This is the all-nations run on the closing night. That’s a lot of people skiing together…

Check them out at his photography website. Here’s three shots from the freestyle night during Interski…

Clinic title: Emotion; (1) emphasis on experimenting and emotion, (2) showcasing how to train ski instructors into this concept.

Clinic synopsis: Toni our clinic leader worked through the Finish progression from a good dynamic parallel turn, backwards down to a wedge turn. The reason for this, was to show how the equipment (skis) are used at a high level and how it can filter down to the lower levels.

Our summary: Toni started with an explanation of the stance that they are promoting. Standing ‘cuff-neutral’ with the balance point on the balls of your feet (toes). We then went skiing with the idea of not using any excess movement vertically. This was to give you muscles an easier time so skiing becomes less effort.

Next we covered direction change. This is done by applying pressure to the ski that is on the outside of the turn and because of the stance the front of the ski will bend to give you a direction change. This movement pattern is used from first timers to experts so that the students wont have to learn any new information; they just need to work with speed to get a different outcome. They didn’t address guiding the skis in a turn shape because they believe that students don’t want to work that hard due to there physical shape/make-up.

Toni presented a solid clinic with full belief of the information delivered. Finland appears to be not very steep and have wide groomed slopes so this would work well in this situation. We skied at a fast speed in the clinic. We didn’t address skiing in the off-piste or the steeps. I questioned Toni about timid students due to the speed that we were skiing and he replied that timid students just take longer to pick up the speed. I enjoyed the clinic however I didn’t feel that we addressed how to train instructors into this concept; more that we were just introduced onto the concept.

Clinic title: New technology

Clinic synopsis: This clinic focused on ‘Rocker Technology’. This technology is impacting all equipment in the USA, i.e. alpine skis, telemark skis and snowboards.

Our summary: The Ski manufacturers have differing designs so here’s a quick overview of rocker technology equipment…

There are a number of different types of camber for all equipment (dimensions given for skis):
1. Traditional camber
2. Early rise – this has rocker at the tip and then camber for the body of the ski, considered an all mountain ski. Typical dimensions are 127-80-109 with a conventional side-cut.
3. Tip rocker with camber under foot and then tail rocker (mustache) – some manufacturers are using this design for a range of skis from all mountain (conventional side-cut) to deep snow skis (wider tip and under foot) so the dimensions and length vary depending on intended use.
4. Rocker tip and tail/full rocker, i.e. reverse camber. Typical dimensions of powder rockers 160-132-109 mm. These skis are skied relatively long 175,185 or 195.
5. Terrain park skis – typical dimensions of these are 115-90-115 with symmetical side-cut. These have very little camber.
6. Another new shape for skis is the wide soft tips narrower waist and narrow stiffer tail.

These different designs are being used on-piste, off-piste, in the park and pipe, and by beginners and experts alike.
Rumor has it on the World Cup they are experimenting with skis that have typical side-cut and camber but with early rise in the tip to make it easier to initiate the turn.

The PSIA believe that many ski school customers are wanting to take lessons on this new equipment design. They promote developing lessons that deliver what the guests want and will enable them to achieve their goals.

The difference in how the body would ideally move to drive the skis. The same skill set is used but the movements are blended differently. Generally the skill blend would move more towards rotational movements of the legs to guide the skis through a skidded arc especially with the full rocker skis.

With an early rise ski the movements are very similar to a traditional ski but not as much forward commitment required to initiate a turn. These skis will start the turn easily and ski well in off piste conditions as well as hold on the piste.

Some ski areas in the USA are teaching all beginners on short (140cm) early rise skis. With rocker skis there is a short balance point. The center of mass / centre of gravity would ideally move over the base of support to start the turn, as opposed to moving across the base of support on more traditional skis.

The predominant movement would be leg rotation and the skis would tend to skid through an arc. These rocker skis would make a skidded turn on-piste. This width and the reverse camber means that the skis tend to stay closer the surface of deep powder and crud, i.e. float. It therefore becomes possible to skid in powder and crud on these skis. This means that more terrain would be accessible to more skiers.

The mustache cambered skis allow skiers to explore more terrain but still have some hold on-piste.

The European Instructors in the group were of the opinion that this technology may not be as popular in Europe as it wasn’t as versatile as more traditional skis. The snow conditions in Europe are generally firmer than those in parts of the USA. Some of the Europeans in the group pointed out that their traditional skis gave them the feeling of carving which they really enjoyed.

There was a definite difference in the feeling of the USA Demo team members and the Europeans Demo team members. The Americans seemed to have embraced the new technology whereas the Europeans, perhaps influenced by the firmer snow conditions, were less enthusiastic about the new developments in ski design at least for the time being. It will be interesting to see if there is a change in attitude over time.

Clinic title: Will, Hill, Skill approach to High-end technique, based around race coaches and problems that they are experiencing.

Clinic synopsis: To discuss modern high end technique and relate this to the ‘Will’ of the coaches, The ‘Hill’ or terrain that is being used and the ‘Skill’ of the athletes.

Our summary: Kicki was the clinic leader. We discussed the stance that Sweden has adopted. This is pretty standard except for the rounded back. We had some great exercises presented to us for the transition phase to promote forward movement along the length of the skis. Kicki used one exercise called the nutcracker. Pretty hard to explain but is easier to show, it involves some rope.

We discussed how you work on tactics/line or technique but not both together. Kicki said that they are trying to develop the coaches to have the skills to identify the problems and then identify why it’s happening. They want their coaches to be more open-minded and to base ski coaching on ski function.

This clinic was very informal and became a discussion between the PSIA, NZSIA and Sweden. The groups were small which was a nice change from some of the other countries that went out with 20 plus. We only had five people in our group. I felt that Kicki could have lead the discussion of the group more towards ‘what’ Sweden was doing, however the focus seemed to be more about what our thoughts and opinions, not theirs. Kicki skied well and the powder runs between discussions made all the difference.

• APSI instructor pathway 2011 (Australia)
• Sweden’s Clinic Outline
• Finland’s Clinic Outline

Clinic title: Croatian Ski Technique

Clinic synopsis: This clinic was about how the Croatian’s teach in their country and why. Check out what Boris has to say…

Our summary: Some facts about Croatia… Croatia is a Mediterranean Country with 1000 islands and famous for its summertime, not winter. It has 3 ski resorts and hosts 2 FIS races. Janica and Ivra Kostelic are Croatian. Croatia has 900 Instructor Members of their association. The Association began in 1894. The 250,000 skiers in Croatia mainly go to Western Europe to ski. Instructors often start their students in Croatia and then escort them to European resorts where they continue to coach them and be their holiday guide.

The Croatian Technique has a foundation of 4 Movements:
1. Along the length of the skis to keep centered
2. Lateral movements of the Legs and the whole body to affect the edges
3. Circular Movement to actively guide the skis
4. Movements along the vertical body Axis – flexing and extending used for pressure control and this results in 3 Basic Stances (1) Low (2) Middle (3) High – all of which are centered.

The Progression for developing a skier starts with the 3 basic stances, proceeds to learning various sizes of snowplough’s and then onto turning in a Snowplough through Parallel turns to Dynamic skiing. They believe that turning of the skis is primarily the consequence of lateral movements that set the edges at the start of the turn. Circular movements are used to support to turning of the skis.

In all turns the high stance is used at the initiation then moving through the middle stance during the control phase and to the low stance at the finish phase.

The snowplough turn is started with circular movement of the legs and then shaped by the outside thigh/knee driving into the turn to edge the ski. The upper body uses lateral flexion to counter balance the inward movement of the lower body.

The basic turn (Stem Christie) started with the tail of the outside ski being displaced laterally to the outside of the new turn shaped as above. The the skier actively increases the load on the outside ski and the inside ski is joined to the outside one at the fall line. The pivot point for the inside ski appeared forward of center.

For the parallel turn the stance is narrowed and the legs joined. The turn is initiated with a forward and lateral movement of the legs and whole body into the new turn. An increase of speed, precision and co-ordination help develop a parallel initiation.

For dynamic skiing the goal is to use the design of the ski and leave rail like tracks in the snow. The Lateral movements are predominant. These turns are initiated from the middle stance and with feet hip width. The body moves along the vertical axis (extends) and into the new turn using active lateral movement of the legs the knees are moved forward and in. The whole body moves inside the turn. During the middle of the turn pressure is maintained on the outside leg by flexing the inside leg.

Downward movement along the body axis (flexion) is used during the second half of the turn to reduce pressure. For dynamic short turns, lateral movements predominant and enable maximum use of the side cut of the skis. These turns also use pronounced movements along the body’s vertical axis and long the ski axis, i.e. extension. All these movements are performed using the legs – ankles, knees and hips. The upper body is constantly facing down the fall line.

This turn is initiated from the middle stance and the skis are hip width apart. Then legs are moved laterally into the new turn resulting in a fast carving switch. The whole body moves inside the turn. Movements are also made along the skis axis from the toes at initiation to mid foot at the middle of the turn and to the heels at the end. Pressure is gradual – starting with minimum at the initiation and reaching maximum intensity at the end of the turn. The turn is performed on both skis and the outside ski has more pressure on it.

Overall, this clinic was well presented. There are common elements that the Croatian Instructors use to develop their skiers from beginners to dynamic skiers. The emphasis is on edge and pressure to facilitate turning.

Here’s one from Scotty Dagg about Finland’s indoor lecture before they started on the snow…

Clinic title: Motivation, Emotion, Progression

Clinic synopsis: Finland want to stop ‘Teaching’ and start ‘Learning’, like children do. Finland believe that the competition in the snow sports industry is not other sports or even ski schools but Playstation, Wii, and shopping malls. They have identified that you can’t change your customers; you can only change what you do. The slogan that they quoted a lot was: Motivation happens in the brain, which creates Emotions and leads to Progression.

Our summary: Finland’s indoor lecture was well presented and covered all the disciplines, ski, snowboard and telemarking. They even had a section on adaptive skiing, which I thought was an excellent idea/concept. They had a very professionally printed booklet that was available for all that attended the lectures. This is a very good idea.

The whole team

Here’s a selection of team photos from Interski 2011…