Ski tips? Ask the ski nerd!

Feel free to ask any ski related questions and the ski nerd will post a response usually within a day or two.

Hi Ski Nerd
I am an average skier who can go down most terrain but it might not be pretty! I find when I get tired my left foot has a hard time keeping up with my right foot. Is there a technique that can help me correct this Lazy Foot issue?
Timbad

Hey Timbad,
You are not alone, infact most people have a weaker turn on one side... myself included.
There could be a number of causes but the only thing I can suggest without seeing you ski is to get your alignment checked... Yes sometimes you can use your equipment as an excuse! A good boot fitter can get you all dialed in or you can try this quick test to see if this might be part of the problem.

Take the liners out of your boots and throw just the foot beds into the empty shells. Make sure you are on a flat surface. Stand in your shells with your feet a little less then shoulder width apart (or watever your natural skiing stance happens to be) and do up all the buckles. Look straight ahead with all your joints slightly flexed in a position of readiness. If you happen to have a mirror in front of you... you can use it.... otherwise it's best to have a buddy check for you. Have your buddy look at the spaces between your lower legs and the cuff of the boot. Ideally your lower leg should be in the middle of the cuff or slightly closer to the inside of the cuff. If one or both legs are out of alignment you can adjust the cuff on many boot models (this adjustment is usually located on the ankle rivet).
Otherwise you can play around by shoving some extra padding in the cuff where ever there is too much space. (Trail maps or brochures from the lodge work great in a pinch). Make sure you experiment to get it just right before making any permanent alterations.
Happy turns,
The Ski Nerd

Hi Ski Nerd
Help me out here. I am am pretty good skier on soft snow but my skis have a mind of their own on icy patches. This throws me into panic mode! How do I keep me cool and get a grip with my skis so I can feel confident on all surfaces?
Roo

Hello Roo,

There are a number of reasons your skis may be slipping out on the ice and it is difficult to know exactly what the root cause is without seeing you ski... but here are a few things to think about.

First of all, balance is key on ice as you need to be using the whole edge of your ski to grip. A common problem here is people tending to lean on the front of their boots. This puts too much pressure on the front of the ski and not enough on the back causing the tails to slip out on harder snow. Try experimenting, feeling less pressure with your shins on the front of your boots.

The next important key to gripping on ice is being able to tip your skis over to increase your edge angle (this is the angle of your skis against the snow) while maintaining balance against the outside ski. In order to do this you need to bring your hips to the inside of the arc while bringing your shoulders to the outside. It's kind of like folding your body into a "C" shape.
To get this sensation, think about lifting your inside ski slightly... your hips should fall to the inside of the turn.... now try keeping your chin over the outside toe piece on your binding.

Oh yeah... don,t forget to make sure your skis are well tuned!

Good luck,
The Ski Nerd

Hey there ski nerd,

Quick question for you. I haven't bought a new pair of skis for a while, and thought now would be a good time because there are lots of sales on of last season's gear. I'm a strong intermediate who generally cruises on groomers and the occasional black diamond (nothing too crazy though). Do you have any suggestions on what I should look for in a ski? I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the choices.
Thanks ski nerd!

Hello Anonymous,

There are so many different types of skis on the market these days and a lot of them are very specialized.
There are twin tips for the terrain park, specific skis for every for racing discipline, skis for moguls, powder, touring the backcountry and this is just the tip of the iceberg... choosing the right pair can be tricky.

The first thing you need to think about is what kind of skier you are and what kind of terrain you'll most likely be skiing.
For example, if you are going to be skiing powder all the time then you might want a pair of fat skis to help you float on top of the snow and make life easier. However these skis don't perform as well on a harder snow. If you are more interested in carving on groomed runs then I recommend a narrower ski with more side cut (fairly wide tip and tail but narrow under foot). This type of ski will be much easier to roll onto an edge and help you grip on harder snow. The increased side cut will make the turning effort easier and you be able to carve nice clean arcs. If you enjoy playing around in the bumps you will want a ski with a softer flex so you don't get tossed around too much.
Personally, I like to ski everything and here at Mt. Washington you never know what your going to get so I prefer an "all mountain ski" thats medium wide under foot but still has a pretty hefty side cut... this type of ski is not excellent for anything but they're good at everything.

The next thing you need to consider is how aggressive you ski and how heavy you are... these along with what kind of skiing you"ll be doing will determine what sort of flex you want. This can be complicated but basically a softer flexing ski will be easier to turn and more forgiving for those without perfect balance, while stiffer skis generally are more stable at higher speeds and give you more performance if your strong enough and skilled enough to make them work. The easiest way to tell these apart is by the price... the stiffer ones tend to be expensive!

Finally you'll need to consider length... once again this depends upon a lot of variables such as ability , height, weight and what kind of turns you like to make. There are no rules but slightly shorter than your height seems to be about average.

The best thing I can recommend is to demo as many skis as you can before you buy to make sure they're what you want. Most good ski shops will let you put the cost of your demos towards the skis that you purchase.

Hope that helps...

The Ski Nerd

HI SkiNERD

I too am a big ole ski nerd. ....I love powder, LOVE POWDER! Can you give me some helpful tips on maximizing the Powder experience? ...and in your opinion which of BC's mountains has the best powder skiing?

Darkalley ...the website brain.

Hello darkalley,

Skiing alone is a good enough reason to exist, but skiing powder is utopia... if you can do it well.

While skiing powder you need to change your tactics a little from when your on a groomed run.

First of all speed and rhythm are your friends... either you need enough speed to float on top of the powder or you need to have rhythmical turns that bounce you out of the snow in the transition between turns. This will make it much easier for you to start your turn as this is very difficult while they are burried in the deep in the snow.

You also need to consider line... if you turn too sharp your skis will catch and you will face plant so try to make nice round turns and don't finish them off quite as much as you would on a groomed slope. Remember the powder will slow you down so you don't need to worry about gaining to much speed with these unfininshed turns.

Finally you need to use a more two footed aproach... on a groomer you are trying to dig your edges into the snow to create a platform to balance against. In powder, the bases of your skis push and compact the snow underneath and this is your platform. The bigger the platform the better, so put a little more pressure on the inside ski than you would on a groomed run and try a slightly narrower stance. This will seem more like one big platform rather than two smaller ones and will stop one ski from sinking to deep and taking off in the wrong direction.

Remember you will need to adjust these tactics depending on the depth and consistancy of the snow your skiing.

Hope that helps,

The Ski Nerd

PS: As to your question about the best powder mountain in BC, thats a tough one. Some prefer the quality of the light fluffy snow in the Interior or the Rockies, but because I'm a dedicated Vancouver Islander I have to give it to Mt. Washington for pure quantity and Mt Cain for lack of people to track it up... don't tell anyone!

Hiya Ski Nerd
I too am a ski nerd. I am a "Blue Run" skier and I am looking to buy new boots. Is there something specific I shoud be looking for? I want something comfortable and functional! Cheers! T.

Hey T,

When buying new boots the most important thing to consider is a good fit because it's difficult to ski well when your in pain.
A good boot fitter can take a look at your foot and help you decide which type of last will fit your foot the best. Once you have picked out the right boot, your boot fitter will be able to punch or grind out sections of the shell to fine tune the fit. You will also have the option of getting a custom made foot bed which I highly reccomend if you can afford it. This will help to stop your foot from sliding around in the boot and give you more comfort and better control over your skis. Next it is important to make sure your boots are aligned to give you a functional balanced stance and full range of movement (You should be able to bend down low and stretch up high without falling over and your skis should both lay flat on the ground) Again, your boot fitter should be able to make these adjustments for you. Finally if you are more cautious intermediate skier you will probably want a softer flexing boot which will be a little less responsive but more forgiving.

Hope that helps...

Question regarding ski technique:
I grew up skiing bumps and so my style is definetly like a mogul skier. When I went for my CSIA level 3, I was told that I should ski more "instructor"-like and lose the mogul skier style. Do you have any suggestions for drills or things to help get my skiing style more CSIA and less mogul skier?
Cheers , Foodog!

Hey Foodog,

If they said they want you to ski more "instructor like" and lose the "bump style" I can only guess that they want to see the skis carve a bit more. When skiing in the bumps you often don`t need to achieve the same kind of edge angles because you can balance against the platform created by the bump (this requires a good touch is a great skill to have!). But in order to tear it up on the groomers I would suggest some edging drills... like touching the outside boot or roller blade turns.
The Ski Nerd

Kids who cannot get up by themselves
I taught 4 kids the other day, they were 8 and 9 years old. I tried so many ways to teach them how to get up, but three of them could not get up on their own. Suggestions anyone?

Genta

Genta...
Getting up is difficult for anyone on flat terrain because you have to push yourself much further than you do on a steeper slope (I'm assuming these are novice skiers). Have you tried getting them to practise getting up with one ski on? You could also have the students with the most difficulty follow right behind you so you can help them... or have them buddy up with one of your stronger students.

Dear Sir/Madam,
     For my a-level physics coursework I have decided to investigate the physics behind skiing, and I need to decide what aspects I will investigate. I am thinking about particularly paying attention to the effect of the starting height on the horizontal distance travelled once the skier jumps off the slope, aswell as the effect that different weights have and the angle at which the slope is positioned on how far the skier will travel.
     If there is any inormation about any of these factors you could tell me it would be really appreciated.
     Thank you so much,
Josine Sahakian

Hello Josine,

All I can tell you with regards to the distance a skier will travel is weight will surely have an effect, but wax, snow conditions and the position of the skier will have far more of an effect. The skier is held to the slope by a portion of the force of gravity acting perpendicular to the slope. Another portion of the force of gravity acting parrallel to the slope pulls the skier forward and down the hill. Opposing these forces is the friction between the skis and the snow, and the friction of the air against the skier.
Perhaps more interesting are the physics involved in a turn... where centrifugal force pulls the skier away from the centre of an arc... to continue turning the skier resists this pull by balancing on his/her edges against it. This is called inclination. The line of inclination is the balance point here between gravity and centrifugal force (this happens in many sports like riding a bike). This in turn creates centripetal force.

I hope thats helpful. If you have more questions on the specifics I'm happy to help, however, I don't know much about physics beyond how it applys to skiing.

Good luck with your project,

The Ski Nerd

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