Zermatt - Day 9

[First photo: the scene at the bottom of the T-bars with all the backpacks - see if you can find the racers. Second photo: Josh, Rory, and I doing our "classroom session".

I will be relatively quick today as a few of us are leaving shortly to go to the Papperla Pub for a drink. It is not going to be a late night as Sandy tells us it's another big day tomorrow, that we'll be doing a lot of skiing the ridge. We just figured we could have an evening out away from the hotel bar. My new roommate Maria goes to sleep so early every night that I am sleeping too much and am unable to sleep through the night. I figure if I go out until 11:00 pm or so I can still get a good eight hours in.

We had another perfect day in paradise today. The weather was once again bright, sunny, and warm. I've skied with just a shell and spring gloves almost every day this trip. I'm sporting a great ski tan on my face. We worked on more dynamic skiing with Josh. I felt I was really getting it and laid some really good runs in. We called it quits a little early today as we wanted to end the day on a good note. We then adjourned to a pub patio with various members of the group dropping in periodically.

What I learned today:

1. Drill for pivoting: rather than push outside ski out into a snowplow position,start with a wide stance and move tip of outside ski in. Changing the focus from pushing the ankle out prevents unnecessary hip rotation.
2. Begin all turns (and particularly short radius) with a strong pivoting action/turning of the feet.
3. Think of lifting inside ski up at the angle it would be on the snow to put more pressure on the outside ski without adversely affecting angulation.
4. When pole planting aim fist downhill. This keeps body from rotating too much.
5. For increased performance/angulation ski trying to get the inside hip to touch the snow. (Marc if you are reading this: you will know this is my forte from my training with you!)
6. Feel the heels touching the bottom of the boots at the end of the turn. Note that this is not counter-intuitive to feeling pressure on the front of the boots. Doing both will ensure a balanced position.
7. Be sure to bend from leg joints not waist (personal feedback)

Time to get ready for the late shift at the pub. Talk to you again soon.