Matt Boyd, Sasha Rearick, and Ellen Post Foster


and the why a racer or non-competitive skier (us!) would use a particular turn transition. We also off er an in-depth description of the mechanics that distinguish performance, extension, retraction, and rebound turns. Although the focus is on transition, accompanying photo montages portray the entire turn to provide a complete picture.


PERFORMANCE TURN


Performance turns tend to be Sasha Rearick’s preference in most situations. T rough transition, the racer is in a compact stance that is stable and conserves energy. From this stance, the skier can control his or her extension against the edged, outside ski at turn initiation. In this way, the racer can pressure and bend the outside ski into a carved arc, maintaining suction-like contact with the snow. For recreational skiing, the performance transition is usually the target transition when skiing round-shaped turns because it allows skiers to distribute pressure more uniformly throughout the turn; pressure doesn’t build greatly at one point in the turn.


HOW IT’S DONE


As shown in fi gure 1, after turning on the outside ski, the skier remains in a low, athletic stance as he or she moves forward and transfers weight to the new outside ski (fi g. 1a). After the weight transfer, the skier begins to tip (edge) the new outside ski and extend the outside leg while fl exing the inside leg (fi g. 1b). As the skier progressively tips the ski on edge, he or she continues to extend the outside leg, staying forward and increasing pressure (fi g. 1c). T is pressure bends the edged ski into an arc and maintains ski-to-snow contact. In this way, the skier’s center of mass is


96 | 32 DEGREES • WINTER 2017


ahead of his or her feet at the top of the turn. With muscles activated in the lower legs and feet, the racer’s ankles are fl exed and he or she has the muscular tension necessary to fi ne-tune edge angle in order to balance along the inside edge of the outside ski. As the skier continues to move forward and inward, he or she drives the inside shoulder forward and upward, creating a strong inside half of the body. With the hip over the feet, the racer drives the outside knee and ankle forward through the apex of the turn (fi g. 1d). Skis are at their greatest edge angles in the fall line. T e skier angulates to continue to balance against the outside ski, and to be strong against the forces from the snow that build as he or she carves a curved path (fi g. 1e).


Coming out of the shaping phase, the


racer actively transfers weight, taking the momentum from the outside ski laterally onto the inside ski (new outside ski). T roughout the turn, pressure should move smoothly from tip to tail.


© Ron LeMaster


EXTENSION TURN


Racers extend in the transition between giant slalom turns when there’s room between gates, such as when the next gate is off set far across the hill. In this way, a racer delays turn entry and doesn’t start the turn too early. T e racer can stretch out extension, moving forward along the length of the new outside ski and then tip the ski on edge at any moment to draw the ski into the turn. T is long-legged stance leaves the racer ready to absorb pressure when he or she turns out of the fall line. Moving to the inside ski early also


takes pressure off the edged outside ski so that it doesn’t continue to turn more than necessary and slow the racer’s speed. T e inside ski is more under the skier’s body and on less of an edge, so it can glide faster. For both a racer and a recreational


skier, an extension turn is also used in an eff ort to regain balance when the skier gets thrown aft in the fi nish phase of the previous turn. T e focus on extending


a b


c


FIGURE 2: EXTENSION TURN


In an extension turn – as exhibited here by Austrian racer Marcel Hirscher – pressure on the outside ski is released through an early weight transfer to the inside ski, accompanied by extension of the inside leg. At the moment of edge change, both of the skier’s legs are fairly extended.


BRIAN SMITH


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