All Mountain Performance / Tips for skiing bumps

This month's 4 top tips are to help you ski the bumps with better control, painless knees and a feeling that you are in charge, not the bumps!

Rotate your legs and feet to twist your skis on the snow. The effect is like scraping the snow into the bump. This will check your speed and set you up for absorbing the bump.

Absorb the bump by allowing the legs to feel soft enough for your knees to be pushed towards your chest. This will stop you from being pushed off balance by the bump

Push your tips down, This will give you the time needed to push the skis into the next hollow, rotating and scraping the snow with the skis again to check the speed and direction.

Keep your upper body facing down the fall line. This will help you keep to the line and help agile quick movements. One other extra tip is to keep the skis quite flat on the snow ( not too much edge) this will help the pivoting of the skis and enable a more direct descent.

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By Mark Gear and Simon Halliwell from All Mountain Performance in Chamonix. BASI LEVEL 4 ISTD.

All Mountain Performance / Basic tips for carving turns

THIS MONTHS SKI TIPS.   Carving turns 

What is carving ?

Carving is a form of ski turn that is non skiddy, ie using the shape of the skis and only two of the three steering elements (pressure, edging and not using rotation). If correctly applied, the skis will cut through the snow smoothly tracking forwards around an arc.

How to carve and initiate the turn:

Start skiing in a straight line on a suitably flattish piste with your feet at hip width apart. Without turning your feet, tilt both your skis in the direction you wish to turn. At the same time stretch your outside leg to push the ski against the snow. Feel the skis grip and allow time for the skis to start carving.  

How to hold the carve:    Resist the desire to rotate your legs and feet. let the pressure build up. As the pressure increases in the arc, you can increase the amount of edge tilt to tighten the carve.

How to finish the turn: When you feel the turn is complete, simply release the pressure built up in the turn by softening the outside leg, this will allow the feet to come naturally back underneath the body.

How to transfer to the initiation of the next turn: With a stretch down into the snow of the new outside leg, resist the new temptation to turn your feet and skis, using the tilting motion and stretch of the leg to create more pressure on the outside ski – so repeating the process used in the turn before.

Linking clean carving turns is a great sensation, it's fast but feels stable. We hope you enjoy the tips.

Mark Gear and Simon Halliwell ( BASI level 4 ISTD) All Mountain Performance Chamonix

Every month this season AMP will be giving 4 top tips on chaletsdirect.com for better skiing.

4 top tips from  AMP for tuning your skiing back in at the start of the season.

It's always best to start on an easy piste, greens or blues are sufficient –even pros don’t hit the blacks until dialled back in!

1)Look ahead, just like driving a car, look beyond the bonnet/ski. Try to feel your skis against the snow rather than looking at the tips. Get into the habit of reading the ground ahead of you. It’s better to feel what your skis are doing, encouraging you to work from the ground up for more natural skiing.

2) Be centered Work on centralising the weight down through the middle of the foot. Try to become aware of where the weight is being transmitted onto the sole of the boot. Standing with your weight centered on the skis gets the skis working as they are designed.Being too far back or too far forwards on the skis does not work as well.

3) Go for smooth, linked turns. Try not to have any abrupt movements. This will help to keep you in balance and allow your skiing to flow.

4) Get the outside ski working in the turn to have more pressure than the inside one. Pressing early on the outside ski makes a good start to your turns. Do this by stretching the leg slightly to push down through the sole of the foot.

Simon Halliwell and Mark Gear run All Mountain Performance in Chamonix and are qualified to the highest level,(BASI 4 ISTD)

Next time you ski, try to work from the ground up. Think about what your skis and feet are doing against the snow. Forget about the rest of your body. Skiing happens at foot level. If you get it right at foot level the rest will just fall into place.

A good exercise to try to develop this is to find an easy slope and make some turns thinking about keeping your weight over the middle of the skis length. This is where the arch of the foot is. Try to feel with your feet where your weight is going. Recognise when you get it right on the arch of your foot. If your weight moves to your heels to much, just pull your feet back a bit to regain the center. If your weight moves to far forwards to the ball of the foot. Try to push your feet forwards a bit.

This simple exercise will not only develope centering on your skis making pivoting easier but also encourage you to work from the ground up which will give you more reactive and positive skiing. The best skiers are always responding to what they feel with their feet. This concept can be incouraged for all levels of skiing.

Mark Gear AMP COACH

Expert skiers make rounded shaped turns using the design of modern skis. These turns or curves can be long or short, fast, slow, carved or skiddy. Or even a blended combination of these.The skier will strive to balance on the center of their skis length,keeping their weight over the arch of the foot. This spreads the weight along the full length of the skis ensuring that the whole ski is working against the snow. This will also make pivoting the skis easier as the pivot point will be the centre of the skis length.Whilst turning most of the skiers weight will be on the outside ski, although this percentage of weight is adjusted according to the texture and depth of the snow. For example in deep powder the weight on both skis is often equal. Where as On firm snow most of the skiers weight will need to be on the outside ski.The inside ski is kept on the snow and tilted on to its little toe edge to match the edge angle of the outside ski.Two skis working are better than one!Expert skiers are able to make quick adjustments so that their skiing flows with the terrain. They are free to move and hence free to balance which encourages agility and precision . They are versatile and able to ski creatively expressing themselves with the snow and terrain.

Mark Gear AMP COACH