MICHAEL ROGAN PSIA Alpine Team Captain MAGAZINE PRESENTS HOW TO BREAK THROUGH BY MICHAEL ROGAN SKI s director of instruction, Michael Rogan, is a PSIA Alpine Team captain, USSA Team Academy coach, and Heavenly, Calif., instructor. He spends his summers enjoying more winter at Portillo, Chile, where he s resident manager.
ALIGN CHIN, KNEE, TOES Keep your chin over your outside knee and toes to pressure the sweet spot of the ski. UNWEIGHT THE INSIDE SKI Lift the inside ski to focus pressure on the outside ski, especially the front of it. Where Things Happen Fast IN THE BELLY OF THE TURN, YOUR SKIS WANT TO HEAD FOR THE BARN. TO KEEP UP WITH THEM IN THE FALL LINE, UNSHAKABLE BALANCE IS KEY. News flash: When your skis point straight down the fall line they accelerate. It s a part of any turn that is especially critical to understand. Instructors and coaches often say, Keep up with your skis. They rarely tell you what that actually means. It means taking care that your skis are not jetting out from underneath you and leaving your body behind in the backseat. It means maintaining a basic athletic stance throughout the entire turn. It s a fundamental law of good skiing and one of the most frequently broken ones. Everyone does it, more than we all want to think. So don t feel alone. But do study this photo of Harper Phillips, who s doing a great job of keeping up with his skis on the slopes of Snowbird, Utah. And next time you find yourself pointing your skis down the fall line, keep these fundamentals in mind:» Ankles flexed: By keeping both ankles flexed past 90 degrees, Harper keeps his lower legs in contact with the fronts of his boots. That transfers his weight toward the front of each ski the sweet spot.» Inside ski light: By lifting the tail of his inside ski in the fall line, Harper commits his weight to the outside ski, a move that keeps his body moving forward as his skis accelerate. He focuses his pressure on the front of his outside ski, knowing a pressured ski is a stable ski, even in rough conditions.» Inside arm forward: Notice how Harper keeps his left arm out in front of his body his elbow in front of his chest. It has not dropped to and will not drop to or behind his waist. By driving it forward he ensures that his upper body stays stable. When your arms drop, your shoulders usually do too, and that destroys an athletic stance.» Chin, knee, and toes aligned: By keeping his chin in line with his outside knee and his knee in line with or slightly ahead of his toes, Harper can keep his center of mass over the sweet spot of the ski. He doesn t even have to think about where his hips are. The creativity and gracefulness of your skiing are directly proportional to the quality of your balance. The better balanced you are, the more you can do on skis. HARPER PHILLIPS Olympic Skier Harper Phillips is a 1994 Olympian and former member of the U.S. Ski Team. He s an alumnus of Green Mountain Valley School, Burke Academy, and Mount Mansfield Ski Club. SCOTT MARKEWITZ PRESSURE THE TONGUES Flex your ankles into the fronts of your boots to pressure the fronts of your skis. KEEP THE INSIDE ARM FORWARD Don t let it drop or fall behind. Hold it up and out in front to stabilize your upper body.
FOCUS There s no room for distraction. Clear your head and trust your instincts. HOW TO BREAK THROUGH The Fundamentals of Grace WHAT DO ALL THE BEST SKIERS HAVE IN COMMON? A READY STANCE, A LASERLIKE FOCUS ON THE MOMENT AT HAND, AND THE DOWNSLOPE VISION TO COPE WITH ANY SURPRISES.» Focus always in the moment: The best skiers stay focused on the opportunities the terrain presents, what lies ahead, and the snow conditions they re dealing with. They don t get caught staring at obstacles or thinking about things that are of little consequence, like what lies behind them or so far ahead of them it doesn t matter yet. Staying in the moment helps them keep cool under pressure.» Athletic stance: Marcus stays compact. His legs are retracted under him, which keeps his body and skis connected. If he were to extend his legs too early as the ground falls away, it is very possible that he d lose balance laterally and fall to the inside, and his ski wouldn t bend in the soft snow and turn for him. Marcus is able to allow his instincts to take over his body movement, and his technique reflects that: grace, flow, and finesse as well as power, precision, and discipline.» Forward vision: Notice that Marcus s vision is focused down the hill. He s gathering information on snow texture and depth, exposure, route options, obstacles, etc. This process, combined with his experience, helps him make decisions at light speed. He can predict what he s going to encounter with enough certainty that a surprise is highly unlikely. Many big-mountain freeskiers employ technique that can be irritating to a technical eye. But the good ones, like Marcus, mix a freedom of spirit with solid technical skills to produce a style anyone would want to emulate. M ARCUS CASTO N Freerider Marcus Caston grew up racing at Snowbird, Utah. He starred in a segment with fellow Utahan Ted Ligety in Warren Miller s 2012 feature, Flow State. SCOTT MARKEWITZ Watch any good skier, and one of the first things you ll notice is his composure. No matter what the situation, he seems to flow down the mountain without effort or a care in the world. It takes a lot to rattle him, and when the mountain does present him with a sudden challenge, instinct takes over, keeping him well in control of his destiny. Great skiers like Marcus Caston, pictured here ski with strength, athleticism, and, most important, experience, qualities the rest of us possess in lesser degrees. But there s a lot we can learn by watching and emulating, including these three fundamentals: VISION STAN C E Even as he deals instinctively with the terrain he s experiencing at this moment, Marcus scans ahead two or even three turns. With his legs beneath him, partially flexed, Marcus is ready to react, whether he needs to extend to maintain snow contact or retract to suck up a bump in the road.
PRESSURE PLUS PATIENCE Find your balance against your working ski and stand on it. Sidecut and snow resistance will make it bend and arc back beneath you and into the next turn. Powder: Get Yours RAVAGED BY TODAY S SURFACING-SKIMMING FAT SKIS, FRESH SNOW TRACKS OUT QUICKLY. WANT YOUR SHARE? BRING FUNDAMENTAL GROOMER SKILLS TO YOUR DEEP-SNOW GAME. Wide skis are nothing new they ve been around for a long time. But today s powder skis are different weapons, blending width, sidecut, and rocker in ways that make them amazingly good at what they do. They ve changed the way we ski, too. For one thing, as we ve spent more time nearer the surface of the snow, we ve evolved from a world of short-turning powder conservationists who would ski next to each other, spooning tracks and making the pow last all day, to powder pigs who lay waste to huge swaths of powder in a single run, then complain about how fast resorts get tracked out. More important, the way we ski powder has come to resemble the way we ski groomers. What used to be two different techniques have morphed into one that has slight adaptations. Only the best and most experienced skiers could master the technique necessary to ski powder in the skinny-ski era: legs held tightly together, lots of vertical movement, lots of flexion and extension, skis kept underneath the body, a fair amount of upper-body rotation, and weight distributed evenly between skis. It was tricky, and powder was discriminatory about who could have success. The slightest lapse in concentration or technique could result in a sudden diverging of the ski tips and a cartwheeling yard sale. Today, what works on groomers also applies in powder: a wider stance, skis out from underneath the body, higher edge angles, less jumping up and down, and aggressive pressuring of the outside ski. Today s equipment provides all of us with the opportunity to take some of our groomed-snow technique and apply it to the deep stuff. Take a look at this photo of Claire Abbe Brown at Alta. Like all great skiers, she employs a hybrid of techniques:» A wider stance: Notice how Brown keeps her legs farther apart than skiers of the recent past. Her skis are wide and buoyant enough that it s no longer necessary to clamp them together to make a bigger platform.» Commitment to the outside ski: No longer do you have to keep your weight distributed 50/50 between skis. Trust your outside ski and stand against it, as Brown does here.» Higher edge angles: Get your skis out from underneath your body, where they can bend and work for you. When your skis stay under you, bending them only causes the tips to point up. When your skis are out from under you, as Brown s are here, they bend and arc in the direction you want to turn.» Patience: In deeper snow, you have to be extra patient. It takes some time for the snow to compress enough to bend your ski and start the turn. Stay balanced against your outside ski and give your equipment and the snow a chance to work together. CLAIRE ABBE BROWN Former NCAA All-American Slalom Racer Slalom ace Claire Abbe Brown is a former NCAA All-American for Denver University and a multiple Nor-Am winner. She now travels the World Cup circuit as publisher of Skiracing.com but looks quite comfortable in powder near her Utah home. SCOTT MARKEWITZ WIDER STANCE There s no longer any need to team up two skis to get sufficient flotation. Today s powder skis are plenty wide individually. TIP TO RIP Just as it does on groomers, getting the working ski out from under you lets you get it up on edge. Resist the urge to steer it by pivoting your foot.
THINK AHEAD Know what to expect snow quality, light, and line options. And think about opportunities, not obstacles. Dropping In TACKLING A STEEP AND TECHNICAL LINE? THAT FIRST TURN IS CRUCIAL. GET IT RIGHT WITH TACTICS, TECHNIQUE, AND MINDSET AND GOOD THINGS FOLLOW. Every run has a first turn, the outcome of which can determine a lot. Get it right, and a great run is born. Get it wrong, and frustration awaits. Because turns are connected, they can build upon each other. If the first turn goes well, it has a tendency to create another good turn, which leads to another and another. If it goes badly, often the next one does too. The cycle you create can be vicious or victorious. That s especially true when you re charging a steep or technical line, like the one that German freerider Jochen Reider finds here in the backcountry above a small village on the Russia-Georgia border. Fundamentals of tactics and technique come naturally to a seasoned skier like Reider, but we can learn from his example so that our own first turns can set a pattern for success on ever more challenging terrain. Tactics» Gather as much info as you can about the snow conditions. Is the snow soft? Hard? Crusty? Will it slough? If so, you ll need a plan for how to escape it before it knocks you off your feet.» Be aware of the lighting. Going from light to dark, as Reider does here, is harder than the other way. Be prepared for a moment of blindness.» Keep some momentum. Don t stop unless you have to. Stopping focuses your mind on where you are and not where you re going. Technique» Notice how Reider s legs work independently. The right one is deeply flexed, the left much straighter. Adjusting to the steepness of the slope like this helps Reider keep his weight on the downhill ski.» And notice also how Reider has his head out over his downhill ski. This allows him to maintain a solid athletic position, and it keeps him from leaning into the mountain and losing the grip of his downhill edge. Remember, for better edge grip, lean out, not in.» If you were to draw three lines, from ski to ski, hand to hand, and through his shoulders, they d be close to parallel. Lines like these are great indicators that your body is moving synchronously and supporting a single goal: to be balanced and ready to turn. Mindset» Often overlooked, the right mental approach is a key to success. Make sure you re looking for opportunities to do something positive. Too often we see obstacles to trip on or avoid. When that is what you focus on, you don t have the correct mindset. Focus on opportunities, not obstacles. JOCHEN REIDER Freerider Jochen Reider is a Salomon-sponsored freerider based in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. He s a frequent collaborator with photographer Christoph Jorda, who, when not chasing powder, volunteers for far-flung assignments with Humedica, a Bavaria-based international aid NGO. CHRISTOPH JORDA FLEX AND EXTEND Adapt your stance to match the steepness of the terrain: downhill leg long, uphill leg flexed. COMMIT Lean out, away from the hill, rather than in. Stand on that downhill ski to maintain edge grip.
CONTROL YOUR POLES Flailing poles are a sign of wasted movement. Use them efficiently, inside pole brushing the snow, outside one parallel to the leg. MAKE ANGLES Think about keeping your upper body vertical while your legs angulate, tipping your skis up on edge. Channel Your Slalom Ace MAYBE THE ANGLES YOU MAKE WILL NEVER BE CHODOUNSKY-LIKE, BUT BE INSPIRED. AS ALWAYS, THERE S MUCH TO LEARN FROM THE WAY THE RACERS SKI. Obviously, the guys on the U.S. Ski Team are on another planet, skillwise, from the rest of us. Case in point: David Chodounsky, shown here tearing up a slalom course. Chodounsky, a.k.a. Chowder to his friends and teammates, is a gifted athlete, one of the best slalom skiers on the U.S. Ski Team. We don t expect you to be the athlete he is, though we can all strive to be more athletic than we are improving your skiing requires it. And while skiing like a U.S. Team slalom ace might be forever beyond your abilities, studying a world-class racer s technique can be very productive. Understanding a few key things and emulating them to the degree that you can will lead to improvement. Flex your legs independently. Having the awareness and ability to shorten your inside leg while lengthening your outside leg helps you move your body to the side of your skis. This in turn gets your skis on their edges, where their sidecut can help you turn. Make angles with your body. Notice that Chodounsky makes an angle between his spine and legs. His spine is a lot closer to vertical than his legs. This is called hip angulation, and it is a very good thing to develop. Control your poles. Controlling your poles helps you control your upper body. By lightly dragging his inside pole, Chodounsky can sense the snow and where his body is in relation to it. By keeping his outside pole parallel to his outside leg, he is moving his upper body in a way that complements the movements of his legs. Another way to look at it: Keep the pole tip lower than your hand. If your poles are flying around and bouncing a lot, it s an indication that your upper body is doing the same. Get low to the snow. By keeping his center of mass close to the snow, Chodounsky is able to extend his outside leg way out from underneath him, putting his outside ski high on edge and deeply flexing it. He s so low, in fact, that his inside hand is touching the snow, though he s careful not to lean on it. Stand hard on that outside ski. Notice how there s far more snow spraying off Chodounsky s right ski than his left one. That shows that his outside (right) ski is doing the work, as it should. As you focus on using your outside ski to turn, you ll find that if it s properly pressured, you can trust it to hold while its sidecut bends it into an arc that brings it back underneath you. DAVID CHODOUNSKY U.S. Ski Team Slalom Skier David Chodounsky grew up racing at Buck Hill, Minn., alongside Lindsey Vonn. (Both were coached by the legendary Erich Sailer.) Before becoming the U.S. Ski Team s best slalom skier, he led Dartmouth College to an NCAA title and graduated with a double major in engineering and geology. JONATHAN SELKOWITZ/SELKOPHOTO STAND HARD ON THE OUTSIDE SKI Have faith in sidecut. If you tip a ski on edge and pressure it, it ll bend and arc back beneath you before you fall to the inside. GET LOW To angulate at the hip and get the outside ski on edge, you ll need to keep your upper body low. Even though he s not leaning in, Chodounsky s hand is brushing the snow.