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START THE DAY WITH A GOOD FOUNDATION
February 14, 2007Work from the ground up
ANKLES – Choose a gentle slope. Point your skis downhill and gently roll your ankles, in unison, from one side to the other. Initiate the movement with your ankles only – keep the upper body quiet. This should really warm up your ankle. Fell both skis carving in synch. If not, it means your balance is off.
KNEES – Choose a gentle slope. Be in a relaxed, open stance and feel your shins against the front of your boots. Get going at a moderate speed, roll the ankles as before but this time continue the movement up the leg by moving the inside knee forward and in towards the inside of the turn. You should feel increased pressure in the front of the boots. Your outside knee should, and will mimic the movement of your inside knee. You will feel balanced and secure on your skis.
HIPS – Choose a moderate grade hill. From where you are standing, imagine letting a ball roll down the hill and imagine what path it would take. Pick a focal point down the hill along that path (the fall line). Place your hands on your hips and point your skis and body down that fall line. Start your turn as before with your ankles to engage the skis, then to your knees and now let the hips move inside the turn. Keep the movement lateral.
SHOULDER – Choose moderate terrain where you can carry good speed. With the same initiation of the turn (ankles, knees, hips), keep the upper body facing down the fall line and focus on an upper body “counter movement.” You want to feel the separation of the upper and lower body. Let the legs move under your upper body, like windshield wipers – moving side to side, and your upper body is fixed. The upper body should NOT rotate. This position can put you back on your skis if you don’t maintain good flexion of you inside knee. Keep the skis parallel; that will keep you balanced and strong.
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER – Choose a long smooth hill where you can do consistent radius turns from top to bottom. Your first turn should have the same radius as the last and every turn inbetween. This will discipline you to be in balance and make you focus on staying in the same momentum.
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