 Poster: A snowHead
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I have been ski-ing now for many years, am now retired but still active, I ski Reds usually but Blacks if necessary.
I am 6' tall and weigh 15 stones.
My first serious skis were Omesofts 205cm, (great skis) boots Caber Alpha (so comfortable)
I "graduated" to compacts Head 195cm.
I now use Rossignol XFight 400 170cm and Dalbello "Innovex 6.6" boots (the Alphas disintegrated on the slopes in Cumbria one day!).
My problem is that my skis do not seem to run as parallel as they did before. In the "old days" we were taught to ski with the blades together, am I expecting too much of the modern waisted skis I wonder. My helmet cam shows a lot of wavering which I'd like to correct.
Have posted on this previously.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Here is the old thread
@edgy1, I think we'd need to see the video mate.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Rossignol XFight 400 seem to be a really obscure pair of planks. I see a comment that they are soft and not particularly grippy - perhaps a beginners ski.
One thing I would say is that with modern ski's you can't, or rather shouldn't, ski with your feet/skis together. They should be hip width apart. So it sounds like you might have the wrong ski's and haven't adjusted your style to the design of modern day ski's.
Perhaps hire some other ski's to feel the difference and/or take a private lesson to make those adjustments.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks for your quick reply, I wondered about the skis myself. Would it be possible for you to suggest planks which might be suitable for my ability please.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Just a couple of comments - as somebody that has transitioned from Old School, through to modern piste carvers.
1. The fist time I skied on short carving skis, I got left behind, as compared to the more "Armchair ride" of 2m straight skis. These things were like driving a Go Cart (after a Volvo Estate). Fast, reactive, powerful and shot round the corner on rails. Having my weight pushed back caused a lack of control, removing pressure from the tips.
2. As the turn radius gets smaller, a ski will feel more squirrelly in a straight line, than skis of yesteryear which had a much longer radius.
This may, or may not be what is going on.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| edgy1 wrote: |
| Thanks for your quick reply, I wondered about the skis myself. Would it be possible for you to suggest planks which might be suitable for my ability please. |
Unfortunately not. What you need to do is go to a shop in resort, tell them all your details: height, weight, age, what you ski: pistes including grades, off piste, park? And your style of skiing, history and tell them you want to test drive some options. If you don't want to go to a resort look out for the Snowhead ski tests this autumn that will get announced here
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I might be way off the mark here, but...
You mention seeing the wavering on the helmet cam. If the helmet cam is new then could it be that there has always been wavering but that you weren't aware of it before? Skis do wobble about a bit, but as you're not looking down (hopefully!) and because a large-ish movement in the ski tip can be caused by a very small movement in your boot, you don't feel it.
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@edgy1, do you feel good when you are skiing? Do you feel you lack control? Are you edging happily and comfortable in your turns? Or is this purely an anomaly you are seeing in the camera footage?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@edgy1, post some video please and you'll get more informative help
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It's better to see you skiing if you maybe have a video?
It's quite difficult to give useful advice based on just a description of what you feel.
And yes, as others have mentioned you need to keep your skis more hip width apart on pisted runs.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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As above we don't know if you are irredeemaby old school, in need of a little bit of modern polish or pretty much there. From the limited amount you've said it sounds like the skis you are on may be too short and too soft for you but also I'd suspect there are things you could improve techniquewise as it shouldn't be that hard to make micro adjustments to the tilt of your feet to get skis to run straight. Having said that some shorter lengths of shaped skis can be very "turny".
Tips and particularly rockered tips can be very flappy on hard pack at speed, you just learn to ignore that.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
My helmet cam shows a lot of wavering which I'd like to correct
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Is ther not an image stabilisiation feature on the headcam. This may cure the problem
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Thanks for all the replies, I'll need to digest them.I don't think it's the Helmet Cam (Hero 3), the background isn't moving! The cam was aimed down on this run to capture it, I wasn't looking down. Just remembered I took these boots to France just after I bought them, hired skis and don't remember any problems, it does seem to point to the Rossys. I have the videos which clearly show it happening, how do I post them please.
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You know it makes sense.
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As said above....things have changed...and if your technique hasn't, then that is the place to start, with a good instructor.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@edgy1, “modern” (not really such an appropriate term these days) skis are much, much turnier and liable to “wobble” if not kept on an edge and under control.
Could just be that...
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Poster: A snowHead
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@edgy1, can you make it to either of the ski tests in a couple of weekends time? Trying out a number of other skis might shed some light on what you're experiencing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| edgy1 wrote: |
| Thanks for all the replies, I'll need to digest them.I don't think it's the Helmet Cam (Hero 3), the background isn't moving! The cam was aimed down on this run to capture it, I wasn't looking down. Just remembered I took these boots to France just after I bought them, hired skis and don't remember any problems, it does seem to point to the Rossys. I have the videos which clearly show it happening, how do I post them please. |
Upload to youtube or similar and post the link here.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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edgy1
All things being "equal", with the utmost deference to yourself or anyone, I'm scratching my head over the length of your skis as being too short. We both are the same height, I under weigh you by about 25 pounds (195) - if I have a good idea of stone - and the shortest ski I have of current design are 182's. Two other pair over the past ten years are in the 188cm arena. In "old school" circles I was always on a range of 204 to 212.............. I ski anywhere with a preference for GS style cruising - high speed cruising throughout the entire day.
Whether old school or new, I have always held to a basic dictum that most good skiers are on "too little ski and too much boot........." By that I mean the ski is too short and the boot over-the-top (too stiff). Given your weight you could v. easily be "washing out" your skis...... E.G., placing too much weight upon them for their given length and camber, which notoriously tends to make a ski track erratically which appears to be the case with yourself.
Remember, the longer ski while heavier (a good thing) distributes one's weight over a greater surface area, thus in turn being lighter per square mm, cm, inch, foot, yard, kilometer, mile, league. This allows the ski to perform more as it was designed to, to be agile. Think about it................................
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Wed 4-10-17 18:25; edited 1 time in total
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On too short I think I'm with @arcsinice. 170 sounds too short for your weight to me (I am 60kgs and day ski 170-180).
Although I don't think
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"too little ski and too much boot........."
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generally holds...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@edgy1, If your skis are wandering around you don't have enough pressure on the front of the ski. Probably the best things is to get someone to have a look at you skiing, or post a video here which will give you a variety of advice and probably start a few arguments. I'm very much in the "it's never the equipment and always the technique" camp, but your boots do seem to be quite soft -- and while the may be very comfortable, they may not provide the control you want.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Not sure if it's directly relevant, but a couple of years ago I skiied two consecutive weeks. The first week went like a dream then I hired some different skis in the second week. Absolutely horrendous! I changed them the second day for skis with a slightly larger turning radius and everything was good again. The problem skis just seemed determined to buck me off and their turning circle was definitely smaller than mine! Very 'squirelly' as someone said.
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@ski, possibly good point.
My SLs tended to wobble if forced to ski in a straight line no matter the pressure...
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Without seeing you it’s hard to comment. However here’s some thoughts on new school v old school. The stance as has been mentioned above will normally (when not skiing moguls) be a little wider. Your feet should not be broken by which I mean one shouldn’t be too much in front of the other, your stance should be more square, that is facing the direction of travel, to alter the radius of a turn modern skis respond better to being tipped over although they will still respond to being loaded/unloaded. In the crossover/crossunder phase of the turn there is much less need to bob up and down but rather work your feet under your body with more subtle leg extensions and contractions. Again as has been mentioned above I suspect the most likely cause is managing the pressure on the skis. One big issue with doing pure carved turns is you’ll end up going very fast very quickly and if you’re doing what’s referred to as park and ride will have limited control.
A good exercise to start with is pivot slips, which is slowly side slipping facing one way then pivoting with skis parallel to face to other direction. This helps you learn to control pressure and edges.
The more I write this the more I think the best/quickest/cheapest thing would be for you to get a lesson with a good instructor.
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