Tele lead change

[bornaginalpiner]

I'm partial to Geri's iteration:

Love that video. Great demonstration. Part of it has to do with the framing. Back just enough to see the whole picture. You can see how he transitions in the fall line and let's the skis start carving when weighting them. Smooth.

[Montana St Alum]

Geri is worth emulating!

This was me working on my carves back in 2013. Not too happy with my long radius turn pole plants, but my short radius pp's are a bit more "Geri-like".

My pole plants are definitely more consistent now!

[Krummholz]

Thanks for posting those videos! I like to watch on YouTube so I can reduce the speed to .25, .5. @bauerb looks like he’s ballroom dancing

[joeatomictoad]

I've gotten into the habit of a very late lead change, skis pointing down the fall line kind of late... edge change way before the lead change. (1) Feels like I get more acceleration in the turn. (2) If I lead change too early, I get that knee-dragging foot spread. (75-mm rig)

My goals have been a little different. I haven't been aiming for smoothness & flow, but power and acceleration.

Maybe I need to revisit this.

[bauerb]

I like that Austrian video. note that his shoulders and head are always facing down the fall line. lower body rotates while skis do the work. I see a lot of beginner tele skiers with upper bodies often faced sideways to the fall line. a little bit of that is prob ok if you are making very large radius "traversing turns", but if you want to be snappy, keep the upper body faced down the hill.

[Montana St Alum]

I've gotten into the habit of a very late lead change, skis pointing down the fall line kind of late... edge change way before the lead change. (1) Feels like I get more acceleration in the turn. (2) If I lead change too early, I get that knee-dragging foot spread. (75-mm rig)

My goals have been a little different. I haven't been aiming for smoothness & flow, but power and acceleration.

Maybe I need to revisit this.

In the example of going from a right turn to a left turn, are you beginning the left turn with the left foot forward and then bringing the right ski forward - rather than shifting the right foot forward and then (or concurrently) shifting edges for the left turn?

For me, my pole plant is an integral part of the timing involved. From the right turn, as I bring my left arm forward for the pole plant, it just seems to set me up to extend my legs which starts to shift that rear foot forward. As that happens, simultaneously, I'm rolling over to the edges for the left turn and dropping back down. That up/down motion almost makes the foot shift happen automatically. No matter what, if you stand tall, the feet have to come together and as you drop back down, the feet have to separate again.

To bauerb's point re: facing down the fall line, I also find, especially if I'm in the bumps, that it's important for me to not allow the elbow to get back behind the line of my torso. If that happens there's a tendency for my body to twist away from pointing down the fall line. That can be "catastro-phobic"! The pole plant has to be a "punch" - not hard, but definitely short duration.

It's much easier and quicker if my upper body is "quiet" with little rotational inertia to overcome. In the flats, it's not that big of a deal, and sometimes facing the direction of the turn can have a nice feel to it, but in the bumps...!

But these are all just tips to make the actions more efficient. It's like how to hold a paint brush. How and what you paint is up to you.

[lowangle al]

There are a lot of ways to make turns that work, that's part of the beauty of the free heel. Keeping your upper body square to the fall line is good technique and the way you should learn, but is not the only way. After watching the Powder Whore videos I noticed that they were leading with their shoulder when ripping big steep lines. I tried it on moderate terrain with light and heavy gear, big and short radius turns and love the feel. It adds a little more physical motion to your skiing and enhances the "dance". What I think the powder whore skiers get out of it when bombing huge runs is that it gets a little more weight on the lead ski then you would get with your shoulders square to the hill giving a little more control.

[Montana St Alum]

There are a lot of ways to make turns that work, that's part of the beauty of the free heel. Keeping your upper body square to the fall line is good technique and the way you should learn, but is not the only way. After watching the Powder Whore videos I noticed that they were leading with their shoulder when ripping big steep lines. I tried it on moderate terrain with light and heavy gear, big and short radius turns and love the feel. It adds a little more physical motion to your skiing and enhances the "dance". What I think the powder whore skiers get out of it when bombing huge runs is that it gets a little more weight on the lead ski then you would get with your shoulders square to the hill giving a little more control.

Yes, there's a place for it, and many things.
Here's an exercise to try.
In between bumps, on the uphill side get in a tele stance with the uphill ski behind the downhill ski, like you would be at the end of a turn. Rotate your torso such that it points more downhill. I expect you'll find that puts your weight on the front (downhill) ski somewhat and probably will start to shift toward the downhill edges (as in the start of a turn). Now rotate your torso uphill. Most people will feel the weight shift to the uphill ski. Usually, that will cause the skis to stop turning, accelerate and result in "spinning out" to the uphill side.
It's REALLY noticeable when alpine skiers do it (I'm laughing WITH them, not AT them!).

I occasionally ski with a woman who has a very old school, knee to the ski technique. Great skier. Because her stance is a little more bent forward, that usually results in over-turning but going over the handlebars!

I don't think that exercise will be an epiphany for you, but it's useful when explaining to a newer skier the advantages of facing down the fall line in the bumps. I also enjoy the feel, in certain conditions, of rotating the body in the direction of the turn. I'm usually careful not to over rotate it, though.

[lowangle al]

I'm not a bump guy but I doubt you'd get any advantages of leading with your shoulder in the bumps. Although I use it for short radius turns it's not the quickest way to turn.

[lowangle al]

Oh, I don't think I rotate my whole body, just the shoulders. I think my hips are still facing down the hill.