@JESinstr: OK … you asked for it. So, even though the “value” of every motor pattern that a skier executes must pass through to how the ski is manipulated with tipping and pressure, because the get over it drill is more about the CoM/BoS relationship rather than edging, I would steer away from that as an example related to my point above. Two drills I might use as an example or proof of efficacy are one ski rollerblade turns and the white pass. There is a term, “blended white pass”, which consists of incorporating diluted white pass turn characteristics into regular carving technique. The one ski rollerblade turn is an example of turning and using both edges of each ski without disengagement and a fully weighted release/transition. It requires a constant rate of tipping where the ski is unbent for a tenth of a second or less. It is my opinion that, not until we have mastered single ski independent balance on each ski can we more deftly regulate a “progressive” transfer rate of pressure distribution without accidently putting too much weight/pressure on the inside ski. When we cannot self regulate a progressive transfer such as 80/20 - 70/30 - 60/40 - 50/50 - 40/60 - 30/70 - 20/80, (a weighted release/transition with no disengagement) it is much easier to simply go: 100/ 0 - 0/100 on - off - on - off - on - off - on - off … lots of vertical motion which most often results in a longer unweighted transition where there is a big loss of momentum changing direction all the while performing unnecessarily laborious disengagements and re-engagements within e-a-c-h and e-v-e-r-y turn. Ugh!
When we look at the ski tracks, which is the most detailed and telling record of final ski to snow interaction outcome, of an undisrupted, non-anomalistic, modern and elite ski race turn, we see consistent evidence of left and right ski tipping, bending and engagement of the “same” direction, timing, duration and fore/aft placement. The only difference is weight/pressure distribution. What I mean about an undisrupted and non-anomalistic race turn is that many of the disruptions and anomalies inherent within the forced radius and speed requirements of a typical race course, elements that are almost non-existent in most typical elite technical freeskiing examples (hero snow), the skis are forced to disengage contact with the ground as well as to prioritize outside engagement whenever possible and, the result of which, often results in only the inside ski being disengaged.
The way I see it, the reason why elite technical freeskiers create a far more dynamic aesthetic than an elite ski racers freeskiing during race season, is for two reasons. 1. When elite racers are freeskiing, they are maintaining ingrained motor patterns and associated DIRT that are much more relevant to skiing in the race course than out. We see more a focus on things like good stacking and centered balance from racers where, somewhat boring aesthetically compared to what we see from technical freeski pros: more quick, rhythmic and progressively tipped high edge angles. As an example, you will rarely witness an elite racer spending a day skiing bumps, hucking the BC or making turns like Reilly Mcglashan because they are not interested in expanding thus diluting their ingraining away from their racing goals. Many racers wait until spring or retire their race skis before they go Bonzi, et al. We, I, almost never see them lift their inside ski off the ground outside of the course as the skis are almost always bending together and sucking to the ground like a Hoover. 2. The freedom of speed, radius, rhythm and flow outside of the race course allow much more control over the DIRT of a turn than for a racer. This means there is opportunity for more ski engagement (including weighted transitions, no vertical manipulation of the CoM and smooth, progressive weight shifts) of both skis and, as a result, more control over the ever changing direction of our momentum. One turn blends into the next and transitory “shifts” or “seams” in the aesthetic of the transition between each turn disappear. When we “relevantly” utilize ski race technique in an environment of freedom, without the binds of forced speed and radius, we are allowed to maintain a constant dynamic pressure engagement from both skis throughout the entire arc in almost every turn.
With this kind of turn, much more of the effort, movement and kinesthesis originally residing in the body is taken over by the ski as the ankle and foot become the “kinetic leader” of the turn and where the assignment of the DIRT that radiates upward through the kinetic chain takes place. We don’t ski ski “with” the feet but we ski “from” the feet in a manner that expresses a sequential kinetic priority directed from the bottom to the top. Current traditionally conventional instruction will place this kinetic priority in the hips and the upper body. When it comes down to it, unless we are skiing in a race course, moguls, steeps, trees, super short turns on semi steeps or anything funky or chaotic and we are just making carved technical freeskiing turns on groomers, there is no reason to disengage the ski from the surface at all. Here, constant disengagement and re-engagement is simply wasted effort. There is also no reason to stop turning by delaying the tipping motion or lingering on a flat ski at all between turns. With constant engagement, we can always be turning. Disrupted engagement represents a measure of travel where we are relinquishing control of what should be a constant pressure engagement of both skis that are able to apply a constant direction direction change to our momentum (CoM) which further represents a constant state of flow. Rhythm is sequential and flow is a constant. Anyway, these are the things I interpret from the “higher sources” and how I apply them to my own skiing that has worked for me the best … so far.
@Tom Holtmann, notice how counter steering an inside ankle lifted off the ground while sitting in a chair makes your inside foot tip even more to the outside as the ankle inverts and pushes outward the navicular (idyllically against the inside of a boot shell). The foot rotates to the inside, the inside foot sole tilts up and the outside sole tilts down, the ball gets lower than the heel and the ankle presses to the outside, all in one movement that translates through the boot to the inside ski and correspondingly resulting in the extra tipping, convergently counter steered with more pressure on the shovel on the inside ski. The ankle is biomechanically designed to carve the inside ski so that we can press it into engagement with “positional” leverage rather than the weight/pressure that must go to the outside. Don’t pick it up and let it play with its big brother, the outside ski. Keep in mind that, the wider your stance, the more difficult it is for the foot to countersteer. When the skis are only hip width apart, our shafts are at their “most” parallel and the skis are more correctly aligned for equal tipping, whether equally flat in transition or equally angled at its highest tipping. The only time the skis should separate further apart that the width off your hip is during vertical separation of the feet when the skis are tipped high.
What is great about this technique is that you can learn all the coordination for the feet, ankles and corresponding hip mobility faster and better than in ski boots in the off season. The inline skating double push trains what is called an “underpush” which is very similar to carving the inside ski. That said, because we are not talking about skis, counter steering, over tipping and more forward pressure does not occur with the inside skate, though, this will teach the coordination required to do it.
