How to Ski Eastern "Hard Pack" ...

[QikTrnz]

You will get tired of hearing me say "Speed Kills" ... But Honest, if it doesn't kill, it sure can hurt and skiing Eastern Hard Pack is a primo environment for speed related accidents .....

1) ....

Before you do anything else, brush up on your braking, stopping skills and beware that these kinds of Fast conditions mean that you need to be able to ... "Stop on a Dime" .... or at least two things could happen ....

You will smash into someone/something because you can't stop ....

Someone will smash into you because they can't stop ......

Now, once we've got that out of the way .... SLOW DOWN ....

2) .....

O.K. ... This is one set of conditions where having your equipment (skis or board) tuned up with fresh/sharp edges is a huge advantage.

Eastern "Hard Pack" can present surfaces that many refer to as "ice". This condition can occur without warning and may be covered by a thin layer of wind blown snow that will camouflage it from casual detection. (If you are going too fast, you will find the icy patches automatically - Murphy's 5th law of skiing)

Anyway, sharp edges will help you control your speed because those sharp edges are your best option for generating "FRICTION" that you can use to "STOP" or "SLOW DOWN" .... by setting the skis on edge using either a "Snowplow" or a "Hockey Stop".

3) ......

You need to asses the surfaces for "Grip". "Grip" is the ability of your skis to resist sliding out sideways from under you.

Test for Grip by trying to slide your skis sideways, before you set off on your run.

If there is "Grip", you can proceed with a Carving technique, but if the "Grip" level is low or poor, you will need to use an "old school" skidded or alternating sideways sliding technique.

4) ....

Now if all this seems confusing or not "doable", GET LESSONS ...

5) ......

If this is doable then do each run on new territory SLOWLY, to check for icy patches that could throw you for a loop.

Only add speed when you have been able to verify the quality of the surfaces, which could mean that you might ski each new run twice.... so be it ..... safety first ......

More later ....

[QikTrnz]

Now Then .....

There are a few "common denominators" in ski technique that are fundamental regardless of surface conditions, but the one we are going to look at for "Hardpack/icy" is ....

[glow=blue,2,300]HAND POSITION:[/glow]

Actually, Hand position is the most highly misunderstood and least talked about and not to mention, least demonstrated element of ski instruction .... but it is arguably the most important because hand position determines the balance point of the entire human dynamic.

(with all due respect to Orthodox ski instruction articles or video bits, they spend far too much time on hard to understand, cryptic, lower body, leg, knee, hip, ankle, what-have-you stuff rather than Good hand position, which will automatically fix all that other stuff without even thinking about it, because proper hand position brings the whole body into a naturally balanced and properly angulated position ... see all that follows.)

(stay tuned for future installments, I will get some photos of simple demos that will illustrate this point)

Anyway, what you need to do for all styles and techniques is maintain proper hand position .....

[glow=blue,2,300]Which is .... UP FRONT and OUT FORWARD AT ALL TIMES ....[/glow]

Think of a "Tight Rope Walker" using a balance beam to cross the tight rope or wire .... the balance device is held with the hands extended up and forward to maximize the natural ability of the human machine to maintain balance ....

If the "Tight Rope Walker" looses balance ... they fall .... but that will be preceded by a few wild swings of the arms prior to the loss of balance .....

[glow=blue,2,300]The "UP FRONT AND OUT FORWARD" hand position is the stabilizer for the "Tight Rope Walker" and it is for you the skier as well ..... for exactly the same reasons.[/glow]

You need to be able to think like and move like a CAT ....and you can only do that finely controlled balance thing with your hands "UP FRONT AND OUT FORWARD" at all times.

NOTE: this should not look like an overly "Forced" position, but rather a "Naturally Flowing" stance, like a surfer riding the waves ....

If nothing else, when you are riding up the lift, look at all the good skiers .... they will all have the "UP FRONT AND OUT FORWARD" hand position..... no matter what other elements of style they show.

Even if you don't know exactly why, you can tell who the good skiers are just by the fact that they move in balance and they look balanced on their feet ... and .... if they look and move like they are balanced, they are balanced .... and that is the best thing you can hope to maintain in your technique ..... BALANCE ... which comes with proper hand position ....

IN CONTRAST ...look at those who are obviously having difficulty... after a little thoughtful observation you will see that they are the ones who's arms are hanging straight down, dangling around like a knuckle dragging gorilla, punctuated by wild arm swings when their balance is momentarily disturbed ..... which is all the time ... and they just look to be incapable of keeping balanced for more than a few seconds....

[glow=blue,2,300]Maintaining proper hand position is possibly the most important thing you can do to break out of being a beginner or moving from intermediate to expert skiing.[/glow]

More ... (including, but not limited to: "What the Hell am I supposed to do with these Poles ???") to follow.....

[QikTrnz]

So, while I'm thinking of it .... what do skiing "Hard pack" and "Crud" have in common ... ??? ....

..... Body position, that's what ... and that position can be best described as "COMPACT" ...

There are some differences, like some of the things we talk about in the "Cheaters Guide" thread, but having a fairly low, compact position helps reduce the leverage of your upper bodies momentum when you will be encountering variable resistance ski surfaces, in this case for example, hardpack, ice, hardpack.

(please click on the thread at the top of this post to review the entire article)