By Dan Balkin
Was 66 a very good year because it’s when Captain Kirk first trekked into outer space “To boldy go where no man has gone before” – at least on TV? Sure. But skiers have another reason to celebrate 1966. That is the year French ski coach Georges Joubert, who had a knack for brilliantly analyzing what the greatest skiers in the world were doing and explaining it in memorable, straightforward language, wrote his influential book “Ski the New French Way.” A great skier in the 60s, Jean Claude Killy, was inspired by Joubert’s new ideas and they helped propel Killy to World Cup and Olympic glory.
In 1966, Joubert had a remarkable insight that foreshadowed how ski technique would evolve as skiers transitioned from long and ungainly straight skis to shorter and more responsive shaped skis. Joubert’s insight was that a ski slope, even if it has a constant pitch, only has a constant pitch when we head straight downhill. Huh? Think of it this way: If you wanted to stop and chat with friends on a local steeper run, such as The Wall at Holiday Valley or Greer Hill at HoliMont, where would you place your skis? The obvious answer is “across the hill.” But why would you place your skis across the hill? Because in that position the slope angle is literally 0 degrees (relative to where you are standing). Reducing the slope angle to 0 degrees allows one to stand still without moving. We don’t, however, aspire to park on ski hills, we turn.
By turning on a slope with, for instance, even a mild 10-degree pitch, the slope angle progressively INCREASES as you do the first half of your turn and max’s out at 10 degrees when your skis are pointed directly down the hill. But now you must complete the turn, and the slope angle now progressively DECREASES – 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 degrees etc. as you finish your turn. Joubert realized that this decreasing slope angle is like skiing into a mini mogul – for there is a progressive increase in pressure on the skis as they interact with the decreasing slope angle – just like there is when your ski’s encounter a small mogul! Later ski technicians christened this “The Virtual Bump” – but they acknowledged the idea came from Joubert. Ask yourself, “Are my skis more prone to skid in the beginning or end of a turn on a slope with firm snow?” Again, the answer is obvious – the end of the turn – and it proves Joubert’s point that as we finish a ski turn the pitch of the slope is decreasing and acting like a brake slowing us down and creating more pressure on our skis. The essential question: How do we deal with that pressure?
The answer on the groomed slopes we mainly ski: Absorb the pressure as if it were a small mogul – every turn transition – over and over. Look at the photo of the modern skier. He is the great Mike Rogan, Captain of the PSIA National Alpine Team, and a a skier of legendary grace and efficiency. As he transitions from one set of edges to a new set of edges, he does not abruptly plant his ski pole and pop directly up as skiers often did on straight skis. Instead, we see Rogan progressively absorbing the force of the virtual bump with his entire body while also progressively countering (keeping the zipper of his ski jacket facing down the hill while turning his legs).
An effective ski tip to help one do this is to imagine you are skiing in a tunnel that is just above your head. Quite simply, don’t pop up at the turn transition and “bump” your head against the roof of the imaginary tunnel. Instead, be like Mike in the middle photo of the montage: Absorb the virtual bump by relaxing your legs and allowing all your major joints (ankles, knees, and hips) to slightly flex. That will keep your head level and lead to a smoother turn transition. “Level headed” skiing works for great skiers and will work for us too.