Ask almost any skier how they control speed or slow down and 99.9% of responses would be ‘turn’. Now get ready to change that concept completely, develop your brakes and finally give yourself more control than ever over your skiing speed.
Let’s take some examples of other forms of transport and their methods of controlling speed. You don’t turn a car to slow down. You don’t turn a bicycle to slow down. You have brakes that you can accurately use and control. Imagine having the same kind of control on your skis as you do in your car or on your bike. Well, the good news is you can.
Let’s look closely at how brakes work. Brakes work by creating activity between two surfaces. On your bike and in your car this activity is friction between the brake pads and the other surface, the disk or rim of the wheel. The more friction you create the slower you go, the less friction you create the faster you go – simple.
Now let’s take skiing. First of all you need two surfaces to create activity. These two surfaces are a) snow and b) the edges of your skis. You no need to use the edges of your skis in a similar way as you use the brakes on your bike or your car. You need to create activity between your edges and the snow.
This activity is what we call ‘Snow Displacement’ or in simple terms the ability to move snow. Every skier that skis down the hill is moving snow. Some more than others. It’s the moving of snow that controls speed. Move more snow, you go slower, move less snow, you go faster. Simple.
Watch all skiers skiing down a slope and as they turn you will see snow spraying out from the edges of the skis. Now imagine if you could accurately control the amount of snow you spray out, the amount of snow you displace or move. If you can do this then you have complete control over your speed.
Credit – Mammoth Mountain
Next time you go skiing practice moving snow with the edges of your skis. Practice moving more snow or less snow, practice spraying snow or pushing snow with your edges and you will soon begin to realise that it is the snow you move that controls your speed.
On a piste, snow is generally pretty easy to move so most people do not have any problems controlling speed. People begin to struggle when snow is difficult to move (deep, heavy or slush), awkward to move (bumps) or there appears to be no snow to move (ice). These are the times when you have to realise there is no magic solution that anyone can teach that will leave you effortlessly skiing bumps, ice or deep snow. You have to knuckle down and use your edges to create the braking action.
In deep snow, the snow is moved with the base of your skis rather than the edges but it’s still exactly the same theory, move more snow you go slower, move less snow you go faster. You can use one ski or both skis to move snow.
Another misunderstanding is to dig the edges of your skis in. Of course this might result in not moving much snow at all. So to move snow the sensation is a scraping action, when the snow is hard or icy and a pushing action when the snow is soft or deep.
So now you have brakes. Understand, practice and use ‘Snow Displacement’ and the next time you go skiing you will have more control than you ever thought possible.
