Thursday, April 5, 2018

Alex – Off Piste Experience

Today’s Giant Slalom race was cancelled due to a large and unexpected dump of snow. Once visibility improved we exploited the opportunity for some off piste skiing – though nothing too adventurous. The video contains a clip of people negotiating Pisteur’s Couloir in Val d’Isere – that’s not us!

Off Piste exposes certain weaknesses in skiing technique and provides an opportunity to make progress… while really enjoying the mountain!



Technical Report (Password Protected):













Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Alex GS training and Wet Off Piste skiing



Alex bending the unbendable Dynastar GS ski!


Alex testing the GS skis off piste…



Technical

Technical content password protected:

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Alex–Slalom

…another day in the office and useful experience gained… Regardless of circumstances Alex’s skiing at this age could only translate into world class as an adult. Competition is not meant to be easy!



THE GOOD…






THE BAD…

Borrowed 149 (Junior) Rossignols – right ski skidding on ice – impressive save!


…AND THE UGLY!

…spot the obvious equipment failure here…


… the problem here is not that Alex is being violently assaulted by two whipping plastic poles simultaneously – but that his Leki poles are (yes – unbelievably) not clipped into his gloves and the right one is about to fly away.   Skis and everything else would have probably worked on this run with melted snow. Racing is like that – one tiny detail can have a huge impact. 


Technical

Password protected technical report:

Monday, April 2, 2018

Alex–Knuckle Dragging–Super G–British Championships

Not bad for a young boy with absolutely no Super G training and on 170 GS skis – with a start position of close to 140 on a course that was not fit to ski on because it was not properly maintained. The loss of a ski two gates from the end was unfortunate – but a bad pothole caused a lurch forwards and the binding did a good job of protecting the leg. (This was not a “pre-release”)



Slalom training took a great step forwards today – at long last it’s in 3D – skis on edge far enough away from the poles to make arcs – inclining and even knuckle dragging – taking the poles without reaching. Now that there is inclination and a 3D line being taken (banked track) the outside leg can be used powerfully (extended) for early pressure and carving before the pole. It takes nerve to use the leg powerfully at the start of the turn – most people back off and pivot or stivot by reducing pressure instead of creating it. Initially during the session Alex’s carved tracks were on the apex (outside of the pole) but as pressure was achieved earlier the carved tracks were visibly earlier – carving the first part of the turns – with less frequent braking between turns. This is how to go fast!



Knuckle dragging with no skis on the snow!




Hit a pothole and lurched forward – binding did its job properly here – course in absolutely terrible condition.




Early pressure – using the ski to make the arc into the turn


Bending the ski – taking a line far enough from the pole to let the ski arc correctly – skiing in 3D instead of on a flat Earth!