Remember to keep the weight in the middle of your foot on the bottom ski. Line up another bump on the other traverse, and
try it again.
Keep low and keep a wide stance throughout this exercise, because you are going from a stop into an acceleration, and
then to a stop again, from soft snow to ice, and back to soft snow. Your balance could be all over the place!
LINKING TURNS TOGETHER
Now try a few bumps linked together, so instead of side slipping to a halt in the dip, keep up some forward momentum by
pointing the skis more down the hill. You should almost come to a stop on the bump before dropping over it. Remember the pole plant. Gauge
your speed, and use the dip with the snow in it to brake you before the next pole plant. You will have to keep a very close look at the
ground; anticipate the braking trough, and the accelerating downside, and move your weight slightly backwards for the dip and slightly
forwards for the downside.
This weight shift backwards and forwards needs some explanation. You will recall that as a general rule the weight should
remain over the middle of your foot. Well it actually should stay over the middle of your foot, but as the gradient is continually changing,
there will be an apparent shift of weight all the time. Well something like that. The main thing is to anticipate the change in gradient.
It’s one thing for the skis to slide out from underneath you as you sit down with a bump. It’s quite another for them to stop dead on the
upside of a bump catapulting you head first out of both bindings. Even after a hundred catapults I still find it embarrassing.
You may find to start with that the uphill ski crosses over the top of the downhill as you come round, thereby putting
you in a somewhat tricky position. Quite often there appears to be a lot of weight on the uphill ski as it crosses over, and you stop dead
and fly out of the front. As long as you project your weight forward as you put the pole in, and keep it forward until the skis have come
round, you should avoid this problem as your weight will remain over the downhill ski.
This tentative exercise of linking some bumps together should be done at the start of every session for twenty turns or
so to get you into a good rhythm. If you do it slowly and methodically, there is a good chance that you will complete at least one run
without mishap, and at this stage you need all the confidence you can get!
KNEE EXERCISE
As you start moving down the bumps a little more confidently, you will have to alter your technique slightly to absorb
the uplift that they are providing. Can you imagine what would happen if you stood upright and took the bumps straight? By the eighth bump
you would be wondering if you had paid your next holiday insurance, and by the twelfth you would be airborne. The next time you hit the
ground could well be onto the terrace of your favourite restaurant. The secret technique to avoid this problem and prolong your good health
is to bend ze knees, and use the thighs as shock absorbers, so that you can float over a mogul field like a softly sprung limousine.
As an exercise ski slowly on a traverse across some medium sized bumps. Imagine that your head is clamped in a vice that
will neither go up nor down nor from side to side, ie, it will only run in a straight line above the slope. As you are moving make sure that
your knees are already bent a little more than they would be on a smooth piste. You will also have to bend a little at the hips to keep the
weight over the middle of the skis. This is angulation down over the skis without edging.
As you glide slowly over the bumps allow them to push your knees up even further. Keep your head steady and try to keep
your weight over the middle of the skis. Do this exercise quite a few times to get the feeling of your new shock absorbers. It will be hard
work on the knee joints and thigh muscles, but remember that skiing is good for you. As you come over a bump try and push the skis down into
the trough so that you are in good contact with the snow for as long as possible. This angulation over the skis means that your centre of
gravity is kept low. Just like the first exercises, it will be easier to keep your balance if you keep low.
You can now attack the bumps again head on. This time adopt the car driving position that you learnt for the short turns
on the piste, with your hands held out slightly in front of you, and the rest of your upper body facing rigidly down the hill.
Go as slowly as you need, and allow the bumps to do the unweighting.
Keep your head steady and remain in the driving position.
Do one turn after the other to keep close to the fall line, so be on the lookout for the next bump.
Keep the weight on the downhill ski.
GETTING THE RHYTHM
As you start to get a rhythm and clock up the miles, you will not need to be so definitive with the pole plant, and
eventually you will be able to dispense with it. Remember that the pole plant is intended as aid to the learning technique.
Accept the inevitable while skiing in the bumps, and that is they will get you in the end! You will find,
psychologically, that if you are feeling on top of the world, you will also find you are on top of the bumps, and if by chance you are down
in the dumps, you will be down in the bumps as well. Go for them on a nice sunny day and ski them for just a short time so that the
experience sinks into your memory bank and is allowed to settle before giving it another go.
Minimize the bumps' murderous intent by choosing nicely arranged ones wherever possible, and a nice sunny day with a bit
of fresh snow on the top to soften the falls. Don't go up onto the black run where those aforementioned brutes lurk, with their bottoms
sheered into cliffs, just waiting to gobble you up.
If you get the chance, go and watch a bumps competition either for real or on a video. From the front the skiers'
upper bodies will sometimes appear to be motionless except for their progress down the mountain. Their legs will be going like pistons
underneath them. As each bump unweights the skier and tries to catapult him into space, he absorbs it with rapid angulation of his knees,
which are thrown from one side of the fall line to the other. He is therefore edging slightly to brake him, but as he is skiing so close to
the fall line, this braking is minimal.
The technique of absorbing the bumps in this way is known as 'avalment' from the French 'avaler', to swallow. This, in
essence, is what you have been practising, and probably what you will be doing while watching him.
Points to remember while you are learning:
Keep as low as possible.
Maintain the driving position all the time.
Use the top of the bump to unweight the skis.
Anticipate the continual changes in gradient.
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GLOSSARY
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CHAPTER 6