Ski Tips

Ski Tips

Corkscrew Airplane Turn / Drip Trick

Originally published in SKIING MAGAZINE - PRIVATE L

ESSONS

By Eric and Rob DesLauriers
photos by Hank deVre

One of the most thrilling things about all-mountain skiing is skiing confidently into a clean air, setting your turns right where you want them, skiing right off, floating through the air and landing cleanly into you next turn. There are few things in life which provide this thrill and satisfaction. If you’ve been reading the Private Lessons this year, you already have the base of knowledge to make this a reality. The basic technique and foot work is consistent with the moves we’ve been covering all season long, in ours and in Harald’s column. In this installment we will put the pieces together and have you skiing off a safe cliff, landing and skiing into your dreams.

In this photo sequence, Eric is skiing confidently into a clean air off a cliff, airplaning the transition in mid-air and floating cleanly to a perfect landing

In photo #1 Eric is finishing his set-up turn, perfectly placed for smooth flow off the cliff. The skis are evenly weighted and at matching edge angles. His weight and balance is centered on the balls of his feet, right in the middle of the skis. The upper-body and eyes are focused right at the spot where Eric will set down upon landing. He is compressed and balanced, poised to release the turn and uncoil for the transition off the drop. This compact, compressed stance is great in steep terrain, like this, and provides the additional benefit of minimizing the airtime of your torso (center of mass), similar to pre-absorbing in racing.

To release this turn and flow off the drop, Eric confidently relaxes his downhill leg transferring his weight to the uphill ski and drawing his upper body downhill towards his landing spot. Right away, he then lets go with his uphill leg as well. This draws the upper body across the skis and flattens them to the snow surface as the legs naturally uncoil (photo 2) just as he is going off the drop. At this point, he retracts both legs slightly to lighten them for take-off. This is where you really have to maintain your composure and a calm focus on what you’re doing. You can’t rush it or lean back. You can see that Eric is maintaining a good stance over his skis; toes, knees and shoulders stay lined up vertically, the golden rule for a good stance.

The upper body is cranked towards the landing spot providing the rotary torque to bring the legs and skis around in mid-flight to line up for landing in your next. The body naturally unwinds in mid-air and the only thing you need to concentrate on is the new inside ski and foot leading the edge change as the flight progresses (photo 3). You must stay poised and patient. Notice the sound body position still shown in photo #3; toes, knees, shoulders lined up and eyes focused on the landing spot. The landing from this point is piece of cake and the rest of the run is a whoop and a holler.

Tip:
Establish your turns coming into the drop with a tempo and turn radius which allows you to set your last turn in a spot above the take-off from which you can flow over the drop in the same cadence.

Your set up and take-off is everything. You have to manage your buzz of adrenaline. Stay focused and patient, let the jump, airtime and landing come to you. Try not freak-out and lose it as your skis lift-off. Be patient and maintain your composure, you can handle it.