Figure 5 2 1 3 2 4 7 6 6 5 8 8
© Ron LeMaster Figure 6
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 9
line that she can then carve through the rest of the turn. By the eighth frame, the hip is back in and the outside ski is on a high edge angle and carving cleanly. It’s worth taking a close look at the
9 © Ron LeMaster
and sometimes you want them to slip with enough bite to slow you down. In fi gure 6, Viktoria Rebensburg exercises edge control to both slice and scrape in these two turns. In the very fi rst frame she angulates with the outside knee to get her outside ski to start carving. T rough the rest of the turn she progressively adds hip angulation to the mix, increasing the edge angle and tightening the turn. Rebensburg enters the second turn with a stivot – a sideways slide to scrub speed – by turning her skis down the hill in the fi fth and sixth frames while fl attening them a bit so they skid smoothly. She turns the skis with leg rotation and
reduces their edge angle by pushing her hip out. In the seventh frame, she turns her skis slightly toward the outside of the turn to a
fourth and fi fth frames, between which Rebensburg has reduced the edge angle of her outside ski. T at makes the ski go straighter, helping release her from the turn. What has reduced the edge angle? While her knee and hip angulation is about the same, she’s dramatically changed her inclination. It’s that change in inclination, which continues all the way to the eighth frame, that controls her lateral balance and ski-to-ski pressure control. T is coordination of edge angle and ski-to-ski pressure control with changing inclination is at the heart of advanced skiing. And note that, while pressure is focused on the outside ski during the carving portions of her turns, Rebensburg is decidedly two- footed in the sixth and seventh frames, where it aids her stability and carving is not the goal. In fi gure 7, former PSIA Nordic Team
Coach J. Scott McGee shows another application of selective gripping and slipping. We can tell that McGee has planned his entire line through these two turns well before he started the fi rst turn. In the fi rst frame he sees a good line for threading the second turn through some small trees, and plans his fi rst turn to set him up for the second one’s entry at a controlled speed. McGee brings himself to that spot by
fl aring the tail of his outside ski to a forward sideslip – a well-fi nessed combination of
© Ron LeMaster
edge and fore-aft pressure control – that controls his speed and direction at the same time. He then sets the edge of his outside ski with some increased hip angulation and counter. T e oblique pole plant and slight launch into the second turn makes it easy for him to steer his skis into the turn with leg rotation, after which he lands and carves to its completion.
CONTROL PRESSURE ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE SKIS
Controlling the pressure fore and aft along the length of the skis accomplishes two things. First, it helps the skier stay in balance in the face of changes in terrain, snow, and the dynamics of a turn. Second, it enables the skier to control how much the ski wants to turn. In fi gures 8 and 9, respectively, Bode
Miller and PSIA Alpine Team member Jonathan Ballou make fore-aft movements that diff er in amplitude but are similar in nature. In both instances, they carve into the bottom of the fi rst turn with pressure forward on their left ski. You can tell that’s where the pressure is by the spray of snow coming out from under the skis’ forebody. T ey complete the turn with a shift
in pressure toward the tail, evidenced by their tips being free of the snow and their outside ankles straightening, bringing their feet forward relative to their centers of mass. As they enter the new turn, both skiers move forward again, by fl exing their ankles, to make the tips engage and help start the ski turning. Because of their inclination, in both cases the skiers’ feet travel a longer path through the turns than their centers of
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