studying here at chile

I think he needs to focus more on the balance on his outside leg and work on a narrow stance by focusing on his inside leg so it's as light as possible and not rush to push it forward too early at the end of the turn.

I don’t think Steve understands the importance of his ankles and really how they will work for him. And all of the conversation won’t turn the lights on. A coach could demonstrate so that he can develop the proper feeling

goggles up, nice ski instructor, visual contact very important

greeting from Chile, the season starts recently

not a big fan of the double pole drag drill it promotes bending at the waist

I'm only 34 and i would say if you have injuries from early 20s or overly-tight muscles anywhere, don't sleep on stretching, foam-rolling and addressing those issues or, I imagine, it will be chronic and very hard to fix later on.

Love Geri’s skiing

Agree with both of you. Left foot is the stronger due to better separation. Left footer you could be better separated and you use your muscle 💪 to finish the turn causing moving to inside and and pinch of rotation. Ski more powerplow and snow plow on steeper terrain to maintain separation on weak side.

Don’t know why this popped up on my feed now but. This is the very best explanation of ski boot fit and anatomy I’ve seen on KZfaq. The only other place I have read this stuff (other than when I’m boring a mate with it) is on David McPhail’s Skiers Manifesto blog which has sadly now gone, it was the richest resource of science based boot theory and the only other place you’d hear someone promoting pronation! The number one reason boot fitters will tell you you need a rigid supporting footbed is to prevent pronation. Couple that with the generally accepted theory that the foot should be constrained in a rigid box and the boot works a a lever operated by the lower leg and you have the misery snd limited chance for improvement for most recreational skiers who have gone into a shop and been fitted for a boot! I’d given up on anyone who understands that the foot has to function, that it needs to pronate, that the ankle must not be restrained and that the Natrual arches work like the blade on a prosthetic used by disabled to return energy. I haven’t been brave enough yet to go flat but the footbeds I use are minimal and flexible so the foot can work and isn’t locked.

fuckin Paul ruined that spoiler position eh? classic Paul

Only Paul is a serious person in this vlogcast. His intensity probably irks unserious people? either way, looks like he's handling it with finesse.

why are slopes so crowded 😂

sounds bleak :(

Two parts and over thirty minutes of discussion huh? Are you sure about that? Seems a lot like a "basketball player" jumping up and making "a dunk" or whatever it's called. I mean, maybe you should spend another thirty minutes offering a scientific analysis of those foreign concepts too. Jumping off a floor? That's very difficult for us non-kinesiologists to understand.

As a 53 year old decent intermediate skier but expert snowboarder I find that it is still possible to improve all aspects of your skiing/riding in your 50s. I know I wont be able to charge as hard on a board like I did when I was 25 (and nor do I want to take the big risks I took back then) so today I focus on my form - I use my Insta 360 camera to help analyse my technique and it has helped a lot. And of course KZfaq is a wealth of knowledge that we didn't have back in the day. I find skiing development slightly trickier as I learned much later in life (really just so I'd enjoy spending time on the snow with my wife and kids as they learned) and it does shows me that the bits of the brain that are wired for learning get a little more rigid as you age. What I would say to any 50yrd old looking for a challenge is to try the "other" snow sport to the one you do today. There are a ton of transferrable skills and knowledge that make the transition a lot easier than you might imagine - and if you are feeling a little bit jaded with your sport it might fire things up again.

Worst is getting hurt. Last year in Tignes - first morning, 2nd run I had a minor fall and broke my hand and hand was in a plastic cast 2 hours later. Same day - out on the snowboard in the afternoon, binding failure resulted in massive stack and I tore my ankle to shreds. Spent the week in the pub. I think it' dangerous to generalise about entire nations when it comes to quality of your holiday. The 2 weeks I've spent in Austria over the years left a sour taste because I've never met such a bunch of miserable and rude ski instructors in my life - this was at Obertauern and St Anton and it really put a dampener on the experiences of the beginners in our group. But I can't paint the whole nation's resorts as bad as I've only been to those two. Over the last 35 years (across France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, US & Canada) I'd say my best trips were to Chamonix, Val Thorens, Les Arcs, Jackson Hole, & Whistler.

apriril 1 to angulate you inclaine hips legs down--- uphill hip up upper body down hill insaide hip squere to down hill ski without any ankles knees forwart flex flat skis durning lateral movment edge set after complete hips inclainedl legs uphill flexing pelvis to angulate you finish on down hill ski you start new turn without up movment you are total opposite you start turn from uphill ski dumping legs hips upper body as one unit flexing insaide leg downto prevent falling uphill raight way is i swing may uphill hip up same taime upper body hip down hill insaide hip back reverse hip steering right turn rotate right hip back left turn rotete left hip back leading w.c.racers have hips range 45 degrees forwart 60 degrees backwart all of them rotate back durning lateral transition squre insaide hip to outsaide ski staple angulatet upper body begginink of the turn not end

may stance is cuff forwat lean 12 degrees foot boart ramp angle -0-invertet -1 -degree cuff -1-outwart reason to increase reverse hips rotateing square hips durning lateral inclainet legs to insaide of the turn insaide hip up outsaide hip upper body down hill separated waist to prevent flexing ankles durning lateral set edges to soon and dump upper body up hill hip down i set edges apex of the turn from flat skis after complate lateral not partial evry turn finish and start new turn from down hill ski not up hill i dont flex ankles i rotate from edget set skis to flat in lateral transition i flex hips and pelvis forwart down to set edges insaide hip back down to recenter to flat skis accelerate out the turn down hill not on edget skis on daiagnol

Love the comments about having some rocker in the front part of the ski. I'm a snowboarder who grew up on stiff full camber boards in the early 90s so for me it's full camber or nothing. But when friends ask me what kind of board to start on I invariably recommend something with some element of rocker at the front - "cam rock" it is sometimes referred to. Easier turn initiation and reduced chances of edge catching makes a big difference when you are trying to progress quickly.

I think some of us are just genetically predisposed to be good at some of these "balance" type sports - like some people just seem to be great at any sport involving a ball. I'm in the camp that finds surfing, snowboarding, skiing etc. easy but my wife's family are all in the ball sports group - and I suck at those despite playing football being my lifetime number 1 sporting love by absolutely miles. My kids take after me and are great skiers but suck at ball sports. Their nephews are all ball sports kids in contrast. Funny old world.

Self catering for me every time. Cheap breakie, cheap packed lunch, then a choice about whether to stay in or go out each evening. And if you are driving to resort you have the option to visit a supermarket before you get to the mountains. My family are all outdoors types - we camp and hike all year round in the UK. When on ski holidays we have no interest in significant luxury at all - it's just eat, ski, eat, drink, sleep, repeat. Clean and tidy accommodation with a good mattress and I'm happy. I've had multiple weeks in the past sleeping in my campervan and snowboarding every day.

I have all my own snowboarding equipment but myself and the family do rent all our ski equipment on our annual ski trip - I split my time 50/50 between boarding and skiing. We are all knowledgeable enough now to know what is and isn't a good ski boot fit (within rental limits) and even the kids are not shy to ask for something different/better. My wife has custom footbeds and brings those on holiday with her as well. My tip is just to ask for another boot - and keep asking. Be polite is all it takes.

The first skier was absolutely making carved turns. Not to be confused with a person making railroad tracks which is not only Not skiing, but also a great way to wear your knees out by forcing them farther into the turn that your upper body is leaning. Skiing is the tips of the skis bending and making a turn down the hill with the tails sliding around because your weight is leaning down the hill over the tips of the skis. What designates a carved turn is when you anticipate the new turn by aggressivity throwing your upper body down the hill and in the opposite direction the skis are presently going. "Your skis are making a right turn, and you throw your body back into the fall line to the left which creates a quick and drastic leg angle change which sets the ski on a hard edge. This will reduce the amount of tail sliding, but it will still be there because you are leaning over the tips of the skis and the tails are slightly lighter. The harder you lean into the turn, the less sliding there will be. But it is Never the ridiculous act of making Railroad Tracks and calling that carving. The second skier was doing the same thing. Watch the upper body make a quick move down the hill and how quick her legs change their lean and how steep it is. The quicker and harder the lean, the more the skis will be on edges but there will still be tail sliding, just not as much as you would have if the body change were less aggressive. In summation, if you eliminate Railroad Tracks from the description of carving, all turns are sliding turns, but to different degrees of the skis angle to the slope. Go here and watch Ligety make a hard carved turn here. "Ted Ligety - the limit of carving skiing." Even though his skis are almost perpendicular to the slope, his weight his much more forward over the tips and the tails will tend to break away whenever the snow gets harder.

Way over contrived skiing. Hip dumping. What's with the airplane arms?😂😂

I am going to address only one thing you said that created all the things wrong with this teaching. You said skiing is complicated. Skiing is not complicated at all. What you have to do to allow the skis to turn is incredibly easy to understand and do. What complicates skiing is the lack of understanding of what skiing is, With the INSTRUCTOR, not the student. Learning to ski is made complicated by the instructor's as they just describe what the byproducts of a correct turn instead of teaching what you have to do to create those turns. Here's the simple analogy that describes the problem. If you were teaching a person how to drive and steer a car, you Wouldn't tell them how the drivetrain, braking and steering system work, you Would show them how to use the accelerator and brake pedals and how to rotate the steering wheel. Think long and hard about that and then go back and listen to what instructors teach you. They teach you what parts of your body look and feel like during a turn, not how to make them look and feel like that. To explain the common cold to you, they tell you what the symptoms are instead of describing the virus. In even simpler words, the worlds instructors look at skiing in Two Dimensions and then teach their Reaction to what they see and feel. To actually create a real teaching method, you have to study what skiing really is in Three Dimensions or from an engineer's point of view, and then THINK of a way to teach a person how to do it so they clearly understand what is needed not just describe what it looks like. You can't mimic what skiing looks and feels like, you need to understand what is needed to create turs and stop and do that. Everything that is needed is the opposite of what comes naturally to ma student so understanding skiing is paramount in achieving the best results. You won't get that anywhere on this planet. Not from any teaching method, anywhere.

2:50 This was the best one. Notice the vertical upper body which helps to pull up and unload the inside leg so it can remain parallel to the turning ski which she can be completely balanced on. 3:19 All the rest made like an airplane, banking their shoulders into the turn which loaded the inside ski too much so the outside turning ski had no control of the turn. A vertical upper body that is facing and leaning down the hill while you quickly change your weight from your downhill to your uphill ski, will allow the skis to turn as designed. It also keeps skiing very simple, and the moves are easy to remember. "I want to go straight down the hill, get off my right foot. I want to go straight down the hill, get off my left foot." His explanation of the problem doesn't explain it at all. They aren't "Pushing" the turning ski away from them, they are leaning into the turn too much which loads the inside ski too much and the turning ski slides away and down the hill because there isn't enough weight on it. So, it Looks Like a push but isn't. You don't steer the ski with your foot to make it turn, you just balance on it and IT will make the turn which will turn your feet. All that up and down business explains and teaches nothing. Again, you have to fix the upper body positioning by keeping it simple. Imagine your hands are on the handlebars of a bicycle. When you want to make a turn, point the front tire down the hill and quickly change your weight and balance to the uphill foot. You don't think about turning, you just think about what the skis require from you to allow the skis to make the turns for you. 6:30 This is ridiculous. Skiing made hard. This doesn't teach any of the body movements in skiing. The weight change motion, that he isn't even teaching, is not an Up motion it is a down the hill motion. from a balanced position on the turning ski, you stop the direction across the slope with that turning ski and face and lean it down the hill. The skis keep going but the leg angle changes, and the skis roll over to make the new turn. I'm done. I don't have to see anymore. The world's ski instructors see skiing backwards, so their teaching methods are backwards. It's as simple as that.

I've always loved this discussion, but now with a bit more experience, I wonder: is it an unwillingness to incline more (as Tom hints at @ 3:45) or an inability to "hike the hip" that is blocking higher edge angles? For me, Tom's "Hand Drag Drill" was a way to safely achieve more inclination at the start of the turn: it turns out I had no trouble moving my hips to meet the angulation needs even at the new, much higher edge angles. My brain just reflexively balked at inclining more. Whereas when I tried to hike my hip my overall turn shape became rounder and the pressure against the outside edge stronger ... but if anything the stronger angulation, applied too soon, stopped me from inclining further.

8:06 Nice positions of the poles bro. Wannabe ski-instructor LOL. I didn't see anyone THAT bad at my first instructor course (Antwärter), and if I had I would have laughed my ass off. Seriously. Anyway, the level of the rest of the group was fairly low as well, so I don't know who he is talking about when saying "better skiers". Nobody has ever taught these kids to carve aka ski properly and they want to instruct? wow.

Excellent video! I was a bit surprised by one thing though, and it’s the one thing I was hoping you would spend more time on. Maybe you have another vid on the subject? It wasn’t until the very end you started addressing lateral canting under the foot. I was hoping to get more in depth on this. Specifically, I’m trying to firm up my knowledge about the jargon used by bootfitters: “over edged and underedged.” I think I understand the objective is to optimize weight distribution over the ski laterally so that you have equal access to both edges as needed? I know some bootfitters (hard to find) will plane the boot sole and use wedges below the sole, thick side in or thick side out, as needed. Or wedges under bindings for touring setup. What really confused me in your video, was that after your explanation about why footbeds can be a bad idea, (I agree), the only intervention you showed for lateral stance alignment correction was an inside the boot, under foot adjustment. Can you share any information in this seeming contradiction in your approach? Or direct me to other videos of yours I may have misssed. Love your content. You are great, thanks!!!

It is so misleading.

Over 50 years we where ahead of this.

Your transition is awful.Try to work with the forces rather than fighting them.

I'm about 173 tall bare foot, would 180 GS skis be too long for me? I'm at that exact stage where I've been skiing on short radius carving skis and now I'm thinking about what else is out there

Drowning in information and starving for wisdom. K I S S,

I'm in my mid sixties and have been skiing most of my life. Unlike most skiers of my age, I have adapted modern flexion and extension technique, and I'm still very dynamic and considered one of the best skiers on the hill. I still ski in racing plug boots and when on piste, ski on FIS or club racing skis. However, looking on the downhill side of being old, there is plenty to mention. I can ski ALMOST as well as anyone for a run or two. However, I can't do that level all day long, especially in moguls. There is an old saying in ski racing that says, "Strength gets you speed." I'm in good shape but don't have the explosive movement I once had. What I notice most nowadays is my lack of circulation and hence cold feet and hands. I have put heaters in my boots, which have made an incredible difference. I now use mittens rather than gloves, except on sunny spring days. My flexibility of course has also decreased which makes me worry about injuries. Therefor, I don't ski as fast as I used too. Getting a good nights sleep is soooo important. Mikaela Shiffrin one said the success she has achieved can be attributed to sleeping 9 hours a day. Read the book, "Why we sleep." a NYT bestseller, and you will understand the importance of sleep.

Do binding ramp next! I bought some Plum Guides and then learned how much delta they have. Haven't mounted them yet. Can't decide whether to get toe shims.

Snow depth in this vid ?

SIA Austria, the money-making machine in Kaprun Zell am See. For ambitious training fees, members of a service provider company are preparing legions of ski instructor candidates (with an astonishingly high Dutch proportion) on an assembly line for their poorly paid work in the Austrian tourism industry. The demand here is primarily for "Anwärter" who can handle the onslaught of crowds in the children's area and at the beginners' lift. It quickly becomes clear that this activity has comparatively little to do with giving skiing lessons, where you can also experience some fun skiing yourself. So, some people come up with the frivolous idea, which will most likely be very expensive, of taking up Landeslehrer to be completed. Apparently with the intention of perhaps getting a little closer to the original wish. They are then cleverly lured with a “Landeslehrer 1” certificate, which suggests to them that they have almost made it, and that, above all, costs a lot of money. At least in Tyrol, however, you are still nothing more than a "Anwärter" who has done a training to become a "Landeslehrer" but has not yet successfully completed it, as the level of “Landeslehrer 1” simply does not exist there and is therefore not accepted. But of course, something like this increases the income of the training institution very effectively. Now there are some candidates who are even more careless and are trying to actually pass the "Landeslehrer 2", which again costs a lot of money. However, many people will quickly realize that passing the giant slalom test, even if they are otherwise quite decent skiers, is far beyond their ability. In Tyrol, for example, an entrance test is carried out for admission to the "Landeslehrer" training course, so that no one starts expensive training here, even though it is pretty obvious from the start that they will not pass the final exam. The test is carried out in such a way that there is a high probability of successfully completing the training once accepted. Quite a few are probably wondering why they are asked to be competent in giant slalom at all, since they will almost certainly never teach anyone giant slalom in their entire lives. The answer is very simple. If you want to pass the giant slalom test, you have to be a really good skier. Even if you can just manage to muddle through the cross-country skiing, the moguls or the school skiing, it's finally over at the giant slalom. For anyone who was in a ski club in their youth and had a few years of race- training, the giant slalom is of course a piece of cake. For anyone who hasn't, this, without targeted training between the gates over many weeks, will probably remain pretty hopeless. If you really put your mind to it, you can organize something like this yourself or again buy it for a lot of money as additional training. It should also be noted that the adequate and urgently needed equipment (racing skis, racing ski boots and racing suit) is not exactly cheap and that you have to practice a lot before you are even able to ski properly with such equipment. At this point at the latest, quite a few people come to their senses and just leave it alone, but of course they could have saved themselves a lot of money, unless it was their intention from the start to take ski lessons for a sum that can easily exceed €5,000. However, there are always some who achieve their goal. However, in my exam course, certainly 90% of the participants had completed some form of race-training in their youth. I didn't. But I was already practicing before and due to Corona Pandemie I had a whole ski season off, which I used for training in the Gates as often as possible. Three of my colleagues didn't train and, as expected, failed. Two have finally given up on their Landeslehrer project, but it remains to be seen whether the third will take on an equally hopeless re-examination.

Ramp angle and forward lean is not just about range of motion, it's about feeling neutrally centered. By that I mean the fore / aft balance feels natural and it means you are 'on it' all the time, ready to ping into a new turn with a subtle movement. This has a lot to do with the physique of the skier, where their center of mass is etc. It is worth experimenting to get this feeling.

snowboarders learn fore and aft straight away with falling leaf exercise

I found this so interesting but the indoor demo would hve been so much better if we could hve seen his hips rather than the ceiling!

Good to see Tom on the Austrian channel 🤷🏻‍♂️👍

10:07 was the first descent skier in the video.

I almost don't know why anyone would work in Austria as an anwerter unless - long term goal is to get fully qualified, it's just for a gap year winter or two and you've got some pocket money saved, you have an unquenchable passion to pass on your snowploughing skills, you're rich or retired and can fund the inadequate wage. Better with a live in hotel job and just go skiing everyday.

@26:17 dang thats a big realization put on the table there, makes one question themselves when they only other sport they play (and like) is golf.

As much as I appreciate you putting these series together could you not let your man talk a bit more?

randomly stumbled onto your podcast and am so impressed by your content and discussions on skiing related issues。(this podcast as well as a podcast on the best instructors might be those who learned to ski as adults, i agree with the premise that adult skiers learning to ski would probably me better of if their coach learned to ski as an adult, maybe a retired pro-tennis player turned skier😊)。ignoring the important useful things in both this and the other podcast, i am soooo impressed by paul‘s superb command of the (almost british accent) english。going by his knowledge about skiing and the intelligence shown by mastering a foreign language (i know, u europeans speak 3-4 languages), i think that i would benefit a lot by taking lessons from paul, even when he uses politically incorrect but truthful hardhitting coaching/criticisms 😊😊😊。too bad that i have no plans yet to ski in europe。 best of luck to the both of you and i will search for other podcast by the both of you。cheers ! guten tag ！ ps: i am a recreational skier who started in his mid 30s and have skied for 40+ jahres。i continually take lessons and my current coach is psia level 2 who learned as an adult。have taken lessons with olympic gold medalists, demo team members, examiners, level 3 coaches and my current coach is the best yet, in my opinion。because he learned as an adult, has empathy with me and MOST importantly, HE CARES ！

I can't see everything in Hugh's lower leg because his pants are big and flopping about. However, look at how forward his outside leg is. Are his boots too soft or loose? An ankle injury as suggested? Or too wide a stance which is forced by an injury? I would say this is all true, but it probably happens through habit where he was always told to pressure the front of his boots. I'm near 70 years old myself and went through many different ski techniques/styles. Many times I had to reinvent myself due to equipment changes. I CAN make a Shiffrin style world cup level turn, because I use drills etc. to learn a new technique and use a moderate hill to work with new technique on a regular basis. However, because of many age, I don't have the flexibility nor strength of a Hirscher; so I may be able to do individual turns at their level, but I can't do it all day long (or even for a long non-stop run). With many, many...old skiers, just like their everyday lives, they are set in their ways and won't change. Hugh is trying, so there is something wrong that needs further investigation. I can't tell from the video but skiboots, cants, and binding placement are probably the easiest things to look at and make corrections if necessary even though he has probably looked at these factors because he has so much experience.

You guys mentioned the ski shape dictates the shape of the turn. Obviously a more hourglass shape of the ski will allow a shorter turn because reverse camber is really bending the ski. However, there is one area of the ski which is completely different for a recreational ski versus a racing ski. Namely this is the tailpiece or the last 5 cm of the ski. A rounded tail on a recreational ski will release a turn much easier versus a squared tail on a race ski. The ramp in the tail is different as well. Why the difference? Namely that a squared tail on a race will lock you into a carve versus a skid at the very end tail. A racer will bend the ski much more than a recreational skier through out the turn, whereas a recreational skier will make a skidded (muddied) turn. The racer will use the squared tail to lock the turn into a carve, building energy throughout the turn and use the energy to rebound (an over used term) to push the skis into a float stage to start the new turn. If done correctly the ski accelerate forward and the tips can lift off the snow into the float stage between turns. Why then not use a squared tail on a recreational ski to get an intermediate to carve? This is because the intermediate skier will find a ski that is very difficult to release into a new turn. Also lateral stiffness on a race ski generally is less stiff at the tip versus a much stiffer tail. The recreational ski will also have a more even bend through out the turn. Not only does a squared tail make sound technique more necessary, but in crud conditions it is really difficult to ski well, because the race ski tail is fighting the "chunks" in crud snow to release for a new turn. That is why a powder/crud ski doesn't have a squared tail. Also an overly sharp last few centimeters of the tail will make the ski very difficult to release the turn. Expert skiers may round the edge on the very end of the tail with sandpaper, whereas a less gifted skier may need to use a file to dull the very end of the tail.