Keeping your skiing skills off season
Started by Edgeoftheworld in Beginning Skiing 06-Mar-2013 - 7 Replies
Edgeoftheworld posted Mar-2013
Any experience, thoughts on this?
Gaz C
reply to 'Keeping your skiing skills off season' posted Mar-2013
I have seen the likes of Trencher and Innsbrucker recommend in-line skating as an excellent training aid too. I have no personal experience of that but it seems like they haven't come to any harm from it :-) .
Of course both of these suggestions rely on you living within reasonable travelling distance of an indoor snow centre or ice-rink.
Sounds like you have made good progress on your Niederau trip. Nice one -) .
Edited 1 time. Last update at 06-Mar-2013
Trencher
reply to 'Keeping your skiing skills off season' posted Mar-2013
Do wear a helmet and all the pads.
Edited 1 time. Last update at 06-Mar-2013
Edgeoftheworld
reply to 'Keeping your skiing skills off season' posted Mar-2013
Great advice, thanks! A lot of that skating really does look like skiing and the skates should mimic the weight of the boots too. I'd have to try it on a quiet street though or someone is likely to get hurt :\
Billip1
reply to 'Keeping your skiing skills off season' posted Mar-2013
Verbier_ski_bum
reply to 'Keeping your skiing skills off season' posted Mar-2013
Innsbrucker
reply to 'Keeping your skiing skills off season' posted Mar-2013
Further to the use of inline skating to improve skiing skills, I have been blogging a lot about the connections with skiing on the site of one of the top skate instructor (a friend of mine whose website I maintain). In my last post I linked to the following suggestions from Harald Harb for targeting skate skills towards helping skiing http://www.harbskisystems.com/web-lessons/inline-skate-series.html?m_id=1&cd=32&menu_id=74
As discussed elsewhere on this forum recently, steepness is not really the main issue in difficulty (though steeper slopes do I find impose greater load on leg muscles). I was recently on an blue at St Anton which was a struggle also for an Austrian friend with 40+ years experience, starting as small child skiing fresh powder in the woods (they still start in kindergarten, BTW, but in this day and age it's on piste, with instructors). Snow quality, piste maintenance, and piste traffic are bigger issues. However, other things being equal, steep slopes are not so great for beginners IMO partly because when you fall on a steep slope, there is a risk you slide and slide and slide...
But nothing wrong with skiing easy slopes! Leisure skiing is a fun way to spend time in the mountains and get some sun, and should look elegant and effortless IMO. Given the number of accidents, I find pushing yourself beyond your abilities on piste is irresponsible. If you need your skiing to be difficult and dangerous (which I don't), go ski Corbets Couloir (see youtube) or something.
Edited 2 times. Last update at 07-Mar-2013
Edgeoftheworld
reply to 'Keeping your skiing skills off season' posted Mar-2013
I had a ball on the easier slopes too, especially with the warmer weather we had in Niederau a week ago. It allows you time to try out new techniques (which for me are limited at this stage) and it is much less aggressive and like a relaxing, sliding walk in the park :)Innsbrucker wrote:You don't lose the skills, but may lose the relevant fitness / strength without suitable exercises. Maybe the first outing of next season you will have taken a step backwards, but after a few hours at most you will be fine.
Further to the use of inline skating to improve skiing skills, I have been blogging a lot about the connections with skiing on the site of one of the top skate instructor (a friend of mine whose website I maintain). In my last post I linked to the following suggestions from Harald Harb for targeting skate skills towards helping skiing http://www.harbskisystems.com/web-lessons/inline-skate-series.html?m_id=1&cd=32&menu_id=74
As discussed elsewhere on this forum recently, steepness is not really the main issue in difficulty (though steeper slopes do I find impose greater load on leg muscles). I was recently on an blue at St Anton which was a struggle also for an Austrian friend with 40+ years experience, starting as small child skiing fresh powder in the woods (they still start in kindergarten, BTW, but in this day and age it's on piste, with instructors). Snow quality, piste maintenance, and piste traffic are bigger issues. However, other things being equal, steep slopes are not so great for beginners IMO partly because when you fall on a steep slope, there is a risk you slide and slide and slide...
But nothing wrong with skiing easy slopes! Leisure skiing is a fun way to spend time in the mountains and get some sun, and should look elegant and effortless IMO. Given the number of accidents, I find pushing yourself beyond your abilities on piste is irresponsible. If you need your skiing to be difficult and dangerous (which I don't), go ski Corbets Couloir (see youtube) or something.
I did check out one Harold Harb video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPM7gwZwVDU (the two footed release) and while it was very insightful, Its too advanced for me now. I might try it next year ;)
Topic last updated on 08-March-2013 at 14:08