Words and Vids of Ski Wisdom! Technique

^^^ The video is about teaching pressure control. It's about settling into the snow and rebounding off the platfrom/compression and then turning. It's not about jumping per/se; there's no jumping going on. It is a bit exaggerated in the bouncing for the purpose of teaching those who are new to skiing powder or deeper snow. As far as "leaning back" on the skis goes, that is a very common idea/response and the first idea that comes to mind with those new to skiing deeper snow. It's also a very tiring way to try to ski and a danger to the knees and burns the quads up rapidly. It's also very difficult to control the skis when you are literally leaning back and they will eventually squirt out from under the skier. Staying basically centered is still the best way to ski even in powder. In any case, the "bouncing" is a exaggerated as a matter of teaching. Also powder specific skis do not rely on leaning back (shifting your weight a bit back is fine) to get the tips to surface.

Uhh duh! The question is what the hell are you thinking? You must be listening to GrampaFloppy. Only rank beginners thing powder calls for leaning back and ripping the knees out, but hey just ARC ON!

Well if you really pitch forward, you risk faceplanting in powder but that is also true for Tele in any snow of any real depth. In Tele, I think you really want to make sure and retract the front ski and weight it very positively in powder ( of any depth ) but that is not the same thing as "leaning back". Park skiers lean back on their heavily-rockered twintips all the time and they are, of course, young skiers and generally straight-lining and not in powder. I don't go over the front of my skis in deep snow ( 95% anyways ) and I avoid leaning back because my knees won't take it and my quads burn! But I do weight back --shift weight back a bit and make sure to weight that back ski!!!!!

If you mean to weight the back ski more than on harder snow or to make sure it's positively weighted, then I agree.. If you mean to literally LEAN back, then I would not agree. You cannot flex the knees and literally LEAN back. I would say the powder skiing calls for a true 50/50 weighting in general--ideally ..80/20 back-to-front and you just won't last long and the front is a noodle plus the excess weight on the back ski can cause a really bad pivot.

So I'm not 100% in disagreement with what is being said...

With the cambered skis, I really do tend to squat right on the back ski. There's definitely a point of too much and you'll feel that front ski trying to get away from you when you do, but really I've found the ideal motion is as perpendicular to the slope as possible and keeping the heel low, flexing at the knee and hip inline with the BOF as much as possible. You need to be careful not to elongate the front ski or this will cause instability later in the turn. Keep that sucker tucked in. But really squashing out that rear ski is critical, even in deeper snow.

I have no idea what the actual weight is, but it feels like a lot on the rear. More say than I would when skiing with a cable.

Well, as usual Deb Armstrong nails it.. And she really nails the issue with the idea or practice of setting way back. It literally is the worst way to try and ski powder or ANY deeper snow. this is a great video and it applies to Tele 100%.
Actively retracting and weighting the ski in Tele is not at all the same thing as "leaning back" or "being in the backseat".

It's the same thing in Tele: balance is balance and leaning back is leaning back.

The basics are all the same..Stay compact, sink and compress, rebound, turn but not all that much.

So what's "wrong" with the "lean back" approach? It's imbalanced, makes for a lot of knee stress and quad work and it leaves the skier in less control. The "balanced bouncing" approach is just more efficent, more controlled and less dangerous.

Well if they skied leathers just once they'd realize how easy it is to get out of shape.

You can ski with your ass back like that but you need your chest even further forward to counterbalance. This is what ski racers do and it maybe takes more strength? I used to ski like that when I was a kid. Especially for going fast and doing big turns, I liked it.

There's lots of different ways to ski and some work better for certain things. I like my body lower and more compact for going faster - same on a bike. Standing up and leaning back is horrible... both on a bike and on skis.