@DavidSkis objectively speaking why is drifting the top of the turn better than turning up the hill? wouldnt it be beneficial to know both?
This is a question that's way off-topic for the thread... but...
Let's not mirepresent - My statement was that you need to be
capable of drifting in advanced skiing. Of course it's good to be capable of doing everything.
The advanced skiers in the great white north with good performance generally progressively release the edges through the end of the change of direction (after the fall line). The advanced skier has some good lateral movement that lets pressure build on the outside ski as they progressively tip through flat, up on edge, and shorten the new inside leg. The momentum into the next turn comes from the previous turn, progressively allowing more glide through the end of the arc by reducing edge angles. See our eastern demo team members for good examples.
If your speed control comes from turning up the hill, by definition you lose your downhill momentum, it slows your across-the-hill momentum, and your centre of mass ends the turn up the hill. Now you're stuck! To make a turn, you can:
- Twist the feet through the top of the arc, resulting in a z-turn OR
- Haul your body over the skis to the new inside, resulting in low pressure on the outside ski, and a long top of the turn, OR a very pushy extension, which will push your body further to the inside of the arc later in the turn (leading to more pressure on the inside ski and less shaping) OR
- Take a long time to flatten the skis, resulting in a big dead spot OR
- Do some combination of the above
To be fair to you, I will agree that from what I can see, what you're saying is completely consistent with PSIA. I took a look at the PSIA interski team and picked a random end-of-turn frame from a long turns segment and here's what I got:
To me, it appears that they ride the ski very much across the hill (almost back up, as you've described). The consequences I see are that they end up to the inside at the end of their arcs (blue), and make a big up-and-over movement to move to the inside at the start of the turn (red). Here's the video:
So I truly believe that the PSIA sees this 10% piece of the skiing pie differently, which leads to some pretty different outcomes on snow. (For what it's worth, I'm not saying that my point of view is shared by all of the 3s and 4s in my country! But I do see these differences emerge when comparing our best with the PSIA.)
@LiquidFeet , please understand that I would not make fun of this camp. I think it's good for individuals whose end goal is to just be able to ski most runs on a mountain. Philosophically, there is nothing "wrong" with having that sort of goal. It probably won't lead a skier to expert skiing (at least the tactics I've seen would have to be reworked). But it probably leaves many lower intermediate skiers satisfied with their skiing and happy with the money they've spent.