lito does use the one-foot analogy (he encourages the intermediate skier, in his books, to think about it as skating, and encourages the skating-down-the-catwalks as a good drill to understand this). And this is also encouraged as a "crossing the piste" drill, literally lifting the uphill ski off the snow surface on a green groomed hill. That said, he acknowledges that both skis will be contacting the snow at all times, but what he is really trying to accomplish is to get intermediate skier to stop the skid-turns, stop the "v" speed control, and think about unloading weight from the uphill ski. And personally, I have found that his approach is enormously helpful in getting the average tourist/weekend skier to the next level of linking turns down the black bump runs without blowing up technique. Conflict alert, I am a graduate of his old one-week Aspen ski school (total immersion for one solid week with an instructor at all times), but twenty-five years later, I continue to use his techniques, and can still run confidently down any marked run, right up to the "double blacks" with confidence, while skiing less than three weeks per year.
I think the intent should always be there, execution depends on the performance and circumstances - just caught this yesterday, the filming angle makes it very visible, what do you think? (I wasn't doing it just to post here, it was just a random run, but it's subtle and the camera angles don't always make it visible...).
out of the apex on the outside ski 100%, transitioning to the other ski 100%, towards the apex the new inside ski is pushed into the snow by the new outside leg, as angles get bigger...
p.s. I don't think I caught the freeze frames right - the old inside leg is off the snow even earlier, as early as we can see it in fact, as I was just coming off of the apex (looks like it's off the snow, can't tell for sure...)
The geometry of the apex where the inside ski is pushed into the snow by the outside knee is visible in the previous turn:
out of the apex on the outside ski 100%, transitioning to the other ski 100%, towards the apex the new inside ski is pushed into the snow by the new outside leg, as angles get bigger...
p.s. I don't think I caught the freeze frames right - the old inside leg is off the snow even earlier, as early as we can see it in fact, as I was just coming off of the apex (looks like it's off the snow, can't tell for sure...)
The geometry of the apex where the inside ski is pushed into the snow by the outside knee is visible in the previous turn:
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Thread Starter
TS
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In powder??
It depends. I think if I start thinking "outside", my "body" will figure out the right distribution, given how the snow reacts, within a few turns. I don't honestly know if it's distribution at the apex of like 60/50 or just the timing of transfer and DIRT of extension/flexion etc... I think in dynamic skiing, it's not clear cut and to a large extent, irrelevant... as long as the intention to balance on the outside ski is there (maybe that's why PSIA and CSIA say "direct pressure to the outside ski... ?)
That's why I prefer to start from an ideal and then figure out what that snow likes, since every run is different: some have something hard underneath, some not, some pack up underfoot, some don't... I'm not going to start a run and pick up a calculator and punch in snow thickness, dew point etc and result in the goal of "65/43" and then just think about that all the way down... there's no fun factor in that
p.s. after a lot of work on it, I think that committing to the outside ski is not just a matter of wanting to in this or that run! It's about working on that season after season and developing the balance and the ability to allow you to do that at will!
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I started skiing in 1965 learning the Stein Eriksen style of skiing. Over the years I have transitioned to the shaped skis. One thing has never changed and that is that I still ski with my weight on my outside ski. My hips may be more aligned with the fall line but my transition is still the same. Every once in a while it's fun to hop back into the old style when skiing with new people and see what comments come up.
The thing I think so many people miss is that skiing is supposed to be fun. Don't over think it. If you want to improve, pick out one drill at a time. Work on it first thing in the morning then enjoy the rest of the day and let muscle memory kick in .
The thing I think so many people miss is that skiing is supposed to be fun. Don't over think it. If you want to improve, pick out one drill at a time. Work on it first thing in the morning then enjoy the rest of the day and let muscle memory kick in .
Except when you don't. Right?
I wanted to add a few comments to some of the posters' observations and comments regarding the series of ski instruction videos by Lito Tejada Flores .
In 1995 I started skiing in earnest having tried as a teenager in Scotland. My wife and kids took lessons here in Ontario Canada (which has mostly small hills). We had many lessons but I never felt comfortable making turns on steeper slopes as I felt my speed control was poor but no matter how many lessons I took, no instructor was ever able to explain the mechanics to make this easier. Finally one beautiful morning out in the Canadian Rockies I thought I had just discovered carving when I caught my edges on an ice boulder from the grooming machine and slid on my back into trees dislocating my shoulder. A quick end to my first and last day of skiing that holiday! Ouch. I was so angry and frustrated - just when I thought I had discovered how to carve everything fell apart.
I was determined to try and find out the hidden secret of how to ski better because it seemed to me no instructor had ever been able to show me. That's when I discovered "Breakthrough On Skis" BOS ( How to Get Out Of The Intermediate Rut) by Lito Tejada Flores. I bought his original video purely on a whim but when I saw the first few minutes of his skiing style I knew I was seeing a different method of skiing. Yes, watching these old videos now, the gear and clothing all look so dated but the principles remain the same. I bought the original book (which I think was better than the subsequent Expert Skiing Simplified) and read it 3 or 4 times. The next winter I applied all I had seen and read gradually upping the ante and soon passed my ski instructors certificate. I wanted to share this knowledge with other intermediate skiers to try and spare them some of my frustrations and wasted money on unproductive ski lessons.
What became very apparent when working in ski school is that many instructors can ski medium to long radius turns and often at high speeds but it seemed they were weighting their skis equally most of the time such that both skis were carving and they were simply rolling their edges to initiate the next turn. Very few were ever able to demonstrate a well-controlled descent of steep slopes using linked short radius turns. They always looked dashing speeding down modestly steep hills - because the slope quickly ran out of gradient. To ski like this on long, steep mountain runs and they would have increased their speed to the point of disaster.
One person commented that Lito "appeared to be rotating his pelvis". Clearly he has not listened or watched closely. What Lito is actually saying is - to link short turns you must have a loose back and he demonstrates this by showing his back easily rotating. He is NOT saying to rotate or twist your hips but to allow your legs to follow the direction of the ski as it carves across under your "quiet upper body". This is vastly different from twisting one's upper body to counter or initiate a turn. This rapid carving under the upper body really only happens in short turns. What I have observed and experienced is that as the ski reaches the end of a short turn it is fully weighted and as the shift to the new ski happens the ski seems to rapidly unbend or recoil and this actually seems to aid in a quick transition to the new ski. It's as if the ski's recoil pushes back and lifts the skier into the new turn. As Lito said "an almost free and effortless start to the next turn". I once e-mailed Lito and mentioned this to him and he agreed the rapid unbending of a suddenly released ski will give the skier such a sensation.
I think BOS Video 2 (Bumps & Powder) clearly shows that in deep snow we need to stand evenly on both skis so we create a much broader surface area in contact with the snow - just as a snowboard does. We don't want one foot submerging into the snow and the unweighted ski floating up and causing our legs to go in different directions because we'll soon be on our faces. This video in my opinion clearly shows why we only really need equal weight in deep snow.
I still believe that weighting the outside ski of the turn gives the leg with the unweighted ski a nice rest while the leg muscles of the weighted foot are doing "some work". As Lito says " we walk on one foot at a time" not by hopping along on both feet. This is why his older videos - in slow motion - make him look so tall and relaxed because basically his legs are doing very little work. His friend Harald Harb takes these principles to the next level. He looks more powerful and "modern" in comparison but I believe he skis in fundamentally the same way - Harald Harb emphasizes the role of the "free foot" more than the weighted foot but it's still ONE FOOTED SKIING on groomed slopes. I'm now 65 not working anymore but I still see instructors pushing the "double railway tracks" stance. They are actually unbalanced in this stance yet scoff and criticize what appears to be the narrow stance of Lito's technique. I think the footage of the skiers in the downhill race at Aspen clearly shows that once the gradient steepens the inside ski actually appears much wider apart from the outside ski but from a vertical they are still quite close together. This is the optical illusion that convinces so many that people that you should be skiing with equally weighted skis. I am no longer teaching but I see very few adults ever taking lessons and most still have a lot of skidding in their turns. My apologies for what may seem like the ranting of a zealot!
In 1995 I started skiing in earnest having tried as a teenager in Scotland. My wife and kids took lessons here in Ontario Canada (which has mostly small hills). We had many lessons but I never felt comfortable making turns on steeper slopes as I felt my speed control was poor but no matter how many lessons I took, no instructor was ever able to explain the mechanics to make this easier. Finally one beautiful morning out in the Canadian Rockies I thought I had just discovered carving when I caught my edges on an ice boulder from the grooming machine and slid on my back into trees dislocating my shoulder. A quick end to my first and last day of skiing that holiday! Ouch. I was so angry and frustrated - just when I thought I had discovered how to carve everything fell apart.
I was determined to try and find out the hidden secret of how to ski better because it seemed to me no instructor had ever been able to show me. That's when I discovered "Breakthrough On Skis" BOS ( How to Get Out Of The Intermediate Rut) by Lito Tejada Flores. I bought his original video purely on a whim but when I saw the first few minutes of his skiing style I knew I was seeing a different method of skiing. Yes, watching these old videos now, the gear and clothing all look so dated but the principles remain the same. I bought the original book (which I think was better than the subsequent Expert Skiing Simplified) and read it 3 or 4 times. The next winter I applied all I had seen and read gradually upping the ante and soon passed my ski instructors certificate. I wanted to share this knowledge with other intermediate skiers to try and spare them some of my frustrations and wasted money on unproductive ski lessons.
What became very apparent when working in ski school is that many instructors can ski medium to long radius turns and often at high speeds but it seemed they were weighting their skis equally most of the time such that both skis were carving and they were simply rolling their edges to initiate the next turn. Very few were ever able to demonstrate a well-controlled descent of steep slopes using linked short radius turns. They always looked dashing speeding down modestly steep hills - because the slope quickly ran out of gradient. To ski like this on long, steep mountain runs and they would have increased their speed to the point of disaster.
One person commented that Lito "appeared to be rotating his pelvis". Clearly he has not listened or watched closely. What Lito is actually saying is - to link short turns you must have a loose back and he demonstrates this by showing his back easily rotating. He is NOT saying to rotate or twist your hips but to allow your legs to follow the direction of the ski as it carves across under your "quiet upper body". This is vastly different from twisting one's upper body to counter or initiate a turn. This rapid carving under the upper body really only happens in short turns. What I have observed and experienced is that as the ski reaches the end of a short turn it is fully weighted and as the shift to the new ski happens the ski seems to rapidly unbend or recoil and this actually seems to aid in a quick transition to the new ski. It's as if the ski's recoil pushes back and lifts the skier into the new turn. As Lito said "an almost free and effortless start to the next turn". I once e-mailed Lito and mentioned this to him and he agreed the rapid unbending of a suddenly released ski will give the skier such a sensation.
I think BOS Video 2 (Bumps & Powder) clearly shows that in deep snow we need to stand evenly on both skis so we create a much broader surface area in contact with the snow - just as a snowboard does. We don't want one foot submerging into the snow and the unweighted ski floating up and causing our legs to go in different directions because we'll soon be on our faces. This video in my opinion clearly shows why we only really need equal weight in deep snow.
I still believe that weighting the outside ski of the turn gives the leg with the unweighted ski a nice rest while the leg muscles of the weighted foot are doing "some work". As Lito says " we walk on one foot at a time" not by hopping along on both feet. This is why his older videos - in slow motion - make him look so tall and relaxed because basically his legs are doing very little work. His friend Harald Harb takes these principles to the next level. He looks more powerful and "modern" in comparison but I believe he skis in fundamentally the same way - Harald Harb emphasizes the role of the "free foot" more than the weighted foot but it's still ONE FOOTED SKIING on groomed slopes. I'm now 65 not working anymore but I still see instructors pushing the "double railway tracks" stance. They are actually unbalanced in this stance yet scoff and criticize what appears to be the narrow stance of Lito's technique. I think the footage of the skiers in the downhill race at Aspen clearly shows that once the gradient steepens the inside ski actually appears much wider apart from the outside ski but from a vertical they are still quite close together. This is the optical illusion that convinces so many that people that you should be skiing with equally weighted skis. I am no longer teaching but I see very few adults ever taking lessons and most still have a lot of skidding in their turns. My apologies for what may seem like the ranting of a zealot!
Like Kneale, I'm not a fan of Lido's either. And while the other ski entrepreneur, who I've been cautioned not to mention, sometimes demonstrates on one ski, but it is not how he skis. He is quite two-footed. I've skied with him twice. How we ski today is so much different than 20 or 30 years ago.
So let me ask you- what do you feel is the point of skiing on one ski? [Not being sly or snarky, but want to discuss it from the point of your understanding].
So let me ask you- what do you feel is the point of skiing on one ski? [Not being sly or snarky, but want to discuss it from the point of your understanding].
The main thing about skiing "on one ski" is that with the point of application of force being on the outside ski you can get more force before the torque tips you over to the outside of the turn (given the same centre of mass position). The main thing about skiing on "two skis as if they were one" is one ski won't sink and trip you up; this thing is less important with supper wide high-surface-area skis, especially if you weigh less and like longer skis.
The ski snow interaction is stronger the more force is applied. So the more force you concentrate to the outside ski, the better the turning effect and the better the speed control.
Carvers and racers are doing it because the ski bend is also greater, resulting in shorter turns (an interesting cause-effect discussion, but that's the crux of it).
On ice also, the greater the force, the greater the penetration through ice, so yet more reasons.
In one word, the ski snow interaction is greater.
I think directing pressure towards the outside ski is the only constant amongst all ski instruction systems...
Carvers and racers are doing it because the ski bend is also greater, resulting in shorter turns (an interesting cause-effect discussion, but that's the crux of it).
On ice also, the greater the force, the greater the penetration through ice, so yet more reasons.
In one word, the ski snow interaction is greater.
I think directing pressure towards the outside ski is the only constant amongst all ski instruction systems...
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