Floating My Boat(s)

[bushwacka]

Hey Bush...does the chick in the maroon jacket have any speed limit?  She can dance!

Great point on skiing rockers over pow over ice bumps...obvious to me in that section you referred to.

But hey.....western conditions can be more forgiving, more space, more lines....but even there...I too love my DPS.

Using them here in the east with 4-8" of snow....it's just plain ole silly happy face effortless fun!

no former D1 racer. IT was funny how timid in the woods she was just last year and now she cross blocks stuff out of her way at bushie speeds. I am like the proud father of hte monster I helped create.

she is the only person in ski school who can keep up with me, but it took a quite a bit of coaching and getting her on the right gear. watching her try to ski woods on Fisher Hole  SL skis was comical. Lots of yard sales. She did get more face shots than just about anyone though as the snow came though the hole.

I found a pair of appropriated sized 163cm The Crushes and she hasnt not look back basically skis them everyday now unless it race day. We are hoping to find a short fatter tree ski for   some of the powdery really tight trees that we can tour to. Anyone have a 153cm Shiro they can let go pretty cheap?

[Gary]

Nice going BW....she looks fluid in there...It's always with a great deal of pride when working with someome when the "light goes on"! Right tools for the best performance.

I'll bet as the season winds down..there will be a great selection of fatties in that length available.

[byronm]

Technique Question & follow up....I have a day on the new skis (blzd-mags 7.6)
 
While I don't have enough time on these skis nor am I technique saavy enough to provide a substantive review at this point. Generally, I will say they were "trustworthy". Tracked up snow 3"-4"--"chop" no issue. They shined on hardpack. In technical terms, in my intermediate world (lean into these rascals at speed & hold onto the saddle horn) Light ski in terms of weight. Stable at speed.
 
The real purpose of this post>>>I have some questions that are bugging me;
 
At the start of EVERY run yesterday (maybe 12 to 14) thru/out day and before I ran out of gas)....I took time to practice the simple carving drills illustrated on the RS site. I can do the wedge blocker thing fine...
 
But doing the slow (two edge) carving arc drill, engaging the ski tips with lateral knee flexion, combined some forward pressure to the "big toe little toe sides" via pressure at the tongue of the boot to engage ski tips, let the skis initiate the turn, to come around (without unweighting one ski)..isn't happening.
 
Q's: Do you all feel like you are leaning constantly on the front of your boot at the shin while in an athletic stance?
 
AND
       
While at speed I can lean (latterally) on the skis and get good response...swish or scarve the tails to another latteral lean again fine........when I try to link turns via the slow arc pencil track drill....it feels like I am already leaning hard into the tongue while in a normal balanced athletic stance...Thus...."there is no more in the tank" in terms of leverage to engage the tips.
 
Maybe I am not combining the lateral/forward knee move>>>pressure translating through my feet >>boots>>to the skis in correct fashion....Just not feeling it....and neither are the skis apparently.....
 
Any thoughts??
 

[midwif]

Hi Byron

It seems like you are interested in the PMTS technique of skiing.
The wedge blocker is the video bit that got me interested in PMTS.

I believe the secondary drill you are attempting to do is the Two Footed Release.

That skill is probably best focused on when other, more essential, movements have been mastered first.
 
The best site for perusing PMTS info is the PMTS.org site.

Max 501 is a great resource as well and can direct you  to posts there that best answer some of your questions.
 
IF you are like me and want to preserve knee integrity, learning PMTS technique is the one.
Almost all others leave way too much room for pivoting, wedging, scarving etc, all done with knee torsion.
I am trying to hold off on the knee replacements for as long as possible.

L.

[byronm]

EDIT: I revisited the pmts site and was in error about the two footed release drill.
 
The drill I was referring to came from another source. Essentially demonstrating drill linking carved turns at slow speeds with a railroad/pencil track effect. Although I believe the drill(s) on the pmts site are headed in the same direction philosophically.
 
Thank you midwif...indeed i am trying to wrap my head around that drill. Realizing that both skis must come to neutral or flat for a brief instant before the transfer to the second arc...perhaps it's the transition that I am not getting.
 
I found myself gritting my teeth in an effort to concentrate on being patient...enough to keep BOTH skis on the snow during that transition...rather than skidding tails or driving the inside edge of the outside ski and (essentially) carrying or gliding the tip of the inside ski...marry up...flatten....and then a repeat of that process. Old habbits die hard...Knee's arent an issue yet (knocking on my head) as much on wanting to develop clean and effective carve technique.
 
I will revisit the pmts site and of course.....welcome input from others.