[Photos above: walking the "ski out"]
Today’s meet-up time moved up to 8:00 am but after my second good night’s sleep I felt much better. No nauseous feeling on the glacier today. My calves continue to feel like tight steel balls and my quads started to feel it a bit today. Even with the pain, I had way more energy skiing, which was good as we spent the day doing short radius turns, including spending the afternoon doing them up and down off the sides of a ridge. That same ridge may actually be what we are tested on for moguls for the Level 3 exam as the only moguls here are the ones the World Cup ski teams are training on.
I got good news regarding the exam – the CSIA has removed wedge turns from the ski off. Yay! They are now only being tested during the teaching of Fast Track to Parallel. Because I have my teaching, I do not have to ski off the wedge turns. The other four runs remain – Intermediate Parallel, Dynamic Parallel, Short Radius, and Moguls. Both Intermediate Parallel and Moguls are now must passes. You can fail one of Dynamic Parallel or Short Radius.
The Swiss Ladies Alpine team is here training this week. The guys are enjoying seeing them in their tight downhill suits. There are also a number of international development teams including the U.S.. For once the Americans are not the obnoxious ones. They are some of the most civil in lift lines as do not subscribe to the European push and shove method. There are also several World Cup freestyle teams training on the moguls. Today I watched some of them do aerials off the bump run as I rode the T-bar up.
While the snow on the glacier is fantastic – much better than last year - because it is much warmer, the ski-out is not yet fully open. Thus we can’t ski out all the way to the second tram. Instead, we ski most of the way and then hike about 1 km over mud and rocks carrying our skis to get to the tram. That’s what the photos above are depicting. It’s not so bad though once I get there I check my skis for 2 Swiss Francs rather than having to carry them all the way back to the hotel. I am very much done with carrying them at that point so feel it is a worthwhile investment!
Hopefully I will be able to keep blogging. My computer power cord is three pronged and my adapter is only for two prongs so I’ll have to see if someone has either a chord or adapter I can borrow. We shall see.
Our focus on short radius turns today was to promote carving from the top of the turn rather than jumping or pivoting from turn to turn, particularly in steeper terrain. In order to do this we did the following:
“Soften” the outside leg at the end of the turn as it becomes the new inside leg. This allows you to begin your new turn without rising or losing contact with the snow.
Keep both tips even through the turn (ie, no lead change). A lead change prevents you from moving inside fully with ankles and knees at the end of the turn.
Stay low (compact body) through the transition between turns.
I got good news regarding the exam – the CSIA has removed wedge turns from the ski off. Yay! They are now only being tested during the teaching of Fast Track to Parallel. Because I have my teaching, I do not have to ski off the wedge turns. The other four runs remain – Intermediate Parallel, Dynamic Parallel, Short Radius, and Moguls. Both Intermediate Parallel and Moguls are now must passes. You can fail one of Dynamic Parallel or Short Radius.
The Swiss Ladies Alpine team is here training this week. The guys are enjoying seeing them in their tight downhill suits. There are also a number of international development teams including the U.S.. For once the Americans are not the obnoxious ones. They are some of the most civil in lift lines as do not subscribe to the European push and shove method. There are also several World Cup freestyle teams training on the moguls. Today I watched some of them do aerials off the bump run as I rode the T-bar up.
While the snow on the glacier is fantastic – much better than last year - because it is much warmer, the ski-out is not yet fully open. Thus we can’t ski out all the way to the second tram. Instead, we ski most of the way and then hike about 1 km over mud and rocks carrying our skis to get to the tram. That’s what the photos above are depicting. It’s not so bad though once I get there I check my skis for 2 Swiss Francs rather than having to carry them all the way back to the hotel. I am very much done with carrying them at that point so feel it is a worthwhile investment!
Hopefully I will be able to keep blogging. My computer power cord is three pronged and my adapter is only for two prongs so I’ll have to see if someone has either a chord or adapter I can borrow. We shall see.
Our focus on short radius turns today was to promote carving from the top of the turn rather than jumping or pivoting from turn to turn, particularly in steeper terrain. In order to do this we did the following:
“Soften” the outside leg at the end of the turn as it becomes the new inside leg. This allows you to begin your new turn without rising or losing contact with the snow.
Keep both tips even through the turn (ie, no lead change). A lead change prevents you from moving inside fully with ankles and knees at the end of the turn.
Stay low (compact body) through the transition between turns.
Heading to the grocery store to buy some fruit now. Not a key food group in Europe! I may have to get a treat at one of the chocolate boutiques as well. :) I'll post again soon! Thanks to those who emailed. It was great to hear from you.
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