Rate the Turns 2

[Mike King]

@Skitechniek,

IMO what makes Reilly special is the variety he can demonstrate at a high level. Sure, plenty of racers can carve better and he can't slay bumps quite like Ritchie Berger but overall no-one is as well balanced across all the variety (carving, short turns, bumps, powder). I think its the hardest thing to be well-balanced because most skiers tend to stick to what they know best and we are naturally less talented in certain areas. I appreciate Reilly's dedication to the art of skiing.

I think the videos you refer to show that he can do anything if he focussed on it.

Personally, I think I like Richie's skiing across the board more than Reilly's. Then again, Takao's is pretty awesome. And Ballou's. Gellie. Spettel. Patrick Batz. Nadine Grunenfelder. Atherton. Roennau. So many. Why do we have to pick one?

 

[nSkier]

@Mike King

I hear you, I also have a deep admiration of Ritchie however I see him as more of a bump/short turn specialist. I haven't seen the level of edge-locked carving from him that Reilly shows, but his extreme mastery of what he does best may put him over the top...I can see that perspective. Its close, both are worthy of study as are others.

 

[markojp]

@markojp is it a common cultural thing in Japan to say “Hai” all the time when someone is talking to you? I noticed that in the lesson segment.

Generally it means that what's being said is understood... it doesn't mean agreement. A great example is, "do you mind if I smoke?" "Yes (hai), not smoking is ok."

 

[Steve]

Thanks, in that lesson he said it many, many times -- so my question is, are attentive signals like that more common socially in Japanese culture?

I know that customer service reps in the US are taught to do it on the phone. "Uh, huh. I understand, etc."

It seems that in normal US culture people stand silently and you have to ask if they understand.

 

[razie]

Interesting how it took 18 pages for this thread to get this interesting, but seriously, I need to tune out for a while... I keep clicking on the stupid ads and I have now like 4 orders of bike parts in the mail... it's almost like I need a new bike to put them on

 

[Steve]

Hey are you saying the music I posted many pages ago wasn't interesting?

 

[karlo]

@markojp is it a common cultural thing in Japan to say “Hai” all the time when someone is talking to you? I noticed that in the lesson segment.

Hai!

 

[karlo]

Generally it means that what's being said is understood... it doesn't mean agreement. A great example is, "do you mind if I smoke?" "Yes (hai), not smoking is ok."

Hai!

 

[karlo]

But... but, I haven’t had a chance to get to Reilly’s the other types of short turns in Legacy Part 1!

 

[Mike King]

But... but, I haven’t had a chance to get to Reilly’s the other types of short turns in Legacy Part 1!

You've got a couple of days...

 

[karlo]

You've got a couple of days...

I could go to Japan, where resorts are still open. But, then, I lose one day with the dateline. Then the other matter is the new advisory to leave Japan

Official COVID-19 and Ski Travel Thread.

OK, so file this post under folk remedies. And I will provide it with some major caveats. I will say that the recommendations came in a medical school lecture some 40+ years ago, and the lecturer himself said that there is no good scientific basis for what he was about to say. IIRC, the lecture...

www.pugski.com

 

[Steve]

I love this guys skiing. Nothing robotic about it.

 

[markojp]

Thanks, in that lesson he said it many, many times -- so my question is, are attentive signals like that more common socially in Japanese culture?

I know that customer service reps in the US are taught to do it on the phone. "Uh, huh. I understand, etc."

It seems that in normal US culture people stand silently and you have to ask if they understand.

Steve, Murayama is also showing attentiveness and deference to Japan's most successful WC athlete. Make no mistake, Okabe was the real deal in his day. It's also for the audience.

 

[markojp]

I could go to Japan, where resorts are still open. But, then, I lose one day with the dateline. Then the other matter is the new advisory to leave Japan

Official COVID-19 and Ski Travel Thread.

OK, so file this post under folk remedies. And I will provide it with some major caveats. I will say that the recommendations came in a medical school lecture some 40+ years ago, and the lecturer himself said that there is no good scientific basis for what he was about to say. IIRC, the lecture...

www.pugski.com

No more travel to Japan for Americans or Japanese in N. America. Done for now. Corona is going to land hard in Japan now that they're starting the new school year. Friends there are very worried, but that's a topic for the other thread. FWIW, their nat'l tech comps have been cancelled.

 

[Steve]

Steve, Murayama is also showing attentiveness and deference to Japan's most successful WC athlete. Make no mistake, Okabe was the real deal in his day. It's also for the audience.

Understood, so in other words, this is not a very common thing to do? I'm just trying to expand my cultural understanding.

In a normal daily life situation you would not expect that many "Hai's"? Right?

 

[Superbman]

Here's some good skiing.

This is absolutely lovely real world skiing. I've been enjoying his videos and bits on recovery. Reminds me a bit Josh Foster-but with more angles (same Western Canadian charm though..and I like the shots of skiing Louise/ Banff).

 

[markojp]

If I were listening, taking instruction from a senior (company, age related possibly, or as a student), yes, I should acknowledge that I'm understanding what's said. That said, I've taught post secondary design education in Japan, and have observed a number of secondary school classes... kids aren't saying "hai!" Every other sentence as a classroom is a less formal environment. My college students were awesome, but there's certainly adjustments made as I didn't want to put anyone on the spot and coax an opinion from them as we might do here. After a semester together, it gets easier, and communication flows much more easily in my experience. It also helped that about 1/4 of my students went to int'l high schools.

Now a baseball or sports club can be different depending on the coach, and if someone well known shows up, then it's just like Jordan showing up at a Jr. High basketball practice... things get quiet quickly. .... for that show I linked, it's a pretty formal thing. For the audience, both Okabe and Murayama are the top of the top, so there's certainly 'modelling' going on.

While teaching telemark there, the "hai" was important. At the beginning of a session, I always asked to confirm I was understood, and that the demo was crystal clear. Still do, even in English here at home. (Sorry for the hijack.... now back to your regularly scheduled tech skiing debate fix!)

 

[Steve]

Thanks @markojp sounds like you did some great work over there.

 

[markojp]

Thanks @markojp sounds like you did some great work over there.

Well, the work was great! Hopefully I did it well.

 

[razie]

Karlo, Mr. Murayama can ski, that's for sure. His more formal explanations in Japanese are sort of word soupy.... it'll be interesting to see how they change as he works more in English. I love that he seems to have single handedly gotten rid of the old S.A.J. hunch over with swoopy arms thing. Here's an interesting video of him with Tetsuya Okabe, a former (and top seed) WC SL skier. Okabe gives a clinic at 5 mins in, a little back and forth, and some skiing. For non speakers, what they're doing is still pretty clear. Murayama is in the light blue pants, Okabe in the white pants. Love the way Murayama stands on his skis even in these exercises.

Here's my uniquely personal opinion... it's appropriate fora page 19 that hopefully will be forgotten soon, because it will be very controversial.

Takao can do whatever he wants on skis, whenever he feels like it. I think he's confused because of this. He can make rotation work in short turns if he forgets to counter and maybe he can even make extension work in slalom turns, if he forgets to flex, so honestly, he's the wrong guy to take lessons from... because the words are not his, but whatever he thinks he should present for the audience he's talking to and because he chose a model to subscribe to...

He's an absolute great model to look at, but not listen to... you don't want to listen to the top 0-1% because they are fortunate and everything comes natural to them. You want to listen to the top 1-3%, the ones that had to work and learn everything one step at a time and then make it work...

And that's my 2c of wisdom and opinion on that. If you look at him, his skiing completely changes based on the task and from video to video.

Likewise, I really do like Sebastien, but I didn't thumb it up in your post, because he tries to adhere to a model, so most of his turns are detuned and lookie-likeee. And I do get the point of uniformity, there is obvious value there, system-wide... but, the only one there that doesn't even try to fit in is JFB and nobody says a word about it, because they, well, wouldn't even know what to say... let alone touch that level of skiing... and JFB, while closer than most, is not as close to Reilly as he used to be.