J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Trencher

Tima, great that you have the carving bug. Would love to see some photos of you laying down some trenches. Hip on the snow is as low as you can go.

Like so many things, there are aesthetic choices to be made and it's hard to judge from two photos. For me, once the outside ski is no longer fully engaged, it's not skiing, just squatting on the inside ski. It's a fine line, but to each his own.

I don't speak the language, but this guy's static demonstration is nothing like his actual turns (which are just squatting on the inside ski thinking you look like an alpine snowboarder).

As to the night skiing under floodlights, I often postpone skiing on very flat light days; preferring to ski under flood lights in the evening. I find it not worth the chance of injury to ski fast in flat light.

Are you sure your old pants were not letting some moisture through?
The only time I have suffered a cold butt is with the Marmot pants I mentioned recently, where the Goretex delaminated around butt area.

Off Topic sections of forums are a mine field. One forum I belong to is a pretty limited group. After several years of over heated OT confrontations, people now think before they post and it's rare for tempers to flare. But that's a group where it's very likely you will meet other members and your own good friends are also members.

J2ski is a different situation. It would be a moderator's nightmare, and the conversation would sometimes be something Dave would not want associated with his business. Allowing a little wibble here and there keeps the place friendly, but manageable. Dave does a great job finding the middle ground. I would imagine the forum is a good source of traffic to the site, so keeping it active is in all our interest.

Snapzzz wrote:I suppose the problem is that once the sun goes down, especially with huge mountains blocking out the last remaining light, it can get dark pretty quick.
The last thing any resort would want is lots of people stranded on the slopes in the dark.

In the US and Canada. The Ski Patrol sweep all the runs at the end of the skiing day to make sure everyone is off the mountain. I would guess they like to do that in daylight.

A place to talk to fellow Brits about stuff I'm interested in. A chance to practice spelling properly and to override the US spell check :wink:

A few things that might help.

J turns, start straight down the fall line and then then turn until you stop (turning back up hill). This reinforces turning to control speed. The idea must be pushed that you turn to control speed, not brake (especially in a snow plough). Model this your self. Don't let her see you braking to stay with her, use turn shape instead with parallel skis.

Stay in a good skiing stance. Too many parents lean back and slouch when skiing slowly with kids. Then they wonder why the kids always ski like that. The transition to skiing parallel is all about being forward, and moving forward to start turns.

Find ways to make turns interesting. Follow the leader, Simon says etc. Making a variety of turns, trying to trick those following with either parent or kid doing the leading. If you can carve, a pair of small radius skis can lay down winding railway tracks that kids love to follow.

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.