What do you work on first day back for the season?

[Suzski]

Staying upright!

That's only half a joke. My first day last season I fell several times in the first few runs... I blame it on new canting and unfamiliar skis, but I do find it takes a day to just get my ski legs back.

The season before last I fell on the first turn of the first run of the first day.

 

[JESinstr]

The season before last I fell on the first turn of the first run of the first day.

Little know fact: Scientists have discovered that the population of snow snakes abound early in the season.

 

[Mike King]

So, back on the topic of how to prepare for the first day, there's a few things that I think about. First is just base fitness. There's no substitute for sport specific conditioning, but you still can do a lot to just improve your base fitness. Strength training, cardiovascular training, and stretching should all be part of the plan.

I've become a fan of dynamic agility training prior to the season as well. I found that an agility ladder and working on agility drills really does help. After all, much of the 5 fundamentals of skiing have to do with controlling the relationship of the center of mass to the base of support. And agility drills really focus on that element of dynamic performance.

Inline skating is also a great way to work on dynamic balance. This year I've not been able to do any skating due to rehabbing from my injuries, but I hope that that will soon be part of the mix.

Mike

 

[geepers]

So, let’s get to the important early season stuff. What are the metrics after two days?

Metrics:

Fun-o-meter: Off the scale. Just so good to spend a week back on skis.

The other stats.... kept forgetting to switch on Ski Tracks until mid morning. The last day not only forgot to switch it on but then forgot to switch it off until stopping for food on the long drive home! Screwed up the lifetime max speed on skis so may have to delete that day.

Maybe this thread title should be WHY do you work on what you work on first day back for the season? So far, at the heart of most of the serious contributions here to fore, is the ability to properly balance. Most all the subjects in @geepers first video talk about balancing through the arch. More importantly, balancing through the arch in relation to one's sagittal (Fore and Aft) plane.

For most, there are few activities in the off season that require us to (while on the move) reliably and consistently align our mass though the center of the arch using the flex complex (ankles, knees hips) as regulators in such a combination that we allow for pressure management and dynamic balancing against the continual changes in slope and lateral angulation, not to mention lack of friction. When on edge, feeling the arch compress between the back of the ball of the foot and the front part of the heel is a sure sign that you are in position to work and ride the ski.

So it is no wonder that when you strap on the boards after months of using heel to/and toe based balancing (be it static or dynamic) that your body and brain need a refresher course in how you successfully balance on skis.

Spot on.

To add to the challenge, temps were ranging above and below zero with high winds. Conditions for the 1st 3 days were inconsistent - pockets of wind blown interspersed with patches of concrete and glazed ice. Great test of balance.

Luckily a night of decent snowfall (15cm on the top 1/2 and rain on the bottom ). The top was high quality pow, a narrow transition and the bottom an icy skating rink. At least it was consistent for any given pitch if not for the whole run.

In following days the pow packed, then a warm, drizzly, soggy day where everything happened in slow motion. The last night was cold - the wet slush froze to death cookies and dentist wealth creation.

So all in all a great week to rebuild skills!

Worked on:

• Survival - adapt or die
• Balance - sometimes the snow provided all the challenge needed. Otherwise javelins, White Pass turns, lotta bumps in varying conditions (icy, soggy, powdered)
• Activating ankles and knees for edging - short turns, 45 degrees, changing skis (All mountain skis seem to allow lazy skiing. Time on skis more focused to carving - like Volkl RaceTigers - that seem to demand active input helps.)

I think the single biggest point for ski improvement is to care about our skiing all the time - from 1st run to last. As one instructor put it "Don't be lazy". (Ok, if it's late in the day, the pitch is steep, icy and scraped then, yep, I'll practice some braquage. But only because I'm working on separation, you understand.)

 

[Mike King]

The best drill for upper/lower body separation is hop turns. Yes, I suck at them. I need to work on conditioning. But I also believe this is a “magic” drill.

Mike

 

[dbostedo]

The other stats.... kept forgetting to switch on Ski Tracks until mid morning. The last day not only forgot to switch it on but then forgot to switch it off until stopping for food on the long drive home! Screwed up the lifetime max speed on skis so may have to delete that day.

You don't have to delete the whole day... you can trim off the bit at the end after you left the resort (or any amount you want really). In Android, you go to the map view where you can replay the day, and use the playback and little scissors icon to cut out the part of the day you don't want to count.

 

[geepers]

You don't have to delete the whole day... you can trim off the bit at the end after you left the resort (or any amount you want really). In Android, you go to the map view where you can replay the day, and use the playback and little scissors icon to cut out the part of the day you don't want to count.

Hey, neat find. Thx.

 

[Bad Bob]

Starting now to spend more time on a BOSU ball, which is much easier since I bought one. Combine it up with a hand weight or stretch bands, or just step drills. You can work on a lot of balance stuff with them.

Great for prepping for skiing or just for general balance skills for old farts like me.

 

[crgildart]

Inline skating is also a great way to work on dynamic balance. This year I've not been able to do any skating due to rehabbing from my injuries, but I hope that that will soon be part of the mix.

Mike

We've got a nice indoor iceplex less than 15 minutes away. Not much better on a HOT August day than ice skating and maybe some stick and puck for a couple hours. Ice skating is way closer to skiing than dry land skating is. That, some biking, and some moderate terrain hikes are what we do beyond the usual stretching, sit ups, and push up type stuff..

 

[LiquidFeet]

The best drill for upper/lower body separation is hop turns. Yes, I suck at them. I need to work on conditioning. But I also believe this is a “magic” drill.

Mike

It's a torture drill .

 

[James]

The other stats.... kept forgetting to switch on Ski Tracks until mid morning. The last day not only forgot to switch it on but then forgot to switch it off until stopping for food on the long drive home! Screwed up the lifetime max speed on skis so may have to delete that day.

Per your earlier statement, I’m just going to call your early season a complete failure. Poor and erroneous data! Just terrible.

 

[Wilhelmson]

The best drill for upper/lower body separation is hop turns. Yes, I suck at them. I need to work on conditioning. But I also believe this is a “magic” drill.

Mike

These helped me a lot. Thanks for the suggestion earlier this year.

 

[geepers]

Per your earlier statement, I’m just going to call your early season a complete failure. Poor and erroneous data! Just terrible.

Last week I skied 8 days straight.
Over 240 km and 150,000 vertical feet. Max speed 89.1 kph. Demo-ed a bunch of skis. Bought and skied new boots.

What did you do?

 

[Mike King]

Last week I skied 8 days straight.
Over 240 km and 150,000 vertical feet. Max speed 89.1 kph. Demo-ed a bunch of skis. Bought and skied new boots.

What did you do?

had surgery on my work related injured shoulder.

Rub it in...

 

[François Pugh]

Last week I skied 8 days straight.
Over 240 km and 150,000 vertical feet. Max speed 89.1 kph. Demo-ed a bunch of skis. Bought and skied new boots.

What did you do?

I went to this concert https://www.heavymontreal.com/en and challenged my balance skills by moshing with a still-wonky leg after drinking much vodka.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Last week I skied 8 days straight.
Over 240 km and 150,000 vertical feet. Max speed 89.1 kph. Demo-ed a bunch of skis. Bought and skied new boots.

What did you do?

@geepers, did you teach right out of the gate? Or was this all free-skiing? Or work-related training?
What's it like being an instructor there?

 

[geepers]

The best drill for upper/lower body separation is hop turns. Yes, I suck at them. I need to work on conditioning. But I also believe this is a “magic” drill.

Mike

Assuming hop turns == speiss...

Also good for balance, and timing & co-ordination. They do require a good deal of effort - it's sure a work out of the abs. One CSIA L4 told us to do 50 every day if we wanted L3 and 200 every day for those aiming for L4.

They help however I find them jarring which aggravated my hip issues. After a week had to cut back to mini-speiss.

I've found that a lower effort way to work on separation is traverse back and forth across some pitches (or whole runs) with the body facing the side of the run slightly and the skis in a slide pointing across the line of travel tips uphill. Start slow and increase speed. I've had success using that drill in getting a couple of my low level intermediate buddies to quieten their upper bodies. Speiss would be beyond them.

 

[geepers]

had surgery on my work related injured shoulder.

Rub it in...

I'm sorry. It was aimed at @James - you are....what's that expression?... collateral damage.

Sure hope those injuries heal.

 

[James]

Last week I skied 8 days straight.
Over 240 km and 150,000 vertical feet. Max speed 89.1 kph. Demo-ed a bunch of skis. Bought and skied new boots.
What did you do?

Now you're just estimating according to your earlier post below. The 240km included the food shopping?
Other than that, sounds great.

How many turns?

kept forgetting to switch on Ski Tracks until mid morning. The last day not only forgot to switch it on but then forgot to switch it off until stopping for food on the long drive home! Screwed up the lifetime max speed on skis so may have to delete that day.

 

[geepers]

@geepers, did you teach right out of the gate? Or was this all free-skiing? Or work-related training?
What's it like being an instructor there?

I've not worked as an instructor anywhere and won't be on the cards until the wife retires.

Skiing time in Australia is all free skiing - not even booked for any courses. I'd really like to do Paul Lorenz's carving workshop but the schedule didn't work this season.

In terms of working as an instructor my guess is that it is similar to everywhere else. Irregular hours of work. Pay for new folk is probably better than some other places but Australians seldom tip. If you are not highly qualified most work will be beginner area. An APSI L2 buddy retired from instructing after 5 years mostly teaching the beginner area at the bottom of the mountain. Skied with him most of last week and he said he got more upper mountain skiing in that time than he had all of last instructor season! That's kind of sad after that many years experience.