technique

Question
background: started at age 66, now 71. Consider myself intermediate skiier, prefer going slowly, in control. comfortable on eastern groomed steeps, uncomfortable on ungroomed and mogels.

Q: I sit back on steeps or and tense up when speed picks up. When I do stay forward, I take on too much speed. How do I manage the new  speed?

Q: Do skis really lose rebound and if so, at what rate, roughly? Dealers say that after 100 days, but they are selling.

Q: is there much difference among brands of skis in the same price range?


              thanks,

                   Steve  

Answer
Hi Steve,

I am assuming that what you mean by manage is the reduction of speed. Racers and extreme thrill seekers control acceleration but are not always concerned with reducing velocity. With the new ski technology in the last 5 years in order to  reduce or control speed to a relatively constant rate there are really only 2 ways or general techniques that wculd be used depending on the terrain and snow type you are encountering.

The first way is on terrain that you are comfortable with where the potential for sudden acceleration is not a great factor to use the sidecut and edge of the ski to decrease the size of the turn (make rounder tuns and finish off the turn more back up toward the hill rather than down the hill). Sometimes the reason that a skier feels the speed or acceleration is unenjoyable or threatening is because they are starting a new turn too quickly or travelling too straight down the hill. If the ski is on edge (arcing/carving) every time you turn back downhill you increase the speed you are going because you are taking a straighter line (path). This is in effect is what someone who wants more speed often does intentionally. Unfortunately in order to control the more dynamic (shorter) radius turn there is a lot more movement required in the body and the bigger joints get bent into greater angles (ie. the hip and upper body need to be inside the turn inside of the ankles and knees). Many skiers ski far too upright (vertical plane) for the new technology and need to move inside the turn (lateral plane) to increase the resistance against the ski edge and cause it to tip and grip more causing the radius of the turn to tighten up. A picture of the technique is worth a thousand words but this progam doesn't allow me to send it too you. Try going to the Alpine Canada website and going to their gallery page. Look for the picture file named bjannick.bmp or bjannick.jpg.

The second technique uses the tried and true means of decreasing speed before it becomes too great a factor by scrubbing speed as the turn progresses. This is called sideslipping. You start by rotating the skis around the body by turning the feet to turn the skis with much less edge grip than in the first technique. This should only be done where the slope is steep and on fairly hard snow. otherwise the possibility exists that you would catch the downhill edge resulting in a fall. There is an excellent view if this on the web site http://www.snowpro.com If you can access this site go to the New Drill section.

Question 2:

Yes skis do have a gradually declining rate of rebound as a result of the compression and relaxing of the materials used in their construction. The ski in one way acts as a storage battery of mechanical energy. As the materials are used they become softer and less quick to react (or return to their original shape or state). This is sometimes referred to as snap or quickness in the comments made by ski testers. Its been a rough rule of thumb that the average ski has about 100 days of use in it. However this is a very relative, unexact statement for the following reasons. A 250 lb. athletic male is going to going to wear out a ski a lot faster than a 135 lb. unathletic male. The kind of turns, speed and type of terrain and snow type also play a hand in th life expectancy of skis as well as the kind of ski.

Question 3:

There can be quite a difference between skis in the same price range but this has more to do with their design and  intended use when they are for the recreational user. For example a $400 ski from one manufacturer versus another  may ski differently based on its shape, flex characteristics and whether or not it has any built in or attached snow contact (vibration control) or integration (plate, lifter) systems to give the binding more height off of the snow. Whether or not one skier likes one versus another often has to do with the skier's individual characteristics (height, weight, body shape, technique, personal preferences) rather than the ski's.       


I hope that these answers are of some help.