Sunday, January 16, 2011
Skiing is a recipe
I wish I could take credit for this analogy but I can't. A wise man once said that skiing is a recipe of 5 skills, stance, steering, edging, pressure control, timimg. The recipe changes depending on the situation. Ie. terrain, conditions, course set etc. How much of each skill is applied depends on the situation. For example, how much steering compared to how much edge you apply, depends on the situation. For example in a 24m course on flat terrain, you may add more edging than steering, where as in an 18m course on steep terrain may require more steering than edging. Another example. The first few runs of a GS course may require less of a focus on stance than the last few runs the course after conditions have deteriorated. A versatile skier, is better a modifying the recipe than a skier who is less versatile. This skier will be less affected by changes in conditions and be more efficient at adapting to different situations than a less versatile skier. This does not necessarily mean that the more versatlie skier will beat the less versatile skier in a race. The advantage a more versatile skier has over the less versatile appears more in free skiing, and variations in course setting.
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I learned recently from my technical coach that steering is a combination of two skills: edging and pivoting. So when I say steering here, I mean edging with a pivot where as when I say "edging" I mean edging without a pivot. Also when you edge without a pivot you have to feel pressure or the ski bending to create the direction change. When you steer you do not have to bend the ski as much to acquire a significant direction change.
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