turns. Te muscular tension in your lower legs and feet make this possible and also allows you to pull your feet back at a time when you need to move forward more aggressively.
TIP YOUR FEET FOR BETTER LATERAL BALANCE Have you ever been told that you lean in, starting your turn with a big lateral movement of your upper body toward the inside of the turn? Do you move inside too quickly or lose pressure on the outside ski? Instead, when you transfer weight to the outside ski, use the muscles in your foot and lower leg to tip the ski. Feel the pressure along the edge of your foot. Tis pressure is transmitted to the edge of the ski, and the deliberate muscular tension can help you control the edge angle and fine-tune lateral balance. As you move laterally and forward into
a turn (toward the apex of the upcoming turn) be aware of tipping your foot and the muscular tension involved. Feel the pressure underfoot along the inside. If you feel this pressure diminish, you’re probably moving too far inside the turn, or moving too quickly. Use this feel for the snow to guide your lateral movements. It’s common to say, “roll your ankles,” but the ankle joint is a hinge joint; it only moves fore and aft. Tipping the foot inward (eversion) or outward (inversion) occurs at the subtalar joint, which is below the ankle and between the talus and calcaneus bones. Tis is where side-to-side roll of the foot occurs. (See “Chapter 4: Biomechanics of Skiing” in the Alpine Technical Manual.) Before putting on your boots, explore
tipping your foot inward and outward and notice the tension of your muscles to attain and hold an everted or inverted position. Ten, try the following exercise with your boots and skis on. Standing on the side of a hill, lift your
downhill foot slightly off the snow (photo 3a). Te base of your ski faces the snow directly below. Ten, evert your foot. As you tip it inward, you’ll feel tension in the muscles along the outside of your lower leg (photo 3b). Te base of your ski now faces more down the hill. Holding this position, extend your downhill leg, reaching it down the hill and
114 | 32 DEGREES • WINTER 2016
3a
3b
3c
BRAD FOSTER
Photos 3a-c: Use muscular tension to tip your foot accurately, and therefore, refine the tipping action of your ski.
4
BRANDON WEAR-GRIMM Photo 4:
With the weight of a person standing on your skis, you can feel the muscles you should engage when you tip both skis on edge.
5
BRAD FOSTER Photo 5: In a traverse, lift the downhill ski. Flex the uphill ankle to move forward.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132