This video is excellent. Generally I agree to your teaching. 1. Stance. Let me help you a little. There is a little contradiction about the boot-tongue pressure! You say that a skier should have no pressure on the tongue, then you say that the skier should have a pressure. I would say that having a tongue pressure is essential, the most important skill at all downhill skiing. The dorsal flexion of the ankles creates it, yes but there is also another way, by putting your COM ahead of the middle point of your skis. And you need both ways during an optimal carved turn. After apex you use the dorsal flex, before apex you use the other way. Steering the skis by the COM is easier to learn and understand, and I think that this way is more important for beginners and intermediate skiers. 2. Agree!!! Modern ski-instructors (USA, Japan etc) do not care so much for the ski pressures. I love your way of thinking here! The negative part of this is at the transitions of the cross under carved turns. At this point you should have higher pressure on the new inside ski during the start of the turn. But I think, just as you do, that beginners and intermediate skiers should not care for this until they learn about cross under turns. 3. Here you have an important issue!! Parallel turns need to be started by 2 basic principles. One is the body projection to the fall-line, two is the edgings of the skis. Also at skidded parallel turns you must also create both parts to some degree, combined with separation and control of the pressure differences of the 2 skis. If you do not make the body projection, you will end up in a braking process, like a hockey-stop, because your COM will stay on the hillside of the skis (on the hillside of the middle points of your skis) during the whole turn. Interested of my way of thinking? I have written books about learning of downhill skiing.
In my book Mountains, trees and Water I out line the origins of how and why we ski the way we do. In North America it all came down to my Grand mother who in1960 bought each of her children 100 shares in the newly proposed Big Mountain Ski Area my Dad helped found. That year they hired Austrian racer Toni Mott as the first ski school director. He quickly assembled the regional schools together consolidating PSIA. "The New Way to Ski" by Willie Schifler was the text book my Dad gave me to learn about skiing from. Today this is more relevant than ever as PSIA diverged from recognizing good skiing long ago to prefer weaker stylistic postures and preference to narcissistic inferior instructors as clinicians.
not sure if you guys gives a shit but if you guys are bored like me during the covid times then you can stream pretty much all of the new movies and series on Instaflixxer. Been watching with my gf for the last weeks xD
I always find this ski terminology, as used in the second half of this video, to be very nebulous: "steering, steering angle, guiding, edge angle, rotate more, edge more". All apparently to create a simple turn. "Steering" perhaps being the worst in terms of creating understanding. What the hell does steering mean? Perhaps it's just a less agricultural way of saying "twist" your feet. It's the same language constantly used in ski schools the world over that leaves the student non the wiser. As I say, it effectively conveys a twisting of the feet as a primary movement. Steering, twisting, rotation = z shaped turns for most skiers. Rotation of course brings shoulder rotation in many skier's efforts to perform the steering/twisting of feet and leg movements. No wonder there are so few decent skiers on the mountain. The instructor in the video then shows the ski turn release with an extension and stands up, pushing his center of mass away from the snow. Another sure way to screw up a skier's balance, and to bank a turn with no angulation and too much weight ending up on the inside ski.
Sadly, it seems that boot manufacturers tend to market ski boots for world cup racers. An average skier, who gets out a dozen times a year is not well served by a super stiff boot with a lot of forward lean built in. As you point out, there is a sweet spot of forward lean that allows the skeleton to carry the load. In many of the high end boots, this factory setting is too much. Also, an overly stiff boot prevents one from absorbing deformations in the snow efficiently. In order to absorb, you have to "hinge" at two points. I think it's best if you can primarily hinge at the ankle and knee, as that keeps you fairly upright with a good range of motion. With a locked ankle, you have to hinge at the knee and hip. This forces you to get into a more "seated" position from where your CG tends to shift back into a more "butt back, chest forward" stance which is hard to hold and has a smaller range within which you can move to extend and retract to absorb shock.
All the coaches I know put emphasis on crushing the boot... deforming the shell...up to warping the dinsole through forward leverage. Frightening and uncomfortable the difference in ski design reaction is palpable and true dynamic control is impossible otherwise. The art and science of skiing is knowing the chemistry going on under the ski. Above that foundation is all the differentiated levels of time dilations that stack up countered to ground force reactions.
"The art and science of skiing is knowing the chemistry going on under the ski." Is the "Art" of driving a car in knowing what is going on in your rack and pinion steering system? No! The art of driving is in doing what the car needs from you. Same with skis.
2:28 Actually, you shouldn't focus on the end results, you should focus on what creates them which is the upper body positioning and the weight change. You only think about feelings in the foot after you have done the right things with your upper body to see if it worked. Then you make adjustments to your body and knees to make the skis perform as needed. If you focus on your feet or heels, you won't be skiing at all. 3:40 Everything said is 100% wrong especially this. 4:00 It is the positioning of the Upper body back in the fall line and down the hill that creates the new leg angle that puts the skis on the new edges which allows the skis to make the turns for you. You cannot do that with just your legs. 4:32 His legs are leaning over, and his skis are getting on edge because he is moving his pelvis to the side. he is positioning his upper body to create the new leg angle. At the start of a new turn, that position is down the hill and back into the fall line. You make new turns with your face, hands and chest, not your legs and feet. The last thing to happen is down below, not the first. Go back to 4:00 at .25 speed and watch the changes he makes from the top down while his skis are still crossing the hill. Nothing would have happened if he hadn't rotated his upper body to face and lean down the hill as he changed his weight from his left to right foot. When you look at a skier it Looks Like the legs are doing all the work when it is actually the upper body that dictates what happens below. You make turns from your eyes down, not from your feet up.
For me the number 1 essential to create a turn is what I do with my feet. I can stand on the smallest of slope, have a slight bend in my knees for good balance and push off, slide forward and then stop. That hasn’t been a turn yet. I don’t want to do anything with my upper body to create the turn. I want a quiet upper body. I don’t want to twist my feet either. If I do I’ll probably add upper body shoulder rotation to help the twist. Not good. Exactly the wrong movement. But I can make a very significant turn if I do two things with ONE of my feet. All I have to do is lighten the weight off one ski and tip the ski to its little toe edge. If I am sliding forward and do that tipping of one foot I will create a turn. The more I tip it the tighter the radius. After I master this movement I then add upper body movements to control/compliment the forces of the turn.
These fundamental movements I describe to create a turn come from the best ski teacher in the business, in my opinion. Harald Harb. th-cam.com/video/a-A7Zw-6x-0/w-d-xo.html
@@iandunn9497 Actually, he is one of the worst. When he skis he does none of the things he teaches and nothing he teaches is correct. Tipping, yeah, right!
@@JB91710 oh please mate, you have one very poor demonstration of skiing on your channel where you offer commentary about facing down the hill. Not exactly revolutionary. It doesn’t matter what you think you are doing or describing, the end result is you are demonstrating skidded heel push late turns. Poor turn shape. There is no engagement of the edges above the fall line. You need plenty of what Harb has to offer. Given he has published countless books and videos, runs camps in Colorado and Austria every year, booked out months in advance with repeat customers from all over the world, (including me from Australia), I’m going to say he’s got plenty of credibility and his methods work. At 70+yrs of age with a knee and hip replacement, he’s still the best technical skier on the mountain every time he steps into his skis. Not only is he a superb skier and instructor, he has run a Colorado boot fitting shop for decades. He knows all there is to know about skiing movements and boot fitting. Here he is skiing last season. th-cam.com/video/rPEUoftnC0c/w-d-xo.html
@@iandunn9497 "oh please mate, you have one very poor demonstration of skiing on your channel where you offer commentary about facing down the hill." My demonstration is exactly what I wanted it to be. Did you bother to REAAD the description of my intention? If I wanted to demonstrate carving, I would have. As far as having only one video, skiing and teaching it is just not that hard. My comments teach everything a person needs from beginner to racer and as far a volume, I repeat the same thing in different ways, so my method looks a lot longer than it really is. "The end result is you are demonstrating skidded heel push late turns. Poor turn shape." I AM demonstrating skidding turns because that is what 99.9% of all skiers do. I chose not to Show Off and intimidate the viewers, I wanted to show them how easy skis turn with next to no effort on their part. However, I am Not pushing my heels at all. The ski design is making those turns due to my body positioning and weight change. They are making the turns from beginning to end. "There is no engagement of the edges above the fall line.' That's because I am not Carving the turns. "You need plenty of what Harb has to offer." The Only thing Harb has to offer is his cute personality and entertainment. He is the Pied Piper and people like you are his brain-dead followers. Everything he teaches, he doesn't do when he skis. Everything the students do when they Follow him, results in the skis changing direction and going straight down the hill where they have to resort to Hockey Stops to slow down and stop. "Given he has published countless books and videos, runs camps in Colorado and Austria every year, booked out months in advance with repeat customers from all over the world, (including me from Australia), I’m going to say he’s got plenty of credibility and his methods work." He does all that to MAKE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He doesn't have credibility; he has sheep who blindly follow him because he makes them feel good. Their skis change direction when they try what he says but that is because a shaped ski will start to change direction instantly when it gets on the smallest of edges. Like you saw but didn't understand from my video. What he doesn't teach you is how to make a ski actually complete a turn to control your speed. I have never seen or heard him say one thing right. Again, everything you need to know about skiing is in my words at my one video. So, what does that make him if he needs to provide so much? An entrepreneur. "At 70+yrs of age with a knee and hip replacement, he’s still the best technical skier on the mountain every time he steps into his skis." That doesn't mean he can teach what he does. There isn't one person I have seen in my 54 years of teaching experience, who can teach skiing correctly and if you have been paying attention, I am in the comment section on just about every video on TH-cam, proving that. "Not only is he a superb skier and instructor, he has run a Colorado boot fitting shop for decades." Yes, and just about every time he answers a Followers question, which is a rare occasion, he tells them to buy his books and CDs and get their boots adjusted instead of simply answering their questions. That is not a Teacher. "He knows all there is to know about skiing movements and boot fitting." So, his faithful follower says. Try telling me in your own words how to make a turn from the end of one GS turn through the end of another. You can even quote him, and I will gladly disembowel whatever you come up with. P.S. This short video explains how people chose what they believe. Replace the word "Truth" with "Ski Teaching". It describes the worlds ski teaching methods and humanity perfectly. The writers wouldn't have created this scene if it wasn't. They know. th-cam.com/video/eSijB9-Hw7g/w-d-xo.html
The 2nd principal holds true except for carving. When you enters carving turn you may put 50/50 weight on both legs
This video is excellent. Generally I agree to your teaching.
1. Stance. Let me help you a little. There is a little contradiction about the boot-tongue pressure! You say that a skier should have no pressure on the tongue, then you say that the skier should have a pressure. I would say that having a tongue pressure is essential, the most important skill at all downhill skiing. The dorsal flexion of the ankles creates it, yes but there is also another way, by putting your COM ahead of the middle point of your skis. And you need both ways during an optimal carved turn. After apex you use the dorsal flex, before apex you use the other way.
Steering the skis by the COM is easier to learn and understand, and I think that this way is more important for beginners and intermediate skiers.
2. Agree!!! Modern ski-instructors (USA, Japan etc) do not care so much for the ski pressures. I love your way of thinking here! The negative part of this is at the transitions of the cross under carved turns. At this point you should have higher pressure on the new inside ski during the start of the turn. But I think, just as you do, that beginners and intermediate skiers should not care for this until they learn about cross under turns.
3. Here you have an important issue!! Parallel turns need to be started by 2 basic principles. One is the body projection to the fall-line, two is the edgings of the skis. Also at skidded parallel turns you must also create both parts to some degree, combined with separation and control of the pressure differences of the 2 skis. If you do not make the body projection, you will end up in a braking process, like a hockey-stop, because your COM will stay on the hillside of the skis (on the hillside of the middle points of your skis) during the whole turn.
Interested of my way of thinking? I have written books about learning of downhill skiing.
In my book Mountains, trees and Water I out line the origins of how and why we ski the way we do. In North America it all came down to my Grand mother who in1960 bought each of her children 100 shares in the newly proposed Big Mountain Ski Area my Dad helped found. That year they hired Austrian racer Toni Mott as the first ski school director. He quickly assembled the regional schools together consolidating PSIA. "The New Way to Ski" by Willie Schifler was the text book my Dad gave me to learn about skiing from. Today this is more relevant than ever as PSIA diverged from recognizing good skiing long ago to prefer weaker stylistic postures and preference to narcissistic inferior instructors as clinicians.
Great principles. Thanks for posting much appreciated.
not sure if you guys gives a shit but if you guys are bored like me during the covid times then you can stream pretty much all of the new movies and series on Instaflixxer. Been watching with my gf for the last weeks xD
@Myles Zayd Definitely, I've been using Instaflixxer for since december myself =)
I always find this ski terminology, as used in the second half of this video, to be very nebulous: "steering, steering angle, guiding, edge angle, rotate more, edge more". All apparently to create a simple turn. "Steering" perhaps being the worst in terms of creating understanding. What the hell does steering mean? Perhaps it's just a less agricultural way of saying "twist" your feet.
It's the same language constantly used in ski schools the world over that leaves the student non the wiser. As I say, it effectively conveys a twisting of the feet as a primary movement. Steering, twisting, rotation = z shaped turns for most skiers. Rotation of course brings shoulder rotation in many skier's efforts to perform the steering/twisting of feet and leg movements. No wonder there are so few decent skiers on the mountain. The instructor in the video then shows the ski turn release with an extension and stands up, pushing his center of mass away from the snow. Another sure way to screw up a skier's balance, and to bank a turn with no angulation and too much weight ending up on the inside ski.
Exactly. Just like driving a car. Twist the twisting wheel in the direction you want to go. Steering is just so confusing.
GOOD FOR YOU IAN!!! Read my comment above and at my video if you want skiing described in words you can understand.
@@jamietouchie1280 Read my comment above and at my video if you want skiing described in words you can understand.
Sadly, it seems that boot manufacturers tend to market ski boots for world cup racers.
An average skier, who gets out a dozen times a year is not well served by a super stiff boot with a lot of forward lean built in.
As you point out, there is a sweet spot of forward lean that allows the skeleton to carry the load. In many of the high end boots, this factory setting is too much. Also, an overly stiff boot prevents one from absorbing deformations in the snow efficiently. In order to absorb, you have to "hinge" at two points. I think it's best if you can primarily hinge at the ankle and knee, as that keeps you fairly upright with a good range of motion. With a locked ankle, you have to hinge at the knee and hip. This forces you to get into a more "seated" position from where your CG tends to shift back into a more "butt back, chest forward" stance which is hard to hold and has a smaller range within which you can move to extend and retract to absorb shock.
Every manufacturer makes boots to work with all levels of skier. You HAVE to shop in your ability range.
NOTHING could be further from true. Have a look at the Nordica HF with shell flex from 90 -110.
All the coaches I know put emphasis on crushing the boot... deforming the shell...up to warping the dinsole through forward leverage. Frightening and uncomfortable the difference in ski design reaction is palpable and true dynamic control is impossible otherwise. The art and science of skiing is knowing the chemistry going on under the ski. Above that foundation is all the differentiated levels of time dilations that stack up countered to ground force reactions.
"The art and science of skiing is knowing the chemistry going on under the ski." Is the "Art" of driving a car in knowing what is going on in your rack and pinion steering system? No! The art of driving is in doing what the car needs from you. Same with skis.
2:28 Actually, you shouldn't focus on the end results, you should focus on what creates them which is the upper body positioning and the weight change. You only think about feelings in the foot after you have done the right things with your upper body to see if it worked. Then you make adjustments to your body and knees to make the skis perform as needed. If you focus on your feet or heels, you won't be skiing at all.
3:40 Everything said is 100% wrong especially this. 4:00 It is the positioning of the Upper body back in the fall line and down the hill that creates the new leg angle that puts the skis on the new edges which allows the skis to make the turns for you. You cannot do that with just your legs.
4:32 His legs are leaning over, and his skis are getting on edge because he is moving his pelvis to the side. he is positioning his upper body to create the new leg angle. At the start of a new turn, that position is down the hill and back into the fall line. You make new turns with your face, hands and chest, not your legs and feet. The last thing to happen is down below, not the first.
Go back to 4:00 at .25 speed and watch the changes he makes from the top down while his skis are still crossing the hill. Nothing would have happened if he hadn't rotated his upper body to face and lean down the hill as he changed his weight from his left to right foot.
When you look at a skier it Looks Like the legs are doing all the work when it is actually the upper body that dictates what happens below. You make turns from your eyes down, not from your feet up.
For me the number 1 essential to create a turn is what I do with my feet.
I can stand on the smallest of slope, have a slight bend in my knees for good balance and push off, slide forward and then stop. That hasn’t been a turn yet. I don’t want to do anything with my upper body to create the turn. I want a quiet upper body. I don’t want to twist my feet either. If I do I’ll probably add upper body shoulder rotation to help the twist. Not good. Exactly the wrong movement.
But I can make a very significant turn if I do two things with ONE of my feet.
All I have to do is lighten the weight off one ski and tip the ski to its little toe edge. If I am sliding forward and do that tipping of one foot I will create a turn. The more I tip it the tighter the radius. After I master this movement I then add upper body movements to control/compliment the forces of the turn.
These fundamental movements I describe to create a turn come from the best ski teacher in the business, in my opinion. Harald Harb.
th-cam.com/video/a-A7Zw-6x-0/w-d-xo.html
@@iandunn9497 Actually, he is one of the worst. When he skis he does none of the things he teaches and nothing he teaches is correct. Tipping, yeah, right!
@@JB91710 oh please mate, you have one very poor demonstration of skiing on your channel where you offer commentary about facing down the hill. Not exactly revolutionary.
It doesn’t matter what you think you are doing or describing, the end result is you are demonstrating skidded heel push late turns. Poor turn shape. There is no engagement of the edges above the fall line.
You need plenty of what Harb has to offer.
Given he has published countless books and videos, runs camps in Colorado and Austria every year, booked out months in advance with repeat customers from all over the world, (including me from Australia), I’m going to say he’s got plenty of credibility and his methods work.
At 70+yrs of age with a knee and hip replacement, he’s still the best technical skier on the mountain every time he steps into his skis.
Not only is he a superb skier and instructor, he has run a Colorado boot fitting shop for decades.
He knows all there is to know about skiing movements and boot fitting.
Here he is skiing last season.
th-cam.com/video/rPEUoftnC0c/w-d-xo.html
@@iandunn9497 "oh please mate, you have one very poor demonstration of skiing on your channel where you offer commentary about facing down the hill." My demonstration is exactly what I wanted it to be. Did you bother to REAAD the description of my intention? If I wanted to demonstrate carving, I would have. As far as having only one video, skiing and teaching it is just not that hard. My comments teach everything a person needs from beginner to racer and as far a volume, I repeat the same thing in different ways, so my method looks a lot longer than it really is.
"The end result is you are demonstrating skidded heel push late turns. Poor turn shape." I AM demonstrating skidding turns because that is what 99.9% of all skiers do. I chose not to Show Off and intimidate the viewers, I wanted to show them how easy skis turn with next to no effort on their part. However, I am Not pushing my heels at all. The ski design is making those turns due to my body positioning and weight change. They are making the turns from beginning to end.
"There is no engagement of the edges above the fall line.' That's because I am not Carving the turns.
"You need plenty of what Harb has to offer." The Only thing Harb has to offer is his cute personality and entertainment. He is the Pied Piper and people like you are his brain-dead followers. Everything he teaches, he doesn't do when he skis. Everything the students do when they Follow him, results in the skis changing direction and going straight down the hill where they have to resort to Hockey Stops to slow down and stop.
"Given he has published countless books and videos, runs camps in Colorado and Austria every year, booked out months in advance with repeat customers from all over the world, (including me from Australia), I’m going to say he’s got plenty of credibility and his methods work." He does all that to MAKE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He doesn't have credibility; he has sheep who blindly follow him because he makes them feel good. Their skis change direction when they try what he says but that is because a shaped ski will start to change direction instantly when it gets on the smallest of edges. Like you saw but didn't understand from my video. What he doesn't teach you is how to make a ski actually complete a turn to control your speed. I have never seen or heard him say one thing right. Again, everything you need to know about skiing is in my words at my one video. So, what does that make him if he needs to provide so much? An entrepreneur.
"At 70+yrs of age with a knee and hip replacement, he’s still the best technical skier on the mountain every time he steps into his skis." That doesn't mean he can teach what he does. There isn't one person I have seen in my 54 years of teaching experience, who can teach skiing correctly and if you have been paying attention, I am in the comment section on just about every video on TH-cam, proving that.
"Not only is he a superb skier and instructor, he has run a Colorado boot fitting shop for decades." Yes, and just about every time he answers a Followers question, which is a rare occasion, he tells them to buy his books and CDs and get their boots adjusted instead of simply answering their questions. That is not a Teacher.
"He knows all there is to know about skiing movements and boot fitting." So, his faithful follower says.
Try telling me in your own words how to make a turn from the end of one GS turn through the end of another. You can even quote him, and I will gladly disembowel whatever you come up with.
P.S. This short video explains how people chose what they believe. Replace the word "Truth" with "Ski Teaching". It describes the worlds ski teaching methods and humanity perfectly. The writers wouldn't have created this scene if it wasn't. They know. th-cam.com/video/eSijB9-Hw7g/w-d-xo.html