Meeting Notes off snow: Pressure Maintinace and Change

Here are the notes from tonight's (2/22/10) meeting:

Attendance: Kevin, Cindy, Kate, Charlie, Dennis, Schanzy, Jeremy, Will, Tom, Kristen

Topic: Flexing and Extending as it Relates to Pressure Management

Kevin and Charlie talked about Ron LeMaster's virtual bump, and how the top of the turn the pressure is light, middle the pressure is medium, and the end the pressure is heaviest as it relates to external forces. Schanzy talked about increasing bend of the ski throughout the virtual bump turn. Will then said the diagram was incorrect, and the turn shape should be more like a J if the bend and pressure isn't consistent thoughout the turn.

Dennis talked about his intent for pressure management, in that he imagines standing on a bathroom scale, and trying to keep the needle in the same spot.

So, with that thought, what are we trying to accomplish? Will said that wherever in a turn is the highest pressure, the center of mass is vertically farthest from the platform. Is this true in all situations? In hard snow, the most bend of the ski is when the center of mass is farthest away from the platform. However, I didn't believe this was true in bumps. The highest pressure was when the skis hit the bump, and the center of mass was moving closer to the platform to absorb the forces. There is also chalky snow, in that if your CM moves father away from your platform or your edge increases, the consequence is the ski chatters. To decrease chatter, you need to keep moving, decrease your edge angle, and keep steering throughout the turn. This begs the question, what is real vs ideal, and does the ideal change with terrain choices on and off piste. We will need to explore this tomorrow.

Game plan for tomorrow
Use Michael Rogan's sound board/mixing board to ski through the virtual bump, muscular vs. skeletal stacking, and real vs. ideal maintenance change flexion/extension. We will vary speed, terrain, and turn shape.

We will meet at 9AM at the bottom of Exhibition. Any late comers will meet at 10:45 at MGR.

We also need to discuss at lunch whether the blog should be public or private (invite only).

Please add any further ideas before tomorrow morning-

Bill Seguin notes-

Talk with a purpose, use your eyes, facial expressions, and voice to draw in the audience. Tap into your energy so that is goes into your connection with the audience and doesn't get leaked. Lean forward toward the group, and be aware of your geography. Male power stance is a more equal stance with hands at the side, and the female power stance is one where one foot is in front of the other and hands out front. Stand and move with a purpose. Audience has CPA- continual partial attention, your goal is increase this attention.

There were some great presentations, I feel honored to be included in this group!!

THANKS-
Kristen

Training Report

Thursday Night:

In attendance: Will, Kevin , Schanzy, Cindy ., Hap

Tom H was nominated to be the note taker and distributor of notes for this round of training. i will send out a reminder as we get closer to the next training and nominate someone to take the role of 'messenger' for that training

Future Dates
February 22, 4:15 , Highlands’s locker room Flexing and Extending as it relates to pressure maintenance
February 22: 5:15 Bill Seguin: please email Schanzy at jschanzy@hotmail.com to reserve your space. This session is
Specifically for this group only. Please bring $20.00 for your space.
February 23, 9:00am, Highlands Flexing and Extending as it relates to pressure maintenance

April 5, 4:30pm, Highlands locker room
April 6, 9:00am, Highlands

This session we are going to focus on Pressure .... specifically ' Fore and aft’

Schanzy shared his belief that there are two ‘two points of view’ 1) those who believe that the ski is tipped before being bent. 2) Those who bend the ski before it is tipped

Schanzy also shared his belief that skiers who use their legs independently to create some ‘lead change’ have a larger sweet spot in which to balance. Skiers who turn their legs together remaining ‘square’ have a smaller sweet spot to balance upon.

We discussed the concept of the tail following the tip relative to fore aft pressure.
•At first it was shared that forward pressure would create tail displacement.
•Will convinced us that possibly the tail follows the tip because the tip cuts or creates a platform in the snow that the tail can follow. This results in the tail being bent because of what the tip did.

We discussed the concept of bending the tip of the ski as a ‘preferred’ strategy of good skiers.
•Hap shared his belief that the center of the ski is not under the foot and that good skiers are in fact moving ‘forward’ to bend the ski from the center which is closer to the toe piece.
•It was agreed that what we describe as tip pressure may in fact be ‘center’ pressure relative to the ski, and that the front of the ski bends because of the deflection caused by the tip being wider than the mid body of the ski.

Friday Ski Day

In attendance: Schanzy, Cindy, Will, Jax, Kevin, Josh, Hap, Kate


Terrain: Stayed on groomed terrain, with one run down AMF

Conclusion: We believe that we must actively choose to bend the ski before it is tipped or turned. We have a choice of where we bend it along the length. Where we bend the ski and how will affect our ability to create rotary and tipping movements. Each ski functions independently of the other in this regard.

We found that opening and closing the joints in a variety of dirt moves the torso fore and aft to create bending of the ski in different places.

Ideal for most turns is to bend from the middle of the ski (toepiece). In general the ankle must maintain some flex as the knee opens during transition-initiation to allow the torso to move forward with the ski allowing bend from the middle of the ski (toepiece). If the ankle opens at the same time we see a movement of the torso up and back since the skis accelerated at that moment relative to the torso.

We experimented with making choices to balance to the center of the boot or the center of the ski. This created different ski performances as the tip engaged the snow and bent more when we bent the ski from the center. If we choose to bend the ski from under the boot a bit more rotary was needed to shape the start of the turn.

There was a great progression that had to do with skating and screwing. I missed this when I left to organize classes. Cindy offered to send notes on that progression.

An interesting dynamic developed as many of us were processing feedback and thinking of fore aft movements in a new way.. Late in the morning it seemed the group was looking to Schanzy for direction/feedback. We discussed this at lunch and reminded ourselves that this was a safe place to offer input and ‘practice’ sharing concepts. We need to remember our responsibility to the rest of the group to contribute. Our growth comes from mutual sharing and contribution of ideas. There is no clinic leader guiding our progress it is up to all of us to do that.

After lunch we ventured on a free run down AMF. In recapping that run, comments about how the softer snow revealed accuracy issues with regards to bending from the middle of the ski.

We returned to groomed snow and skied Javelin turns and Leapers. Much of the Javelin turn discussion moved to accurate fore aft to allow the rotary. In leapers we discovered greater consistency and success when focusing our efforts on accurately moving in the fore aft plane during take off and landing. Have we found a task that isolates fore-aft balance?
•Skiers who kept their skis parallel with the snow leapt and landed stacked and balanced to the center of the ski.
•Skiers who landed tip first(forward) were compensating for having taken off tip first (back)
•Better success when take off and landing was linear
•Better success when the focus was on alignment and landing stacked
•Less success when the intent was to change edges or turn in the air

Cheers,

Hap

Turn Initiation

Megan Harvey sent this out to some folks, and WOW... look at how many answers there are!!


Question:
I would like to know where and when in the turn you consider the initiation to be....
What constitutes the INITIATION to you?


INITIATION IN A TURN

Alpine Technical Manual (2nd Edition)

Initiation Phase:
This is where the turn begins. The mass of the body moves over the skis and to the inside of the new turn. This involves changing the edge and shifting weight from one ski to the other.


JURIS VAGNERS
I think there is one answer: you initiate a turn when 1) you decide to change edges and 2) when you then change edges. These events are usually separated by varying time intervals, since you may not do 2) for a while after 1). So, you initiate a turn when you change edges. Of course, as in all human endeavors, you can change your mind and go back to the original edges before significant deviations of your path occur. As noted in discussions before, you have a couple of mechanisms available to actually effect edge change.

WEEMS
1. What Juris says.
2. There is no such thing as an initiation--especially from a traverse. Instead there is a seamless transition where all the big changes happen: speed change, edge change, steering direction change, and usually pressure change.
The idea of initiation implies coming from a non-turing traverse. Even by definition--initiation of what? Of a turn. What were you doing before initiating turning? Not turning.

KIPP ERTL
I respectfully disagree with Mr. Vagners.
I believe that the initiation phase of the turn begins once the skis have flattened out and begin to engage the new edges. That is, the initiation phase follows the transition. Once the new edges are engaged, they have a few different options: skidding, sliding, carving, being bent or not, or how actively they will rotate into the turn. These options, in the initiation phase of the turn direct the behavior of the ski through the remainder of the turn.

JURIS VAGNERS
What fun - if the traverse state is maintained because edges are used (and with shaped skis, this is actually a turn uphill ..) then changing edges would signal a change in the direction in which you are moving, or, loosely speaking initiation of a turn. Thus, even starting from a traverse, we make a turn of some sort, i.e. change in the direction of travel for our body.

WEEMS
The ski is not necessarily turning if the edge is used. There are other factors which could momentarily keep it pretty straight.
And starting from a traverse is not really how we ski. I'm thinkin' its more arc to arc. no?

JURIS VAGNERS
Yep - and so am I, arc to arc. Otherwise, a bit boring.
My definition of a turn in general is any change of where the body CM is going at the moment, that is, a deviation of momentum instant to instant with respect to the hill. The skis are a tool to manage ski/snow interactions in addition to the action of gravity - these are the only external forces capable of changing momentum. I can indeed accomplish a linear traverse across the hill by judiciously balancing what my edges are doing with what gravity is trying to do to me.

ROB SOGARD
I think Megan posed the original question..."what consitutes initiation to you"? To me...for practical purposes, initiation occurs with the change of edges. The word initiation implies the start of something, a new turn; and there is a lot which could be debated regarding what defines a "new turn",

The reason I would say "change of edges" is that once you do switch edges you are definitely going the other way - with intent. We were playing around in a clinic the other day, and a skilled skier can pass right through what we would normally call the "transition" and travel awfully close to the fall line of the "new" turn before actually switching edges. Until you pass the fall line, you are, in a sense, in a very shallow traverse out of the last turn. But once you do switch edges, you are definitely going the other direction - you can't keep traveling right once you move to the left set of edges. You are in the New Turn. Now we just need to decide when you should change edges?

RON LEMASTER
What about initiating a wedge turn? There's no edge change, but I'd say
there's still an initiation. So I'd say the initiation begins when the skier
does something to get his or her body to the inside of the new outside foot
("inside" being in the context of the new turn) and the ski to eventually
engage the snow with its inside edge.
In a wedge turn, there is always a ski that's to the outside of the skier's
center of gravity, going in either direction, so the skier doesn't make a
movement to establish that relationship in each turn (because it's always
there). But in all turns made from a traverse or that start from the end of
a turn completed on matching edges, some sort of movement of the new outside
ski (edging, pivoting or displacing laterally) or the skier's body moving
laterally is needed.


I'd like to add something to the note I just sent: Supose you're linking two
advanced parallel turns with up unweighting. I think most people would say
that the initiation starts with the start of the up movement. But that
happens before the edge change. But that up movement is something you do inorder to get your skis and center of gravity to change sides, and help get
your skis to where they can engage their new inside edges.

MIKE PORTER
I’m in with the edge change camp. As soon as I start to change the edge I’m in the process of initiation.

KATIE FRY
I would add, that from my opinion, as soon as the committment has been made and we have exited the old turn (we are unable to return to it) that we have initiated the new turn---that would fall into the camp around the edge change having been made.

ROB SOGARD
Is there a bet riding on this somewhere?

CAROL LEVINE
I, too, am in the edge change camp and apply the "change" to an initiation phase.
I think a skier is in the initiation phase of a turn when the old outside ski has released its edge to flat or to slightly tipped (non-parallel or parallel turns) and the edge of the new outside ski has begun tipping to engage the snow.

RON LEMASTER
When I said that I didn't think there was an edge change in a wedge turn, I was thinking of the skis changing edges. If you define the edge change as "changing the edge that you're putting most of your weight against", then you'd have to say that there is an edge change in a wedge turn.
I like the element of intention that Katie (and someone else, I can't remember who) put it, and what Mike said about making a movement that results in an edge change. That would cover things very short turns from an edgeset where your skis change edges after your body has already started to move toward the inside of the new turn, and you're committed.

WEEMS
On this point - we should think of ""edge change" as any deviation from status quo of the edges and how the body is interacting with the edges. To transfer the forces from the edges to the body CM, there must be some mechanism at play. This mechanism is some combination of skeletal alignment and muscular tension. As soon as we alter these, the effective transfer of the forces from the edges to the CM is changed, and your body

moves in a new direction, usually towards the inside of the new turn because of the action of gravity, which we cannot change. Then the edge change happens. Of course, this isn't the only mechanism at play that results in "edge change" - we may use active rotation of the femurs in the hip sockets to "roll the knees downhill". These considerations move us from the "initiation" issue
to what one may call the "execution" issue - that is, what mechanisms do we have at our disposal to change edges.

DEB ARMSTRONG
Loving this!!!!! Such a great discussion.

A couple other thoughts to add to this discussion. It seems to me that these days there is more “multitasking” going on in a turn, (lets say the everyday medium radius, carved turn on groomers….) and between the turns, that a clear and defined initiation is much more blurred than in earlier days on the straight ski. Today while one turn is being completed the new turn has already been set up which blurs this initiation question. These days I think more of the word transition. My initial knee jerk response to this question was a sense and wonder if the word initiation could be considered a bit of a dated term. Consider this: (for carved turns)

70s skiing – to begin a turn one would flex to provide the room to extend into the turn allowing the ski to flatten and lighten for a direction change. While in motion this flex at the end of the turn also could be accompanied with an edge set followed by the extension……. With this I see a very clear and defined ending and beginning of a new turn. So at this time there didn’t seem to be such a thing as a smooth transition but that the completion of a turn and initiation of a turn was clearly identified/defined. Also back in the days of the straight skis one strived for less pressure at the top of the turn while entering the fall line. Less pressure would allow for more steering and placement of the ski at the top. Today we carve into the fall line which takes pressure and edge but to set this up successfully this preparation must happen earlier (back up and higher in the turn, just following the apex)

Today what I see, experience, coach – is a long transition beginning just as one exits the fall line and ending as one enters the fall line of the new turn. In my mind the initial move upon exiting the fall line is a pressure shift – not an edge change yet but certainly the new platform ski is being established at this point (I call this the multitasking phase because we are completing one turn while simultaneously “initiating the new turn?”). With this pressure shift, establishing of the new platform one is poised for the tipping of the ski and the extension of the “hips to the tips” into the fall line………………

With so much “multitasking” going on in this modern turn isolating out an initiation doesn’t seem to be what it was in earlier days when a clear and definite completion of a turn existed followed by an initiation. What seems to be more relevant at the moment in modern skiing is an understanding of the full extent and complexity of the transition.

I am opinionated here as you all know but my thought is that the transition is the least understood phase of the turn out there for our masses. I would also place pressure as the least understood skill out there for our masses.

As for the wedge turn, I am in the pressure camp (surprise, surprise…..) a pressure shift comes first to establish the new platform. Once balanced with the new platform more effective edging or rotary follows……….

Food for thought. Megan, thanks for posing this question and including me. I appreciate it. I have loved seeing what folks have shared.

WEEMS
I thought initiation was where you drink a ton of beer and make applicants do really degrading things. Wow. I've missed so much!

MICHAEL ROGAN
It is killing me not to scroll down before I answer but here are my thoughts.
A very smart person once told me "you just have to get in there". So, for me edge change is the initiation. Now that being said, it could be the release of the old edge or the engagement of the new edge. An edged ski starts turning when it is weighted and that is the initiation.
And if the skis are not parallel you could say that the edges are always changed and all you have to do is shift your weight. In a wedge you are always inside the turn.
None of this addresses the mental aspect of initiation. But I do not think that is what you are interested about.

ROBIN BARNES
Hmmmm…. I’ve been pondering similar things as what Deb stated since Megan brought up the question. Precision in the transition allows for whatever type of redirection of the skis is desired (tipping, steering, pivoting, displacing, etc.). There’s a lot of preparatory stuff that goes on before the skis begin to change direction, but if initiation is defined as when the skis begin to change direction, then perhaps it is the giving up of the old edge(s), when the skier may opt to tip, twist, etc., etc, that is the initiation. So the “edge change” is not necessarily when the new edges are engaged so much as when the release of the edges results in the skis succumbing to gravity hence becoming the impetus at which time the skier determines which type of movement to use to continue to shape a turn.

MERMER BLAKESLESS
Hi all-- I know I'm coming in late and I can only guess at the original question, but here are my thoughts about initiation. It's a cultish word that


inherently fosters a glitch by separating the old and the new turn. I like the word transition better--it connects the two.
But if you have to have the word I would say initiation is:
1) In the mind: when you intend to change edges and/or transfer pressure (pressure applicable only if you're on 2 skis).
2) In the body: when you move to change edges and/or transfer pressure.
3) In the skis: when the edges start changing (and there is no return).

SCHANZY
What strikes me about this conversation is that most of the interpretations are one dimensional. As a turn is defined in the dictionary there are multiple versions that would apply to skiing.

1. to move to face in a particular direction or toward a particular location, or move something so that it does this
2. to go in a different direction when moving or traveling, or make a vehicle change direction

Changing edges or twisting the skis to point somewhere different does not always mean that a skier will change direction. This is the content that I feel is important to understand. Turning is not just about changing edges or twisting them to point somewhere different. It is important to bend the ski in addition to these things to impart a change in direction.

WEEMS
Years ago, Taos, we got a visit from Stephan Heinzsch, who was racing at the time. We asked him about his sequence in the turn.

He pointed his skis down the hill, leaning on his poles, and said, "Okay...I'm ready to start my turn." It was very clear to me at that moment what the difference between an advanced skier and a lesser skier was in terms of initiation. It was fall line to fall line, not traverse to traverse.

SCHANZY
Through you posing this question it seems like we might be creating a new definition.
Really liked the last email from Weems regarding the racers perspective.
We often refer to a skier returning to neutral so I wonder if everything you do before you get there should still be considered part of the old turn. Making neutral the true staring point.

RICK VETROMILE
I have really enjoyed the responses to "the question", and it seem to me, if I can jump in, (now would be the time to erase this email as you can see its long) that we are reworking what we have known for years rather than what has become clearer with the equipment advances. Initiation for me, and the

definition that makes the most sense, is: starting something or the beginning of something. That seems to indicate the turn and then define it as when the skis edges engage the snow, resists the forces and go off in a different direction.

Now there is a bit of stuff that happens before this, but they are related to the previous turn. If the ski edges (in the previous turn) are relaxed. if the skier goes from a bent inside leg to a straighter one (in the previous turn), if the skier goes from a more inclined or angulated position to a upright position (in the previous turn), they may be expecting a traditional action that leads to a change in direction...but not necessarily. Someone pointed out that all of that could lead to a traverse ( I am sorry I don't remember who said it) or could lead to a side slip. To say they are initiation moves preceding the next turn seems to be presumptuous on my part. I have seen moves made on the world cup (relating to a skivit turn) where the skis are pointed in a different direction, but the skier is still moving in the same direction. It isn't until the edges engage the snow, that the skier moves off in a different direction.

I think traditionally, we looked at the initiation as a drawn out process that include moves we were making (pole swing, up motion, down motion, weight shift, etc.) that we thought were important or needed to start a turn, I'm not sure they ever were. I remember getting caught at this by a race coach trying to get met to "initiate the turn at the rise line". With a change in the equipment, I think things became clearer. There may not be a initiation phase, but more, an initiation point. A point at which the turn is initiated. When we looked at a dynamic turn track this morning, the edge change from one engaged turn to the next, looking at the edge marks on the snow, they were on top of each other. That's a short phase! I seem to be getting to two descriptor of a turn; the shaping phase and the initiation point.

We did play with a bump turn, but that's for another time....if anyone lets me talk again. Thanks again, I have really enjoyed your comments and insights and had the advantage of all your comments to play with, makes me really long winded hopefully you will continue to let me play.

Permission to Fail

I just posted this to my blog, I'll leave the fore/aft write up to Cindy or whomever wants to write it up. But here's what I got out of today:

Today was another day of Demo Team training... this is the team of people that are training to try out for the team in just a little over 800 days.

Our group is really a unique experience, its a group of people who want to work together, without a captian or a leader, but as a bunch of like minded people who ski around together with a common focus and a discussion on our beliefs.

Today, we delved into fore/aft pressure. The group had a meeting the night before to discuss their beliefs on fore and aft pressure, and lay everything on the table before tackling the issue on snow the next day.

I missed the indoor meeting because, well, sometimes I'm brain dead and I left my lights on in the Bronco because I have to climb in and out of the passenger door because the driver door is stuck shut, and the "Your lights are on, dumbass" dinger doesn't ding if you open the passenger door. So.

My point is, I joined the group this morning (late after forgetting my boots at home... that's the subject of another post on responsibility and reliability), I noticed something interesting. The group wasn't talking like it had in previous sessions. I wasn't sure if they'd all decided to do a clinic with Schanzy as the leader, or if everyone was just tired and brain dead, or what was going on, but the energy was bizarre.

We skied around together working on stuff, and everyone was thinking the same thing, but no one was saying anything. I talked to Schanzy about it at lunch, and because he's constantly trying to step back from the leadership role and throw it back to us, he said, "Why don't you do something about it, then?"

So I did. I opened my big mouth. And the result was lovely, we talked about some really important things.

We talked about permission. That this group is a place where you have permission to ski badly, to fail, to fall, to look stupid, not to demonstrate perfectly. because we are trying to learn about our own skiing, and create it as we go, and if we are afraid of doing it "wrong" or saying it "wrong", then we won't be this creative, free, supportive force that we can be.

We agreed to hold each other accountable. We all agreed to approach everyone in the group and ask them about the dreaded "Grey Zone" by asking this question: "What is your perception of me?" I think we may then do an indoor session where each person goes around and gives the distilled version of the common perceptions, both good and bad about themselves from the group, and their plans for growth in that area. This is a dangerous, but important piece, and must be handled with grace and trust.

We talked about what it means to do the thing that scares you the most, like approach someone or talk to someone to get their perception, and we talked about the fact that having permission in the group to say the "wrong" thing in your MA, or in your concepts, or in your beliefs allows this group to be a safe place to practice all of it.

Jax offered up that she was terrified to be in the group. That coming to the group had made her feel like shaking and crying and that she threw up before she got there.

I asked her if she gave herself a win for coming anyway, and she looked at me, a bit surprised.

Taking your wins, I believe, is one of the most important things you can do. You have fear. We all do. People with courage are not people without fear. People with courage are people who feel fear and move through and with it.

Jax showed up in spite of her fear. To help diminish her fear in the future, she needs to give herself the win of showing up. I was scared, and I came anyway. I give myself permission to feel fear. I give myself permission to ski badly. I give myself permission to make a mistake. I give myself permission to look like a fool.

And when I am brave enough to do all of those things, I enter a place where I can have a beginners mind. Open. Not expecting to be perfect. Willing.

And therefore, able to make change in a huge and significant way! And EVERY time I take that risk and move through it, with EVERY step up the mountain, up the hike into the bowl, every turn in front of my peers, every word in front of the MA group, every pole plant in the bumps that I risk in spite of my fear, I tell myself, good job. You were scared, and you did that anyway. This means you are stronger than you thought you were. Do it again.

I just want to say thank you to the group for showing up this afternoon. For taking risks and working to put ourselves out there. For making a space of accountability, where we are expected to try hard, hard enough that we look or sound foolish, and that the judgment is removed. There is only room to get back up and try again.

Latest Training Session

Hi Everyone,


We have had a very productive training session over the past couple of days. Within this email you will find the training notes for Thursday nights indoor session as well as the Friday's on snow training day.
We hope to have more participation throughout the rest of the season. The more participation we have, the more opportunity's there are to grow as a group and as a team. This is a process in which we can become leaders in our school.

Thursday Night:
In attendance: Megan H., Kevin J., Schanzy, Cindy L., Jeb S., Jax R., Tom P

(Housekeeping)
- Ski Co has offered us 5 training days covered by workers comp. These days will be roistered and one person in the group will be the designated leader. We have now used up 2 of our allotted days.
- We have scheduled a Bill Seguin night for Friday, Jan. 29, 5-8pm at Highlands. He is a business consultant that our ski school has worked with in developing presentation skills. In the past we have worked on the "Athletic presenter." For these sessions we are gearing it towards developing an assessment tool to help us assess each other in our presentations; as well as addressing our on hill presence and our fear issues.
-In the future we would like to have an evening of conversations with Mike Porter, Dee, Katie and Victor. All of whom have been selectors for the tryouts. To have conversation about what they are looking for in candidates.
- If you have an idea, thought or an event you would like to do..... MAKE IT HAPPEN. Create the group yourself, or ask for help.

(Fundamentals)
- Rotary and Pressure were identified as having the most variance in beliefs. Last session we worked on Rotary, this session we are going to work on Pressure specifically ' Foot to Foot'. We are going to work specifically on a skill not a specific task.
- Megan suggested we work on leg length variance.

We discussed the ideal ski performance in the pressure realm and discovered there are two camps of skiers:
1. Skiers that intentionally create bend
2. Skiers that wait for outside forces to bend the ski

Future Dates
January 29: Bill Seguin: please email Schanzy at jschanzy@hotmail.com to reserve your space. This session is specifically for this group only. Please bring $20.00 for your space.

February 6, 4:30pm, Highlands locker room
February 7, 9:00am, Highlands

February 22, 4:30pm, Highlands locker room
February 23, 9:00am, Highlands

April 5, 4:30pm, Highlands locker room
April 6, 9:00am, Highlands


Friday Ski Day
In attendance: Schanzy, Cindy, Cesar, Jax, Kevin

Terrain: Stayed on groomed terrain, Heather Bedlam, Apple Strudel, Golden Horn

We began with stork turns exploring foot to foot pressure. We kept the inside ski tip on the snow.
Belief: We need to stay balanced over the outside ski

If any body part moves in(inclines), then the ability to steer the ski is taken away. We need to maintain the length of the outside leg to be able to continue rotation throughout the turn.

A common affect we found was the skier would square up. We then slightly changed the drill to an internal javelin turn. The muscular feeling you would have in a javelin turn without the actual twisting of the inside ski.
Can you maintain counter and enter the new turn smoothly?

By the end of the morning, the group was much more stacked over the outside ski. Using our lower leg, pelvis and shoulder.

We need to stay observation based and keep coaching out of it. Listen to the feedback and then go figure it out. This supports the philosophy of real and ideal.

Cheers,
Cindy

Rotary in Katelandia

Alright. Monday was the first day on snow for the group of people who are training to try out for the Demo team in 2012. It was an awesome day, super specific, and we went out there to delve into ideas pertaining to rotation and rotary skills.

We wanted to know what we believed about rotary, what was ideal, what was real, and if any of us could execute specifically. It was a very productive day to go deep into one idea, and we had a very open forum.

We started with side-slips, the hockey slides, then pivot slips. In the afternoon session, we took what we'd learned in the low end maneuvers and looked at short radius reaching turns and short swing turns.

To be honest, I got a little distracted from the theoretical, and technical conversation, and started focusing on my specific task of changing my skiing, trying to stay open to the ideas all around me.

I've spent so much time trying to turn my legs independently under a pelvis that is facing open down the hill that I've lost the task. My upper and lower body were completely separate, and I was very much on my uphill foot.

So while the group delved into ideals of rotary, I listened, but started asking some questions about the task itself, even though for our purposes, the task was supposed to be a vehicle for the discussion.

I got some great feedback, and I found a through line into my short turns from my pivot slips. Megan had me connect my torso to the activity again, bringing my body actively into the task in a quiet, but effective way. Will had me think of the pivot as a retraction turn, and Josh had me do it independently, so I'm retracting the downhill leg while pressuring the uphill leg, pretty much what I'm working on in short turns, not extending off both.

I've been through the two legged extension issue a couple of times, and it creeps back into my skiing, frustratingly enough.

Earlier in the season, I skied with Weems, and he had told me that I wasn't inside the turn enough. I had been working so hard on not dumping and on reducing my tip lead that I'd climbed right back onto my skis and was once again massively over angulated.

The combination of all of those things led to short turns in the afternoon that felt snappy, but that STILL don't have a top. Megan and Schanzy asked me to begin the turn not with an edging move, but with a rotation of the femur to the inside of the turn. I did this, and the ski hooked up a lot higher, but my knees were not loving it. I was getting rocked for and aft, although I was finally bending the ski.

The primary focus of the start of every turn was "rotate IN", which was followed by "EXTEND!" then "SOFTEN!" then "ROTATE IN!". It was happening occasionally, but I was rarely aligned well enough to get the ski to bend predictably, or for the edge to be there for me to trust at the top of the turn. It felt like a huge crap shoot to get the ski to bend reliably, and therefore I was scared.

I wanted to trust it, I wanted to stand on it, but it just wasn't reliably biting at the top of every turn, I'd step on it and it would push the ski away from me, hooking up at the apex and accelerating me into the back seat.

I felt change happen, but I had one of those moments where I was worried that the synthesis of everything I needed to do to make this turn happen would take weeks and weeks of integration work.

I got very single minded, as focused as I could on pulling these pieces together with the rotation being the driving ideal. But it was hit and miss.

We went down to watch the video and I was not really super psyched at what I saw. Everything improved on each run, for sure, and I got a nice compliment on my ability to make change in my skiing, but sitting there and watching just how far I am from where I need to be was disheartening to say the least.

I wondered, as the talk swirled around me, if I was insane to try this. Did I belong in this room? I feel like I have something to offer, but I know that on this day, my need to bring my skill up superseded my ability to contribute well to the technical conversation. And I know it will again and again, because that's where I am and what I need.

Time to get to work!