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What was the single most important tip or piece of advice you received as you progressed from intermediate to advanced?
- Thread starter NoScoped
- Start date
Ski fast....take chances.........
It’s so long ago I can’t honestly remember. But I can tell you what I’d recommend to someone in that position now: spend the large majority of your time on flat, even very flat, terrain skiing technically as well as you can. To ski the hard stuff easy, you’ve got to be able to ski the easy stuff hard, really hard! Nothing works better, I promise.
Keep your hands up and in front. Always.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2015
- Posts
- 6,357
Stand on the outside ski.
It was my friend insisting (on a couple of occasions) that I really ought to follow him down that black or double black.
He knew I could do it. He was right.
He knew I could do it. He was right.
^This.
Building the highest edge angles you can as early in the turn as you can. This means letting your body move over the old outside ski just after the apex while allowing the skis to continue to carve out to the new side more than you think possible. Flex the new inside leg aggressively and earlier than you think; while, as Erik said above, balancing on the edge of the new outside ski. One can only learn this on flat terrain. It’s hard work and will have most people gulping for air pretty quickly. That’s what I mean by skiing easy runs hard.
And the pole plant (or tap nowadays) is the trigger that signals the end of the previous turn as it initiates the beginning of next turn
I think this was more of the breakthrough to intermediate for me and the breakthrough to advanced got me back on both skis.
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I went from intermediate to advanced almost 50 years ago. I don't remember any particular advice; I don't remember a lot from back then 
.
What I think did it, though, was lots of time on the hill.
.What I think did it, though, was lots of time on the hill.
Turns are “go that way” thoughts, not “don’t go this way” thoughts.
FLAT skis!
(and a momentary weightlessness when the skis are flat)
I used to go from one edge to the opposite without a transition. All the other drills and “movement” (pole plants, leg flexes, etc) were meant to help achieve the weight transfer. But by themselves, those movements can still be done without proper weight transfer, which I somehow managed to do. So the purpose of those “hints & triggers” were lost when I just did them without a purpose!
Once I realize the real aim of turn transition, those hints comes in handy. But not before.
Also, boot canting to actually allow flat skis at transition point was the REAL starting point.
(and a momentary weightlessness when the skis are flat)
I used to go from one edge to the opposite without a transition. All the other drills and “movement” (pole plants, leg flexes, etc) were meant to help achieve the weight transfer. But by themselves, those movements can still be done without proper weight transfer, which I somehow managed to do. So the purpose of those “hints & triggers” were lost when I just did them without a purpose!
Once I realize the real aim of turn transition, those hints comes in handy. But not before.
Also, boot canting to actually allow flat skis at transition point was the REAL starting point.
"Reach down the hill."
And then years later, after that had done its job changing body position, "don't reach down the hill" since it causes other problems.
And then years later, after that had done its job changing body position, "don't reach down the hill" since it causes other problems.
Complete the turn. It does the speed control for you.
Running gates ... against other people and the clock. Not because it taught me how to improve - that was Step Two - but because it taught me just exactly how badly I sucked.
