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Ligety free-carving in NZ

KingGrump

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Well I do have my Laser SC's now... is that close enough? :P

Close, but no cigar. :D
Since it is Friday, I'll cut you some slack and let it go this time.
You can demo one of mine next time we meet up. We'll probably be in SVT for Dec and first half of Jan. :beercheer:


6'1 195 here & trying to figure out if I buy a FIS SL ski or a Non-FIS plated SL ski (in a 170).... trying to optimize for fun here & free reckless carving... thoughts?

If you really want to drive the ski hard. Get a FIS SL 165 with a DIN 16 binding. The higher DIN bindings will have less play.
 

ScotsSkier

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Close, but no cigar. :D
Since it is Friday, I'll cut you some slack and let it go this time.
You can demo one of mine next time we meet up. We'll probably be in SVT for Dec and first half of Jan. :beercheer:




If you really want to drive the ski hard. Get a FIS SL 165 with a DIN 16 binding. The higher DIN bindings will have less play.

THIS! You beat me to it KG

Comparing a laser SC to a FIS slalom is like comparing a Camry to a 911....:rolleyes:
 

mdf

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I spent a lot of time trying to do circles during the most recent A-Basin Mother's Day event. Part of it was the slow (slushy) snow, but part was psychological. Every time I felt my speed dropping precipitously I could not resist doing the wrong thing with my upper body. I kept "reaching" for it with my arms and shoulders, which took pressure off my edges and made them wash out. The other thing I did was jam on my edges too suddenly to start the circle at the end of the run-in.

It's sort of a zen thing. Try too hard and you will fail.
 

Andy Mink

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6'1 195 here & trying to figure out if I buy a FIS SL ski or a Non-FIS plated SL ski (in a 170).... trying to optimize for fun here & free reckless carving... thoughts?
Check out the DPS Trainers. Lots of carve but not a full on racer.
 

François Pugh

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Are you speaking from experience?
Sort of. (Where's the embarrassed emoticon when you need it)

I always need a few runs when switching from my 13 m radius skis to my mid twenty meter radius skis; I subconsciously expect the skis to come around faster and get a little too far inside the turn. Usually not a big problem; it's not like I'm doing unintentional white pass turns. It's worse going to 70 m skis after spending a lot of time with the 13 m skis.

I was so far inside a turn on the 2nd warm up run I actually fell over. That would have been fine, but what really caused the broken humerus was me not having the patience to wait out the slide (it was just a blue run and I was only doing about 40 mph with nothing ahead of me except snow). I decided to pop back up and keep skiing, but in my haste to pop back up, I over-pressured the tips and the outside ski tip dug into the soft spring snow and vaulted me 20 feet into the air as it spun me around so that I came down badly and got my arm nearly torn off.

Live and learn.
 

hbear

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So fun to watch. Our kids were literally training side by side (setting side by side) the US team in NZ a few days. Was a total blast for the kids and obviously amazing to see Ted and the team rip so close. Ted’s little one was out there and was cool to see Ted take him out on the hill. (Stuff you just don’t normally get to see).

That being said, now that we are back I’m going to enjoy the next 3 months before the mayhem of race season starts again.

BTW: You can see a notable change in his GS technique with the smaller radius ski. Ted is still Ted of course but his arm movement is significantly more muted and how he runs his arc is obviously more direct and not as “round” as it was before.
 
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Tim Hodgson

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I have no business posting in this thread because I am simply not worthy.

But I have a question.

I notice that Mr. Ligety is extending his torso to flatten his skis for edge release.

Which is the opposite of the (what for lack of a better term I consider to be) retraction turns which appearsto be all the rage among the current crop of technical skiers. (Maybe there were some of them at the base whom Ligety he skied up too?)

My question is why?

Since I hate to bring a problem/question to my superiors without also bringing a potential solution:

Is it because there can be more pressure put on the edge of the ski when using the torso-extension method than when using the retraction method?
 

LiquidFeet

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Tim, in response to your question, I did this. Does this clarify anything, or just muddy the waters?

Ted New Zealand free skiing .jpg .jpg
 

Tricia

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Beautiful to see him take an SL ski wide & round & totally laid out....
For skiing like this... FIS SL or Non-FIS but plated?
This is from Ted's information web page.
http://www.tedligety.com
Ted Ligety is one of the best giant slalom racers in the history of skiing. At age 21, he shocked the world by becoming the youngest American male to win an Olympic Gold Medal in Alpine Skiing. He continues to dominate the men’s alpine circuit with five World Cup Overall giant slalom titles and five World Championship titles (as of December 2015). In 2013, Ted became the first man in 45 years to win three events at the World Championships, and in 2014 he won the first-ever Olympic Gold Medal for the U.S.A. in giant slalom. At the 2015 World Championships on home soil in Colorado, Ted became the first skier to win three consecutive World Championship titles in giant slalom, securing his place in ski racing history.
 

Tricia

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@Tim Hodgson I appreciate that you're intrigued by Ted Ligety's technique and happy that @LiquidFeet has answered your question, but I'm hoping and praying that this thread doesn't turn into an MA of Ted Ligety.
We do have an unwritten (but understood rule) that we don't do MA on people who aren't asking for MA. Questions like this can erode into that kind of thing.

I have no business posting in this thread because I am simply not worthy.

But I have a question.

I notice that Mr. Ligety is extending his torso to flatten his skis for edge release.

Which is the opposite of the (what for lack of a better term I consider to be) retraction turns which appearsto be all the rage among the current crop of technical skiers. (Maybe there were some of them at the base whom Ligety he skied up too?)

My question is why?

Since I hate to bring a problem/question to my superiors without also bringing a potential solution:

Is it because there can be more pressure put on the edge of the ski when using the torso-extension method than when using the retraction method?

Tim, in response to your question, I did this. Does this clarify anything, or just muddy the waters?

View attachment 52475
 

Andy Mink

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Dude's having fun. I want to be like that.
 

LiquidFeet

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[USER=3]@Tricia
, I certainly didn't mean to judge the quality of Ted's most super-human skiing. I'm just describing his turns without any evaluation. I do hope people don't latch onto that word and start negatively criticizing Ted's skiing. That would be a little odd.

If people are reacting to my use of the word "aft," that wasn't meant to imply disapproval at all. He is aft, as he should be. Any skier will be aft on the skis when they go flat in a very-low-in-transition flexion turn. It's not dysfunctional at all. It's necessary, because it enables the skier to get forward on the hill just afterwards, and to do that fast without excess movement. This transition is necessary to get the high angles Ted is getting in these turns. Perhaps I should have included that in the thing I posted. I'll do it here.
Ted's low and aft transition jpg.jpg
[/user]
 
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Ross Biff

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He's dropping his inside hand
He's inclinating not angulating
He's getting in the back seat, not staying forward enough
His shoulders aren't square to the direction of travel
He doesn't have enough separation, his feet are too close together

He's grinning from ear to ear.. :micdrop:


Thanks for sharing this.. I aspire to his bad form, reckless abandon, and adherence to just having some fun! :beercheer:
That's a description of my skiing! How come I don't ski like Ted?
 

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