Help me tele better.

[TomH]

If you read my post, I'm not advocating knee to ski or anything crazy low, but running slightly lower and slightly more spread (while keeping in the bounds of maintaining forward pressure) is a good drill for establishing the rear ski weight and feel, because if you don't properly weight the rear in that scenario, the trailing ski control suffers providing pretty instantaneous feedback.

I agree his stance is more or less appropriate for the terrain he's on, but it's pretty obvious that he's generally controlling the rear ski, but not necessarily driving it as much as he could be, hence the recommendation for some items that will emphasize the rear ski control.

And again, tiger, you're making fantastic progress for a beginner.

[tigerstripe40]

Thanks for your kind words and help!
I did get the paul parker book and I am starting to go through it.

I don't really call myself a beginner as I have been teleskiing (badly) since 2007 but haven't been putting the time or effort into it like I have been this year. Most of my friends snowboard or alpine and I will Alpine because I am too slow on the tele gear for them. I decided to focus on tele this year -I just love it and screw those guys!

[Raventele]

I notice in your vid that there's not just a movement of hands vertically, but there's also often a fore-aft motion, sort of like an XC poling for stride..While that's fun and arguably even somewhat useful at least as a "positve plant (like in bumps ) , you'll eventually want to lose that ..it will be the source of a lot of problems as you hit steeper ground and ungroomed surfaces..Do not DRAG your uphill hand behind you..Stride-type poling will often cause you to do just that..Plant DH pole to time the turn and keep/drive uphill hand at least over the uphill boot .. If you are not using poles, imagine you are and drive the hands downhill..

Here's more great info on where and when RE arms/hand : "My parents learned to ski in New Hampshire and Vermont in the years following WWII. They couldn't afford lessons so they would shadow the Austrian ski instructors and eavesdrop on what they were telling their paying clients. And this one lesson really stuck with them. This dignified gentleman skiing in a tweed suit said, "Imagine you are carrying on the back of your forearms, a tray full of ****. Hold your arms so that if the **** falls off, it falls away from you, not towards you."

It means your most stable and powerful position is with your hands below your elbows and your elbows below your shoulders. When your inside hand comes up, it turns your body into the slope. So keep driving your hands down the hill when you ski... all the time. If you feel like you are losing control or getting tossed around in the snow and terrain, look straight down the slope and drive your hands in that direction. Your skis will follow your hands and you will learn to flow down the mountain instead of fighting against it."

Look at my new avatar..that's actually how I TRY to keep my hands ! Well, DH hand a bit lower..
And Not like this! Face on toes!!!

[1EyedJack]

CrowBait says: ".....Look at my new avatar...."

Reply: Not yours, A-hole.

[Raventele]

Wtvr 1-eyed-jerk-off ..
Just jealous, that's all ..
Perfect form does not come easily!

[tigerstripe40]

I went up yesterday and did some practice following recommendations. I moved the cable guides back on my hammer heads to the number 2 position, making them very neutral. I was dropping lower and tucking my rear foot more. That was a work out! I got on some steeper terrain (blues) and started blowing my turns. I wasn't weighting my rear ski enough, and I would cross tips and crash. So I suppose thats the next thing I need to work on.
I was by myself and didn't have anybody to film me, unfortunately.

[TomH]

Cool. Moving those pivots around can be beneficial - if you ski for a bit in 4 or 5, then flip up to 2 or 3, you can work on replicating in 2/3 what the binding was helping you do in 4/5.

Another drill you can practice on some easier terrain for back foot weight is trying to lift your front ski off the ground while you're in a traverse (in the tele position). It helps give you an idea of just how much you have to shift weight to that rear foot to have any hope in lifting the front ski, and you'll see where butt to heel really comes into play for weighting that rear ski. Just try getting that front ski up a little bit (it'll be hard to do), and you'll likely start to find a weighting sweet-spot where you feel both skis engaged at the same time.

[Raventele]

Exaggerated unweighting can help..get in a lead change and bounce the skis up and pop 'em both down as you traverse cross-hill..do it both crossing the hill left and right ..ya have to feel that weight on rear ski..The hardest/most-different things about Tele are controlling the rear ski and initiating the turn without changing leads (unless you insist on early lead changes)..Other than that, it's really basically the same thing as "alpine" skiing..