Edge Change/Transition

[Stevie Boy]

I was watching a Video of Wim Decree and was very impressed with the early transition and width he achieved, would you Guy's & Gals say that this would be achievable at 34mph and longer line length or is this very much a short line technique at 36mph

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMeWeoIVNOI

[rockdog]

Don't know but wow that's awesome skiing, that pendulum is swinging a treat!

[Horton]

@Stevie Boy yes yes yes that is the goal. You need to make enough speed before the wakes and the switch early. See how centered / forward Wim is? That is a lot of how he makes speed.

[skinut]

@Horton What do you mean by centered/forward?

[Horton]

@skinut look at how Wim stands on his ski going to the wakes. His hips are over his front foot. His stack is forward and perfect.

[Chef23]

You can definitely do that at 34 mph and slower and longer line lengths. It does require outstanding technique. There is video around of Seth Stisher and I think Terry Winter skiing 30 mph 15 off and they change edges early.

 

From my perspective this is a bit of a Catch 22 though. Those guys can change edges early because they have awesome technique, a great stack and great lots of angle and speed. All skiers struggling to run 34/15 need to improve their basic position on the ski and generally need to work from white water to white water to ensure they get enough width.

 

Someone here (I forget who it is) has advocated trying to learn to ski the course by working on an early edge change. I have never coached anyone to do that and am not sure how/if it would work. I fear that the skier would struggle to get to 2 ball and be very frustrated.

[ToddL]

@Chef23 - Yep. The ability to have an early edge change is the result of excellent stack and acceleration. I think skiers with less than ideal stack/acceleration should still think about the timing of their edge change. As the skier's stack/acceleration improves, they have to recognize the opportunity for earlier edge changes. Therefore, an improving skier might have a prior technique of waiting too long to edge change due to prior poor stack/acceleration, and that skier may now need to edge change earlier to match the improved stack/acceleration.

 

This is sort of like @TFIN's article about counter rotation being a result vs. an action. He suggested that when stack/acceleration is improved, handle control improves and leads to counter rotation. Some skiers may actively engage in counter rotation, but ideally any active, subtle action to counter rotate is a resulting reward of improved stack/acceleration.

[MISkier]

My absolute favorite video to try to mimic is Wim's. His technique is probably well suited to me, as we are the same height and same foot forward.

[skihart]

Would love to see this vid at 1/4 speed. That guy is sooooo smooth it's crazy. I think he may have the best stack throughout the course that I have ever seen. He is so 'still' on his ski but yet very fluid.

[cvaught]

You can use rowvid.com to view youtube videos at different speeds and even frame by frame. Just paste in the youtube link on their website. Here is the video from above: http://rowvid.com/?v=UMeWeoIVNOI&s=0.25

[Razorskier1]

He doesn't suck . . .

[igkya]

@skihart if you watch the video on YouTube, you can change the settings to 1/2 or 1/4 speed.

[Texas6]

To me Wim and Stisher have a lot in common style wise, and both LFF, both lead turns well with hips. Wims on side is ridiculously good though