Thank you :) and it is not just that but also neglecting the fact that it is one of the key moves the dominating racers like Odermatt and Shiffrin (as well as Hirscher in the past) use to ski the crucial passages, where they want to make sure that they hit next turn as clean as possible.

Thank you Janus. Found your videos a while ago. Well done! Good, friendly vibe. I like the scene where your girlfriend jumps into the picture. :) Greets, Klaus

Thank you Henry! :) I think you can see the difference best in this comparison kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mN-DnaSC1taRf6c.html How he is much more in the middle and on top of the skis. Thank you for your feedback! More to come! Greets, Klaus

@@KlausMair Danke, Klaus, ja, da sieht man es noch besser. SchöWE wünscht Henry

...und mir fällt noch auf, dass er an Tag 5 viel früher mit dem Schwung fertig ist, im steilen Gelände natürlich ganz wichtig.

Thank you Matteo!

Thank you Teresa! :)

Thank you. This is a hard one to answer without seeing you ski. Maybe one of those could be helpful: sofaski.com/analysis/ I could tell you exactly what is going on and what i would suggest to work on for your next step. Greets, Klaus

Hi Janos, don't be sad. I don't think you fully understood the point I am trying to make. What you describe is another way of doing it (btw I dissagree on pushing the hip fw but that's a different story). I chose to take a different path with my client and the results show that we did right thing. Nothing to be sad about. I did not stop a good development but I helped a client that came to us because he did not have the performance he was looking for. Here is the article in writing if you are interested: sofaski.com/introduction-to-powder-free-reminder-card-to-download/

He must be very talented! :)

@@KlausMair ...and has a good coach!!!

Thank you. :) I think mainly because other things needed to be improved first. Like i write in the article sofaski.com/flex-to-release-vs-up-and-forward/ a lot of it is about picking the right area for improvement to get the best results. We first focus a lot on being able to move forward and not getting pushed too far back. As long as it is a weakness or a habit to get pushed too much in the back there is no point in working on down-unweighting as it will only make things worse.

@@KlausMair Makes sense. Your videos are really informative. Thanks

Thank you Matteo! :)

Once you have understood and felt how flexing can help you create release you can use it in different parts of the turn, especially when you need the release right away. It is one of many moves and you want to be carefull that this is not the only thing you do, especially if you should feel that you get stuck over the heels and struggle with speed control once it gets steeper.

Hi, the German term is Tiefentlasten. I chose flex to release over down unweighting as it is shorter to say and type. ;) While there are variations like letting the com fall or actively pulling the knees up,... the outcome is the same. You can find more explanations on it here sofaski.com/flex-to-release-vs-up-and-forward/ also in German if you change the language in the top corner. Good luck with your exams! 👍

@@KlausMair Thank you. I have read the article you referred me to and I have left some questions there.

I don't think that his A-frame has something to do with the "lack of use of the inside ski". As you analyse correctly he is too far back and inside. With too much weight on the inside he won't be able to edge it more. So where he finds his balance needed to be changed first and to achieve that we focused on getting him to initiate more efficiently. Obviously dissagree that the flex to release is better wherever possible.

@@KlausMair yes I certainly agree that stance, balance in both the sagittal and frontal planes and outside pressure dominance are his first priorities of order. But after that, I would go directly to his lack of inside ski participation. For modern carved turns, left right pressure distribution is fluid, progressive and not 100% ski to ski like we did on straight skis. For this to happen, the inside ski needs to engage/bend equally with the outside ski. I am surprised that you don’t agree that an A frame is indicative of the inside not tipping to carve as much as the outside ski. There is also the A frame in the sagittal plane also referred to as excessive inside tip lead and also a symptomatic output derived from, again, lack of inside participation. Though, this skier does not seem to have too much inside tip lead. He is, however, a good enough skier for the flex yo release concept. For flat groomed terrain, it is the most dynamic technique to master. It is also more efficient and effortless (when the timing is right). Technically, I do not like “flex to release” per se. That is a top-down operation. 1. Flex the hips to 2.release the ski. What I coach instead is the bottom-up version of that called “tip to flex” meaning we first tip the ski which redirects the ski to diverge away from the CoM and pulling the chain into extension and inclination in turn phase one then directs the ski back under the CoM in turn phase three thus “pushing” the chain into flexion and angulation. In much less words: tip to flex.

"I am surprised that you don’t agree that an A frame is indicative of the inside not tipping to carve as much as the outside ski." I don't disagree to this but you are talking about an observation, a result and not the cause. I am interested in fixing the cause. There are a lot of things that we teach in skiing. Not everything has or needs a name. I am not a big fan of overcomplicating things. Its only instructors that do that, you will never hear a succesful race coach make things more complicated than necessary.

@@KlausMair I have been both an instructor and a race coach. Race coaching requires many less words because there is a developed rapport to work off of. Teaching needs very few words because all rec skiers tend to have the same problems. So pro to ski pro, however, can include a lot of words but only if they have been learned. When two ski pros working with the same teaching system, sound very different, there is a problem.

In the flatter sections you will see most of them stay low but in the steeper sections with more offset the best ones will move more to hit the critical turns as well as possible (which is part of the reason why the ones that move more like Odermatt and Shiffrin dominate). You can get forward and on top sufficiently by staying low and extending into the turn but it comes with more risk to not hit it as clean and for the recreational skier it is a lot harder to achieve. I show and explain that in detail on Coaching Taka. sofaski.com/product/coaching-taka-carving-medium-radius-turns/

loved your answear @@KlausMair

What did your boss say?

Yes absolutely. Both techniques have their place and are used and combined by the complete skier according to the situation. On this run for example you see me do the first two turns with up and fw and turns 3 and 4 with pulling the knees up. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ZsuIoaVhmeCvoXk.html

@@KlausMair Is one right? Or are both right? Or one preferred based on the radius of the turn, or just what feels natural in the moment, or how the terrain is flowing under you?

@@blameitonben Yes, both are used according to the situation. No right or wrong. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mN-DnaSC1taRf6c.html If a skier tends to get stuck on the back and inside, often sits back and struggles once the slope gets steeper, then I would not work on the down-unweighting but on the up and forward to get him more in the middle (as shown in the video).

@@KlausMair I feel like carving at speed, I flex to release quite naturally. When in powder, which I'm still figuring out, it feels more natural to get up and forward, especially when it's 3-4 inches of fresh on top of hard pack.

@@blameitonben Send me your clips and I will let you know exactly what is going on. ;) sofaski.com/analysis/ Greets, Klaus

Hi Marshall, not sure maybe Terry's Run?

@@KlausMair Thank you.

No, boots are perfectly fitted, no locked ankles or any other excuses in this area.

Thank you. The interesting question often is when is a student ready for the next step. Does it make sense yet to work on down unweighting or do we need to sort out some other things first? Often times trying to copy a move is counter productive and can make a habit come back that needs to be sorted first.

@Klaus Mair I just watched BTP blue turn initiating and red turn initiation. Don't know how to post a question in that instructional video, so I post it here. The push up and forward to neutral stance, in a dolphin it's much the same? Except, it feels like pulling the legs back, instead of pushing the upper body and hip forward because, in the air, there is no ground to push against? Or, is the jumping up motion of the dolphin is the push up and forward? Not sure I'm being very clear.

It is the same thing. Also in the dolphin you use the contact of your tails to then move up and forward in the direction you want to go. In the air you push the tips down and pull the feet back without pulling the knees up (that would be cheating). Getting the hips over the feet or pulling the feet back is the same thing, just looking at it from different perspectives. I have just emailed you how to log in and post questions in the member area. Greets, Klaus sofaski.com/member-area/

Thank you for your question Peter. I agree both are possible options and it is what makes coaching so interesting to figure out what really is the cause. Sometimes you only really know after starting to work on it and seeing what effect different drills have and which drills are found especially hard,... If the cause is an alignment issue though it would often look more as if the inside ski starts to bite, pull and then gets the skier stuck on it causing the outside ski to slide out. You would also be able to spot this looking at the lower legs and the overall stance. If I see bigger body parts starting to move to the inside before the inside ski bites then its probably more the skiers habit to move there and not the set up of the boot.

I think that's difficult to do looking at one clip of doing one thing. I think it becomes apparent looking at what the skier is doing in other things. In one clinic last year, the trainer thought my one ski skiing on one foot seemed very odd. He had me traverse across the hill on uphill edge of the uphill, inside ski. I couldn't hold it on one foot. Clearly, I had a boot alignment problem, which a bootfitter fixed. Now, having read Klaus' reply, I can see he would have arrived at my problem faster, about 20 minutes and one chair lift ride faster.

@@KlausMair So, it would be a shame if a student goes away from the lesson not knowing that there is a boot alignmennt problem if there is one. What checklist of things can I have a student do, perhaps near the beginning of a lesson, so I can see if boot alignment is adequate?

@@karlo407 We have it as one of our checklist items for all coaches to check the boots at some stage on day one. When it comes to alignment you would spot it by looking at the skier. As you said, it would come out more in certain drills and give you an indicator that the allignment is the problem. A more common problem than the allignment is the boot size and/or boot flex as a result from poorly fitted or online shopped boots.

Will add Russian subtitles soon.