Wide gates are overrated

[lpskier]

 

Who needs to get wide on a gate? Apparently not this skier. 
 

Will Asher, 11.25, Masters Qualifier. 

[Cooper_Trelawney]

That's Will Freakin' Asher.  No need for him to set up his gate at -38.  He's probably skiing on a canoe paddle too.  Pure talent and athleticism displayed there.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

If you are a beast you can do many things mortals can’t get away with. There is a video of Andy doing a similar gate at 39. 
 

@lpskierlets see a video of how you do with that kind of gate 😳

[Horton]

yeah I could take a gate that narrow 14 balls below below my PB too

[slow]

Mapple's video of practicing narrow gates was great.

[BraceMaker]

Check gate off bimini to 2 ball

Edited May 16, 2023 by BraceMaker

[Wish]

I watched Andy from the boat do this. Wow..just wow. Also same day watched him touch his eye in efforts to maneuver his contact going into 4 ball at 38. GOAT. 

[Mastercrafter]

That's pretty wild. 

Looks like he's checking to see what's wrong with his ski, then smokes 38 after pulling out wayyyy past the 55's. 

 

[03RLXi]

Off topic question; in @BraceMaker video the pylon moves a lot. is that normal?

[Lieutenant Dan]

I saw Nate Smith’s father do gates like that  on every pass probably 18 years ago while skiing at a local tournament here in the Cincinnati area. He also back-sided every ball. You could hear him hit every one going down the course:  wop…wop…wop

[jjackkrash]

Aside from being a funny post, I am interested in hearing what people think Asher did right to get wide enough at 1 ball to run a pass with that crappy of a gate pullout? 

Wider at the gate is obviously better but damn that is some impressive scrambling.    

[Drago]

Speed

[Horton]

@jjackkrash from a narrow gate, it's not that unrealistic to be able to muscle your way wide enough to one ball. A narrow gate usually manifests itself at 2 ball.

Asher is simply so good that he drug himself out to one ball and then made enough speed to survive going to two ball and then he was almost back to normal by 3 ball

[6balls]

I know mortal skiers who, for example, are trying to run 38.  We all know a good start is important but if they go wide they claim too fast at 1, so they go narrow, carry less speed to 1 and it all "feels" more controlled and like they "got a good start".  As @horton says for the mortals that can catch up with them at 2 ball.  Very stubborn skier argued with a bunch of us about how is narrow gate was the ticket but I don't recall ever seeing him run 38.  

Crazy what the best can do.  I seem to recall some video of Andy the GOAT going thru the entrance gates behind the boat and pulling out to 1 at something like 38 or 39 and smoking it, then running an ass backwards course with 1 on the skiers left.  Amazing.  

[lpskier]

In case anyone was unsure, I do not advocate anything other than a wide gate. I saw Will in real time, shook my head in disbelief and watched it again on the boat camera video to be sure. I thought I’d share it because it was interesting. But as they say: Don’t try this at home…

[BraceMaker]

15 hours ago, 03RLXi said:

Off topic question; in @BraceMaker video the pylon moves a lot. is that normal?

There is always some deflection to the pylon.  Take your shoes off and sit in the spotters seat with your feet on the pylon or pin for a trick skier.  Of course sometimes the pylons are just loose but there is motion still off topic but still I feel like you could create a hydraulic auto steer system off that deflection that's for another day and another time.

The point of that video was just to show someone with a consistently narrower start achieving more width at 1 than the gate.  And that has to mean that unlike a pendulum maintaining energy from side to side there is an initial acceleration in the work zone sufficient and likely a very early acceleration.  

[whitem71]

This was at the Masters LCQ 1 at Drews this year. Watched it at the lake and looked even crazier live 😆 god knows what he was doing probably checking for weed on his fin..