Fantastic stuff! My coach says, “John, you have to find neutral before you can put it in gear!” I really love the WC ski insight!

I’ve bought my last 3 pairs of skis from Alain! He’s amazing and has even taken me and my wife out on the mountain, which was amazing. He’s kind, patient, and an expert in every sense of skiing. Thanks for this Deb! We no longer live in NM but I still go back to Le Ski Mastery for all my gear and tuning!

The Taos instruction team understands and enthusiastically conveys not only the technical information but the spirituality of the sport

I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of doing many race clinics with both Deb and Alain at Taos Sk Valley, such fun, love you guys!! And of course seeing Deb holding little Nilo is precious! 💕👣🥰⛷❄️

Thanks Deb. I like Alain's style - efficient use of words, feedback and demo. We covered this subject in pre-season clinics with similar emphasis. I'm returning to instructing this season along with my son David who is joining the same ski school for his first season of teaching (he was a student starting at 4).

Thank you again. I'm back on skis after my achillies injury. No need for great speed. Practicing the techniques I have learned from your videos including finishing the turn. I am noticing the "straight down" speed skiers much more than I did before, many of who are out of control. Didn't notice them so much before! Have a lovely Christmas.

That’s Deb. If only every passionate skier could get the opportunity to ski with Alain.

Amazing video. Our boot and ski tech has moved on and so we may have different options but Alain just shows us the the basic movements of skiing remain the same. What a great coach! Thamks Deb for.this video.

Thanks for all you do! Welcome Nilo! Also love Alain’s ski tuning tips! 3 days on the WC for a pair of trainers, 24 runs for a race pair! Wow!

I've been looking out for a new video from you every day Deb but know that Nilo is in charge of this season's filming schedule! Not disappointed with Alain's wonderfully simple, clear and calm description of transition; I'll take his wisdom with me when I get to the snow in a few weeks time. Happy baby-days by the fireside!

"If we can be centered, if we can be balanced, with the little bit of strength that we have, because we're all getting older..." Alain... At 63 you're Killin me! I can't wipe the smile off my face watching this footage Deb. Give me more because I'm eating this stuff UP! And yes, effortlessness is a word. Also, are you kidding me? McKinney's world cup skis lasted 3 days to 24 runs? Dang! Still dyin to ski with you one day Deb.

Love the video and the focus. Just spent the past week @ Pro Jam in Killington skiing and working on transitions w/PSIA. Looking forward to another good season of teaching and skiing!

Thanks for that, Deb! Was just talking about this in our new hire and re-hire clinics and level 1 prep clinics. I like to use the term "Finishiation". Don't remember from whom I stole that term. But works for me as it suggest fluidity in a strong moving and stacking finish (stacked is not static, as you demonstrate in your vids with sideways pictures), into a proactive and efficient initiation that can be adapted from a wedge turn with efficiency where the terrain and gear does most of the work for you in starting the turn, to a powerful transfer of power from turn to turn in a high performance turn. Love you stuff! Thank you!

Excellent and insightful coaching. Thanks!

alain ... great observation that "matching" applies equally to the body as the skis. that equal engagement in both legs, i.e. 'neutral' in the body, is literally the same thing as matching skis ... because the skis are attached to your feet, which are at the end of your legs! i'm a dog-with-a-bone about returning to neutral before beginning the next turn, but i've never before had the language to so directly connect this idea to ski performance at the christie-to-parallel level.

So glad I found your channel! I am now a subscriber!

Thank you for the video!! It is ⛷🎿 time.

So good! Thanks Deb…and Nilo!

Ha! Alain is the only one who touches my skis too!

Wow, so two take aways that I want to highlight please. 1. "Parallel" is holistic, not specific and continuing in real time. Invaluable. 2. Presupposing parallel is simply feet together is less than ideal.

Very interesting concept I hadn’t heard before, to concentrate on the legs being matched in between the turns as the emphasis is always on weighting the outside foot. Just thinking about the concept, it seems obvious this should lead to more elegant turns, and also when you’re matching both legs you’re more able to adjust to any emergency measures you might need to take.

ps. congratulations for the new baby. he is a lucky kid! 🙂

Good stuff! Interesting how Alain shows the typical "low" hands of a WC racer, which of course he was, in his demo.

The transition is the most important part of the turn, I work on the transition by working on the super phantom transition taught by Harald Harb. The drill consists of having the uphill ski on the little toe edge in a traverse, learning to balance on this edge is key to the movement and needs to be learned with the the downhill foot lifted slightly off the snow. Once this is learned the downhill boot is brought close to the uphill boot and tipped to its new little toe edge this will cause an parallel engagement of both edges with the new outside ski on the big toe edge and the new turn started. When I am skiing I think flex and flatten the outside ski to start the new turn.

His passion comes through for sure 🙌

Hi Deb, Any chance there is a ski tuning video coming with this gentleman? I'm happy with my waxing, But I'm scarred to venture into the world of tuning edges.

Love this channel very informative 🙏

Deb, there is a video on carving where they advocate unweighting DOWN instead of unweighting UP before starting a new turn, could you make a video on this concept pls

Everything depends on which phase of the turn we talk about. Until apex of the turn you should have much more ski forces on your outside ski. But during the transition, after the apex, the ski forces must become completely equal until you get flattened skis and this time you must have unloaded skis, zero edge angles, very low ski-pressures and as much boot-tongue pressures you can create. An optimal turn has only 2 phases, you increase the ski forces until apex and you decrease all ski forces from apex till you flatten your skis. In an optimal transition you should feel, that you end up over your ski-tales, that your skis continue to move closer to the same slope edge and your torso must ahead closer to the other opposite slope edge, you cross over your skis. In optimal turns your body must move forwards and backwards over your skis and also simultaneously to the sides of the skis (inclinations). The forwards and backwards movements are just as important that the side movements and these start by a backward body movement during the transition by knee flexion of both legs. Your torso should end up over your ski-tales, when the skis get flattened. This is a "cross under" optimal turn preparation. Before your skis start to run in the new turn, you should let your torso to move ahead of your skis into the turn and you should do this partly by your edgings. You should feel, that your torso pulls your skis into the next turn.

Great info

Three things to remember to ski well. Balance, Balance and Balance

Fantastic

Good stuff

for sure, both skis should be flat and equally pressured at the transition, right? then, the skis will quickly rotate together towards the fall line, and the apex. once the skis rotate a little more across the fall line, its easy to pressure, and ski the new outside ski thru the turn. dont fight the edges of the old outside ski thru the transition ...wow its been dumping in steamboat, its going to be an epic ski season there, if this la nina storm track remains in place

If Tamra's race skis lasted all 24 runs of the season. And each run was 2 minutes (probably less) her race skis were on the snow for less than an hour before being replaced.

I certainly recognise my tendency to force my outside leg to get a "good" carve turn! I wonder how his advice would hold on fast & steep?

Calm face, oh ya that’s the holy grail

3 stages of a turn or 2?

Wow

What is he saying at 9:11 right after “matching of the ankle flexion”?

Why doesn’t he like the term “railroad track turn”? Mabey has something to do with transition?

Is that a baby? LOL

Has Jean retired?

I don’t even think the immediate audience got it. I’m sorry but this isn’t my sort of instruction. What is one body action that has taken place on every ski turn ever. When you skate every step repeats the same action. At one moment your skis pressure the snow on your right side and a moment later your skis, or skates are pressuring from your left. THE TRANSITION at one moment your body moves over the skis this has to be a fundamental that you teach from not a ridiculous demonstration about ruining your knees.

It is no fun fighting gravity with the wedge. Ever wonder why most skiers that take a lesson never return to skiing ??? The most efficient transition can not be done fighting gravity. Skiers pay big bucks for ski lessons that produce bad habits of dead end movements that will not hold up when the conditions get tough. Very disappointing video when titled "The foundation of good skiing, The transition" when the instructor is teaching a transition that involves fighting gravity. Lets get serious how is a skier going to learn efficient movements when learning & practicing dead end movements??? The excuse that I cant get the student down the hill without getting them to snow plow does not cut it. Because there are a few lone wolfs out there that have broken away from teaching the traditional dead end movements & went straight to the easy to do efficient movements & have most of their students skiing parallel in a few hours while the rest of the herd are still taking the fun out of skiing having their students fight gravity. Then @ the end of the day the instructor often gets a tip $$ because the student did not understand he got ripped off by an instructor that did know how to teach efficient skiing. Though the tip will help pay for the useless instructor course the instructor took ROFLOL

does he speak Albanian? trying to tune on my google translator...

Congratulations on the little one - but a little surprised that at 2 months he's not doing parallels yet🎿