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Do you forget how to Ski??



 
 
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  #11  
Old January 7th 04, 10:11 AM
Jim Hutton
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Default Do you forget how to Ski?? Carvers

snip

S. Gione is right, take some skiing lessons to brush up your skiing skills.
One more thing: skis have become better in the past years. I replaced my
very old skis with carving skis - and it did make a great difference.

Rent a pair of new skis, do some training for a day or two - and enjoy the
rest of your stay.



I don't think you forget how to ski, but remembering may take time depending on the equipment you
are lumped with.

My second week took 4 days to get to where I was on the last day of my first time on skis. I've
always ended up with rented 185-190 non-carve planks, and the first day or so each time felt like a
nightmare trying to turn them. By the Wednesday, there were definitely muscles I never knew I had!!!

Last yr I got (newish) 175 carvers for the first time, and was back to normal by then end of the
first warmup run. I've never been able to turn so easily, handle the bumps, and link so many turns.

I don't know what it is, but in Lech I was advised I was not expert enough for carve skis for my
4th/5th week on snow, but in Les Gets they were dishing out carvers to newbies.

snip

It's not a puzzle. Carvers are designed to turn easily.

All skis turn by a combination of being bendy and having a sidecut (ie
narrower in the middle than at the ends. Your weight and
centrifugal force bend the skis, so they attempt to follow the curve
so created. The sidecut increases the bendyness and accentuates the
curve. QED.

However, all skis are a compromise. A carver ski will not be so
stable in the straight line, and if you ski very fast or are very
heavy for the length of ski the amount of turn created will be
excessive and the skis will feel unpleasant as they try to 'overturn'
inside the line you are setting.

At speed, too, it can be difficult to 'ride' the carve in a
long-radius turn if the ski is too soft.

There is an additional problem with some skis (especially with French
ones ?) that they lack torsional stiffness, and tend to twist out of
the correct curved shape. This is accentuated in carvers by the
sidecut. To test this, hold a ski upright in front of you with the
tail held firmly between your feet. Try and twist the tip
longitudinally. A good ski will twist very little, a bad ski will
twist a lot. This is nothing to do with bendiness, which is a choice
you make - more bendy for a slower skier, less bendy for a faster
skier. Excessive twist means that the ski doesn't adopt the correct
curved shape all along its length, but (usually the tip) twists out of
line.

In summary - the advice you were given in Lech was exactly wrong -
newbies should ALWAYS have soft, short carvers, experts may prefer
longer, stiffer, less sidecut skis depending on the sort of skiing
they are planning.

HTH.

Jim Hutton
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  #12  
Old January 7th 04, 10:20 AM
MoonMan
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Default Do you forget how to Ski??

James Hart wrote:
Jim Hutton wrote:
On Tue, 6 Jan 2004 09:45:06 -0000, "MoonMan"
wrote:

Chris Wilburn wrote:

My question is do you ever forget how to ski?? Is it like riding
a bike were once you have mastered it you really never forget or
will I have to start from the beginning. I am guessing the answer
will be somewhere in between.



I would suggest spending an hour or so at your local dry slope or
SnowDome/zone. this should at least start to bring your unused
skiing reflexes back. you don't lose them they just have to be used.

From my massive experience of livigno (1 day last year) I would say
you should have a great time.


I would seriously recommend NOT going to the dry-slope (snow dome
may be better, I don't know).

It is the received wisdom that some dry-slope before you go back to
skiing is a good idea, and for years I did this. I found that
despite this it took at least a morning to even feel comfortable on
snow, let alone be back to last year's standard.

I assumed that this was the best I could do, until one year due to
circumstances I couldn't do any dry-slope. The difference was
amazing
- I felt at home on the snow immediately, and was skiing with my
usual over-confidence within an hour.

Has anyone else found this ?


I too find it takes a few runs on snow after running on plastic to
get a real 'feel' back but I know I feel a lot more confident after
getting a few hours on plastic under my belt before doing the real
thing. I've got no direct comparison but next weekend about half our
group hasn't skiied since last year whereas the other half will have
had a couple of hours on the dry slope. It will be interesting to see
the difference between the 2 groups.


in my experience it is the change back to plastic from snow that is more
difficult. I teach and race on plastic and i find that the first run on snow
is wonderfull your skis run so much more easily, but the first run back on
plastic is horrible as you have to cope with "Sticky Ice" as my coach
described it on monday when several of us had just returned from a week on
snow.

I do find the plastic is bad for your skiing attidude very strange, ok it's
not snow, but it's better than nothing!


--
Chris *:-)

Downhill Good, Uphill BAD!

www.suffolkvikings.org.uk


  #13  
Old January 7th 04, 08:26 PM
Jeremy Westhead
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Posts: n/a
Default Do you forget how to Ski??

I suspect the shop has something to do with it - my wife was given carvers
in Lech last year - same level of experience!
"AndyM" wrote in message
...
Turan Fettahoglu wrote:
My question is do you ever forget how to ski



The wise choice would be for you, having only a week 7 years ago, would

be
to spend a couple of days in ski school before heading out with your


mates.

A lot of skiing is "remembered" but the question is whether you have


enough

experience that can be "remembered".



S. Gione is right, take some skiing lessons to brush up your skiing

skills.
One more thing: skis have become better in the past years. I replaced my
very old skis with carving skis - and it did make a great difference.

Rent a pair of new skis, do some training for a day or two - and enjoy

the
rest of your stay.



I don't think you forget how to ski, but remembering may take time

depending on the equipment you
are lumped with.

My second week took 4 days to get to where I was on the last day of my

first time on skis. I've
always ended up with rented 185-190 non-carve planks, and the first day or

so each time felt like a
nightmare trying to turn them. By the Wednesday, there were definitely

muscles I never knew I had!!!

Last yr I got (newish) 175 carvers for the first time, and was back to

normal by then end of the
first warmup run. I've never been able to turn so easily, handle the

bumps, and link so many turns.

I don't know what it is, but in Lech I was advised I was not expert enough

for carve skis for my
4th/5th week on snow, but in Les Gets they were dishing out carvers to

newbies.

If all the others are advanced, and you are the only beginner, then take

some refresher lessons.
But saying that, I believe that skiing with one/two better skiers helps

you to improve.
--
AndyM



  #14  
Old January 7th 04, 10:10 PM
Alex Heney
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Posts: n/a
Default Do you forget how to Ski??

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 00:25:10 +0000, Jim Hutton
wrote:

On Tue, 6 Jan 2004 09:45:06 -0000, "MoonMan"
wrote:

Chris Wilburn wrote:

My question is do you ever forget how to ski?? Is it like riding a
bike were once you have mastered it you really never forget or will I
have to start from the beginning. I am guessing the answer will be
somewhere in between.



I would suggest spending an hour or so at your local dry slope or
SnowDome/zone. this should at least start to bring your unused skiing
reflexes back. you don't lose them they just have to be used.

From my massive experience of livigno (1 day last year) I would say you
should have a great time.


I would seriously recommend NOT going to the dry-slope (snow dome may
be better, I don't know).

It is the received wisdom that some dry-slope before you go back to
skiing is a good idea, and for years I did this. I found that despite
this it took at least a morning to even feel comfortable on snow, let
alone be back to last year's standard.

I assumed that this was the best I could do, until one year due to
circumstances I couldn't do any dry-slope. The difference was amazing
- I felt at home on the snow immediately, and was skiing with my usual
over-confidence within an hour.

Has anyone else found this ?


No.

I find that a couple of hours on dry slopes before I go, and I am
happy within a run or two on the snow.

I don't know if it makes any difference what level of skier you are,
but for reference, i am a reasonable intermediate level, happy on
pretty well anything pisted, not so good in the moguls or off the
piste.

--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
Vuja De - The Feeling You've Never Been Here

To reply by email, my address is aDOTjDOTheneyATbtinternetDOTcom
  #15  
Old January 8th 04, 05:01 PM
Chris Wilburn
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Posts: n/a
Default Do you forget how to Ski??


Chris Wilburn wrote:

My question is do you ever forget how to ski?? Is it like riding a
bike were once you have mastered it you really never forget or will I
have to start from the beginning. I am guessing the answer will be
somewhere in between.



Thanks to all for the advice.

Reassured me at least that I should have some kind of base to work from.

I think I will get a days tuition just as a refresher, and try some of these
newer types of ski.
From what I have been told on here and by friends dry sloping may not be
such a good idea.

Chris


 




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