Fun Climbs Around The World

Photo from November 2009 issue of Ski

The November 2009 issue of Ski features an article, “The Last Plateau”,

in which the authors describe techniques that I advocate in my ski lessons.

  For skiers who’ve skied with me, I often talk about ‘edge angle’ and ‘angulation’. In the section, “power through edging”, the authors, Chris Fellows and Kellee Katagi, describe the use of counterbalance in order to achieve and hold a high edge angle. I recommend their article, which includes excellent photos, as something to read on the airplane on the way to Colorado, so that you have a good visual image of what we’re trying to achieve when we rip it up on the slopes.

See the high edge angle?

I’ve also talked about the G-forces one experiences in a carved turn. The authors similarly discuss using a high edge angle to generate momentum in the turn. I took photos of several pictures in the article, since I couldn’t find them online. One more thing I really like about this article is that each section on skiing is followed by a

section with exercises. My son and I will be doing select sets of these exercises

and I’ll post photos of that in the coming weeks.

We’ve done this exercise in class!

Some of their exercises resemble exercises I’ve described in the past. For

abdominal (core) strength, they recommend alternating ball plank pulls. I show

a basic plank – not as snazzy, but simpler.

The article shows lateral flexion / extension hops, which resemble our

windmill hops; and improve balance and leg coordination.

Both they and I recommend squats

And I regularly do the prone bicycles to strengthen abs.

Last year I could do 30; now I’m up to over 40 of them; so there’s hope for all of us!