Everything you need to know about slalom in one short video

[Horton]

I was coaching Jr Dev this week and showed this video to one of the dads. I told him that his kids do not need to do any extra movements. Skiing is not easy but a it does not have to be super complicated or fancy. CP is my gold standard.

[mbabiash]

I absolutely love that video. Watch it all the time. So many good things going on there.

 

[ISP6ball]

Yes, unbelievably smooth!

[Wish]

Ok, so this evening I took @adamhcaldwell advice and worked on "vertical separation" at all times vs hips up/back leg straight/ankle flex/shoulders back...bla bla bla. To just think of 1 thing only..vertical separation.. does all that automatically and in an instant. As Adam says, you don't think of all that stuff standing up out of a chair. Perfect example above. CP (not something he thinks about I'm sure) keeps his shoulders as far away from his feet/ski as is functionally doable. So there is no additional movements of rising to the front of the ski or sucking up the knees off second wake or all kinds of stuff you see. So for me just thinking of getting my shoulders far from my feet/ski made a huge diff. I'm more of a compressed skier. For starters I'm skiing behind a Gekko right now. Hard small wakes. Very much noticed with my usual compressed style and tough to ski. Hardly noticed at all with vertical separation. Coming into the ball was calm and not rushed. Ski turned faster through and out of the ball for less load and when it came, I was already stacked sooner. Wake crossing were not met with being knocked forward. All sound good?? It is. See CP above. Hope I'm doing justice to Adams thoughts. But even if I have it half right, it's twice as good.

 

Note: not saying a compressed style can't get it done. Just saying a noticeable improvement throughout the pass for me and guessing others Adam has preached this to.

[DW]

The engine note change is an interesting indicator of how much energy is used to navigate 6 little orange buoys. 1 HP = 2,544.43 BTU/hr or 745.7 watts. Awesome skiing.

[Horton]

@wish you just made the simple seem complicated

[jhughes]

My only thought this year has been simply standing up on the ski and it makes a lot of shit happen. But you REALLY have to think about it at all phases of the course. It can't be a casual thought just hopping of the platform in to the water. Even thinking about it constantly I can only execute about 25% of the time.

[UWSkier]

@jhughes same here. Skiing taller than ever but still moving around on the ski far too much

[Zman]

Or, watch the 32, 35, 38, 39, 4@41 video.

Despite a few nitpicking "discrepancies", great skiing.

[Horton]

@zman that is kind but no

[Andre]

@jhughes and @UWSkier

Me three !

For a week now and my 32's are getting better and easier on my body.

Still can't do more then 2 @ 35 but there's hope that early in the season! Agree that having the shoulder as far away from the ski is solving a lot of other things and it's only one thing to think of.My pre-gates glides is also benefitting from it.

I predict that soon,a lot of skiers will be thinking vertical separation! So much simpler!

 

Oh,great skiing by the tower.Age and injuries have made his comeback difficult...

 

[Wish]

@Horon ...meh. Simple concept, simple to think of, simple to implement. I guess you could skip all the why it works.

[Horton]

@wish it is actually very much the core of all my coaching. Being tall is the simplest way to be centered and powerful. It is the easiest version of stacked. The point of this thread is that when you look at CP you do not see any trendy new complicated moves. He is just tall and in the center of the ski with a minimum of extra movements.

 

SIMPLE. Maybe not easy Simple.

[Wish]

We are saying the same thing. Your point is not lost on me. I've tried the mind set or to think of "being tall" or "stand tall". Seems to just engage my legs and not in a positive way and makes my body stiff like a board and no longer athletic. What Adam is suggesting as a mind set (for me) engages everything to make that separation happen (result taller) but it's still remains athletic. CP is still very much loose and athletic even though he looks more like a board then say Terry W. But if what u say works for those u coach more power to you. But maybe there's some that it won't click with. This very much clicked with me. Gonna see how it goes and use it with some skiers I coach.

[Horton]

@wish we don't disagree. I'm just giving you a hard time about using a bunch of extra words

[keithh2oskier]

Does anyone know if Chris still does video coaching? I tried looking for his website a few months ago and couldn't find anything.