To keep track of
everything you should be doing with your upper and
lower body, during a single turn on skis, can be a
daunting task. You know your arms should remain wide
apart, up high, and in your peripheral vision and
that you should flex your ankles into each turn. In
addition, you are thinking about keeping your
shoulders squared off and parallel to the fall line
angle, while you face down the hill. Next, you do
not want to forget to plant your pole at the end of
each turn, with it occurring out by the tip of your
ski. Finally, you must make sure you are driving
your hip and shoulder toward the inside of the turn,
as you point your knee (in the turn direction) to
create more edge angle. If you are like me, you do
some of these things correctly and some
not-so-correctly.
Turning on one ski,
while cruising down a moderate and nicely groomed
slope can really help you assess your strong and
weak movements. As you are turning left and right on
the same leg make note of what is happening. Is it
easier to turn one way, but much more difficult to
turn in the other direction? Can you do this
exercise more easily on one leg as compared with the
other one? Are you able to carve the turn to your
good side, while only skidding the next one on your
bad side? Do you feel centered over the ski in one
turn and more on the back of your skis in the next?
If the answer to
any of these questions is yes, start to dissect
individual components of the turn while skiing on
one leg. For example, suppose you can make a nice
turn to the right, yet barely complete one to the
left on the same leg. To solve this problem compare
your ankle flex during both turns. You should feel
equal pressure on your shin, from the tongue of your
ski boot, in both a left turn and a right turn. If
not, you may need to reach out with your pole plant
and drive your ankle forward in the weak side turn,
to stay centered on your ski and get it up on edge
and carving. Feel what your hips and shoulders do
during your good side turn. Mimic this good-side
movement on your bad side.
Are your arms forward and
in your field of vision in both directions?
Are your skis carving in
both directions?
Are you centered over your
ski in both turn directions?
It takes 200 turns on each
leg to completely absorb the benefits of this
drill. To get to 200 turns per leg may take
several outings; be patient.
Go back and apply what you
learned about your body position to normal
skiing.
Repeat the one-legged
drill from time to time, as a technique checkup.
Follow this link to watch
a talented 10 year old skiing on one leg during
the video. You do not need to take one ski off
to do this drill. Just hold one ski off the snow
a bit so it does not interfere with skiing on
one leg.
http://www.weekendwarriorsguide.com/vidpage4.htm
Remember, only try this exercise on an easy groomed run and
never ski beyond your ability. Skiing is dangerous
and can result in injury or even death. Be careful
and always wear a helmet.
This subtle turning technique is
used by expert skiers to make effortless
turns in all conditions without any apparent
weight transfer from ski to ski. The other
thing you will notice about expert skiers
using this turn technique is their uncanny
ability to make beautiful turns in both
directions.
The dynamics of an effortless
turn reside in your ability to do a few
things simultaneously. Fortunately this is
much easier to practice than it may be to
explain. To help you get this concept of
shifting to a flat foot, I want you to
imagine you are just finishing a right turn
on skis. The weight is on your left ski as
you begin to stand up and transition out of
the right turn. At this point, take the
weight off your left ski and transition it
to the right ski as you apply muscle force
with your right leg. At this same instant,
push your right foot flat in your ski boot
and point your knees in the direction of the
new turn. You know you are doing this
correctly when you feel pressure under the
arch of your foot each time you flatten it.
I realize this paragraph may be difficult to
understand, so instead of re-reading it I
suggest you keep reading and this next
paragraph will clarify the concept.
Learning this subtle weight
shift and flattening of the foot can be done
right in your living room. Begin by finding
a pair of running shoes, Birkenstocks, or
other shoes with a significant arch pad in
the insole. Street shoes probably will not
work for this exercise. Before we proceed, I
want to warn you to be careful when doing
this exercise, because the potential does
exist to put excessive pressure on your
knees. With your feet unable to glide or
move it can create more pressure than doing
this exercise on skis, especially if you
were to stumble or fall during the
exercise. Do not attempt this exercise if
you have any medical problems with your
knees. With that said, let’s learn this
subtle shift to a flat foot.
Grab your ski poles and head for
the living room. To position yourself, stand
with your feet about 5 inches apart and your
ankles flexed forward to create a slight
bend at the knee. Use your ski poles for
support by placing them wide and out in
front of your feet by about ten inches.
Place all your weight on your left foot as
you slowly push your knees a bit more
forward and point them to the right. Hold
this position and press your left foot flat
until you feel the pressure under your arch.
Remember to keep all of your weight on your
left foot throughout this part of the
exercise using your right foot only to
maintain balance. Next you are going to
shift your weight to your right foot. To do
this straighten your legs, lift your left
heel slightly (very important) and step
down on your right foot as you bend your
knees forward again, pointing them to the
left. Hold this position with all your
weight now on your right foot while you
press your right foot flat. Do you feel the
pressure under your right arch? When
performing this exercise correctly it will
develop enough pressure under the arch of
the foot to create minor discomfort.
On the other hand, if you are
having trouble feeling pressure under the
arch of your weighted foot, you may want to
try taping a 1” x 1” piece of foam about a
1/4” thick under the arch pad of your shoe
insole. This will help you feel the pressure
under your arch when you weight and flatten
your foot.
If you still can’t feel
significant pressure under your arch, most
likely one of two things is wrong. First,
you may not be pointing your knees far
enough in the direction of the un-weighted
foot. This is important in that if you can
not create pressure under your arch in this
exercise, then you also will not be creating
enough pressure on the inside edge of your
ski as you attempt to carve turns on the
snow. As you point your knees to one side or
the other during this exercise, discontinue
it immediately if you feel even slight
discomfort.
Figure 8.3 Shift Weight and
Flatten Foot.
The foot
on the right has been flattened out to
facilitate transferring pressure to the
edge of the weighted ski. This is
accomplished by transferring your weight
onto one foot and then pointing your
knees in the direction of the
un-weighted foot. The ball is compressed
by the foot that has been flattened.
If pointing your knees more failed to
increase pressure under your arch, your
problem may be caused by the shape of your
foot. If it varies much from the norm you
simply may not be able to develop the
desired pressure under your arch without the
aid of custom footbeds. To remedy this
situation you need to see a foot
professional about getting custom footbeds
(for more on this see chapter 23 titled
Correct Alignment is First). Don’t
forget to take the foam out of your shoes
after doing this exercise.
For a moment imagine you are
back on the slopes and ready to practice the
SSFF (Subtle Shift to Flat foot). As you
complete a ski turn, stand up on both skis
and slightly lift the heel of your
previously weighted downhill ski, while
transferring your weight to the other ski.
Immediately flatten your weighted foot to
help develop pressure on the inside edge of
your newly weighted ski. Feel the pressure
under your arch. Now, and I mean right now,
apply CPCPU! Remember, C = Compress by
driving your knees forward, P = Point you
knees in the direction you want to turn, CP
= apply Continuous Pressure through to the
end of the turn, and U = stand Up riding
equally weighted flat skis, positioned to
begin the next turn. Congratulations! You
just added the Subtle Shift and Flat Foot to
CPCPU.
Think of creating carved turns
as a very fluid and continuous motion. As
you practice the SSFF weight shift exercise
at home, concentrate on making it a rhythmic
and continuous movement from the left foot
to the right foot. Repetition is a good
thing, so practice this secret to
creating a carved turn (SSFF) many
times, and then practice some more. It is
helpful to measure your progress in writing.
To do this we suggest you decide on the
number of times you will practice this drill
at home. After you have decided on a number,
write it down, and keep a log until you have
reached the desired number of practice
sequences.
We suggest doing between 50 and
100 repetitions of this dry land practice
sequence before you take it to the snow. It
takes time to create the mental and physical
side of the engram for this movement, so we
also suggest you do this in sets of 10 or
15. There are several advantages to chunking
it out in smaller sets. It gives you time
to absorb it into your mind between sets,
and it helps you avoid straining any body
parts by doing too many repetitions in one
session. Doing one of these dry land
training sets per day is appropriate. Be
sure to do it in slow motion so you will not
leave out any steps.
This is the most important dry
land training you will do in this book. It
is going to create the mental memory portion
of your “basic carved turn” engram. If you
feel you are unable to do this exercise
physically, it can still be memorized using
the bed time visualization method described
on page 22. Developing the CPCPU
turn using the Subtle Shift to Flat Foot
weight transfer technique will prepare you
for learning the advanced RAT turn
techniques discussed later in this book. The
RAT (Relaxed Aggressive Turn) contains the
final three elements needed to complete your
advanced turn repertoire.
Be aware that this dry land
practice drill is isometric in nature
requiring that you flex and hold some
muscles in specific positions for up to
twenty to thirty seconds per sequence. If
this begins to fatigue you, reduce your
number of repetitions per set, as necessary,
to allow you to do it correctly without
losing focus due to muscle strain. If you
feel any discomfort in your knees, reduce
the force you are exerting during the Pointing
phase. If discomfort lasts for any length of
time discontinue this dry land exercise.
DRY LAND PRACTICE DRILL: CPCPU
with Subtle Shift to Flat Foot
Stand
with your feet 5 – 7 inches apart
and place your ski poles ten inches
in front of you. Make sure the poles
are also about 8 inches wider than
your body on each side.
While
supporting yourself with your ski
poles, bend your knees comfortably
forward.
Lift
your left heel slightly, and apply
most of your weight to the right
foot.
Push
your right foot flat as you point
your knees to the left.
Continue to apply forward pressure
to the inside arch of your right
foot.
Use
your leg muscles to keep your knees
driving forward and to the left, and
to exert pressure on the arch of
the right foot for at least 3
seconds
Next
stand Up straight and apply equal
weight to both legs.
Start
the sequence again by bending you
knees comfortably forward.
Now
lift your right heel slightly, and
apply most of your weight to the
left foot.
Push
your left foot flat as you point
your knees to the right.
Continue to apply forward pressure
to the inside arch of your left
foot.
Use
your left leg to keep your knees
driving forward and to the right for
3 seconds. Then, stand up straight.
This
completes two turns, one to the
left, followed by one to the right.
Finally, create a log and track your
progress as discussed on page 60.
DISCONTINUE THIS EXERCISE IF YOU
FEEL ANY DISCOMFORT.
Keep your Feet
Together and Move the Legs in Unison.
Look Ahead to
Proactively Ski Moguls.
Ski in the Ruts
as a Beginning Technique.
Absorb, then
Extend (It’s the secret.)
Use a Special
Pole Plant in the Moguls.
1. Apply the Basic
Fundamentals of Skiing
It is no surprise that all good mogul skiers stay in
control. They have mastered the fundamental skills
necessary to ski moguls. For most experts, this is
accomplished by utilizing a formal approach to
learning their sport, with a strong focus on the
basics such as hand position, body position, and
lower body action.
2. Keep Your Feet
Together and Move the Legs in Unison
In
the moguls your feet, legs, and skis need to work
together doing things in the same place at the same
time. Events happen fast here, and a narrow stance
is a huge advantage when applying mogul skiing
technique. For example, a wider stance can put you
in the awkward situation of having one ski high on
the side of a bump, while the other ski is down in
the rut.
3. Look Ahead to
Proactively Ski Moguls
Moguls are not a uniform set of formations that are
predictable. In fact, it is just the opposite, as
bumps are getting more irregular, rutted, and
chopped off every year. This is all the more reason
for you to be looking ahead; not just down in front
of your skis. Looking ahead a few rows in the moguls
gives your mind time to process information about
what is coming, and send this data to your muscles.
Then, your body has the time to make adjustments for
the changing landscape in front of you.
Figure 15.2 Eyes Look Ahead Three to Five
Rows. This allows
the skier to adjust for changes in the mogul
shapes before hitting them. Looking ahead keeps
the head up and helps maintain an erect stance.
4.
Ski in the Ruts as a Beginning Technique
Right after we explain how you ski the
ruts, and you learn to do it, then we want you to
stop doing it. That sounds like a waste of time, but
it’s not. Think of starting in the ruts as a way to
easily become comfortable with moguls before you
move on to carving turns anywhere but in the ruts.
Let’s set a goal of making controlled turns straight
down the fall line without expending huge amounts of
energy. The big deal here is to control your speed,
and everything else will fall into place. Speed
control is the ticket that will get you ripping
through the moguls faster and faster, if you so
desire. Just remember, faster skiing in the bumps
requires an incredible amount of practice at
slower speeds.
5. Absorb, then
Extend (It’s the Secret)
Knowing the ins and outs of absorbing and extending
will allow you to master the advanced mogul
techniques of making turns on the sides and tops of
moguls which we will be discussing later on in this
chapter. Being able to use a combination of these
turns will make you an expert bump skier. The
absorb/extend technique requires that you absorb the
bump as you make a hard edge set (check turn) to
scrub speed on the front side of the mogul, and then
extend your legs down the back side, dropping your
ski tips to match the contour of the snow. If you’re
not getting enough extension, correct it by driving
your hips forward as illustrated in Figure 15.6 on
the following page.
Figure 15.6 Hip Projection. After coming
over the top of the bump the hips are pushed
forward, the legs are extended, and the ski tips
are dropped down to maintain contact with the
snow. Point the toes down as the hips drive
forward. It’s a bit of ballet!
You
will find detailed information about each of these
techniques and discover many more mogul skiing tips,
in our book:
Moving your own body mass back and forth
across your skis is a major breakthrough in the game
of carving turns. But alas, the great majority is
afraid of this movement on skis and never achieves
it because they are reluctant to become human
metronomes. If you ever took piano lessons as a
child you know what I am referring to when I say
metronome. It is the mechanical device that makes
repeated clicking sounds as its single arm swings
back and forth marking rhythm for you.Think of this single arm as you and the base
it is attached to as your skis. As this arm (or in
this case you) swings back and forth across your
skis, you are actually moving your body mass from
turn to turn.
Figure 10.1Think of Yourself as a
Human Metronome:
The skier above swings back and forth across
their skis like the metronome arm swings back
and forth across its base. The skier transfers
body mass from side to side using lateral hip
movements to help edge the skis.
When ski instructors talk about moving
your body mass they are referring to the movement of
the center or core of your body. This center is
composed of your hips, buttocks, and abdomen. The
movement of your body mass from side to side is
often referred to as the crossover maneuver.
This area of your body is very efficient at
supplying the movements needed to create quality
turns.
To visualize your body core in action,
imagine your hips are trapped in a long box that is
only about as thick as you are front to back, but
extends out from each of your sides by three feet.
In other words your hips are now trapped in a big
rectangular box. Next imagine your hips can only
move from side to side in the box, or to put it
another way the hips can only slide laterally back
and forth inside this box. Figure 10.2 will help you
visualize this sliding action.
Figure 10.2 Hip Slides in a Box.Sliding the hips
from side to side shifts your body mass across
your skis from the inside of one turn to the
inside of the next turn. This is also referred
to as the crossover move. There is some up and
down movement of the hips because the legs are
elongating at the end of a turn and bending or
compressing into and through the turn.
To gain a complete understanding of the relationship
between the hips, knees, and legs in a carved turn,
take a moment and return to our home page for a
visit to the excerpt from the book called Basics
of the Carved Turn. You will find it under the
Browse our Categories heading. The
illustration in this section shows you how to create
a carved turn using the CPCPU method. You do this by
keeping pressure on the imaginary springs (connected
between your knees and the tips of your skis)
throughout the entire turn with the most pressure
coming at the end of your turn. This is called the
Continuous Push phase of CPCPU. The reason you need
to keep pushing through the turn is your skis are
pushing back with force. If you do not keep driving
your ankles and knees forward during the entire
turn, your skis will want to skid the last half of
the turn and you will lose some control over the
terrain. Keeping pressure on the front of your
skis, throughout the turn, allows you to more easily
side your hips toward the inside of the turn.
This is because a correctly carving ski provides a
more solid foundation to push against than a
skidding ski.
To really drive home this point about
the hips moving from side to side, as you turn, I
want you to try a neat on-snow drill that will
quickly let you feel the correct hip position in the
turn. I call this drill the “Disco Nights Move.” It
gets its name from the famous dance sequence in the
movie Saturday Night Fever. During a dance
scene, the star of the film has his hips swinging
back and forth as he points to the sky with one arm
and carries his other arm near or on his hip. I hope
you know what I am talking about here because you
will be using a move very similar to this on the
snow to develop a feel for hip placement during the
turn. The only difference being you will be pointing
your arm more straight out, rather than up toward
the sky.
For this drill, put your poles aside and
find a gentle, groomed run. Begin by making a series
of medium size turns placing your hand on the hip
over your downhill or outside ski during every turn.
While this is happening take your other arm and
point it toward the inside of the turn at about the
height of your shoulder. Switch arms every time you
start a new turn. It’s like this; when you are
turning to the right your left hand is on your left
hip, and when you are turning to the left your right
hand is on your right hip. This switching of the
arms automatically makes your hips slide from side
to side. Excellent!
As a warm-up to the on-snow drill try
this move right in your living room and you will
immediately feel your hips move side to side as you
switch arms. Your hips always slide in the
direction you are pointing. To ensure your hips
move laterally, point your arm at a slight upward
angle and with some enthusiasm. Bend your knees a
bit, and let your body adjust so your feet don’t
move as you switch hands on the hips and point to
the other side with your arm.
Disco Nights Move On-Snow Drill
Pick a gentle
groomed slope, and put your poles aside.
To begin,
traverse across the hill with your downhill
hand on your hip and your uphill arm
pointing up the hill.
Do this
several times while traversing in both
directions.
Now ski down
the gentle slope making turns using this arm
and hand position. Be sure to change
hand positions between each turn, and always
point to the inside of the turn.
In between
each turn stand up as you reverse the
position of your arms.
Compress into
the next turn keeping your hand on your hip,
and your opposite arm pointing to the
inside of the turn.
TIP:
Be sure to switch the hand on hip-arm point
position during the UP phase of the turn. See
figure 10.3. Did I make that point three times?
Oh well, repetition is good.
Racers practice this drill, so don’t
feel silly as you do it. I did promise in the
beginning of this book I would not make you look
silly doing on-snow exercises, but this is the one
exception because you will benefit tremendously from
this exercise.
Figure 10.3 Disco Nights Move:
During each turn the skier points to the inside
of the turn, while keeping the outside hand on
the hip. Stand tall on your skis and switch
hands between every turn.
You will remember we talked about every turn
creating force that tries to push your legs back to
the straight up or natural position. The amount of
force that is generated is directly related to your
speed and the pitch of the slope. The idea here is
to be aware that this force is always present and
pushing back at you in the turns. This is great
because you can use this force to stand up at the
end of the turn and slide your hips laterally from
the inside of your current downhill ski to the
inside of your new downhill ski to initiate the next
turn. Say what? Sentences like that last one are a
bit disconcerting in that they always make turning
on skis sound so difficult. Think of body mass
movement like this:
Edge aggressively through the
turn.
At the end of the turn, stand up
and slide your hips in the direction of the next
turn.
If you are finishing a right
turn, slide your hips to the left.
Coming out of a left turn, slide
your hips to the right.
You guessed it: Your hips are
sliding in the direction of the turn.
If you would
like to know exactly what it feels like to be in a
perfect ski stance try the following exercise.
Figure 27.1Ski Stance Simulation
Exercise on a Balance Board.
To start, relax and
place arms in the beach ball position, then flex
ankles, next center hips over feet, followed by
rounding out the lower back, and last, tip upper
body slightly forward while relaxing shoulders. When
movements are completed correctly, in the above
sequence, the balance board will remain level
without the edges touching the floor.
After you read these tips and our book, you may hear a
familiar ring, discovering that their advice sounds
similar to much of the information put forth in our
book. However, the interesting point is that none of
these experts had read the book prior to offering their
tip.
These tips come from a group of skiers that are masters
in their chosen area. They are instructors, competitors,
coaches, and champions. Believe them, and you will
shorten your learning curve.
1. When skiing the
glades, focus your attention on the gaps between the
trees, not the trees you’re skiing around and between.
By concentrating on the open areas, you look ahead and
find the clean line through the maze. Eyes lead our
bodies, and where they go, we follow.
Stuart Andrews, coach and freestyle competitor
2. Mogul fields
are a series of large troughs and bumps. Too often the
skier looks for a path or line that consists of going
from one trough or “hole” to the next. Next time, think
of looking for the surface area of the mogul that gives
you the smoothest place to complete a quick short turn.
It can be on the front side, or back of the bump; and is
often the opposite of the trough. Each turn is different
so it will take a lot of practice applying the correct
amount of pressure to the skis for each turn on each
surface. By doing this you can direct your skis and
control where you turn. So next time look down the hill
and stay out of the holes!
Bill Campbell, American Pro Skiing Grand Prix
Champion
3. Believe it:
Everyone has bad days, and to break out of a bad day go
back to the basics. Tell yourself to reach for the tip
of your ski or the top of the mogul by flicking your
pole plant to start or initiate your turn, and apply
more pressure to the downhill ski.
Joey Cordeau,
world mogul champion
4. If Robert Frost
were alive today, he might advise skiers to choose the
line less traveled, especially on powder days. Even at
Steamboat Springs, one of the premier powder/tree skiing
areas in the world with an abundance of expert skiers
and riders, I’m amazed how much untracked snow can be
found by being a little creative. For example, if you
choose a line that is at a somewhat different angle to
the obvious one that most people take, instead of
constantly turning through the tracks of other skiers
and riders, you barely notice their tracks as you cross
them once and forget them. I’ve always chosen the line
less skied, and it has made all the difference.
Todd Kelly, ski
instructor
5.Don’t be
lazy with your hands. Although it may seem unnatural to
continuously hold your hands high and in front of you
(roughly chest level), it will allow you to keep a quiet
upper body while maintaining a forward and balanced
position during the turn. If your hands are in this
position and your arms are relaxed with a slight bend;
you are now in the driver’s seat. Grab the steering
wheel with elbows out and your palms facing each other,
and ski great!
Mark Kraley, ski
instructor
6. Most people are
locked up below the fall line; never learning to ski
both above and below it in a single turn. Whether you
are accelerating or decelerating, you need to learn to
do it above the fall line. To do this, you make the
first half of your turn skiing into the fall line and
the second half of your turn skiing away from the fall
line. You must learn to put pressure on the new carving
edge above the fall line, and carry it all the way
through the complete turn. When you do this correctly it
will result in a round carved turn, with you dictating
your speed and rhythm. (Authors’ note: This is probably
the single most important point made about carving
turns, but because it is a difficult concept to grasp
please see “A Weekend Warrior’s Guide to Expert Skiing”,
chapter 12 pages 88-90, for a complete explanation of
skiing above and below the fall line.)
Dan Kurdy, racer,
mogul competitor, film star
7. When
asked by the author to contribute a skiing tip for this
book, different ideas came to mind. Should I talk about
keeping your hands up, ankle and knee flex, angulation,
or staying centered on your skis? Then it came to me.
None of it is going to help you if you’re not physically
strong enough to execute the drills or skiing techniques
taught in these pages. I’m not trying to say you need to
become a gym rat, but you need to be in decent shape.
Skiing is a power sport and runs don’t last that long.
You
need to be explosive in order to hit the moguls hard and
not be knocked down, throw your skis out to the side and
make a turn, or to set a hard edge to get over a patch
of ice. You must be enough of an athlete to control your
body as well as your equipment. So, by all means read
and learn from this book. Just get off the couch and
get yourself in skiing condition before you hit the
mountain. It will make your skiing experience more
rewarding and more importantly help prevent injury.
John Zuck,
freestyle team director, mogul competitor
“Tips
from the Experts” is a reprint from: A
Weekend Warrior’s Guide to Expert Skiing
When you travel to unfamiliar resorts, there are a few
things to consider before you step into your skis and
head aimlessly and blissfully (at least in the
beginning) out to the lifts. You may be facing a new set
of challenges that can have a less than positive outcome
on your skiing.
The first of which is altitude. If you are
traveling to the Alps or the Rocky Mountains for the
first time, and especially Colorado, you will probably
be skiing at a much higher elevation than usual. Our
secret to dealing with higher altitudes is to slow down,
drink more fluids, get a good night’s sleep, and (if
possible) arrive one day early in order to become more
accustomed to the thin air and recover from jet lag or
long hours in a car. This can be your shopping day.
Pacing yourself at altitude is a wise
decision. Start the ski day with easy warm-up runs, and
generally try to take a more relaxed approach to your
skiing. If you plan to take on a more difficult section
of the mountain, or to ski a popular off-piste run that
you must hike to, delay these efforts until you have
been at the area for two days if possible. This will
give your body time to acclimate as you go to higher
altitudes during the day, and then sleep at a lower
altitude during the night. In most cases, you will
benefit from easy skiing the first two days, and then
you can increase your activity level for the rest of
your vacation.
Once at the mountain, inquire at the
information desk about going on a guided mountain tour
led by host skiers. This is the fastest way to get to
know the mountain, and discover some of the local’s
favorite runs or powder caches. A mountain host can
also tell you what lifts to avoid right after lunch,
where the best on-mountain restaurants are located, the
names of the Après skiing hot spots, and most important
of all; where to find the best snow. In addition, you
should study the area map, and spend a few minutes to
develop a basic understanding of the mountain’s layout.
One final thought; before you leave home do
a quick inspection of your equipment. Start by
inspecting your ski bases for gouges or edge damage, and
if necessary take this opportunity to have your skis
tuned. However, wait until you arrive at the resort to
have your skis waxed for the current conditions. Next,
look at your boots and be sure to inspect them for
broken buckles and cracks in the plastic. Lastly, check
out your poles, making sure you have no cuts on the
shafts. A significant cut into the shaft of a composite
pole could cause it to break.
If you are flying to a destination resort,
versus driving, you need not bring your skis or poles.
If is much easier to rent skis and poles when you
arrive. This assures you receive skis that have been
freshly tuned and are ready to go. It can help to know
the tip, tail, and waist dimensions of your current
skis, along with the name and model, so that you can
rent a similar ski. If you feel the rental ski just
isn’t working for you, simply return them and get a
different model of ski. Always bring your boots from
home.
“Skiing
Unfamiliar Resorts” is a reprint from: A
Weekend Warrior’s Guide to Expert Skiing
