cials from having to replace broken bamboo all day; but then it re-
quires the racers to have highly specialized ski-pole grips better for
bashing than for all-around pole-planting. . . . Then, super giant
slalom and the downhill event require too much ski for comfortable
all-around free skiing, and you need a mountain all to yourself to
practice for these events because of the dangerous high speeds. But
good ole giant slalom---now here's something we can all have fun
with, especially on easy beginner or low-intermediate slopes, for
almost all levels of skiers including experts---and it's something
you can get ready for while you're free-skiing the easier terrain.
The elite amateurs race one skier at a time, often running the course
twice, in any of the four events, and the elite amateur courses tend
to be steeper than what you would want for the general public; but
pro ski racers are more fun to watch in my book, even on less-steep
Who&WhatTurn, When&Where&Why---Not Just How! --- 205
courses, as they race two racers side-by-side in either Slalom or GS,
and they've got to spend all day trying to eliminate each other---
and they add a couple of scary six-foot drop-offs, or pro-bumps, to
make it more exciting yet. So the general public can have fun with
the pro format in an easy not-too-steep giant slalom---about the
only thing lacking in a recreational civilian course is the six-foot
drop-offs, but I've seen some pretty exciting events for good
league-type racers with measly two-foot drop-offs.
To me, there's no prettier sight than seeing two good skiers
going head-to-head in synch with each other side-by-side dogging
each other about their mothers and what-not while the announcer
calls the race over the PA system louder than the Kentucky Derby.
Yet, done right, even wedge turners can take their time through
some of these fun courses; cautious Moms and their kids can go
head-to-head dogging each other---although, if I were a Mom, I'd
think twice about dogging my kid about his Mom. I haven't seen
enough pro ski racing on television in recent years---it has a fun
rodeo rough-stock atmosphere, which makes the Olympics and FIS
World Cup almost seem sterile in my book.
When I say "done right," there are a few things a ski area needs
to do right to make a recreational race course safe, the ones for
anyone to jump into just for fun. Roped off from non-racers, it
should be set up fairly straight with fairly diluted turns, nothing
too cranky, on either green-circle terrain or no more than low-in-
termediate steepness. One thing some ski areas forget to consider:
you should be able to see the whole course from the top at the
starting gates . . . to the finish line below: this means a consistent
pitch the whole way or maybe even a slightly dish-shaped slope
that goes from slightly steep . . . to flat---a knob-shaped course that
starts our flat and suddenly drops out from under you with a
steeper pitch after you've got your speed up is pretty unreasonable
for the unsuspecting general public. It's okay to use steeper slopes
for serious ski-racing, with a few surprises or cranky turns thrown
in, but this shouldn't be the case for run recreational race courses
that anyone can enter. It's not only important for the skier to be
able to study the course from the top, but also so they can see if
there are any down skiers laying in the course.
One prominent writer in Jackson Hole one Saturday evening
was disappointed with how easy the local race course was that day.
Out of ignorance, he said to his friends: "It was just whoever had
the right wax was the winner." Well, that told me right away he
knew nothing about the possibility of using skate-step turns, or
206 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
pushing more at the beginning of a turn than at the end. When you
don't have the slope making you go fast, you have to come up with
some moves and extra effort yourself---it's not much different than
a simple foot race on a flat cinder track. It was sad for me to hear
his ignorant comment, because he was well-known as a writer, and
writers are supposed to know how to question and think.
Your first time in a recreational race course, always ski it at
your own level. Wedge turners and stem turners can stick with
what they've got, and they should have permission to take their
time and go around any ruts from previous racers. As an advanced
skier, you might be happy with some no-nonsense parallel turns for
awhile---you shouldn't need any pole plants for these easy turns, as
the gates serve as your timing device anyway. When you realize
how non-threatening the course is, my suggestion is to just look
ahead, keep your hands forward, and ski the best line first, mean-
ing you get your turns started early and finished early, without
getting too technical. In the tighter turns of slalom, it's a challenge
to just stay in the course; but, in the medium-to-large turns of rec-
reational giant-slalom, staying in the course is almost never a
problem---don't confuse fun recreational racing on easy terrain . . .
with serious Olympic and FIS World Cup Racing on more difficult
terrain. Likewise, whereas wedge turners may have half their turn
be after a gate, a good ski racer will almost have his turn done right
at the gate---check your GS ski-racing posters, and witness the
edge-n-pressure of the outside ski, and the diverging ski tips (espe-
cially before the late 1990s).
The next time you see stock-car racing on a half-mile oval dirt
track, notice that they get high on the track before the beginning of
the curve . . . so that they can finish the turn inside and early and be
accelerating straight away before the curve's end. Again, being
early is better than being quick: in slalom, for instance, when a skier
is late, that's when he has to get quicker all of a sudden to make up
for it, and it doesn't always work out as he blows out of the course.
. . . Maybe, in ski racing, all other variables being equal, the guy
who gets to his uphill ski earliest, and spends less time on a down-
hill ski, will have the fastest time---this is why I always cringe when
I hear some well-known ski-racing celebrity commentate "Oh, no!
He's losing his downhill ski!"---you want to get off your downhill
ski in order to go fast down the mountain! Think about it, the
snow-spray being your exhaust: whenever you're on the inside
edge of your downhill ski, you are spraying snow down the
mountain; whenever you're on the inside edge of your uphill ski,
Who&WhatTurn, When&Where&Why---Not Just How! --- 207
you are spraying snow behind you up the mountain, sending you
down the mountain that much faster. This is why sometimes the
wildest skier ends up with the fastest time: every time he "loses his
downhill ski," he's going faster down the mountain; then, if he ac-
cidentally stays in the course, he wins---the hard-core racer isn't out
to look pretty, he's out to win. About ski-racing, Jackson Hole's
legendary Theo Meiners used-to say, "Don't stay in a bad turn!" but
that is a little too advanced or oversimplified for our purposes; you
need to ski your turns well enough to not give your instructor a
heart attack.
Again, when you begin recreational giant-slalom ski-racing,
look the course over, keep your hands forward and poles quiet, as
the gates will time your turns; strive for efficiency first by skiing the
early path; then there is no limit to how much effort you can put
into edging and pressuring off that uphill outside ski. If the course
is easy enough and your technique good enough, you can acceler-
ate using skate-step turns; but forget about skate-step turns if
you're going too fast to warrant them (this is pretty much what the
real racers do). Pro ski-racing champion Tomas Cercovnik said it
best, describing his winning strategy: "Gettout of d'old turn."
After all this, it's okay if recreational racing is not your cup of
tea. If this doesn't help you ski better, at least it will help you know
what you are looking at when you watch ski-racing. Next time you
witness a fast downhill event of the 90mph variety, notice that,
when those daredevils catch too much air when transitioning from
flat to steep, sometimes they flip over in slow-motion like NASCAR
crashes used to when they got over 200mph before "restrictor-plate
racing." The World Cup and Olympic Downhills might need re-
strictor-plates on the carburetors of their skiers before things get
any more dangerous. Maybe you are a daredevil and can't get
enough danger in your skiing---if this is the case, I recommend you
wear a fire-proof suit.
Well, that's enough talk about ski-racing. Unfortunately, there
are many ski instructors brainwashed into thinking that World Cup
ski-racing is always the best place to get their technique ideas even
for good all-around skiing---but that's pretty ignorant in my book.
Anybody in the recreational-skiing world who wants to keep their
speed from getting out of control---and that's all of us at least
probably half the time we go skiing---would be safe to not concen-
trate on ski-racing technique most of the time. I truly believe that,
once hard-core ski racers come to an end of their hard-core racing
careers, maybe in their early 30s, they are amazed at how much
208 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
they find out they can finally relax and start to truly enjoy skiing
for a change, skiing powder when they want to instead of hard ice
because they have to. When you encounter ski-racing fanatics in
regular ski-school, you might notice that they are often very ag-
gressive-type people, always having to one-better the next guy,
everything a competition; they might write an intimidating book
with a title like The Athletic Skier, which other aggressive folk might
like. Though their personal skiing may mellow a bit as they age,
their competitive spirit may always remain. ---I think it's unfortu-
nate that too much ski-school gets treated like U.S. Marine Boot
Camp; again, this is why I use my wild-horse-gentling analogies:
you might have the toughest guy in the universe, who, if you mis-
treat him in a ski lesson, can melt into the most desperate cowering
coward. (Now watch: that said, you'll see more and more ski-rac-
ing coaches and race-oriented ski instructors . . . taking on a most-
gentle air, making me look like a bully.)
Let's move on to two nifty little tasks that are indeed difficult
but total physical opposites from racing---one task emphasizes in-
dependent-leg action, while the other emphasizes simultaneous-leg
action. These two tasks, hop turns and the wedge-swing hop, are a
way for us to look at someone's advanced skiing through a micro-
scope---though they are done at the slowest possible speed, they
require perfect timing and maybe a little quickness. I don't like
doing these two tasks, because they are a lot of work, and they
make your socks fall down; but they magnify what a skier might be
doing or not doing in the rest of their skiing---so you get an idea of
what you can do better. With these two bunny-hill tasks, you can
just about tell if a guy can belong up on advanced steepness: some-
times an instructor is begged by an "advanced" or "expert" student
to go up on the toughest run they can think of, and you may not
have the time or perfect place to check them out first, but you don't
want to take someone up there if you don't think they're ready---
the wedge-swing hop and hop turns are a good test that you can
administer almost in your living room.
With the idea that independent-leg action may be a prerequi-
site to sameoldtimeous-leg action, let's look at the wedge-swing
hop first. On bunny-hill hard-pack, put your skis in a straight
wedge and hop from one ski to the other almost in place, leaving a
crisp clean edge-set each time---the corresponding pole can touch
when each ski hits. In the wedge-swing hop, your skis are already
turned, so emphasis is on proper angles and independent-leg mo-
tion. This exercise is almost what you could call backwards her-
Who&WhatTurn, When&Where&Why---Not Just How! --- 209
ringboning, as one in a million skiers might be able to perform it
backwards up the hill, only you're going downhill ever so slightly,
so as not to make it a harassment deal, slower than a straight-
wedge beginner. It may be difficult for some to keep their wedge
formation; but mainly this is an exercise that tests you for fore-aft
balance, one-sidedness, pole discipline, or just plain laziness---it's
like an exaggerated relative of the beginner's spontaneous christies.
This is a difficult exercise, and, like my friend Jeff Socha showed
me about 1982 at Bridger Bowl, you can actually practice this with
your skis off for a while to get your conditioned reflexes figured
out and make life a little easier.
(I had to teach this task in a PSIA full-cert exam one time in the
early 1980s, and one of the god-like examiners came down doing
perfect wedge-swing hops . . . but planting the opposite pole---it
was something he had obviously practiced, planting the left pole in
conjunction with the right ski, and so on, and he was trying to trick
me deliberately, probably because I was from a rival ski school. I
couldn't fut my pinger on it at first, and it took me a minute to fig-
ure it out---and ultimately he got me flustered. It was not exactly
"wrong" or a "mistake" the way he did it; it was a parlor trick, and it
was dirty. Any real student who doesn't have a decent pole plant
to begin with should not be subjected to this test---unless they are
begging you to take them on the toughest runs or something like
that. With real students, real mistakes are easier to pick up and
address at their level---I don't like instructors at any level trying to
intimidate students or even exam candidates. That exam happened
to be at Snowbird, and legendary Junior Bounous came along at
that moment and tried to lighten us up by throwing bamboo poles
in front of our skis---he meant well, but I don't think he realized my
ski-teaching is as important to me as his career is to him. That little
episode may be one reason I was never able to pass the teaching
phase of the full-cert exams, communication skills---we'll address
that more in the Epilogue.)
The close cousin or brother to the wedge-swing hop . . . is hop
turns, also done on bunny-hill hard-pack, but these can also be
done in other scenarios like intermediate crud---these are also re-
lated to exaggerated short-swing, where you're seeing how many
turns a guy can make from A to B. Get set up crouched and facing
downhill with the hands, jump and naturally turn both skis in the
air, and land crouched on your edges and a pole for the next one---
landing with the skis pointed left corresponds with planting the
right pole for your next hop to the right, and so on. Whereas your
210 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
wedge-swing hop tracks look like tight herringboning, these hop
turns leave tracks like tight alternating quotation marks. Good hop
turns help to make you even-sided, or ambidextrous. For the re-
cord, these bunny-hill hop turns are a toned-down version of the
jump turns you see extreme skiers doing in the famous ski footage
in steep-n-narrow crud: whereas the bunny-hill version breeds
turns only inches apart, the steep jump turns are a more-natural
several feet apart because of the mountain dropping out from un-
der you. Even in the extreme skier's jump turns, you might witness
a little bit of independent-leg action, and that is good to note and
look for.
Let's get away from such harsh maneuvers and get back to a
little finesse before we wear ourselves out. Still on green-run hard-
pack, try some skidded parallel turns short-n-slow. Fluidity, alert
hands, and commitment to an outside ski won't hurt. This simple
exercise sort of reminds me of playing "one-ball" on the pool table,
where you have to hit the ball without sinking it---you have to par-
allel ski without going anywhere but without tipping over, which
would be embarrassing. It's almost like a dressage maneuver like
you see in the horse world, like trotting your horse in place. The
thing that makes these slow parallel turns tricky is that the lack of
steepness or speed is what makes it difficult; so I want to give you a
variation on the same task, parallel turns short-n-faster: notice
that, if you can push on the new outside ski early as possible, it will
help you go more despite the lack of mountain to work with---like a
skate-boarder using turns to get going on a flat sidewalk. I have
seen pro ski racers doing this skidded exercise on their way to the
chair-lift.
For the record, a lot of these advanced bunny-hill maneuvers
can be performed on the flat and narrow catwalks when traffic is
not a problem, which means you can get more skiing experience for
your lift-ticket money. These obscure exercises are what make up
the difference between becoming an expert and stagnating as just
another advanced skier.
About now I'd like to talk about a missing element in my "Peri-
odic Chart" of Downhill Skiing Tasks. Some hard-core instructors
will tell advanced skiers at this stage to ski on one-ski for several
turns well-carved. I don't relish the idea of skiing on one-ski for
linking left-n-right turns down the fall line, . . . because it's not
natural, and it feels dangerous to be on your inside ski, against the
laws of physics and biomechanics. Skiing on one-ski may be fine
going across the hill on an easy slope in an easy snow condition,
Who&WhatTurn, When&Where&Why---Not Just How! --- 211
sort of like carved pre-turns, but it is too contrived for my tastes for
skiing down the mountain. Still some hard-core instructors use the
one-ski stunt as another parlor trick to intimidate their subordi-
nates---these hard-asses might have a background in ballet skiing,
which gives them a hidden advantage. If you are a true one-legged
skier who wants to ski bad enough, I can see the need for it, but
even they tend to rely on crutch skis on their arms; . . . or, if you're
a hard-core racer who wants to be the best, you might want it occa-
sionally; but two-legged skiers who just want to be sound experts
don't really need it any more than they need inverted aerials. One-
legged skiing demands more carved turns, which means you don't
want to do it too steep, and you don't want to do it too slow either;
your upper body has to be inclined to make new turns, and that
one leg never gets a rest. (PSIA has made one-legged skiing one of
their tasks to master for full-certification, even on black-diamond
steepness, but they pretty much admit in their literature that it
could be unsafe and is probably a dumb idea.) Be thankful for two-
legged skiing, because one outside leg efficiently doing most of the
work means the inside leg usually gets to rest---after all, we don't
run or walk by hopping on both legs at the same time. One-ski
skiing will magnify any problems you might have in your skiing,
but the risks-versus-the-benefits are not worth it in my book. If you
dig your inside knee in snow going faster than a beginner, it can
tear your knee apart and ruin more than your whole season and
your pocket book, all because some domineering hard-ass told you
to---you don't need that.
Easier than linking turns on one-ski . . . is linking turns with
alternating inside skis, skidded royal christies, probably easiest on
low-intermediate hard-pack. These make a little more sense in that
they are symmetrical and easier to skid; but, again, even symmetri-
cally linked inside-ski turns aren't something to strive for in my
book, not when you have two functioning legs with the outside leg
being pretty-darn natural to favor. . . . So, at this point, I'm just
going to call this point in the chart a place for a missing element:
anything extra you want to take responsibility for and try with
your skis is extra credit . . . and will make you a better skier, if you
don't get hurt doing it.
(I mention this one-legged skiing here and now because I see it
pushed on new instructors all the time in recent years, without re-
gard to how well they ski the advanced terrain and difficult snow
conditions---they're just expected to do it because they are "in the
military now," not unlike a fraternity hazing; and it's not something
212 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
you want to push on the general public, unless it's a group of un-
ruly experts just begging for it. One of the Powers-That-Ski flies in
to give a clinic looking down on the new recruits, and, first thing
you know, he's got everyone trying to ski on one ski---something
he's been practicing for awhile just for this type of occasion, like an
evil drill sergeant. Some of the stronger recruits gloat for being
able to do it, but probably more get embarrassed and learn to feel
guilty for not having mastered the trick yet. It is easier to do on
'shaped skis' than it was on 'straight skis,' but still, if you fall to the
inside ski, you could possibly regret it more than having a big ex-
plosion in moguls. One reason some express the importance of
skiing on one-ski nowadays: they want you to do perfect two-ski
skiing too often for my tastes, with half your weight on the inside
ski, which is another contrived difficult task that came along as
official legislation when the skis themselves became twice as