the
e d g e • Winter 2010
Alpine
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By Elianne Furtney, Alpine Vice President
The Swinging Pendulum, Alpine Tech Team, Mammoth Mountain - November 18-19, 2009 Over the last decade or so our profession has undergone a major paradigm shift in response to advances in ski design. Exaggerated sidecut “shaped” skis offered even intermediate skiers a taste of carving, formerly the sole domain of racers and instructor-level skiers. With the widespread acceptance of fat skis, powder skiing, the last true expert frontier became accessible to all with only minimal adjustments in technique. Our American Teaching System has always been student-centered, so as our students grew accustomed to the immediate gratification allowed by their equipment our lessons also adapted to give fast results. No longer does it require years of dedication and skill-building to enjoy expert terrain. As a result we frequently skip much of the technical education we used to share with the committed skier. Has the pendulum yet again swung too far? The Tech Team is concerned that instructors may be losing an important language
- that of turn mechanics, physics and biomechanics. More importantly, if we understand how skis work and the body movements and outside forces which affect them, it allows us to be specific and accurate in our teaching. We can then provide the most rewarding lesson experience possible and the quickest results! This fall the Alpine Tech Team convened in Mammoth for two awesome days of training with our local National Demonstration Team members. Michael Rogan, Doug Pierini, Robin Barnes and Mike Hafer provided insights from their most recent National Team training and great on-snow coaching. On the afternoon of the first day we adjourned to Whiskey Creek for happy hour and video review, courtesy of Sean Warman, who also gave us a sneak peek of his latest video offering, featuring some exciting footage from Chile. Aaron Rosen was on hand with still photos from the day so we
could analyze our turns frame by frame (good thing there was beer on hand!) As for the latest from National… good skiing is still good skiing! Following their example, we kept our focus on maintaining a strong inside half and countered position through the shaping and finish phases of the turn so as to initiate the new turn strongly balanced over the new outside ski. As you have no doubt experienced, gravity and centrifugal “force” conspire to pull the center of mass down and out as the turn progresses. Also our body naturally wants align and so the hips tend to become square with the upper body through the turn. Having a strong core and fighting to keep the inside shoulder, hand and hip slightly ahead of the outside help keep things from collapsing. To enter the new turn cleanly, we use friction of the wide (cont’d on pg. 5)
PSIA National Demo Team member Michael Rogan shows the strong inside half and countered position. Photos courtesy of Aaron Rosen.