flexion/extension turns

[jtslalom]

Prior to finding the Bomber site I found this site about 6 years ago.

http://club-ski.web.cern.ch/club%2Dski/

I thought it was very helpful in describing techniques in riding. Look through the tutor and scroll through the different carving styles described. When I first started riding (17 years ago) I was led to believe that the upper body was to remain still while the lower body turns the board. This is true watching slalom skiers. When turning slalom turns on non-steep slopes, I use mostly lower body where the board turns below a still upper body. I use extension turns for this. Later I learned to also incorporate my upper body. This mainly happened when I went from Asym to symmetrical boards in 1995/1996. I learned to carve steeper slopes using flexion and incorporating my upper body. Now I still keep a quiet upper body when making slalom style turns depending on the steepness. I use both the upper and lower parts for larger radius turns. This especially happens on steeper slopes. What is your opinion? Is this the thinking most people went through over the course of the last 10 - 15 years?

[Jack M]

cross-over, cross-under, cross-through

[jtslalom]

cross under = extension. cross over = flexion. I have read this article many times. Your terminology differs but the exact same idea. When I first learned how to ride I first mastered cross under for slalom like turns. Although this technique is usually learned after cross over as said in your article, I learned it first and found it difficult to do on steep slopes traveling fast. I learned cross over later while riding more symetric boards. I was wondering how many other people learned the same as I did.

[Baka Dasai]

Originally posted by jtslalom

When I first learned how to ride I first mastered cross under for slalom like turns.

Me too, but I was in soft boots at the time. It was almost an accident - I was just riding straight down a gentle slope, and began switching edges without trying to turn, and lo and behold the board started turning underneath my upper body. It was fun, but I'd never seen anybody else riding like that, so I wasn't sure whether I was doing something that was "right" or just totally kooky.

It took me a while after that before I worked out how to do cross-over turns. After that I switched to hard boots.