What were some of the major points that we examined last night in class?
We started off, learning about a quick way of getting your skis ready
for skiing. Most of us had dirt and grass in the kick area and warm wax. We scraped off
the old kick wax, one side of the ski groove at a time, and then corked and smoothed out whatever was
left, using the cork turned length ways to the ski. It hurts if the cork slips off the ski, so be careful. Since it is so cold out, 2 or 3 layers of green wax were applied. I do not like polar wax at all.
Once on snow, we took off one ski, and both poles. and learned to take
a step near the tip, and pushed ourselves forward. Each time you take a step, the ski will be lifted off the ground momentarily. Leap and glide. Keep your slight lean forward, do not straighten up, and no scootering.
You switched skis and and did the same exercise again with the other foot, trying to balance on the one ski.
It was noticeable that everyone had better balance on one side than the other.
The next exercise had you trying to first run in place, trying to kick your butt with the tails of your skis with your legs somewhat straight. You then take small steps and then bigger steps with a slight lean forward of the upper body, and the tails of the skis going behind you. Thighs do not not swing forward past the upper leaning body.
It
was stressed that the bent elbow back, will help balance the ski that
is off the ground, like a counter balance behind your body, while doing
the diagonal stride.
Everyone then took their poles and held
them at the balance point and skied diagonal, concentrating on gliding
on a balanced flat ski. Do not let your ski that is swinging forward, touch the ground, until the recovery foot has at least passed your gliding foot.
In the next exercise, you held the poles loosely between your thumb
and forefinger just enough, so the poles would not bounce around, and
added no pressure to the poles and the ground. The next time you added some
pressure to the pole straps, only where the poles wanted to touch the
ground. The elbows were at roughly 90' at all times both forward and
back. The mantra is: "Poles are for Push not for Balance"!!
Old bad habits show up quickly, when the students are given their poles.
Hands should be shoulder width apart, and the elbows are bent much like a
bench press, elbows wider then the hands. (chicken wing). Poles should be planted shoulder width apart as well.( no tri-podding)
Timing of the arms and legs are crucial, and sometimes skiing up a steeper slope will help with timing.
Have fun, and always be thinking of your technique while skiing.
