Marcel Hirscher skis PMTS

Marcel Hirscher

Lift and tilt the ski to release, inside little toe edge tipping first.

 At the end of an arc he's releasing his skis forward, flexing to absorb the energy and about to transition (change edges).

         
                       

(This is not the same turn as above) He has changed edges, pulled his feet back,  his tips are on the snow, his tails are lifted. Contrary to what many coaches tell their athletes, he did not raise or move his hips up or forward. This is a pure pull back move, as taught in PMTS and that is demonstrated in the Essentials DVDs.

PMTS Movements are the same as World Cup Skiers movements.

When you learn PMTS, you will be using the same movements as the best skiers in the world and therefore; you will raise your skiing level and performance accordingly. I often demonstrate the movements using photos and videos of the world's best, don't be intimidated, many intermediate and advanced skiers have learned how to ski with the this fabulous technique. At our camps we teach  exactly these movements. When we teach them in PMTS; we introduce movements in small bits and at the levels you can perform successfully. The tempo is slower, the dynamics are lower and the angles are smaller, however the basic movements is the same. Here is an example of a World Cup skier using the PMTS, Phantom Move release.

 This is Reinfred Herbst of the Austrian Team, he was the best slalom skier in the world in 2009. Beset by injury and equipment problems in the last few years; he has made a comeback this year and placed 6th in the first slalom of the new season.

You can see that in the top photo he lifts his old stance ski, at the tip. Next (below) he pulls the ski back and tips it toward the new turn and to the little toe edge. This helps his hips to cross his skis, and it prepares his edges for the new angles.

This is only one step or exercise you will learn with  PMTS. With the combination of movements like this, in a very short time, your skiing begins to connect turns with less energy and more control.

Notice the angle of the lifted foot's,  shin bone,  is more angles forward in the lower photo. Also the foot is further under the knee. This is a result of holding the foot back and keeping the ankle flexed and engaged.

Super Phantom Move, by Harb Ski Systems, used by World Cup Skiers.

Look at the third, middle frame, he's standing on the little toe edge at the end of the arc.

One of the key moves taught in PMTS Direct Parallel, is the Super Phantom, which means transfer to the uphill edge of the inside ski at the end of an arc. This is accomplished by, reducing the pressure on the outside or stance ski by flexing the leg and or retracting that leg. This causes a release and a strongly balanced entry to the new arc.

Top US under 18 year old.

This is Nick Veith one of a group of strong under 18 years olds in the US Ski Team program. We work with him to set up his boots, He's on Dodge boots. You don't have to look hard to see amazing flexibility in his hips. 

Nick has been skiing out of the Steamboat school program, his Dad, Alan is an old friend and is Nick's main coach. We skied together years ago. Alan is a strong skier, French "B" Team.

You can see the influence of the strong upper body, Counter Balance and Counter Acting. Inside hand forward, outside hand very relaxed, not pushing or driving. Ski angles are amazing. In today's world of world cup racing, it's no longer about achieving angles, everyone can do it, to extreme levels. It's about fore/aft balance.

It's also about running a clean edge without hard pressure, in-other -words, tipping the ski early and increasing the angles as the turn develops. You don't want any hard quick edging movements. This means you can't twist the ski or un-weight it in transition to let it drift very far. This incurs a late and hard edge, as we saw in Solden those skiers went out of the course. Transition should be continuos untipping with retraction and engaging tipping movements with the lower body, before the apex or falline.

It also applies to slalom, a softer early edge is faster than a hard late edge set, Deville is the master at going straighter than anyone and still staying relatively evenly pressured. I'm predicting some wins for him this year, in slalom. I thought he could do it last year, but he's looking even better this year.

I am a big fan of Korean Skiing.

These are excellent turns, and excellent demonstrations,  however it is not "PMTS Direct Parallel" skiing. Why?

 I am a big fan of Korean and Japanese demonstrators and skiers. I coached Japanese racers in the 70ies,  my years as a racing coach. I coached one skier from Japan, who finished in the top 10, in two different Olympics slaloms.

I like the skiing, it is precise, more so than North American skiers and demonstrators. However, it's missing two things to be PMTS skiing. If you look at the top of the arc, the tails of the skis are slipping or showing some pivoting. It is very well controlled and I am not criticizing it; because it is well done. 

Again, we strive to engage the skis, by that I mean in PMTS we work on creating an angle earlier in the High C part of the arc. The other thing is the pole swing. If you have watched my You Tube videos, you know we try not to swing the tip of the ski pole toward the ski tip. As in the World Cup today, there is almost no pole swing, this is more efficient and requires less movements. Other than that, there is some minor hip rotation in some turns, but in general this is excellent skiing.

There are great movements here; flexing is the most obvious, tipping with the inside foot/ski first, also holding the CA in many turns and Counter Acting at the initiation. Excellent stuff.

The World Cup stance, the narrower the better!

Since I speak German, I have the advantage of watching the EuroSport feed for World Cup slalom races. The commentary about the skiers is so much higher quality than Universal Sports with Lewis and Purino. They use former world cup Slalom Globe winners, not downhillers. The talk is consistently about the narrowing of the stance of World Cup skiers in slalom. I have not heard much about the Phantom Move, which besides the narrow stance, is very prevalent. Here is an example from two clips of Deville making the Phantom Move to begin his new turn.

This is from the Levi Slalom last weekend.

This is the Classic Phantom Move; I write about it in my first book, "Anyone can be an Expert Skier". Deville, is not the only skier in the top 15 of the world using this move, almost everyone in top 15 uses it.

I wrote my first book 16 years ago, if you had followed it then, you'd be 16 years ahead of ski instruction today. And maybe more because ski instruction still doesn't use, teach or understand the Phantom Move.

Very simple to understand and you can see it on my You Tube Videos, if you want it in action.

Lift or lighten the old outside ski, tilt the ski to it's outside or little toe edge. As you tilt pull the foot back and bring your ski boot closer to the new outside, pressured ski.

If you want to ski your best, use the movements of the best skiers.

This is it.

First Slalom of the year Hirscher on every podium so far.

Marcel Hirscher

Great skiing.

 Hirscher 2nd today in Levi, by 1 tenth of a second, wins second run. Not often recognized, but a critical ability in a racer. This holding or pulling of the inside foot back, is common with the Austrians. It keeps his hips in a centered, forward driving position. It also helps to keep the outside ski slicing cleanly. When ever you see that inside foot too far forward, it means the skier is slowing, looking for speed control, rather than acceleration..

11 year olds should have world cup technique

Three different skiers from a group of 11 and 12 year olds, I started coaching when they were 6 years old,  all from California.

Sorry about the quality of the photos they are clipped from Video.

                                         They have become so technically proficient we talk mostly about line and fore-aft balance, the rest of thier PMTS Essentials are  pretty much squared away. It's really fun coaching these kids.

Counter-acting most misunderstood skiing movement.

Marcel Hirscher using counteracting movements to hold tail of ski on edge. 

If anyone thinks counter-acting is not an important part of skier develop, they are not seeing what the best skiers in the world are doing. Contrary to what the USSA and US Coaches Association would like to teach, Counter acting is not a "position" (USSA uses "the athletic position") it's a movement that never stops, just as tipping is a movement in a ski turn or arc that never stops.

Teaching counter acting to the sub-jr 4 groups is easy and effective, if you know what and how to teach movement. Just as tipping or creating edge angles doesn't just begin, then stop, it's continuous, counter acting is the same and the amount is appropriate to the needs of the arc. Without it, you get upper body rotation, less energy and less rebound.

Amazing Marcel Hirscher at 16.

He could have made the top 30 flip in World Cup with runs like this. He has incredible power and strength for 16. Now you know what you have to shot for juniors.

Robby Kelly, Solid Technique will pay off.

With this kind of form, this young member of the great Cochran ski family has a bright future.

Here is another off-spring, Robby Kelly, from the famous US ski family, The Cochrans. Robby's first world cup start was at Solden. Robby is a super athlete, could have been drafted in both football and basketball. Shows amazing technique here in this GS Turn.

Can you pick out how many "Essentials of Skiing" he has in place?

 This is one of Lindy's sons. Tim was also on the US Ski Team, his older brother.

I knew the girls well in the 80ies, Lindy was still racing, skied on Yamaha skis. I tested skis for a week every year for 5 years with Marilyn (Cochran) Brown, World Champion in GS, and Chris, her husband,  at A-Basin in May. Barbara Ann was gold medalist in Sapporo was also with us. Even Todd Brooker showed up one year, to test, demonstrating his talents, I think he was 18 then.