This is an MTB site but it is winter and not much Mountain Biking going on right now, so i'm skiing what are you doing?
- sally on The Meaning of LifeWow, that sounds absolutely amazing!! »
Mopinwil on Video Of Me Skiing At SundanceWow that is a good video. I could never do that, ... »- Mopinwil on Video Of Me Skiing At SundanceAre you around bill? »
billmessick on Video Of Me Skiing At SundanceThis is the first time I have seen myself ski! »- billmessick on Carving – Ski LessonThis is a very good lesson on Carving! »
Archive for the ‘Help’ Category
Beginner Snow Skiing Lessons : How to Control Speed & Stop
Posted by Bill messick
Control speed and stop when skiing by controlling the size of your wedge, or the position in which the tips of your skis come together. Learn how in this free beginner skiing lesson on video.
Carving – Ski Lesson
Posted by Bill Messick
This lesson is an introduction to carving for intermediate skiers.
It should help people that have not discovered the edge yet to find this feeling. The main goal at this stage is to get the student NOT to turn his feet and slide but carve. To achieve this i am using more inside ski lead and hip counter than necessary as this makes the rolling of the knees easier. Once the student realizes that the skis turn all by themselves these things are reduced to the amount necessary. Instead of getting the student to edge by inclination – “leaning in” i stress the fundamental basic position. As i want to teach a technique which is consistent and works on the blues in the same way as on the black runs.
Beginner Snow Skiing Lessons : How to Use Ski Poles
Posted by Bill Messick
Ski poles can help with balance and turns. Learn how to use ski poles for balance and how to make pole plants for skiing turns in this free beginner skiing lesson on video, with safety tips.
Knee Pain Relief: Help Yourself Prevent These Common Skiing Knee Injuries
by Daniel Sims
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More Details about knee pain here.
Have you ever hurt your knee while you were on the slopes?
We hope your answer is “no”.
If you have hurt your knee while skiing, or at least have seen someone injure their knee then you will lean more about what happens in these injuries in this article.
When a person gets into an accident on the slopes and it involves their knee, chances are that this person has injured either their MCL (Medial collateral ligament) or your ACL (Anterior cruciate ligament). Knee swelling can result with this kind of injury, and if left untreated this can be a real problem. We will give you some useful information here regarding these two knee injuries; describing how they can occur and some ways to help avoid a knee injury occurrence.
Medial Collateral Ligament Sprains
A MCL injury is the most common type of alpine ski injury. It accounts for nearly one quarter (1/4) of all injuries in this sport. Usually, it will affect the beginner and low-intermediate skier.
Often times, people suffer an MCL injury while in the beginner’s snowplough position. This means that the front of the skis are pointing toward each other. (The technical term for this in the medical field is that your legs are in “valgus”.) Essentially, when their is too much valgus force being applied to your knee joint an MCL injury can occur. If your skis criss cross awkwardly, or the snowplough stance develops into a fall, this could be the force needed to cause the MCL injury.
If you have a grade one or two sprain, many times a person will be placed into a splint that holds their leg(s) in extension. These will be worn, at least until the pain and swelling diminish. A grade three tear may require surgical repair and the use of a substantial knee brace to help provide support.
If you wish to prevent such an occurrence, it is a good idea to to do some preseason conditioning. Strengthening your quadriceps will help prevent an MCL injury. Strengthening workouts should always be coordinated with the guidance of a health care professional. Performing maintenance for correct binding and release settings are suggested.
Skiing the Powder
by Jack Heggie
Skiing in powder, say many skiers, is the ultimate ski experience. The feeling of lightness, ease, and grace is incomparable. But the first time you venture into powder you may feel more like a fly in a spider’s web than a bird on the wing. Powder skiing is vastly different from skiing on hardpack; the techniques that work well on packed snow won’t work in powder. Today, with the almost universal use of snow-grooming equipment, a skier can learn to ski, and become quite proficient, without ever seeing powder. But, when he tries to make the transition from hardpack to powder, he finds himself eating a lot of fresh snow.
The first time I tried to ski in powder was disastrous. I was a good intermediate-level skier who had learned to ski on hardpack. One fine day, after a fresh snowfall, I found an area at the side of the trail that the snowcats had missed; the untracked powder was about six inches deep.
I went into it, not moving very fast, and then tried to turn, using the same technique that I had always used on the hardpack. To my surprise, one ski shot out to the side, I lost my balance, and fell.
I got up, tried again, and fell again. A third time; same thing.
I got out of the powder, skied the rest of the way down on the hardpack, and did some thinking on the way back up the lift. It was obvious that my hardpack reflexes were not working in the powder. Each time I fell, the uphill ski had shot out to the side, as if some force had pulled it out. With my skis separated, I had no control and couldn’t remain upright. I’d never had that kind of fall when I was skiing on hardpack.
I decided to experiment a little. When I got off of the lift, I went back to the same place and began to ski slowly, along the edge of the powder. Gradually, I eased over into the powder, so that one ski, the left, was on the hardpack, and the right ski, which was uphill, was in the powder. Keeping most of my weight on the downhill ski, I raised the uphill ski a fraction of an inch and moved the tip a little to the right.
As soon as the tip of the right ski moved to the right, I felt that same force jerk the ski out to the side. But this time, I was moving slowly, and I still had some control from the left ski, still on the hardpack, so I managed to avoid a fall. I repeated this motion several time and gradually began to feel why the ski jerked to the side. When skiing on hardpack, the skis are on the snow, but when skiing in powder, the skis are in the snow.
Discover 3 New Ways To Exercise For Downhill Skiing
Hit the Slopes with the HARD CORE!
By Alex Chemerov
Are crunches a good exercise for the core and how important is the core for skiing and snowboarding?
Before we discuss exercises for the core, we must first dive into what areas make up the “core.” Your core is not just made of up the “abs.” Your core runs from your neck down to your hips and/or from the hips up to the neck. It is also important to realize that your core is three dimensional. Meaning we have a front, back and two sides. Therefore, and effective core program should challenge all three dimensions.
In addition, your core is the center of the body. It attaches the upper body to the lower body and also the lower body to the upper body. This is vital since information during movement is traveling through the center of the body and is being sent to the extremities. A faulty core will limit how well someone can move, whether it is in the game of life or on the snowy slopes.
That being said, how does your core help you while you are on the slopes? You need core strength, core stabilization and core endurance to help you successfully manage the slope’s varied terrain and numerous conditions. If your core fails you on the slopes, you will not be able to create an effective carve, the bumps will throw you around like a rag doll and your buddies will be waiting for you at the bottom every time. You can never over-prepare your core or your body for the demands of skiing or riding.
Are You A Robot Skier?
When Your Ski Gear, Ski Technique And Ski Lessons Don’t Help You Ski Better – Are You A Robot Skier?
By Alex Chemerov
Many expect their ski gear, specific ski instruction, advanced ski techniques and/or ski lessons to help take their skiing to the next level. If you exhausted all the above mentioned variables and you are still stuck at the same skiing/riding level, where do you look next?
Skiing and snowboarding involves a series of complex movements all lumped together. The physical demands that are placed on the body are so great, that if you are not conditioned for these demands — then the best ski equipment in the world won’t help you! That is where you have to start looking at investing some time in training your body for the slopes.
Skiing and riding requires activity from the entire body. From a training stand-point, one should train by activating the entire body so as to have the most transfer into life and true function as much as possible. However, many exercises and programs still attempt to train the muscles in isolation, which to the body is “unnatural.” Not that there is anything wrong with that, since your training is dictated by your goal. However, if your goal is to “winterize” your body and help your on the snow performance, then sitting on a bench and doing preacher curls is probably not the best exercise (unless you are talking about apres ski!).
Controlling Speed on Steep Terrain
By Mike Doyle
When advancing skiers take on Black Diamond terrain they should have a strong knowledge of how to keep their speed under control as the terrain gets steeper. There is hardly anything more scary, or more dangerous, than being out of control and then having to make desperate skidding attempts to stop.
Martin Heckelman, in The New Guide to Skiing (p. 58 – 60), recognizes this problem for advancing skiers and addresses it with a set of exercises involving medium radius and short radius turns with sequential photos (photos 47A-D, 48A-D, and 50A-D) of himself skiing through the exercises.
In essence, Heckelman’s exercise relies on foot pressure applied to the downhill ski in varying degrees to use the time the ski is set into reverse camber to determine the distance between turns. The time and attitude in crossing the fall line will vary and control speed.
Martin’s directions for applying and releasing foot pressure to control speed include:
- Thinking of having two sponge balls underfoot and pretending to alternately compress and release the balls.
- Compressing and releasing the sponge balls with a purposeful rhythm, left, right, left, right, etc.
- Singing a rhythmic ditty such as “Tea for Two” to help make the ski compressions and releases an ingrained fluid technique.
Testers’ Execution and Evaluation
On the snow for these exercises were myself, Tom, and Katie. All advanced skiers, Tom and I average about 25 years of skiing experience, while Katie is a teenager with four years of youthful experience. We each, individually and apart, read and studied the exercises and photos directly from The New Guide to Skiing.