What is it? I like to describe it as… Precise Athletic Fluidity
- Think of it as skiing in a way that your turning forces are generated mostly from ski-snow interactions. When someone skis that way, people watching from a chairlift tend to let out a hoot. Yes, it’s pretty to watch, fun to do…IF you’ve developed the requisite skills and range of motion!
- Comes in carving, powder, park, steeps and bumps varieties.
“Precise”: Advanced skiers have a wide range of any given movement available to them such that they can vary it at will… or more importantly, can select the timing, amplitude, speed of that movement that best fits the situation moment to moment.
“Athletic”: Most un-coached skiers are just way too statue-like or robotic in their skiing. One way they can improve quickly is simply by increasing the range and duration of their existing movements (and thus breaking their habitual moves or frozen stance up a bit)… then, once there’s now more choice available, focusing on continuously adjusting their movements to fit the task and terrain, to seek out cool feelings. That’s where “precise” comes in -it gives you more fun and less stress. No more “one size fits all” skiing. Instead, dancing down the mountain, without gritting your teeth!
“Fluidity”: One way to recognize fluidity is that the beginning and end of any movement is hard to detect. When you are in motion zooming down the hill, continuous movement is what creates balance. In skiing, there is no “correct” position – balancing is a continuous process. And sudden starts or stops of a movement mean that trouble-making crazy guy “action-reaction” is invited to the party (“Watch out! Woa! Phew! Oh no!”) So don’t knock your self down – changes in terrain and snow condition should provide sufficient challenges, don’t you think?
Developing YOUR skills for dynamic skiing:
Technique:
One of the most generative “daily training runs” is to ski the (piano) scales so to speak – what I mean by that is, pick one turn element and vary it from one end of its spectrum to the other, then back again. When you can (and do) do this, your body then can and will be able to select just the perfect amount of it in each turn. And that can make you ski beautifully, even playfully!
Example 1: Extension-Flexion: Deliberately lock in your stance flex wise for a few turns, then (keeping your shins on the boot tongues) gradually start increasing the range of your body movements until you are going from really extended (tall) and fully flexed (short/angulated) in each turn – exaggerate it. Then, with that possible range in place, let your body just experiment with E-F for a couple runs.
Example 2: Edging: Pick a turn radius on a groomer. Now go from Zero-edge turns to round skidded turns to “trenching” wicked carved turns.
Example 3: Turn Radius: Super short wiggle turns gradually extending the radius thru middle out to long radius turns, then back. Get the idea? (US Instructors have an acronym that teases out some of the basic kinds of elements that you can vary – BERP (balancing fore-aft, edging, rotation and pressuring movements).
Tactics:
DIRT (duration, intensity, rate and timing of a movement) suggests some specific ways that you can vary movements in your turns. Another approach is to focus on the mountain instead of technique, and seek out situations where you can/should move differently.
PLEASE DO THIS ON A SLOPE THAT IS NOT CROWDED, AND BE SURE NOT TO ENDANGER YOURSELF OR OTHERS (MAYBE HAVE A FRIEND SCOUT THE LANDING). SMART SKIERS MASTER THIS ON A GREEN FIRST TO GET THE “HANG” OF IT.
Here’s an example: On a slope with rollers, suck them up (keep your head level and flex to fully absorb the roller’s rise) then fully extend into the drop-off keeping constant pressure on your skis. Then, next run, try out the other end of that spectrum by using an active extension on the front side to deliberately soar off the rise (be sure to use your glutes and quads to extend, NOT pressing down with your toes/ankle!), once airborne, extend your feet toward the snow before you land to absorb the impact and make a soft touchdown.
Woo hoo!! Most of all, have fun.