Skiing dead dead fast!!!!

I do some speed gun skiing every year, get a little faster each year, and am touching 100kph. Once I got past the 90kph, I asked some local racers for advice on skiing quickish on carvers. They all gave the same info. ~ choose slight snowplough, or shallow parallel turns. In practice, the angulation is hardly noticible, but it is determined. As always, in these situations, one must retain a strong, but responsive leg action. ie the leg position must be strong, but you have to be alert to potential hazard.

Last year I made a big mistake. Halfway down a speed gun I spotted a transverse ledge ~ it had been made by a snowboarder standing across the line. I should have pre-jumped: my mistake was to rise up from the tuck. Half a second later, I was rotating backwards, and frantically counter-rotating with my arms.

Following faster Austrians down schuss sections ~ they almost always are doing shallow turns.

The aspect of the type of ski clothing on ski speeds is interesting. That would be another subject.

Iceman, I'm with Bandit on this. I suspect your skis, like mine, dont really like you tucking up and going in a straight line, and I also think you should consider having your boots looked at for canting/alignment.

I'm with bandit on this one too. The smaller your side cut radius, the more you have to be careful and slightly edge the skis one way or the other. Having said that, you do eventually build up faster reactions to what your skis are doing, but in flat light it's best to play safe and edge.

We had an problem a few years ago in LGb with some people we were skiing with and it ended up making us late to pick the kids up from ski school.
So I skied ahead against the clock 20 mins to ski three valleys I was lucky with the lifts but at times I was at the point where I was completetly out of control I was flying like the clappers, never skied as fast in my life and I had no idea how fast I was going. It did get to the point where I really did have to slow down as I was a danger to my self and the people around me, to cut a long story short I got there a minute late at 12.16.

I've had a few runs in recent times, as I've become a better skier, where I've pushed it to the extreme and thought to myself that if I go over now, thats it!

Early one morning in Verbier, I skied down Les Ruinettes before anyone else was on it. Conditions were perfect, sunny and cold, perfectly groomed pistes, and a nice drop and compression back up the other side. I went for it, and got to the stage where I felt I was unable to stop right at the bottom of the drop, just as I hit the compression.
My stomach went down, my skis went up, and all I could do was laugh like a drain. I managed to stop at the top, still laughing with tears freezing to my cheeks, and watched my daughter do exactly the same thing.
I do believe she used several expletives to describe how it felt!

First
Have your boots checked for alignment! Those side adjustment screws are important.

Second you stated that you try to "flat ski" ! That is you ski with both skis flat on snow! That is sliding,,,not skiing!

In skiing you go from edge to edge. Many call it "carving" ( yes Bandit in powder you "flat ski" or float on snow powder ).

When you flat ski ( both bases flat on snow) that is the most unstable position since skis will tend to go left right up down according to terrain, your position etc,,,!
Put a ski on edge and you have a guided missile.

Try to go back to easier slopes and practice putting weight on 80% downhill edges. Feel the power and stability in this position. Then transfer to other ski with NO FLAT SKI PHASE !
You get power, you get speed, you get elegance and you get safety all in you move !

Try it !

Edge= power, stability flat=never never land, unsteady, unstable skis

Cheers pav, will try that. You say put the weight on the lower ski, nothing new there, but how does that work when going straight (ish) downhill?

So, from these posts, I interpret them as go on edges rather than flat, with a bit of carving motion? No need to put my head on my ankles??

Iceman wrote:Cheers pav, will try that. You say put the weight on the lower ski, nothing new there, but how does that work when going straight (ish) downhill?

So, from these posts, I interpret them as go on edges rather than flat, with a bit of carving motion? No need to put my head on my ankles??

Yeah tuck up still but don't try to run the skis flat, and have a bit of side to side action. You'll be a lot faster and much more stable.