I really enjoy reading/watching Bob Barnes posts/video as his fertile mind leaves me with much to think about. It's a downer that it will be several weeks before I can test the infinity concept on the snow.
It has occurred to me that one of the things that separates good skiers from hacks, and from most non-skiers as well, is the constant and intense awareness of both the location and the motion of their feet and their centers (the two paths highlighted in the Infinity Move clip).
T
The above is the synthesis, at least for me, of the Infinity Move. My take of the video is that the key movement is the ability to get the feet working around the body center and offset from the hips, and, the more the better. This is clearly visible in the trampoline video skiing and still photo's of WC skier positions. Not a quick learning process process, maybe a lifelong search, and compounded by non-flexible bodies as we age. While I agree that intent and awareness have to be present at the start of the process, i.e. knowing what you would like to change, we all know that body habits die a very slow death. Even when we think we have "it", photo's generally prove us wrong.
The default position used everyday by 99% of the skiing public is much closer to upright walking. I've read, many times, that good skiers ski "stacked" with feet, hips and shoulders over each other. While that may be true looking at a side and frontal profiles of a typical skier, the Infinity movement would show a offset between hips and feet in aggressive skiers in a front of view . I remember trying to follow Bob Barnesand Chris Geib during the Epic Big Sky morning warm up runs and very quickly realized I can't get into their positions.
I would like to better understand Bob's vocabulary and thinking about a complete turn, my understandings of his writings are subject to my internal translations.
@bbinder asked what are the next steps, and perhaps baby steps, in getting out of the rut of skiing with feet under hips. So, Bob. please, any coaching tips? Final disclaimer, any of the above is just my take, if I've not gotten it correct, set me straight.