Gentlemen...please allow me to empatically state there is NO skidding;
1 Skidding definition by the dictionary: an unexpected or uncontrollable sliding on a smooth surface
John teaches his students to employ drifting or floating in a controled fashion towards a designated direction. This float or drift can be used in short bursts for quicker direction changes or longer drifts for more lazy lines through the bumps.
Skidding intimates lack of control and that is certainly not the case. Skiing bumps totally on the edges of the skis, edges scraping down the fronts of bumps, hard edge sets and body angles make skiing bumps at least for me and many I know, very difficult to manage speed and also use loads of more energy. As I said....this is my experience. Furthermore, being able to own the ability to drift or float is a KEY factor to skiing off traill, trees, bowls, powder. I believe this to be a very effective and important skiing skill.
Max, you have a good point about the quaility of the bumps his students are working on...round soft bumps certainly make learning bumps so much easier. Also, it's true following someones line like John does make LEARNING bump skiing much easeier. BUT the point is ...it's about learning to ski the bumps. I have to admit I have a more difficult time with our local icy, toothy bumps we get at Bristol and if they're hard as rock, I stay off them..just no fun for me and may never be. My greatest pleasure is adding JC skill sets to my ski skill quiver and have had wonderful experiences skiing much more of the mountain in a variety of snow condtions with complete confidence.
Liam...there were no chutes that day with John but we were in Saratoga Bowl with bumps and trees galore and yes...he's silky smooth there too.
Best,
G
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