Snow Thursday/Friday with us in the Sweet Spot!

[Ski]

Are you insane? I know you spandex warriors like the east coast "hardpack" but for the few days of real snow we get just live a little and enjoy it.

 

I hope it snow bucket loads, enough to keep me off work and everyone else away from the hill (except a couple of lifties of course).

 

Snow sucks. We had 6" or so before daybreak here at Sugarbush and slalom training has been in foot-deep ruts. A nice little drizzling rain just before freeze-up is ideal.

 

Back to my sandwich and then those freaking ruts.

[snorovr]

Haha I'll never understand racers...

 

Right now it looks like 3-6 inches is a definite. Maybe more if things come together right?

[lurker]

Haha, dear God let there be above 12 inches of snow and a video camera around Doug. Second off, accuweather has us down for 3-7 right now, but they say that they aren't sure of the speed yet so they are being "conservative". 3-7 being "conservative" is amazzzing and enough to cancel school!

[VTmark]

Insane, probably... spandex wearing, close enough...live a little, hardpack is the only way to go. Its so much faster, and well, faster. You feel so much better ripping an uber high speed turn over that than you do floating over powder. Powder is ok if its dry, and your just free skiing...But I would still take hardpack over it.

 

 

I'm with adam, nothing is better then REALLY firm and grippy hardpack (well, ice, really). With race skis that have uber sharp edges (like mine) there is truely nothing better then tipping the skis down the fall line, they just grip, and don't let go. You'd never think its ice. Pow just gets in the way of good turns, and nothing we ever get here is good enough to call "pow". Let it freeze!

 

bouth of you must be how? why? are you sane? i should both of you.

saying you hate pow is blasphemous. there's no better feeling than ripping down a trail with a foot of fresh on it.

Amen to that!

[romemadman]

i ahve my little set up ready inmy bak yard form the weekend snow and i am ready for a day off or even a delayed opening on fri b/c my school only has 1 snow day this year and the others come off of spring break

too bad i am goign boarding next weekend instead of this weekend

[zaldon]

i just checked it and for thursday night 1-3 inches and friday morning 2-4 wich is a possible total of 7 inches.

[skidude]

Pow does suck...You can go fast, but you will never be able to go as fast (or be in as much control) as when you are on hardpack...

[zaldon]

ya but 7 inches is enough to cancel school

 

and no school is worth pow

[Schif]

Come on guys, when you get fresh pow it opens up the woods and other areas not normally rideable.

[snorovr]

Its pretty easy to argue that pow gives you more control because it slows you down...

[skidude]

Have you ever tried to turn very quickly in powder? Didn't go to well I bet. Can't throw the weight on the outside ski and crank the turn in pow..

[zaldon]

true but pow also allows you to blast people in the face with snow

[skidude]

true but pow also allows you to blast people in the face with snow

Packed pow does...Fluffy pow won't really let you turn hard enough to really cover them

[adrian]

Packed pow does...Fluffy pow won't really let you turn hard enough to really cover them

 

oh, it is very possible.

[snorovr]

Have you ever skied powder? Turning in powder isn't correlatable in any way to turning on very firm hardpack or ice. Its a totally different sensation. It isn't about "throwing your weight on the outside ski," if you did that then you'd be on your ass. Different pow has to be skied in different ways, you have the heavy pow of the Pacific Northwest, the light pow of the Rockies, and everything in between. Watch some of the older TGR flicks where guys are rippin' through pow and wind berms and lifting their outside ski and carving huge turns through pow. If powder was uncontrollably hard to turn in, then myself and many other skiers and boarders wouldn't be here talking about how awesome it is.

 

Also, instead of throwing your weight on your outside ski while rippin hardpack, try keeping your skis about hip width apart, and apply close to even pressure on both skis. Alot of people drop their outside ski back and let the inside ski lead the turn, while putting all their weight on the outside ski. This points your hips off the trail, and doesn't let you make the turn nearly as efficiently. Try to keep your outside ski tip close to parallel with your inside tip, if not in front of it leading the turn, and this will keep your hips facing down the fall-line. This will let you rail your edges alot harder, keep more speed through the apex of the turn, make the transition from edge to edge/turn to turn much quicker, and overall make you a good deal faster while still rippin hard carves. Works wonders on boilerplate too!

[skidude]

Have you ever skied powder? Turning in powder isn't correlatable in any way to turning on very firm hardpack or ice. Its a totally different sensation. It isn't about "throwing your weight on the outside ski," if you did that then you'd be on your ass. Different pow has to be skied in different ways, you have the heavy pow of the Pacific Northwest, the light pow of the Rockies, and everything in between. Watch some of the older TGR flicks where guys are rippin' through pow and wind berms and lifting their outside ski and carving huge turns through pow. If powder was uncontrollably hard to turn in, then myself and many other skiers and boarders wouldn't be here talking about how awesome it is.

 

Also, instead of throwing your weight on your outside ski while rippin hardpack, try keeping your skis about hip width apart, and apply close to even pressure on both skis. Alot of people drop their outside ski back and let the inside ski lead the turn, while putting all their weight on the outside ski. This points your hips off the trail, and doesn't let you make the turn nearly as efficiently. Try to keep your outside ski tip close to parallel with your inside tip, if not in front of it leading the turn, and this will keep your hips facing down the fall-line. This will let you rail your edges alot harder, keep more speed through the apex of the turn, make the transition from edge to edge/turn to turn much quicker, and overall make you a good deal faster while still rippin hard carves. Works wonders on boilerplate too!

 

Yes I have skied both hardpack, and powder. I don't turn by throwing my weight on my outside ski, but if I saw a rock 10 feet infront of me, I would be able to do that to get around it, in pow, as you said I would be on my ass.

 

I prefer to think of just bringning your outside hip up and forward while you ski, which keeps your outside ski parrallel, insted of trying to think of keeping the ski parralle to keep the outside hip foward.

 

Anyway, I'll just hate on pow a little more...<hating on pow>

 

oh, it is very possible.

 

Possible, but won't work nearly as well as saturday morning after they groom it all out and have it packed down.

[Ski]

I prefer to think of just bringning your outside hip up and forward while you ski, which keeps your outside ski parrallel, insted of trying to think of keeping the ski parralle to keep the outside hip foward.

 

And now there's Bode being thrown into the formula. We had a one hr. lecture from Al Hobart (founder of GMVS) on the topic of "what makes Bode fast". He broke down his 2nd run GS video at Beaver Creek, where Bode won, but was on his ass 4 times. Bending the uphill knee more and pressuring it into the hill allows you to get the uphill ski more on edge. And Bode is unique in how much he uses his tails in rescue and recovery. Coaches are trying to pick apart what's good and what's just crazy error and recovery.

[snorovr]

Yeah thats exactly what I was getting at with keeping move even pressure on your skis, and the hip width stance allows you to get the uphill ski way more on edge. Bode is a total anomaly though, what works for him hasn't helped a ton of other skiers to a noticabely large degree. The thing that has helped Bode and many other racers and people in general who love to carve is opening their stance, so that they can use their edges in a more effective way.

[skidude]

All I know is I had my best race when I was not thinking about anything. I felt like crap going down, thought I had a really slow/ugly run, and I felt like I was in the backseat teh whole time. A coach midway down the course loved the run, and all my coaches loved the time (about 2 seconds off the leader, insted of the usual 23) I actully thought the 42.63 or w/e was actully a 52.63 and just a typo.

 

Anyway, getting to the point, you can practice hard doing lots of stuff, but just do what works for you, and think about what could be faster, then go from there.

 

 

Anyway do you race freerid?

[snorovr]

I love those days when you're not even thinking about it and you just nail everything.

 

Doing what works for you works to a point, but not everyone can think about what they're doing and realize what is going to make them faster. Bode didn't really see alot of success in the international arena with his crazy style until his coaches told him to open his stance (and other bits of advice), and then he took the title. Now that he has incorporated some of the advice other people have given him, he has made drastic improvements in his times and the amount of events he is winning.

 

Nah I don't race...unless the course has gaps, berms, and large jumps...

[Ski]

But slalom? Bode is fastest in slalom because of his closed stance. Pallander, Raich and the others were covering too much territory in a wide stance and just now making changes. Bode even rides the flush with knees glued and on his tails. I've seen 'Dude do it, so I know it's being taught at summer camps.

[snorovr]

I was talking more of just fast GS type carving. Something more like the average skier would do. I dont see a whole lot of people who ski all mountain type stuff on skis with a12 meter turning radius, so I was basing everything off of more all mountain type skis with a turning radius from like 16m on up. Modern slalom is a totally different ballgame.

[Ski]

I was talking more of just fast GS type carving. Something more like the average skier would do. I dont see a whole lot of people who ski all mountain type stuff on skis with a12 meter turning radius, so I was basing everything off of more all mountain type skis with a turning radius from like 16m on up. Modern slalom is a totally different ballgame.

 

Ideally, slalom and GS are the same turns, just without the delayed transition.

[tretiak]

true but pow also allows you to blast people in the face with snow

 

so true. if there is pow jeff is deffinently getting blasted

[skidude]

Ideally, slalom and GS are the same turns, just without the delayed transition.

But in SL you can see Jeff's head on the gates, and lean way on the inside to punch the gates