Ever wondered how the world cup skiers manage their speed in a race course without skidding or sliding? Well sometimes they do, but there is also another technique they use when they only want to take off a little bit of their speed without sacrificing to much line or direction. That is by playing with the direction of their impulse. Most racers know, or at least have heard their coaches tell them in order to ski fast you have to direct your impulse down the hill. If you do this you will pick up speed when you move from one arc to the next. But what happens if you get to a steep section and you don't want to pick up too much speed. I have heard coaches say that the world cup guys never slow down, but I am not so sure. If that were true, then they would all be skiing on easy runs, far below their ability. I have seen world cup GS courses set on hills that have steep sections as well as flat sections. At least for a masters racer, you would want to know how to manage your speed when you get to a steep section.
If you remember back to the days when you were first learning how to ski, what did your instructor tell you to do when you got going too fast? Turn and ski up the hill. Now a racer is probably not going to want to turn and start skiing up the hill, because they will be out of line, and won't be able to make the next gate. Not to mention it is awkward, because it is easier to link turns when the upper body remains facing down the hill. However if we take the same principle, moving the center of mass up the hill, while keeping the body still facing down the hill, we will get the instant response of slowing down. How do we do this? It is easiest way to do this is at the end of the arc. As you are resisting pressure at the end, just push your feet ever so slightly ahead of your center of mass and resist so that when you feel the impulse, the position of your feet throws your center of mass, back up the hill. It is a bit easier on a steeper hill, blue or black than on a green run. However if you play with it, you will be able to feel the effect it has on your speed.
You can also use the impulse to maintain your speed as well as speed up. In order to maintain your speed, keep your feet directly underneath your center of mass when you create the impulse; this will throw your center of mass across the hill. And the opposite will be true if you want to pick up speed, you throw your feet back just ever so slightly when you create the impulse and then will send the center of mass directly down the hill. This might be a bit scary for the average person, unless you are on a flat section where you want to generate a lot of speed. It is best to practice this on a green run, where you confident with the speed.
This all sounds very easy, but the truth is that it actually more challenging that it sounds. Most advanced skiers do this automatically without thinking about it. However if you are trying to learn the skill, there are two exercises that you can do to facilitate the learning process. The first one is the push the snow: "up the hill," "down the hill" and "across the hill" exercise, where you are literally trying to do just that. For this exercise it is best to choose moderate to flat terrain. When you push the snow up the hill for example, it can be quite scary, because you will pick up a lot of speed. If you have terrain that changes from steep to flat, then that is where you can change how you push the snow. For example on the steep section you would push it "down the hill" and on the flat section you would push it "up the hill." Once you get good at it, you will be able to ski, steep to flat maintaining the same speed.
The other drill is a bit more basic but it is a fundamental skill for learning this technique. Choose moderate terrain, and just ski down with whatever radius of turn you feel comfortable. As you do this, work on pushing the feet forward and back as you go through all of your arcs. You can add a bit of a bounce just to keep your body relaxed, and remaining active in the joints. Once you get a sense of what it feels like to move your feet forward and back, then you can move to more advanced terrain, and try to time it with the conditions dictated by the terrain. For example, if you come to a big clump of snow that is going to throw your feet back, just push them a bit forward and start your turn. Or if you come to a hard mogul, push your feet forward as you go up the back side, pull them back a bit once you are on the top so that you are centered, and then and you go down the back side pull them back a bit more so the center of mass is ahead and your ski tips go down. The feeling is a bit like pedaling a bike backwards with both legs. This skill once it is learned is an invaluable to any skier, especially racers.
