Faster, boy, faster

I am looking for some tips to help me go faster when skiing. I seem to have a bit of a mental block,

To give you some idea as to my level, I can ski kind of properly parallel on blues (large radius turns OK and short radius turns OK on not-too-steep bits). Far more traversing on reds.

ESF instructor rated me at level 2A, technique was good (at level 2A standards), but said that I needed to work on my speed.

I am having a real problem in going faster. :oops: I am quite happy going fast downhill on the old bone shaking push bike, but I cannot seem to do it on skis.

I will probably head down the local dry slope for a bit of practice, but has anyone got any suggestions/hints/tips/drills?

Suggestions so far include a couple of small glasses of wine and some fast music on the iPod (I was thinking Ace of Spades, Kennedy, White Riot, Surfin Bird....)

I think you will find you naturally ski faster the more you ski - sort of like learning to drive - as you become more confident and skilful you will find yourself ski-ing faster.

What made me start to ski much faster was being in a fast moving group lesson high on a mountain somewhere when I had no idea where I was or how to get back 'home'. I discovered then that I was more afraid of being left behind and getting lost than I was of ski-ing fast :lol:

Ally

This advise is pretty general and may or may not apply to your problem.

First question is can you hockey stop on both sides comfortably and in control? Knowing that you have the ability to stop quickly will boost your confidence.

Skiing parallel well requires staying forward and moving forward into new turns. I'm taking a que from "I can ski kind of properly parallel on blues"

A hard part of going fast is resisting the urge to slide into the back seat. Try going faster (with turns)on slopes you are very comfortable with. At the same time maintain shin contact in the boot cuffs, weight on the balls of your feet, and hips forward, especially as you turn into the fall line. If you start to move back, stop and start again.

As the slope increases, realise that you will have to stay perpendicular to the slope (leaning forward out into space). This requires confidence that your turns will slow you down. It's a chicken and the egg thing. Until you stay forward, your turns won't be effective, until your turns are effective you will struggle to stay forward. Lessons with a focus on moving forward to start a turn and staying forward in the fall line should help. Even in a group lesson, tell the instructor what you want some help with.

Stay away from the dry slope for starters!

Going faster comes with confidence. If you have confidence in your own ability, and as Trencher says as long as you can hockey stop quickly to pull out if you need to, you're probably "safe" enough.
Obviously theres a time and place for going fast; nice wide slope with a decent gradient, not many people on it, etc.

My advice would be to get as forward as you can, grin a lot, and go with it. If you feel you're at the point of dying, pull a few turns and slow down a bit.

A mates GF is a good technical skier but will simply not allow her skis to run. She skis so slowly its painful, any slower and she'd be going backwards. But she just won't allow herself to gain any momentum. Until she crosses this mental barrier, she isn't going to get anywhere and will continue to spend her skiing holidays bumbling around on the same blues and greens.

Its all in your head. If you are able to overcome that hurdle and literally let yourself go, it will fall into place.

There must be a fear in there. Maybe of falling, crashing, or hurting yourself?

Find the right slope at the right emptiness and go for it, but get forward as much as you can.

Confidence is key and this is directly related to technique. No avoiding this one, faster you go, steeper the slope, adverse snow always shows this up.

If you want to ski fast then carving is key and from 2A description you are no there yet. Skidding turns at high speed does not feel good, hence lack of confidence. Skidding/rotation is the way to control speed, reduce that and speed will naturally increase. What your doing is correct and you should not see as problem. However I would suggest (reading between lines) that lack of edge is probably what you need to work on now.

Book some lessons and practice GS or greater radius turns at higher speed, work on angulation of skis (if that is a word)and keeping upper body in vertical plane from slope (i.e. not leaning into slope). I think getting an instructor with camera would likely assist you here. This is normally the part of skiing that take people longest to grasp if ever. This is a modern ski thing, people find easier initially but to really make them work requires solid technique.

Remember that only racers can ski a steep red from top to bottom with zero rotation/skidding in their turns. 100% carve means massive speed in short amount of time. Hence for rest of us we need to master combining rotation, skid and edge mix. This takes time and discipline when skiing alone.

Not cheap but lessons lessons lessons is what is required.

Take some lessons to improve your skill level, and ski at the speed that you feel happy with.

There should be no pressure on you to go faster, skiing is a personal pastime unless you are in a competition.

Everyone is different, and takes their own pleasure from different elements of skiing.

If you are going fast all the time, you will be spending your time concentrating on just that, missing out on everything else around you.

Chill 8)

All fantastic advice what my husband kept reiterating all week. Had a 2hr private lesson with another 2 one of which skis so slowly I found it so hard to ski behind her.(the tutor kept trying to get her to go a little faster) Much easier to ski with a little more speed skiing at her speed it is impossible to link any turns. However I agree if the tecnique is not really good it sure shows up when going down steeper bits hence me hurtling down steeper bits right back to sharp z turns and swearing at OH when he shouts out just get you weight forward...//????!!!

Lizzie-B wrote:All fantastic advice what my husband kept reiterating all week. Had a 2hr private lesson with another 2 one of which skis so slowly I found it so hard to ski behind her.(the tutor kept trying to get her to go a little faster) Much easier to ski with a little more speed skiing at her speed it is impossible to link any turns. However I agree if the tecnique is not really good it sure shows up when going down steeper bits hence me hurtling down steeper bits right back to sharp z turns and swearing at OH when he shouts out just get you weight forward...//????!!!

lol

That reminds me of when Mrs H got into a bit of a panic at the top of a mogully black last month and when she finally made it across, she came over to me and said "If you tell me one more time to just let the skis run I'll stick this ski pole right........" I stopped listening at that stage and skied off.