"How It's Made" - Dynastar Skis

For all of those television experts out there, the Science Channel will be airing an television episode of "How It's Made" - "Dynastar Skis" on Friday, June 19th at 9:00 p.m. EST.

UPDATE:
This video is now available online at http://science.discovery.com/videos/how-its-made-alpine-skis.html.

This will be a first of its kind special where a manufacturer is revealing how indeed they make skis. This will give good insight on how they are put together, strengths of different types of skis, as well as how to maximize your own ski movement efficiency.

Note: I am not paid by the Science Channel, Discovery, or Dynastar to promote this television special. However, if you are an employee of the Science Channel, Discovery, or Dynastar and would like to pay me, please contact me at the given contact info from my profile.

Ski Towards the Corner to Improve Directional Movement

Here is a crazy cool little trick to help yourself gain more control over your directional movement in your skiing. But first, what do I mean by directional movement?

Directional Movement

The key to the sliding glass door of modern skiing is consistent and correct directional movement. You always want to move each part of your body towards the direction you want to go. This is extremely important.You always want to move each part of your body towards the direction you want to go. And in case you didn't catch it the first time (or the second): You always want to move each part of your body towards the direction you want to go. This equals efficiency.

What most people don't typically think about the is direction of a turn. When you turn right, you are not making a 90 degree turn measured by the protractor you still have from tenth grade geometry class. It would be an ugly turn, an uglier wipeout, and a sad, sad life story that you still have your protractor from tenth grade geometry class. You should think of moving your body on a diagonal - that is - both forward and right.

Let's take for instance, the feet. When you want to turn right, you are obviously going to move both your feet towards that direction. Similarly, you also want to move your inside knee forward and to the right, the tips of your skis forward and to the right, your leading toes forward and to the right, and you plant your pole forward and to the right. This is what establishes your turn.

If you want to make a shorter turn radius, you should move more forward and less to the right. If you are making a long radius turn, you will want to direct your movements more to the right and less forward.

So, we know what directional movements are - movements of specific body parts that are directed to your new turn orientation and shape.

Now, let's get to that cool trick... I gained this pearl of wisdom from Eric Anderson, PSIA Level III Instructor and Ski School Director at Wisp Resort in McHenry, Maryland.

The Trick

Stand in a flat area in the snow so that you are in a balanced stance with parallel skis. Take your poles and draw a box, or rectangle, in the snow that surrounds you and your skis. See the diagram for an illustration.

Imagine the turn you want to make is directed towards the front left or right corner of your box. The trick is to go through a progression of body movements that will reinforce making efficient movements towards this corner. So, look at your corner and...

• Roll your inside ankle and pressure your inside foot diagonally towards the corner.


• Touch your pole at the corner


• If necessary, direct your inside knee and possibly hip towards the corner

In summary, making sure that you move directionally instead of sideways makes your turns more efficient, makes you look like a much more radical and skillful skier, and in case that isn't enough, it also allows you to both finish and initiate your turns more successfully and evenly in both directions. So next time you take a turn, move towards the corner of your box, and leave the protractor at home.

Skating - It's More Important in Skiing Than You Think

Typically, the last thing you want to do after arriving at one of those fancy Zermatt chalets and first getting on your skis is skating. However, this is something that is severely underrated by all levels of skiers. Some of you may not even know what skating is (if so, go request a lesson on skating right away and tip your instructor lots of cash, preferably me). To this end, it is important to take a closer look at what exactly happens during our skating on skis.

Skating's Importance

So, what is skating? Basically, skating is exactly what is says, except on skis as opposed to ice skates. You push off of one ski, balance yourself on the other ski, and keep the cycle going. It is a great maneuver to propel yourself forward when you need to get somewhere on the snow that simply facing downhill and skiing will not allow.


Why is skating so important? Well, what's not important about it? Not only does it allow you to efficiently and less-energetically get yourself back to your skiing partner who fell (or further away from your skiing partner), it incorporates all of the basic skiing movements that you need to ski successfully anywhere else on the mountain. It is said that you can tell how good a skier is just by looking at him or her skate, because it is a test of how well you blend and execute your basic movements.

In summary, Martin Heckelman writes in The New Guide to Skiing that "While skating, the legs are taught how to 'flex' and 'extend' ... the body is trained to shift weight from ski to ski and one learns how to change direction easily while moving. Skating also helps to improve a skier's body awareness and balance."

How to Skate on Skis

To push off of your ski, bend the knee of the ski you are pushing off of. Feel the power and potential energy in your bent knee, then extend and push that knee towards the new direction.

The most important principle in skating is to make sure you are pushing off of the inside EDGE of your ski rather than pushing off of a flat ski. Always, always, always make sure you are pushing from the ski's edge. This maximizes energy efficiency, and thus will not tire you out as quickly. After all, skating does require energy, so make it easier for yourself by using the edges. To do this, make sure you roll the ankle of your ski in contact with the snow inwards towards your big toe side of your ski.

After pushing off of the big toe, inside edge of your ski, glide your body out toward the direction you wish to propel towards. This should be in the same direction as the new ski in contact with the snow. You want to make sure that you do not look like a wobbling Tower of Pizza - that is, do not move your body side to side much. Focus on gliding all your momentum towards the direction you wish to go in. If you were driving a car and wanted to go straight, you would steer straight and not sideways, right? It's no different in skiing.

Also, when landing on your new ski, there is a quick feedback test to see if you are balanced. You should be landing on the entire ski evenly. If you notice the new contact ski hits the snow with the tip first, you are too far forward in your stance. If you see your tail hit the snow first (more common), you are too far back in your stance. See the Balance post to adjust this.

Skating is a skill that comes only with practice, so, go practice! As you get better at it, you will notice that you feel less tired after making the same dash to the chairlift. It is a great feeling to get there and realize you are not out of breath like you normally are, all due to technique improvements.

As you get better, you can also practice skating while gliding down a gentle slope (on a green circle trail) or on even more advanced terrain if you feel even more advanced. This will require practice, some athleticism, and more precise control and timing while pushing off of your edges. It will, however, allow you to pick up some speed. And if you don't like speed, go home. Or just practice a little more.

Freestyle Skiing and the ATML Method

Many crazy people are always trying to bust the biggest move in the trauma park...I mean, the terrain park. However, few skiers really know how to approach new terrain features or how to grow comfortable and properly learn how to ski them. What's the real way to learn so that you don't tackle your tips and tails? Magic.

Actually, magic is not nearly cool enough for skiing. So instead we use the ATML method. What is the ATML method? Well it breaks down to the following: Approach, Take-off, Maneuver, and Landing. By focusing on each of these parts separately and then blending them together (in the correct order), it is much easier to develop your skills as a freestyle skier, whether it's for the superpipe or the small bump on the side of the green circle you are skiing. Skiers and snowboarders alike use this method.

Approach: This is where all the fun starts. Have you ever started toward the ramp of a wooly mammoth-sized jump and then realized you have too much speed? Well instead of letting your bladder go, try analyzing the approach beforehand. Before you even put on your equipment, walk to the beginning of the feature (a feature could be a jump, a rail, a box, etc.) and LOOK at it. Look at the differences between one spot and the next. Touch the feature and feel what it is like. If it is an icy, slick rail, you will approach it differently then if it were a rough, course, dry box. After analyzing the approach, determine what speed you think would be appropriate to enter the feature. Also look at where would be the best area to approach it from uphill (i.e. Would it be better to come from the left side or right?).

Take-off: The take-off is pretty self-explanatory. The main focus here is how you want your body to be positioned at the time of your take-off and how aggressive you are going to be with the entry.

Maneuver (or Method): This is the actual trick you will be performing. It may be simply keeping your balance in the air, a nosegrab, an iron cross, or sliding on the rail. It is important to know ahead of time what maneuver you plan on performing and how to do it.

Landing: In your landing, it is important to land with soft, flexed joints - somewhat bent knees, flexed ankles, flexed hips. You do not want to stiffen up your body in fear because you see that you are about to fall to a scary death. (The chances of that actually happening are slim - you usually won't walk away with more than a broken clavicle or a fractured vertebra). Stiffening up your body makes you less flexible and more prone to stress - that is, bones break more easily...ouch. Make sure you aim for a nice, balanced position so that you finish looking like a pro. Then smile for the judges/TV camera/mom/imaginary stadium there to watch your magnificence.


After you have figured out each piece of the puzzle independently, then piece them together to make a masterpiece. It is art really.

Two Additional Foods for Thought

First, remember that balance is essential to any type of skiing - including freestyle. Go back to the "Balance - The Foundation for the Rest" post to review some necessary balance skills.


Second, wear a helmet, wear a helmet, wear a helmet. And if you are truly interested in deeper thought, wear a helmet. Wrist guards can help too. You can buy some cool ski accessories for low prices at SnowShack Ski and Snowboard Accessories.

Disclaimer: SkiBlog-SkiBlog and any of its authors are not responsible and are not liable for any injuries or deaths associated with your skiing. We will accept recognition or cash for gold medals or first place awards though.

The Bend and Extend Concept: Leg Retraction and Leg Extension

The bend and extend concept is one of my favorite things to perform myself as well as to teach. For one thing, the words rhyme (so cool - this does not happen a whole lot in the skiing world). But what exactly is the bend and extend concept? Oh the suspense...

This is commonly known as leg retraction and leg extension. It applies mostly to more advanced, dynamic skiers at moderate to fast speeds and helps out a ton in starting carving turns. The principle is that through your turn, you want to bend your inside leg/knee and extend your outside leg/knee. If you need a review of what the inside and outside skis are, see the picture below.


So, you bend your inside leg, extend your outside leg, pretty simple right? Well, ya it is pretty simple.

To do this, you want to push down with your outside leg in order to extend it and then simultaneously bend, or retract, your inside leg by bending your knee and lessening that ski's pressure on the snow.

Why do this? While the modern world says, "Everything comes down to money," the physics world says, "Everything comes down to energy." When you extend your outside leg and pressure your ski, the ski builds up mechanical potential energy from the pressure you are applying to make the ski flex. On your inside ski, the retraction (bending) releases the energy and allows for a smooth transition from turn to turn. This will result in a feeling of your skis jumping forward beneath you as all the energy releases.

Martin Heckelman writes in his book, The New Guide to Skiing, "When you retract your leg, you release this energy, causing a rapid and fluid movement of your body downhill across the skis. This enables you to very quickly press onto the new outside ski, which will allow you to carve the ski very early in the turn."

A couple things to keep in mind while practicing these movements:

1.) Make sure you continue to roll and flex your ankles in the direction of your turn.

2.) When extending, make sure you are on the uphill edge of both skis. The outside ski will often be pushed downhill so that your stance opens so wide that little kids think it's a tunnel for them to go through. Monitor this and keep your stance at a constant width throughout the entire turn.

Share this technical tidbit with your friends. They will be impressed that you came with this knowledge out of nowhere. Then refer them to this site...

So, get out on the luxury ski mountain and bend your inside knee, extend your outside knee, and you will be well on your way towards becoming a better, more hip skier than your skiing buddies. And that's what everything really comes down to.

Skiing Those Things Called Moguls

Although bumps are a much different terrain than typical downhill skiing, there is a secret. You actually will use the same movements as normal skiing, just in a different fashion and using different tactics.

There are several different strategies to tackling moguls (metaphorically, not literally). You may want to vary yours depending on conditions, ability level, comfort level, etc.

Generally, the most common strategy (and the one I usually adhere to) involves the following:
1.) Plant your pole on the peak of the bump
2.) Turn on the side of the bump and across the back/downhill side of the bump.
3.) Continue your turn as normal.
4.) Stay in your turn until you slow enough to a comfortable speed while spotting your next bump to plant and turn around.

By simply focusing on planting on the top of the bump and then turning around its side, you will find a smooth rhythm that should help.

Note that this is not the same as skiing a "zipper" line down between the moguls like the pros. That requires much athleticism, strength, and endurance.

David Lind and Scott Sanders, in their book The Physics of Skiing, describe to readers, "When skiing moguls, the skier should unweight - that is, release the edge of the ski - at the sides of the trough where the normal force is reduced and then skid the ski using counterrotation of the body, which will set the opposite ski edge into the snow and initiate a turn."

A little technical, so let me explain. Basically, you are naturally going to experience some flexion and extension of your knees. Let them do this - don't go against it. You want to keep your hips the same distance from the ground so that your upper body doesn't bounce much vertically. The bounce is going to come from flexing and extending your knees underneath your body. Another way to think of this is that you will be picking up your skis off the ground and then landing back down on them.

Turning on the sides of the bumps, or ideally, the peak of the bumps, allows you to maximize your movements when the force on your skis from the snow is at a minimum.

Lind and Sanders summarize by writing, "Simply stated, this physical analysis shows that skiing a banked turn off the top of the mogul is the easiest and most effective strategy for skiing a mogul slope." Don't just take it from me - there you have it from the physics experts.

So, remember to NOT turn before a bump in the icy part where everyone and their brother tries to turn. Do turn on the peak of the bump where there is soft snow that no one skis on. This makes it much easier to turn your skis, and also is much easier on your knees and legs (especially beneficial to mature/experienced skiers and casual skiers).

Also, balance, the "Foundation for the Rest," becomes critical in the bumps. Make sure you have a good, central stance and that after your pole plants, you keep your hands and arms in front of your body.

Trying to keep it simple, this is what skiing the bumps all boils down to. Follow the above tips, and you'll look more like a skier and less of a linebacker on the slopes.

Are Your Skis Keeping Up With You?

In my last post, I went over some of the basics of ski design and engineering and how these characteristics affect your skiing. Now, I am going to brag a little about my latest ski purchase, a set of Rossignol Radical RX 9's. I bought them from Mike Stewart, one H-E-double hockey sticks of a skier - a Level III PSIA at Wisp Resort and a Rossignol sales rep.

Why did I get these skis? A few reasons.

First, they have an amazingly chick-picking up color scheme.


Second, they have some physical characteristics I like too. When I was looking for skis this year, I wanted something with a stiff tail end and low torsion. Translation: the rear (tail) end of the ski does not flex or rotate much. What does this accomplish? This absorbs energy throughout the turn and then releases at the end of the turn, resulting in a turn that "shoots" you out at the end. Bottom line, I wanted something that would rip. These did the trick. They also have a sidecut radius of 13 meters - can you say tight turns? If you are more of an advanced skier who is looking for some skis that are speed demons, super responsive, and carve up the whole mountain, these are the type to get. Tell your ski shop that you want a low torsional, stiff tail. I also went up 5 cm in length from my previous skis to 165 cm. This lets me go a little faster. All I have to worry about now is controlling these rockets on my feet. These things are a blast to ride on.

Also, I want to point out that these skis are a 1-2 year old model. You do not have to have the newest high end skis to get great skis. I found these, demoed them, felt how they performed, liked them, and purchased them. Done deal.

Are your skis keeping up with you? If not, it may be time to visit the ski shop to look at some newer skis.