Zermatt - Day 10 Part 2

[Photos above all taken at the Papperla Pub yesterday evening- Steve & Jason, Sandy & Doug, Josh & Casey]

Okay, I don't know who is going to love this more - my friends or family. I have a curfew. Sandy has instructed Rory and I that we are not to drink any alcohol tonight or tomorrow night. We are also not allowed to leave the hotel after dinner. He says if we are serious about getting our Level 3 we will follow these instructions. Or in his words, "two days or two years". An easy compromise to make as far as I'm concerned. After another full day skiing I am ready for an early night.

We had a good day. Sandy was tough on us but better now than after it's too late. I started the morning with some good runs for all of intermediate parallel, dynamic parallel, and short radus. Sandy congratulated me on becoming a "whole new skier" since I arrived. In the afternoon we did a lot of skiing the ridge. Fog had greatly reduced visibitliy by then. I had one particularly bad run on the ridge as I didn't realize a groomer had just gone by leaving a double ridge and I went down to far and hit the second one. My balance has been really good this year. Despite a few near misses, I have yet to fall in 8 days of skiing. Must be those new skis keeping me on my feet!

After skiing today I went back to the physiotherapy clinic and had the physiotherapist work on my leg with the bad knee again. She worked on the one leg for a full half hour. I wish she had another half hour free as I would've gotten her to work on the other leg as it is starting to get tight as I rest my bad leg whenever I can. My knee has been holding up well while skiing. It was starting to twinge at the end of the day today so I'm glad I had the physio work on it so I'll be fresh for tomorrow.

Sandy is going to work with us again tomorrow. He wrapped the day with telling us that we are both skiing runs at the Level 3 standard but that he wants to see our consistency increase. Today's ski tips are the things I need to keep in mind over the next two days to make sure I do just that:

Intermediate Parallel

1. Make sure feet are toe to toe in the fall line (i.e., no lead change)
2. Show a lot of mobiliy
3. Keep moves progressive
4. Cross over low in phase 1

Dynamic Parallel

1. Do not hold on too long at the end of the turn. Start the new turn before you feel you are done the last turn.
2. Start each turn feeling as though you are doing an inside ski turn

Short Radius

1. Begin each turn with a strong pivoting effort
2. Shoot feet forward at the end of the turn so they don't get left behind

Terrain Adaptation (Ridge)

1. Keep really small/compact bending even further at all joints (legs and waist) when cresting ridge
2. Ski with feet close together like you do with bumps. Keeps both feet hitting the same terrain at the same time and helps eliminate lead change.

I'll be heading to my room shortly and will be in bed by 10:00. I hope I can sleep through the night as I am sure we are going to have another big day tomorrow. I'll write again soon.