Korea Technical Freeskiing contest, short turns

The major realization of this video is the poor alignment of the competitors' boots and legs.

There is some very good skiing and a few great skiers in this video. The amazing thing is that the alignment of the right boot on most of the skiers, until the very end; is off by a considerable amount. There is one skier I noticed that has bad left foot alignment, see if you can spot him?

Its interesting to see that alignment in general is not addressed in ski instruction. However what is noticed is that the skiers with the best alignment are scoring the best points here. You can see the point scores in the video frame below each competitor.

  It ironic that the ski industry doesn't understand or want to deal with bad alignment, but we reward those that are naturally well aligned, because they naturally ski well.


That should tell you something! Good skiers have good alignment. Bad ones struggle.


This is not the case at Harb Ski Systems, where we understand alignment very well and know how to fix it.

The first skier leans to the inside and falls. If you use slow motion and stop action you can clearly see the asymmetry between his body from one side, or turn, to the other. This is also true for most of the skiers coming after him. The first skier doesn't have enough Counter Balance or CB. You can see this by how his upper body to boot line,  is almost straight, from his boots to his shoulder. He is probably also adapting to the lack of response of the ski in that turn to the left where he falls, so he tries to push against the snow to get more ski engagement. This is his downfall, ha!. Had he increased his lower body tipping and CB, he would have easily made the turn.
But the problem still exists, you can't adapt to bad alignment in very fast turns, because the body can't make the adjustments fast enough.

Watch the video and enjoy the skiing, then review it and begin to pick out the obvious right leg "A" frames in most of the skiers. Compare the right side to the left side  and you will see that the left side for the right turns is more solid, and much less "A"framed.

I will continue to add and make new comments about each skier over time, so come back in a few days to investigate the Movement Analysis.

Your first clue will be to look at the still frame show in the video box below, that's an "A" frame on the right leg.

Short Turns 2

More on how to learn short high energy turns.

Modern Teaching Methods

Relaxing and floating over the snow through the High C part of turns is crucial to building balance. 

Modern skiing methods such as the PMTS Direct Parallel, is based on not creating pressure with your extension in transition. Creating pressure by body actions, destabilizes the center of your body at this crucial point. Extending in transition, especially to move you Center of Mass into a turn and works to move the body away from the balance point.  Unfortunately most ski instruction methods, still use this to exit a turn. THey have not analyzed closely enough what results from these actions they teach.  Most instruction includes pushing the body and extending. This is especially damaging to your skiing in transition.

PMTS is the first and only teaching method that allows you to naturally develop proper body alignment through expressly taught movements, that deal with forces that build through the arc of a turn. Using this method allows pressure to build through the natural forces of the mountain, gravity and momentum (Speed). This allows pressure to come to you,  as you establish balance through the radius of an arc.

Real Skiing, not ski school or Interski demo skiing.

Check out the right foot alignment on many of these skiers.




Some really great runs, many of the earlier skiers have obvious asymmetry from one side to the other. This means some slight canting would really help them, even at this level of skiing. Mostly on the right leg. You can see it if you slow the video and watch the knee drop inside the turn.
The last skier is on Head Super Shapes, not surprising, a perfect ski for this event. His alignment is almost perfect and he's a great skier. His outside leg gets really stretched out in the radius and then you retract beautifully from the load and pressure from the turn.

If you slow the video down or stop action it, you can see the amount of flexing to release and in transition the skiers are using. Most of the skiers use the "no swing", pole tap and CA is more obvious in the hips then the upper body. Mostly PMTS technique and technique used in World Cup Slalom, is seen here, rather than traditional skiing shown by the Demo Team skiing at the Interski events.
The skiers are running according to their placing, last being those that scored the best.

Short Turns with Flappers! Carved Short turns!

Compare this tip engagement to the pull back move.

How to Develop Big Angles to the Snow.

Fig. 1

In the fig.1, above the top of the arc is developed. Counter balance and tipping onto the new edges is accomplished. The inside leg is beginning to flex and tip.

Fig, 2

Fig.2, shows the commitment to the continued tipping toward the little toe edge side of the ski. The upper body stays counter balanced and the hips are countered.
Notice how the inside foot is held back from pushing forward?

Fig.3, the skis are directly in the Falline. The inside boot buckles are in the snow. The inside thigh is parallel to the snow. The outside leg still has slight bend, not locked out.
To keep the inside foot pulled back at this speed and angle, requires strong movement focus. This doesn't come naturally, it needs work.

Fig.4, The outside leg bends slightly to bring the upper body toward the outside ski side, this allows the skis to finish with a tightening arc.

The inside arm and shoulder although they look to be in the same relationship through the whole arc are actually moving forward to keep this relationship. If this is not done energetically enough, rotation of the upper body relative to the skis results.

High C edge change.

One of my favorite photos, because it shows all the movements I work so hard to produce, yet don't always show up the way I want.

The falline or downhill direction, runs perpendicular to my skis. My body is downhill or upside-down. Yet the momentum from the previous turn, keeps me from falling over. This is one of the goals or targets you can achieve, if you are carving your skis with good connecting movements from turn to turn.
The movements that make this possible are flexing the legs to get out of the previous turn. Tipping the skis, boots and legs toward the new turn, and counterbalancing with the upper body at the beginning. Like in this photo.

PMTS Direct Parallel Accreditation at A-Basin

The latest PMTS Accreditation at A-Basin is a huge success.

Every-time a new PMTS Direct Parallel instructor is minted, the level of world wide ski instruction goes up.

Some of the Trainers and Examiners, (in red), with newly minted PMTS Direct Parallel instructors from Welch Village, Minnesota and Cascade, Wi.,  plus some loyal local Colorado skiers. 

Harb Ski Systems

Harb Ski Systems

Tricks are for Kids!

Skiing is all about having fun!

"Harald's" Ski Photo for the Day: March 19th.

Harald Quote: 

"Skiing is no longer about turning your skis. It about changing edges without turning." 

Flexing to release and going through transition flexed, does not mean you are in the back seat.

Most people like to see photos of the big angles and sensational steep turns. But almost more important is how you get there. Here are some photos of the transition, where the turn is literally built. This position of the lowered hips, tipping legs and skis is normal if you want to become an expert skier. 

The "Winter Tour" is not over yet! Last week at Yellowstone, in Montana.

                         Lone Peak at Big Sky

         I'm back from "Ski Paradise", but not done yet, next is the "PMTS Direct    Parallel", Instructor Accreditation, and then we are off to Europe for the Austria Camp.

                        "The fun never ends at Harb Ski Systems."

One of the ungroomed runs out of the trees.

Skiing the crud and bumps on the "Rock and Roll" skis, by Head. With the right PMTS, counter acting movements, any ski will turn correctly, in any snow. 

Carving it up on perfect snow.

Laying it over with a flexed inside leg and counter-acted hip.

  The inside arm and hand lead the arc, flexing the inside leg, dropping the inside hip, brings huge carving angles.

Skiing the crud on Head Peak 84 Skis.

The key to "skiing fun", in crud and powder on "Good" wider skis is; tipping the feet and boots. Most skiers think you have to huck and chuck your upper body. Keep the feet and skis together, tip the inside ski first and stand on the outside ski, its not that technical.

                                   Yellowstone Club snow, Paradise of Skiing.

The Yellowstone Posse

Skiing at Yellowstone Club, great mountain, perfect snow, all the time.

The Essentials of Skiing

How to get it done!

You don't have to figure it out, or get it second hand. The secrets of becoming an Expert Skier and a World Class ski coach, are in this book. There is a handy DVD series also available.
You can order at www.harbskisystems.com
http://harbskisystems.com/You can order on my web site

Early edge and body angles

When the release is correct, early engagement above the falline is possible, with extension or up unweighting these turns "in short radius", are not possible.

The examples here are to demonstrate early edge angles really mean, for commentary in the video of Interski Skiing, which is in the Blog article, four posts "Below".

                                       Enlarge photos by clicking on them.