Savvy Ski-boy Sayin' #IV
And so, when they found themselves outside . . . on the gentlest slope of the mountain . . . with the easy hard-pack snow condition, the physical education teacher at the local schools said, "We have found it in our hearts to ski, we have prepared our minds and attitudes to ski, . . . and therefore turn; . . . now, Angus, if we have trouble balancing our bodies while we turn, please speak to us of how-to-turn . . . with balance--
what are the basic skills of turning our skis with balance?"
And not until someone showed signs of having difficulty turning, he always answered, sayin' key things for the moment, in the soothing and authorita-tive voice he was known for. Then, that evening, in a large cabin at the base of Mount Sparta, with the evenings reserved for review and explanation or clarifica-tion and even analysis of the lessons that had already taken place, he continued to think before he spoke, caring what his students would hear,
. . . eventually sayin':
"I am reminded of a family I once skied with for a week. The father, having a wild reactive upper body and sadly inactive feet, was the most out of control family member; and he was also the most difficult to reach, as he was more concerned about the progress of
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his meek wife and innocent daughter. His wife could really turn her feet while keeping her hands and upper body focused on turns to come, and she knew how to go up and down in the legs even; unfortunately, she was so worried about how she looked that she could not get things to flow--nevertheless she would make a good role model for isolating and teaching each of the three skills necessary for skillful skiin'. Their beautiful daughter, a most innocent skier, knew something about flow, but she needed help with each one of the three skills. The point of this parable is this: it is wise to know the three basic skills for skiing through the narrow gate; but it is not necessary to perfect all three skills at once, especially where bad habits are concerned. It is like the parable of The Tin Star, where the young new sheriff Anthony Perkins has a whole mob to fight off who plans to lynch a jailed prisoner before he can stand trial--it's as if all three of his skills have developed into bad habits beyond hope. --Well, Henry Fonda, the retired seasoned sheriff coaches him with some wise advice: 'You don't have to take on the whole mob, just their leader.' In other words, simply identify the weakest area, or skill, . . . and make it better first; . .
. then identify the next weakest skill . . . in a loving manner . . . and work on it for awhile--it is as if your three skills can play leap-frog with each other . . . until each of the three is strong and helping the other two.
Teaching skiing, when done right, . . . is like handling children growing up: you don't set things up for them to fail, then expounding on all the mistakes they are making; . . . you just keep adding on new things, and at a pace they are comfortable with. --And this kind of skimanship is just like this kind of horsemanship. If you have a clean slate, it should be easy; if you have
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problems, well, you work on the areas of your life that really need work, and many of the other areas take care of themselves, and you wonder why you ever fretted over them. Often you can take the best from each student and have each one teach their strongest point to the others, as I did with that particular family; or you can even take their weakest point . . . and have them teach the skill they are lacking . . . in hopes that they will build it stronger within themselves--this is the advantage of being a ski instructor, learning all your students' lessons.
"There is no such person as a perfect skier--even the greatest skier in the west has things he needs to work on; but he knows his weaknesses, and this is what makes him grow stronger. The three basic skills for physical balance in any skier are: . . . pressure control, edge control, and rotary control--every move you make can be summed up in these three dimensions. We are delving mostly into the how-side of skiing now; but the trouble is that many skiers are not willing to acknowledge their weakness and work on them; or it may be that a skier is just having trouble identifying which skill is which in relation to the other two--someone may feel, for instance, he has no rotary control simply because he lacks sufficient edge or pressure control.
"Good pressure control seems to be a skill that is easy to grasp, and it means having your weight in the right place at the right time, which constantly changes with each centimeter of every turn. Not leaning forward, nor leaning back, a ski-boy shall be going up and down in the ankles and knees for a variety of reasons: to unweight for quick turns, to transfer weight in long turns, to absorb rough terrain and snow conditions, to retract the legs out of fast deep powder, and generally
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bend a ski into its turning arc, as most of the time we want our skis to bend and turn much the same way a good saddle horse does.
"Good edge control, perhaps a little harder to grasp, means having your ski at the proper angle at the proper time: for gripping or not-gripping, for gliding, not unlike the reining of a good working-cow horse.
This angulation is most likely made for your outside ski by moving your hips to the inside of the turn, with maybe some fine-tuning done by the knees. Good edge control involves the whole bottom of the hoof, ski rather, not just the metal edge-part as most people think; and it is important to do your edge finesse exercises like tip-to-tail rail-road-track carve, to learn about locking edges, . . . and linked side-slips on easy hard pack, to know how to really unlock them. Forgetting that edging involves the whole bottom of the ski . . .
and every angle in your body, edge control is the most-easily-misunderstood skill by even many experts!
They get too Real-Egdeous for me, and everything gets twisted around and distorted: everyone talks about needing 'better edging on ice' . . . and 'not needing any edging in powder,' but I can tell you: you can get away with bad angles on ice for years as you'll just slip and slide, but you cannot get away with any wrong angles in powder for even one turn, because the snow snakes with grab you! . . . Be careful in powder--we do not want to stifle a ski out there. And try not to bring Real-Edgeon into it--just ski from your heart, and you'll be fine.
"The turning skill, referred to as rotary control, involves any rotary movements of the body parts: especially obvious foot-steering and keeping the upper body looking for a new turn. In big long turns, it is
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okay to let your chest and belly-button follow the direction of your ski-tips; but, in short snappy turns, the upper body should counter-rotate, or stay facing downhill, where your next immediate turn is, as your feet do the turning and returning--that secret pole plant will help.
"So, when these three basis skills start working together, easy balance-in-motion is the result; but, unfortunately, the idea of 'balance' in skiing is very often abused by ski instructors. They put their students through rigorous drills--taking away ski poles, un-buckling ski boots, making them close their eyes,--and, as far as I am concerned, it amounts to nothing more than intimidation or condescending harassment or ski-instructor brutality! Sometimes, because of ski-shop trends and instructor ignorance borne out of too much conformity or turnover, people not heeding the advice of Sayin' #II, students wind up on skis too short, so short there is nothing under them, no foundation--certainly then balance can be a problem. Balance is what you need for figure skating on a tiny little blade; balance is what you need for tight-rope walking . . . or doing ballet, especially 'on-toe,' . . . and balance is what you need when you learn to ride a unicycle . . . or maybe a two-wheeled bike with no hands; . . . but don't tell me you need extraordinary balance to be a sound skier--the relatively long pair of skis . . . and the somewhat high-stiff cumbersome ski-boots . . . and a pair of weighty poles hanging down from hands kept out of the pockets . . . make you a lot less top-heavy than any pedestrian, . . . and it should be apparent this ski equipment is a lot easier to stand up on than a pair of dress-shoes, tennis-shoes, or cowboy boots, let alone a pair of women's high-heels!
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". . . So, in order to simplify management of your own physical moves, be clear in your mind as to what you are after, work on one thing at a time, do your homework, . . . and just keep adding on in a constant progression without much need for correction: Develop three basic skills for balance--pressure control, edge control, and rotary control,--and be the ski teacher's PET."
--And so the secretary, pulling the scarf taut and shaking the calligraphy pen in her hand while looking to the bottom and longest side of the triangle, carefully recalled the words verbatim she had just now attended to . . . and registered the next savvy sayin' onto the silk scarf:
~~~~~~~~~~~IV~~~~~~~~~~~
Develop three basic skills for balance
--pressure, edge, & rotary skills,--
and be the ski teacher's PET
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Savvy Ski-boy Sayin' #V
And, after everyone had mastered turning with balance-in-motion on the beginning slope with easy snow and gentle equipment, they said, "But there are steeper slopes and deeper snows and broncier skis--
will you give us somewhere to turn there when the time comes?"
And he reassured them,
sayin':
"I am reminded of a parable about three more little skiers who had begun skiing together. After gaining an understanding of the three basic skills involved with skiing, two of the three little skiers decided they had mastered the sport or at least knew what to do when the going got tough--some young teacher or cheap book or magazine article told them this was so.
The third little skier suspected there would be many difficult days ahead in his ski life, and he wanted to be prepared for the worst. So he set out to not only continue working on the three basic skills; he figured he
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could also work on mastering three basic variables as well--you know: slope difficulty, snow and weather difficulty, and the ever-evolving self managing each given turn. While the other two got lazy and skied primarily on bland intermediate runs with easy hardpack snow, he worked diligently the whole season long taking on steeper and steeper pitches a little more at a time, sticking his big tow in powder when the oppor-tunity presented itself, even skiing flat terrain with extra effort. Finally, one day the wolves came to the door-steps in the form of waist-deep powder on the north-facing slopes, black-death ice on the east-facing runs, and either thick mashed potatoes or still frozen coral-reef and cattle-guard crud on the south- and west-facing runs--there was nothing easy to ski that day, no matter the steepness, no easy way down on any side of the mountain. The two lazy skiers--even while traversing, they huffed and they puffed until the adverse conditions blew their technique down; but the diligent little skier who had done his homework--he skied comfortable all day long in the knowledge that he could handle most any condition to come along.
"While many skiers and teachers get bogged down in the how-side of skiing, there is so much less a skier can do, and with far greater results. There is a large group of ski instructors I have witnessed who talk often of keeping their students in their comfort zone; but they have been slow or had trouble identifying the most basic or primary comfort-zone variables, so this important area is skipped over . . . and replaced with more and more complicated themes on how-to do what skiing . . . rather than when and where . . . and who and why. --If we simply monitor our skiing and learning environment, much like the great western
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colt-benders, often the how-side of skiing takes care of itself--this involves manipulating the three primary variables that effect our ability to progress: . . . slope, snow, and task. It is nothing more than the smart time management system Stephen Covey writes about: while most skiers spend their whole life making turns that are 'urgent but not important,' constantly putting out fires, we shall take the wiser approach of making turns that are 'important but not urgent.'
"The most obvious important variable is . . . slope difficulty, . . . and this includes not only the steepness, but the size and shape of the run, how much skier traf-fic or trees whizzing by, the beautiful but possibly-scary view. Yet why do so many skiers insist on this variable of slope difficulty be the most-abused variable? --If you wish to scare yourself psychologically and emotionally, learn bad habits in the three basic skills, and risk possible injury to yourself and those around you, . . . simply go too steep too soon in your ski life; . . . if you wish to stagnate, stay with the masses on intermediate slopes and find only self-inflicted boredom on the bunny-hill. . . . If, on the other hand, you wish to reach your full potential as a skier: then put more effort into intermediate terrain, with say more turns from A to B; do your most-fun homework on the bunny-hill, such as . . . aggressive hockey stops .
. . and slow-motion parallel skiing . . . or even skating on skis; . . . and post-pone the advanced slopes until you have sufficiently done the prerequisite maneuvers on the beginner and intermediate terrain. --I believe this is the same deal as what Clason means when he says 'Control thy expenditures': people want to have at all right now, they want to have a new automobile right now, they want a new house right now, they
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want steeper slopes right now, . . . so they over-extend themselves constantly borrowing what they know will be more and more difficult to repay. --Now I will tell thee an unusual truth about skiers and sons and daughters of skiers: that which we call our necessary steepnesses will always grow steeper than our abilities, unless we protest to the contrary. --So confuse not the necessary steepnesses with thy desires, as each of you is burdened by more desires than thy yearnings can gratify. Therefore are thy meager turnings spent to gratify these desires insofar as they will go--still thou retainest many ungratified desires.
"The next primary variable you may manipulate in your ski life, provided you take advantage of the changing weather . . . or have a sort of 'root-cellar run'
big enough to store a few acres of fresh powder, . . . is the snow condition, the most neglected variable of the three. In order keep things simple, consider the light-ing and weather conditions to be part of the snow condition--don't make it a complicated science. The millions of skiers who play it safe on easy herd-pack don't know what they're missing, and they actually avoid the best-tasting snow conditions; but varying snow conditions is what skiing is all about--and the end bonus is more packed snow for slower snow-melt, which results in more well-budgeted water for our growing seasons and watering of the stock. But the best time to learn a new snow condition is when you want to, rather than when you have to. As an instructor, for the vast population of intermediate and ill-taught advanced students, I try to keep a fresh stash of a few inches of powder handy somewhere hidden on easy beginner terrain, my secret 'root-cellar run'; then, when the powder day really comes, complete with bad light, we
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are ready to enjoy it much like fresh fruit. --It's like getting a young horse accustomed to your yellow rain slicker: get him used to it before the rain, maybe on a sunny day, so he'll be ready when the time comes; that way, when you do get caught in a down-pour, and you're in a hurry to get your slicker on, you just do it, without getting bucked off trying to do any catch-up colt-breaking johnny-on-the-spot.
"Finally, . . . the task-at-foot, the type of turn you opt for in a particular situation, is the most misunderstood variable of the three, even though it is the most talked about, as many innocent skiers find themselves in trouble trying to ski at someone else's level rather than their own. Intermediates should not attempt to ski steep icy moguls as fast as an expert; and an expert shall not ski intermediate hard-pack low-key like an intermediate--unless, of course, he is teaching an intermediate . . . or teaching a newer teacher how to teach an intermediate. Basically, any time you come to a certain slope-difficulty with a certain-type snow-condition, you always have options for what you decide to be the task-at-foot--you always have a choice . . . for the easiest technique, usually one good turn, . . . or the hardest technique, linked turns big-n-fast or short-n-quick, . . . or some technique in between.
"But, please, try to remember: if you ever accidentally find yourself . . . on too-tough of slope with too-tough of snow, like the three students in 'The Rime Of the Ancient Schi Lehrer,' . . . you can always opt for the safest way out, . . . traversing . . . or side-stepping, whichever is more feasible. As long as there is snow, there is probably nothing you can't traverse or side-step up or down away from. Is it not true great skiers often traverse and side-step . . . to the more savory
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slopes and snow conditions?--well, traversing and side-stepping can save your life also.
"This is why gimmicks like mono-skis and single snow-boards are not a smart idea: they take away your God-given natural balance and independent-leg action, making it impossible for you to traverse or side-step your way out of trouble--many a mono-skier and snow-boarder, in search of virgin powder, has gone down out-of-bounds . . . past of the Point of No-Return.
. . . Some have likened snow-boarding to the joys of surfing, but I say unto you: snowboarding is not surfing, with the freedom to maneuver one's feet, . . . it is suffering, and beginning snow-boarders do not enjoy the natural safe-n-easy start afforded to beginning skiers. Because the ski schools have not properly gotten the job done in recent years, downhill skiing has become largely misunderstood, . . . and so snow-boarding has taken off like wildfire--we've 'Got 'em and Some-mora' (but that is the topic of another book). . . .
"Whereas other ski instructors complicate your comfort-zone with a dozen variables to the point where your comfort zone goes out the window, we here have learned to keep it simple enough to always know our comfort zone--slope, snow, and task, . . . and only one variable at a time should be increased slightly in difficulty for the learning process, otherwise the student is being inundated with too much too soon, and that instructor should start looking for another line of work. .
. . Therefore, in order to simplify and manage the external forces outside your own physical body, to become the best all-around versatile skier you can be: Monitor three primary variables for your comfort-zone--
slope, snow, and task,--and ski fluently in any context. "
--And so the secretary, puckering her lips, nodding
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her head, shaking her calligraphy pen, and really getting comfortable while enjoying her work even more, .
. . wrote down on the second of the three sides of the triangularly-folded scarf . . . one ski-boy's savvy sayin'
that perhaps had been the most-unnoticed and most-unheeded simple truth of all throughout modern ski-school history:
~~~~~~~~~~~~V~~~~~~~~~~~
Monitor three primary variables
--slope, snow, task--for your comfort-zone,
and ski fluently in any context
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Savvy Ski-boy Sayin' #VI
As they progressed, there freedom flourished, but so did their responsibilities and challenges. And it was not uncommon for then to exhibit that they could be torn between the ski and the snow--"which to focus on?" they wondered, "--my skiing style? or my function with the snow and the mountain and the ranchers out on the plains?"
And he sensed this,
and said,
sayin':
"I am reminded of the parable of the terrible skier who failed to heed the messages given in the first five savvy sayin's . . . and therefore the sixth and seventh sayin's. He was in a hurry: even though nobody can train a good skier in a hurry, this fellow decided he was better than everyone else, so he made every mistake in the book, one at a time at first . . . and then all at the same time not much later on. At first, even as a beginner, he decided to use expert equipment: because this was so difficult to turn at his low level, he found himself headed straight toward lift towers and trees unintentionally and fast--much like our careening national debt fueled by egotistical congressmen--and, at the last minute, had to resort always to hard-zinging Z-turns, rather than dynamic in-control S-turns. Then, his third mistake was he failed to ski every turn as if it could be his last--even though it very well could have been: because his desires outweighed his abilities, he lived in the future, rather than in the present, which shall be treasured as a gift from God--this again fos-
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tered desperate Z-turns. Attempting to correct his errors, he read some quick-fix magazine articles on 'how-to ski,' leaving out the prerequisite questions concerning who, what, when, where, and why, so his fourth mistake turned out to be an abuse of the three basic skills in skiing: even though he lacked the leadership ability, he demanded a carved turn every time from his over-kill equipment, which h e screamed was not giving him his money's worth--so again he skied in desperation, cranking hard acute turns dangerously close to the trees at the end of high-speed traverses, which took out many fine law-abiding skidizens caught in the cross-skier. . . . Failing to ever ski down the mountain, not across it, the terrible skier's parable ends with him being banished from all commercial ski resorts. The last we heard was: he skied out of bounds in a perpetual traverse . . . and was probably taken in some foreign land by bandits stuck in a downhill spiral of their own.
"And again, I say unto you, man's desire always outreaches his abilities, and, if he does not keep them in check, they begin to frustrate him and rule his life with even greater unattainable desires--the tail begins to wag the dog. With much of the how-to-succeed-type literature of the past fifty years promoting superficial short-cut quick-fix solutions to everyday problems in reaching your full potential, it is now wonder that peer pressure, superficiality, competition, and manipulation run rampant in our western society. . . .
When someone wishes to ski better, or to be accepted by other as a good skier, they often try so hard, whether to please others or to take short-cuts for themselves, they often end up going inadvertently in the wrong direction, across the mountain rather than
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down it. In my fifteen years as a skier teacher at the major commercial resorts, I was often told in the locker room, 'Hey, Angus, I've got another head-case for you'-
-these poor students, usually women, were more-often-than-not . . . abused, neglected, or misunderstood . . .
physically, emotionally, or psychologically, nine primary different ways they can be given a hard time . . .
and som