Gate speed

[jRoe]

Ok, in an never ending effort to run -35 or should I say own 35, ''gate speed'' really does make a difference. If one could have the perfect ''out and in'' what speed should the skier be at right before he turns in? This does'nt seem to matter at the longer lengths... with a faster skiers speed when I turn in, I cant seem to control the speed into one ball. I go down coarse, If I have a slower appoach I have tighter one balls

Any thoughts ?

[ForrestGump]

You probably have a tendancy to turn in too aggressively at the faster speed, loading too early.

[T8skier]

I think edgeChange is related to speed. If you have more speed the edge change has to be more aggressive giving more space into ball.

Controlling your speed gives less space but allows you keep a tighter line.

Watching Maple, it seems he is very fast behind boat, makes a hard edge change rides tall into the ball on a lighter edge the drops in at the ball with a tight rope.

The ski can not ride flat even for a Nano second. You loose line support.

[Razorskier1]

Mapple runs hotter than most behind the boat. That guy puts a ton of angle on and skis in a way that I've never seen anyone else do. Watching Todd R in the BD, he seems to put much less speed and load on the line than AM, but then keeps the handle and keeps moving outbound very effectively. I try to ski more like Todd, what I refer to as "constant speed" skiing rather than speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. In AM's case, he is capable of both building more speed behind the boat and keeping more speed through the turn than most mere humans.

[Ed_Johnson]

@jRoe,

 

It is easier to be fast at one ball than slow and controlled... Try to get wide on your pullout, but when you turn in, set as much angle through the gate as you can without building excessive speed...To do this, set your angle and let ZO pull you through. Don't add to it...ZO will give you more than enough energy to carry you to and around one ball....The key then is to engage your core and leverage off one ball with much more intensity than you brought into it....That intensity must be maintained through the rest of the course.

[jRoe]

Well, ran back to back 35's yesterday ...started with a more controlled gate. My glide speed was slower than I usually have , my turn in was focused on setting the skis angle, then my load was more of a blocking ..... My 2nd 35 was better, its truly hard not to just explode thru the gates as this is my hardest pass. It's taking a lot of mental toughness to ski this way. Like most skiers I want the handle so I can go hard. I'm finding that style just makes me miss the pass ... Thanks for the help

[andjules]

Just curious (since I'm struggling with the same @ -28 and -32), what do you mean when you say:

then my load was more of a blocking

?

[ForrestGump]

He meant he was maintaining the load and not increasing it.

[Razorskier1]

Yep, maintain, not increase. It is easy when you turn in to feel the speed and load building and to yank in the other direction, building even more load and more speed. This will not work at shorter lines. The additional load will result in a massive unload when you change edges, shooting you right at the one ball, and now the additional speed is running straight downcourse, which will result in massive slack out of the turn.