Harald Harb, President of Harb Ski Systems, posts his thoughts on skiing, ski racing, technique and more.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Sunday, September 13, 2015
National Demo Team Skiing Comparison.
Compare the skiing of 3 demo teams below. These are their national teaching system's best. I think that is why they are selected?
You can click on any photo to enlarge it.
You can click on any photo to enlarge it.
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Don't know which team this is? |
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Aussi Team |
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Australian demo Team in Blue |
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PMTS Team (Primary Movements Teaching System) |
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PSIA Demo Team. Trying to pick the best turns for each group. |
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PMTS 5 years ago |
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2014 |
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PSIA demo Team at Interski last week. |
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PMTS Demo Team |
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Austrian Demo Team |
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PMTS Demo Team |
These are all Diana and me skiing together for the first time in video and photos.
No practice, no rehearsal.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Hip control, a grey area for many skiers?
Compare the two photos, one of Mario Matt, he is one of the best slalom skiers of all time. Mario was twice World Champion. And here is a photo of a very good junior racer. The place in the turn isn't exactly identical, but for the purposes of describing this relationship, the photos are excellent.
This is a treatise of movement, technique and boot relationships based on set up and alignment.

At first glance these two skiers are similar. even some of the Check Points, hands, shoulders angle, are easy to confuse. When you start to do a break down analysis, you start to see some discrepancies between the two. Let's take this one step at a time.
The most obvious is the inside hip position. Matt shows an inside, high hip. Our junior shows a dropped lower inside hip. Matt shows proper counter-acting of the hip and shoulders. Our junior has advanced the outside hip arm and shoulder.
The next most obvious observation is the outside ski. Matt's skis are at the same angle and headed in the same direction. Our junior's skis are at different angles and headed in different directions.
Let's see what is causing this and how is it fixed, so you can come closer to skiing like Matt?

I'll preface this movement analysis by saying our junior racer may not be making this same turn in every gate, this is a one time situation for this particular turn, so this is an exercise in skiing analysis for this turn only.
To find the causes you have to address a number of areas. First is physical preparation and physical maturity. It's not fair to compare Matt who is 35, to a junior, as far as strength and physical maturity. The bend in the waist and folding at the mid body can be due to core strength. These are big angles, speed and forces, so core strength has to be considered.
Going along with core strength idea is the issue of fore/aft balance. Matt is very centered on his skis, his torso is slightly forward, and his hips are forward over and directly above his boots. Letting the hips drop back too early in the arc, requires more edge angle to get the ski to shorten the arc.
When the hips go back or are dropped, the skis don't turn or arc as quickly, so some outside greater turning forces has to be applied. This usually involves the upper body and leg to give the ski a twist or pivot.
To reduce this hip drop situation a lateral movement component that relates to core strength needs to be addressed, however is rarely done in training or in exercises. This involves the functional use of the muscles that pull the lateral part of your hip, toward the bottom and side of your rib cage. In this video (below), the lines and graphics are drawn in to show the movements. They show as still frames, in the skiing run after the introduction. The lines and arrows show how the torso is to be moved using the muscles that pull the hip up on one side and the rib cage down on the opposite side.
Muscles Engaged
Joint movements: lumbar lateral flexion
Lumbar lateral flexion is the sideways movement of the thorax toward the pelvis.
Muscles most involved in joint movements: quadratus lumborum, rectus abdominis, external oblique, and erector spinae (on one side) and internal oblique
Lumbar lateral flexion is the sideways movement of the thorax toward the pelvis.
Muscles most involved in joint movements: quadratus lumborum, rectus abdominis, external oblique, and erector spinae (on one side) and internal oblique
There are 3 to 4 muscles in combination that create this movement, most are deep muscles that create the side pull of the torso to the top of the pelvis.
In the Mario Matt photo, the outside hip is also held back to create counter acting, while the torso is pulled down. I will elaborate about the rotational and torso tilting combination of muscles for achieving these movement in a different post.
Training and muscle awareness:
In dryland exercises try to make your skiers aware of these movements and the muscles that active the torso to the hip relationship. Few skiers realize that this is an important part of skiing. In another post I'll present exercises and movements to develop hip, to torso awareness.
Boot set up:
What to do first? From a skiing persecutive and a boot perspective our approach would be to do a boot measurement series or refinement, and also work on the skier's fore/aft movements. Go to the source, instead of fixing the most obvious movements, which are only a compensations. Use a series of Fore/aft exercises. Fore/aft coaching is well documented in our "Essentials of Skiing" series, which comes in both video and book formats available on our www.harbskisystems.com web site.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Harb Teach-Yourself Series: Short Turns with Better Control
A New Series of instruction, modern skiing and instruction on You Tube from Harb Ski Systems!
Follow the whole series to get your skiing where it should be. 12 new videos. Step by step instruction that works.
www.harbskisystems.comSki Boots "The Harb Way"!!!
Considerations When You Buy New Ski Boots
Every year thousands of skiers go to ski shops and buy new boots. Ski magazines and web sites hype the new products and make them sound better than the previous batch. In many cases skiers didn’t have a good relationship with their boots to begin with, so they are ready to toss the old ones that are in the closet. After all, you eked out 4 years in the boots that never really fit and didn’t make you ski any better, so it’s time for a change.
What does boot fitting include?
I can only speak for myself and what we do at Harb Ski Systems. Here is what helps you get a good result..
Just about every season there will be a new line of boots, perhaps a new brand, and small or large modifications to existing boot lines. Regardless of what the advertising says, if we recommend boots we have to know how they ski. We test numerous boots from different companies before we buy them for our store, and we observe how they fit and work for a variety of our skiing customers. In this way we already know the strengths and characteristics of the models and brands.
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Knowing what a ski boot does to your skiing is super important before you buy. They are all different and they will perform differently. |
Initial selection:
At the very minimum, the boot fitter needs to measure both of your feet for length and width. A discussion of your boot-wearing experience is in order - have you owned or rented boots; aspects you have liked; aspects you have not liked; and so on. We give the customer, our client, the opportunity to tell us what they are looking for in a ski boot. It helps us to know where they ski, how they like to ski, and what is important to them in how their boots fit and ski.


A good foot fitter brings out two, if not three models of boots to test the initial fit and response from a customer. [There are some situations where this won’t be the case. If your feet are extra-narrow, extra-wide, extra-big, extra-small, or extra-anything, even a good shop with a large boot selection may only have one boot that is a valid candidate for you.]
The fitter removes the liner and has the customer put on the boot shells alone to test pure foot room or space inside the shell. Just going by shoe size and boot markings is not accurate enough. Showing the customer how much room their feet have in the shell reassures the customer that the boot can be made comfortable, even when the initial try-on seems tight in length. Every good boot fitter has a try-on and foot insertion protocol. This protocol can make all the difference in the world, not only for the initial experience, but also for long term comfort.
The customer then buckles the boots, stands and walks around for at least 5 minutes and then gives the boot fitter a fit evaluation. The boot fitter asks about how tight or loose the boot is in all areas around the foot and ankle. Knee and ankle bending and boot flexing are also tested at this time.

This is the next big step and it’s more involved than trying on the boots. In our shop we measure over 20 foot, ankle and knee functions before the boot is even on the customer’s foot. From these measurements we can determine if the foot will ski well without extra support or whether a footbed will help with comfort and performance. Comfort, support, and foot and ankle function can all point toward either an off-the-rack footbed or a custom footbed.
Well make custom footbeds, support and flexibility are determined by individual ankle and foot mobility..
If a footbed is in order, then it is made and integrated into the boot prior to any other alignment measurements and to any modifications to the boot to increase comfort. Next, the “in boot” alignment can be measured, modified, and optimized. This process may also include balancing on a slant board to dial in cuff alignment.
Every angle and movement function of the body, all the way up to the hips is evaluated before the final product is finalized.


Even with our years of experience in ski coaching and boot work is not an easy process. You must stay current with your coaching and observation of skiers so that you can optimize every aspect of the foot, boot, and ski interface.
Some advice to boot buyers, : be patient. Don’t take the first self proclaimed boot fitter and think you are getting a slam dunk fitting experience. It may not end up they way you expected. Get references from other skiers and do the research - it will definitely be worthwhile afterward on the slopes.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Skiing new snow is fun and easy. Once you learn the basics of PMTS,
Skiing new snow is easy, right here.
Although this is a black slope, an easy relaxed approach with the right movements are still critical.
Here I'm skiing with a Camp student, in bumps and new snow.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Skiing New Powder, untracked with the same PMTS technique and movements as on groomed terrain.
Harb Ski Systems, uses PMTS Direct Parallel techniques for all purposes. You use one method of movements that serve you well in all skiing situations with PMTS. In this powder run, I am skiing the same movements as on a steep icy carving slope or on bumps. When you have to learn different skiing techniques for every situation it means your fundamentals are inconsistent with functional movements.
Skiing Powder with Harb Ski Systems
Comfort with skiing powder on tough terrain with hidden bumps is based on solid technique. Learning movements that create these turns is offered with PMTS technique and Harb Ski Systems.
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