PSIA Perspective: Making The Switch To Skiboards In The Bumps
Victor Gerdin, an instructor and trainer in the Ski & Snowboard Schools Of Aspen, and a former member of the PSIA National Alpine Demonstration Team, offers some important insights about the value of using skiboards to develop mogul skiing skills. His conclusion: skiboards really are terrific tools for teaching students to perceive ski/snow interaction, refine balance, carve arcs, control turn shape and pick a line through the bumps.
Victor’s article, Making The Switch To Skiboards In The Bumps, was originally published in the PSIA magazine - The Professional Skier. The article copyright is held by PSIA but is re-published here in its entirety because it is no longer available on the PSIA web site.
Making The Switch To Skiboards In The Bumps
by Victor Gerdin
Instructor and Trainer, Ski & Snowboard Schools Of Aspen
Former Member, PSIA National Alpine Demonstration Team
You’re in the middle of a private bump lesson when your student suddenly stops and lets out a heavy sigh of frustration. “I wish I could control my speed better” he says. “If only my skis were shorter”.
“That’s a great idea” you reply, smiling. Ten minutes later, you and your student are standing in a rental shop where you temporarily trade his skis for some of the hottest tools around for playing and learning in the bumps: skiboards.
Resembling very small skis, these “inline skates for the snow” are renowned for their responsiveness and turning ease. Introduced a few years ago primarily as “trick skis” for skiers wanting to play in half pipes and terrain parks, user-friendly skiboards have increased the allure of many areas of the mountain to the intermediate skier, including mogul fields.
The twin-tip design makes it as easy to ski backward as forward, and the 3 to 6 meter sidecut radius is perfect for carving. But more than that, at 90+ centimeters, skiboards are great teaching tools. Why? Because one of the most essential concepts students should grasp is the fundamental interaction between the skis and the snow. Skiboards bring that sensation to the forefront so students can find their balance, begin carving turns and start picking their line through the moguls.
If your students have never been on skiboards before, you might want to start them out on groomed beginner slopes until they are comfortable with these new tools. Students can use this adjustment period to find their balance on the shorter boards, learn to work the edges of both skis to eliminate the “wiggle” they may experience initially, and to develop a trust for the radical turns they can carve on these little rascals.
Have your students leave their poles behind for the first hour or so, making sure to retrieve them when they are comfortable enough to venture back to the blue slopes. It is common for many skiboarders to ride without poles – especially in halfpipes and terrain parks – because of the trick nature of these skis, but this article focuses on using skiboards as tools for becoming better bump skiers. Therefore, I encourage using poles once your students are on the intermediate slopes.
If any of your students seem to think the easy terrain is beneath their skiing ability, reassure them that they’ll be plenty challenged with the new sensations of this unfamiliar equipment. As for you, your task will be to keep students focused amid bouts of uncontrollable laughter.
Once your students have achieved an initial confidence level using their new equipment on beginner and intermediate terrain, it’s time to venture into some easy bumps. You’ll be able to recognize your student’s readiness for this step when they appear to trust the carving capabilities of the skis by angulating against the turning ski. Instead of using skidded turns on the intermediate slopes as usual, your students will allow the skiboard’s carving capabilities to carry their momentum across the slope on edge.
I suggest focusing on these four key things in the bump chapter of your skiboard lesson: (1) Find the line; (2) Turn your legs; (3) Control turn shape; and, (4) Have fun!
FIND THE LINE
Before your students take off, have them visualize their line through the mogul field. The proper line is tactical and smooth and originates above the bumps, traveling around them rather than leading into and over each one. A good technique that will help your students find this line is to have them plant their pole at the highest part of the bump and turn. This will insure that their feet are uphill of the actual bump and the turn proceeds around – not over – it. For the first time they may realize how to go about choosing a line without skiing onto or over the bumps. There are two key elements here: patience and trust. Because very little effort is required to make the skiboards turn, your students will find that rushing the turn with pushing, jerky motions is not necessary, and they will learn to ski patiently and trust the boards’ smooth, arcing turns. After your students have practiced awhile down a long slope – or multiple runs of moguls – they should begin to grasp the concept of how to find a line and feel comfortable skiing it.
TURN YOUR LEGS
Instinctively, when skiers are in a challenging situation or feel pressured they tend to rush their turns using heel-pushing movements to initiate them. These movements promote shorter, jerkier arcs that lead students into the sides of the bumps rather than along the line described above. To help students avoid this tendency, encourage them to focus actively turning their thighs, using the muscles in their upper legs, rather than steering with their feet. As instructors, we often use the terms “foot steering” or “knee steering” to describe turning movements. But have you ever noticed that when making a steering motion with your knees the steering movement actually originates with your thighs? Activating the turning muscles of the upper leg essentially creates the knees steering motion we talk about. Doing so will help your students carve smoother, larger turns around the bumps rather than jerky turns into the sides of them.
Another benefit of turning the thighs to turn the skis materializes when your students try to navigate the moguls with a stable upper body. Oftentimes your students will find it difficult to maintain a still upper body, even with intense concentration. When your students steer with their legs, however, isolating their upper and lowe body movements becomes much easier.
CONTROL TURN SHAPE
Speed control while skiing is a relatively simple concept – your skis go slower when they are across the fall line than when they are pointing down the fall line. To have your students control their speed while turning, ensure that their skis are pointed across the fall line with each turn. They can twist and pivot the ski across the line in hockey stop fashion or carve across the fall line with turn shape. Even thought short and long radius turns start and end in the same place, the rounder arcs start and end with a line more across the fall line. These round, arced turns enable the skier to better control his or her speed. Because skiboards have a 3- to 6-meter turn radius, they carve smaller arcs with greater ease than average shaped skis that have 18- to 22-meter sidecut radii. Therefore skiboards can help your students understand the concept of turn shape when they ski each turn consistently and complete a series of short radius, round turns that finish more across the fall line, thus controlling their speed.
Have your students practice making these turns on the groomed slopes first, to let them discover that the skiboards will actually a turn so completely that they will ski back uphill if allowed to. Doing this on a groomed slope is challenging, fun and creates a valuable learning experience. Have your students play a game to see who can ski the farthest back uphill.
Now, back to the bumps. How many times have you watched students lose control on a mogul run by the fifth or sixth turn because they ski straight down the hill, gathering too much speed, and are unable to round out the turns? A round line – which is a longer line – should be used to ski through the troughs of the moguls. Novice mogul skiers tend to find the mogul troughs a bit unnerving; the sense of being trapped between the walls overwhelms them because they don’t have room to control their speed by skidding. To help them overcome this fear, find some easy bumps with shallow troughs and lead your students between the bumps. You can point out the line described earlier and confirm that a properly placed pole plant improves the chances for a good line. Skiboarding with these techniques on an easy mogul field will cause your students to feel as if they are skiing in slow motion. Encourage them to shape each turn with precision and make sure that each is completed across the fall line without losing momentum and rhythm. Now, as each turn starts they can feel more confident about dropping into the next trough because of the skiboards’s ability to arc into the next turn. Long, slow, controlled runs provide muscle memory for your students so they consistently execute proper lines through the moguls.
As confidence builds, your students will be able to make rounder turns and ski bigger bumps with deeper troughs. They will experience how to control each turn individually, which they can combin e to form an overall controlled run.
HAVE FUN!
Now it is time to play in the bumps so head for the right-sized bumps for your student’s ability. Level 6 students may not want to venture too far off the blue slopes but level 7 and 8 students should be ready for some black diamond bumps. Remember, the pole timing and placement stated above is the same as when on longer skis: downhill and on top of the bump to be skied around. Everything will be identical, except that your students will feel as if there is more time between turns to place the pole correctly because of their controlled, round turns.
Your students will have the sensation of being on a roller coaster with each turn as they ski up, over and through large bumps. As they become proficient at choosing a line and they perfect the shape of their turns, you can add retraction/extension movements to the mix to smooth out the ride. Have your students relax their legs and allow them to flex as one turn ends and the next begins. They can then extend their legs as their skiboards near the bottom of the trough and the turn progresses. Be sure to encourage students to combine their leg extension and leg turning movements and not to discontinue either one of them – this will help them maintain the accurate shape of their turns and continual contact between their skiboards and the snow. Extending and turning the legs simultaneously is the magic that makes mogul skiing smooth, slowing and loads of fun.
As the day unfolds, you will find your students asking for more and bigger bumps as they learn new movements and feel new sensations. Instead of seeing a field of moguls as intimidating obstacles to a smooth run, students will see a chosen line surrounded by snow piles. As their play continues, they begin to memorize the sensations of their movements and choose lines in more effective ways.
Your students will apply these new skills the next time they enter a mogul run on longer skis. Even while they laugh hysterically, and sometimes even trip on the tips of these short things, you’ll find that skiboards really are terrific tools for teaching your students to perceive ski/snow interaction, refine balance, carve arcs, control turn shape and pick a line through the bumps.
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