Just like the Austrian School (AS), Pro Ski Instruction (PSI) first teaches the Plow techniques (Straight plow, Plow turning and Plow with parallel) before any continuous Parallel.
The reason is that many people aren't able to go directly to parallel (DTP), especially on steeper slopes. DTP would therefore create a big safety risk. But how to teach the continuous Parallel is a different story. This is what the AS teaches as the first continuous Parallel technique:
The first continuous Parallel technique as taught in the AS. Producer: NOESLV.
As you can see, it's a technique with a for beginners rather high forward speed, in which they have to move up & forward, and glide downhill for a relatively long time. It's not until halfway the turn that they may start traversing again and loose downhill speed.
But by then the damage is long done — the bracing reflex has occurred:
That reflex occurs when the skier picks up speed and feels that they have insufficient control over what comes next. And they already pick up speed when they move up & forward in a partly downhill direction. So the beginner won't do that, even at a lower speed, out of self protection. No matter how often the instructor demonstrates it.
Stepped framework?
The AS will probably argue that the long-turn instructions should be given within a methodischer Aufbau, a stepped framework. That concerns the two principles of increasing the degree of difficulty:
- going from a more traverse to a more downhill line, or from a flatter to a steeper slope;
- going from a half turn to linking whole ones together.
In theory, that would sound convincing. In practice however, it doesn't work half as well. In a single turn, the beginner is still asked to surrender to what almost feels like a free fall for them:
It's the combination of having to come up & forward and a relatively long downhill gliding phase that makes the brace reflex win in beginners. Just as in many intermediate skiers, in case the forward speed is relatively high to begin with.
AS's long turn necessary at all?
The AS might argue that its long turn in question, which is a slow turning technique, will just have to be taught first, because skiers need it first. But that's not true. On the contrary — they need a quick-turning technique, to gain control over their downhill speed.
In fact, good skiers rarely use the AS's long turn anyway. For long turns, they use the carving technique (already described in 19701), the dynamic long turn technique2,3 or the hip lean technique4. Which basically all come down to the same thing.
So, something should clearly be done differently when it comes to teaching the continuous Parallel techniques. How PSI does that is described on Parallel Turning, introduction.
References
- Joubert G. Teach Yourself To Ski. USA, 1970. [link]
- Wiener Ski- und Snowboardlehrerverband/Snowsports Academy. Ski Lehrer Buch, 2nd edition. Austria, 2016. [link]
- Österreichisher Skischulverband/Snowsport Austria. Vom Einstieg zur Perfection. In vier Stufen zum Erfolg, 2nd edition. Austria, 2018. [link]
- Heckelman M. The New Guide to Skiing. USA, 2000. [link]
Change log
- V. 1.1: added video.
- V. 1.2: added introductory explanation of turn radius length and corridor width.
- V. 1.3: changed video for copyright reasons; rephrased some parts.
- V. 1.4: shortened text and rephrased some parts.
- V. 2.0: rewrote page; changed title.
- V. 3.0: rewrote page; changed title.
Continue to Improvement V →
