I really need to reflect on this—I didn’t pay close attention during Bruce’s class last time, and that was my mistake. I thought I was practicing well, but when I tried pivot slip at Wanlong, I accidentally twisted over my board and injured my left arm. It still can’t be raised, and I pulled a muscle.
I’ve heard many people talk about traverse. Recalling what I know, feel free to correct me if anything is wrong:
1. Both skis are perpendicular to the fall line, edged into the slope, with feet shoulder-width apart, maintaining a standard stance.
2. The upper body’s chest is slightly turned toward the downhill side, facing the tip of the downhill ski (you can also face completely downhill with the chest directly toward the slope), but you must keep your chest up and head high—no hunching forward or sticking your butt out.
3. Hold the poles open with your hands, with the tips pointing backward or downward.
4. Push your knees toward the downhill side (driving the whole body to move downhill simultaneously). When the edge angle decreases, you’ll naturally slide downhill.
5. Keep your upper body posture stable, maintain the skis perpendicular to the fall line, and retain a standard stance. Adjust your direction of sliding solely by shifting your center of gravity: leaning forward moves you ahead, leaning back makes the skis slide back automatically, creating a slight angle with the fall line. Re-adjust your center of gravity to return to the proper position.
I don’t stand as straight as in the video; I adopt a stance directly facing downhill. First, this stance naturally forms a counter-flex, with the hips slightly angled uphill, chest up and head high facing downhill. Then I push both knees to descend smoothly, placing slightly more weight on the uphill foot, but the center of gravity should still remain at the front-back center of the skis to ensure a stable traverse. Also, feet should be shoulder-width apart.
This is a NZSIA pivot slip exercise—I can’t tell how the body is positioned.
[attach]1428441[/attach]
This is a CSIA traverse exercise. He mentions flattening the downhill ski, which I understand means putting more weight on the downhill ski.
[attach]1428439[/attach]
[attach]1428440[/attach]
This photo shows a slight counter-flex, at least there’s an angle between the upper and lower body.
If all the weight is on the downhill ski, it’s manageable on hard-packed snow, but it’s truly difficult on soft snow. One wrong move and you’ll twist over your board.
My question is: How can I avoid twisting over my board?
My solution is to put more weight on the uphill foot. That way, even if the downhill foot encounters greater resistance, you still have enough margin to adjust your center of gravity. But this seems to go against the purpose of traverse practice... I’m not sure if shifting my weight back a bit is reasonable. Please advise.
Also, is single-foot traverse more difficult than single-foot carving?
This post has been synced to QiaoJiannan’s Weibo.