Hands in the snow

[Baka Dasai]

Look at the two turns in the following pic. In each of them the inside hand goes down to the snow very early, and is clearly taking a bit of weight. It's not a case of the snow being so close that the hand has to be there - the rider is deliberately reaching down and supporting himself with his hand to prevent his body from flopping down with a thud.

The technique-geek purist in me says that this is cheating.

But it's a great example of cross-through - you can see how compressed he is while between the two turns, and how stretched out he is at the apex of the turns.

[Raisputin]

I dunno how techically correct or incorrect it is, but doing that sure is fun as hell :)

[Art]

Not really cheating- just Eurocarving. Many times debated and discussed.

[Mike T]

I dunno how techically correct or incorrect it is, but doing that sure is fun as hell :)

Hands in the snow is definitely fun.

Then figuring out how to do the same turns without hands in the snow - even more fun

(From the one with a hand in the snow in his avatar!)

[D-Sub]

Id say its just that jaque or patrice...whoever it is...just knows that thats where theyre gonna end up...the whole idea is to drag both hands on the toe turn and the inside hand on the heel...its just how they do it...

hell...from "our" perspective, you really shouldnt ever touch the snow, just let your inside hand glide over it, with only a cushion of air :)q

[Steve Dold]

Touching the snow seems to make my turns easier, for some reason. It gives me a false sense of balance and security, like a drunk gets walking along an alley, using the wall as a guide. I never thought it was good technique. It's like dragging your foot around a turn on a motorcycle.

[Linus]

The technique-geek purist in me says that this is cheating.

Cheating can be done only in a competition. I believe people with that much experience and their high level of techniques can do the same without their hands on the slopes.

I think you just have started a flame of war.

[dano]

...but it's much more satifying when I let my favorite hot twins "Speedee-edge" and "Centrifugee" have their way with me. They really let me flex it!

( I REALLY need to get on the hill....blue trail balls are ACHIN" )

[Bobby Buggs]

Flame retardant post.........

Lets put it this way, Its a particular Style and those guys have perfected it.Yeah it looks great and its a ton of Fun. As far as Technical riding goes, if you look to create the perfect body alignment for absolute edge pressure, putting that inside hand down causes you to go Out of alignment. It tips your shoulders and moves your alignment out past the edge causing some loss of edge power. In the East coast where soft consistent snow and wide open trails are a rare occurrence we need absolute edge pressure. Trying to be that far out beyond your edge on one of our well known New England grey ice cat tracks that show up by noon in the center of the trails is the quickest way to find your self, as Ronnie Knuckles would put it, Bighting Bark

Love the style but its not appropriate where we ride here. When we go out West we can play like that

Im so East coast programmed I cant lay my head down and tip the shoulders

[Helmut Karvlow]

The trick is to put both hands down through your heelside, the toeside is a gimmie!

[Zone]

Flamming indeed.

I actually believe that Jacques and Patrice are so good that if you look closely, even though they touch the snow, they do not use their hands to put weight on it, like most of us trying to imitate their style. They just lightly touch the snow and their bodies actually glides OVER the snow. Quite a feat of balance. I'm sure they could do the same without hands, although esthetically it looks nicer and feels nicer with hands floating/caressing the snow (as they call it).

http://www.flegmatic-carving.com/gallery/index.php?album=%2FVahur_pics%2Flifted%2Fℑ=jacques6.jpg

http://www.flegmatic-carving.com/gallery/index.php?album=%2FVahur_pics%2Flifted%2Fℑ=patrice3.jpg

Merry Christmas to all.

[Guest toddflyingdog]

I watched Graham Watanabe lay down a smokin run in the GS last April at USASA Nationals making beautiful two handed Euro carves. He was wearing a one peice that was the US freestyle ski teams uni sometime 89 or 90. I had to admit that it was the most steezy run I've ever seen in gates.

But it hurt all us slow guys feelings because that is not fast! Yet he ended up winning the event. Though he didn't make any two handers winning the dual.