So this video is for those skiers that lack
a bit of confidence, or lose a bit of confidence when they delv off the runs into tougher terrain. Hi, My name is Tom Gellie, Ex Australian demo
team member and founder of bigpictureskiing.com. Today I’d like to help you in building confidence
in tougher terrain. So, in this video I am going to try and give
you some actionable tips and things to focus on, so on your next trip you are going to
feel far more confident and able to tackle that tougher terrain. So, before we get into the tips, we need to
know, what is tough terrain? The main things are that there are obstacles
and variable snow. Today, there is very variable snow, there
are punchy sections where I'm pushing all the way through. There are icy sections, there is beautiful
wind blown powder, there are bumps, there are dips. All those things they make it more difficult
for me to do my edging and turning of the skis. So, I need to know that's going on, before
we can get into the tactics that you can use to get through those things much easier. So, tip 1 is change your attitude, don't change
your technique. This is because I commonly see skiers when
they come in here and are trying to venture into tough terrain, their confidence drops,
they go back, and all this makes it more difficult to tackle the terrain and make the skis turn. So, to give you an analogy, if you are off
running on a smooth path that then veers off into a mountain trail with roots and logs
and stones and steps, you wouldnt change your running technique, you would just heighten
your senses and awareness. The same thing, you wouldn't run and then
stop at every obstacle, you'd try to keep your flow moving through those things, that
comes down to the way you approach the run, how you think about it. What makes our skis turn and give us flow
on the piste is no different off the piste, the same edging, turning all those things
are happening here, so there is not that much of a difference with the technique coming
into this tougher terrain. So this is a great area on the hill, there's
a slightly more challenging piece of terrain, next to a nice, easy groomed bit I skied this
morning. So look for this terrain on your own resort,
as this is a perfect training ground for working on changing your attitude, but not changing
your technique. So I want to emphasize that it's easier said
than done, but it's a really important point. If you can focus on what makes you ski well
on the piste, that's going to keep your mind focused on the outcomes, as opposed to the
worries which will start freezing you up. So easier said than done, I understand that,
but if you can really get this tip of really being confident with your attitude and focusing
on the technique, you're going to get through this a lot easier. Tip 2 of today's lesson is visual training
and terrain reading. So people will often lose their confidence
because they don't know where to turn and why. So, if i give you an analogy, so if you're
in a crowded place, what do you automatically do? You look for the gaps in the crowd, because
the gaps give you freedom to move between the crowd. Conversely, if you tried to bully your way
and push through a group, that's much harder work. So on this tougher terrain, I'm going to try
and show you some places that make it easier, and so you can choose a line like you are
choosing your path through the crowd. So in a nutshell, the places you want to turn
are these high points, these features that allow you to free up the tips, and especially
the tails of your skis. So look for those in your visual training
and terrain reading, and try and link them up into one smooth run. I wanted to stop here, because this is a good
example of where to not try and start a turn. I'm in between two high points. This, and behind me are high points, so my
skis are kind of like flexed in, tip and tails and very stuck, so to free my tails up is
difficult, they are going to want to catch on the back of this bump. If i just move and waited till i found a higher
point like this, i now get the effect of like a seesaw, where i can now easily get my tails
free to turn, so very much a timing thing, this is a good example of where to not start
a turn, you can ski here, but your focus is on the high points to get a seesaw effect
and get your tails free for an easy start. So i'm going to try and focus on some more
high points in the terrain down here and they are going to free me up and also make it a
lot more fun, it's like a videogame, i'm trying to link up the points that make it easier,
but also it feels really fun to hit. Okay, so starting off, i'm going to ski right
into this high point to free me up, make it fun. Another high point, that's freed my tails
up, got to be quick in here, another high point, looking,looking, looking. Any little high point can help me finish my
turn and free my tails to start the next turn, it's a matter of linking these points and
using your eyes to find them. So at the end of the day, if you are still
having a tough time in the tougher terrain, I'd recommend going back to basics and focusing
on a key skiing skill. So for instance, fore;aft balance is one of
the most obvious ones I would recommend going and working on. There's plenty of videos out there to help
you with this topic. If you happen to have carv, then you can look
at all the data, like i've been skiing today and its collected all the metrics on the different
skiing skills, so i'm going to choose the weakest ones and do some drills back on some
easier terrain, some smoother terrain, to improve that score, because i'll know my technique
is going to be better and i can take that back in to the tougher terrain, because tip
number one, don't change your technique, change your attitude. So to recap, remember - change your attitude,
don't change your technique. Do some terrain reading and visual training
so you know what line, where you want to go and why. And then third, it's always important to go
back and make sure you work on your basic ski skills, get those right and everything
is going to be much easier. So these tips, I still use them, I was using
them today filming this video, everytime I rocked up to some terrain that was a little
uneven, there was some tough snow, I haven't skied there before, straight away my mind
automatically went to the things we've talked about. So if you can focus on these, it's really
going to open up the whole mountain to you, it's going to take some practise, but it's
going to be awesome and you're going to be rocking it in no time. If you enjoyed this video and the other content
we have created please hit subscribe and leave a comment, we'd love to make some more stuff
for you. So i hope you have a good day out on the slopes,
thanks , see you next time.
