Broadly speaking, your object in practising should be to learn to run first safely, then easily, and then quickly. This is more or less equivalent to saying that you should first learn braking, then turning, and only then free straight-running, and that you should practise on slopes of gradually increasing steepness as well as in all sorts of snow. You should, moreover, by very easy stages, learn jumping from the very outset. You will hardly be able to follow the first part of this advice quite literally, for to learn to brake without learning something about turning, or to do either without learning to run straight at all is nearly impossible and quite unnecessary. The following scheme for five days’ practice is one way of setting to work. If it does not suit you, by all means vary it, but stick to the principle of learning every manoeuvre in its easiest form pretty thoroughly before passing to more difficult ones, for this is the best way to gain confidence if you are nervous, and to steady yourself and avoid bad habits if you are inclined to be reckless. Never think of learning to “do a Telemark” or anything else for its own sake alone, and never look on jumping as an extra. 1st Morning.—Hard snow on a gentle slope (10° to 15°) with level outrun.
Total, 2 hours. 1st Afternoon.—Shallow soft snow on gentle slope with level outrun.
Total, 2 hours. 2nd Morning.—Hard snow on moderate slope (20° or so).
On gentle slope.
Total, 2 hours. 2nd Afternoon.—Soft snow on moderate slope.
On gentle slope.
Total, 2 hours. 3rd Morning.—Hard snow on steep slope (30°).
On moderate slope.
Repeat (3) and (4) on steep slope if you can. 3rd Afternoon.—Soft snow on steep slope.
On moderate slope.
Repeat (3) and (4) on steep slope if possible. 4th Morning.—Jumping.
4th Afternoon.
5th Day.
I do not expect for a moment that a single one of my readers will work through this course in detail exactly as I have set it down, but these suggestions may at least give him something to disagree with and rearrange. Some further explanation of the arrangement of the first three days’ practice may be a help. The idea is that on each day the beginner shall practise both on hard and soft snow (by all means let him find breakable crust, too, for his stepping and jumping round if he wants to be very thorough); that on the first day he learns braking and the elements of uphill turning on gentle slopes, that next day on steeper slopes he learns braking, uphill turns, and the elements of downhill turning, and that on the third he learns to brake and turn uphill and, if he can manage it, downhill on really steep slopes. Incidentally he ought to learn quite enough about straight-running to find that the least difficult part of his first practice-run. The jumping and short-expedition day might very well—perhaps better—be taken after the second day’s ordinary practice instead of after the third, where I have put it. By cutting the downhill turns out of the three days’ practice and learning them later, or by cutting out everything but the various methods of braking, the beginner can more quickly make himself efficient and safe (though of course slow) as a tourist if he is in a great hurry to become one. But however he varies his procedure, let him practise on different sorts of snow and slopes of every steepness up to 30° or so Finally, let me once more urge the beginner to do everything he can to make things easier for himself. One excellent plan if he is very nervous—or even if he is not—is, as Lieutenant Bilgeri suggests, to learn the manoeuvres of the descent on the level at first, by getting under way with a few running steps and then stemming or turning before he loses impetus. Another plan (which should always be followed) is to try the position for every manoeuvre at a standstill, and to make sure that it is accurate in every detail before attempting that manoeuvre while running. This can, of course, also be done without skis, indoors. Indoor exercises being a pet fad of mine, I herewith suggest a few as more or less direct aids to ski-ing—if I had not been actually asked to do so, fear of ridicule would have prevented me. (1) Place heels together and knees touching, and try to turn toes outwards until feet are in a straight line (kick-turn). (2) Make as wide a straddle as possible, then try to make it wider. Turn toes in as far as possible (snow-plough). (3) Place yourself in Telemark position, right foot leading, knees pressed inwards. Change with a jump to same position, left foot leading. Repeat quickly, bringing your feet to exactly the same places on the floor that they occupied before, and not letting them point outwards. (4) Stand on tiptoe, feet parallel and touching. Squat and straighten up again repeatedly. (5) Stand on one foot, holding the other clear of the floor; sit on the heel and rise again. (6) Stand on one leg and move the other about in all directions. (7) Stand with feet parallel and touching. Let yourself slowly fall forwards, saving yourself at the last possible moment by a jump with the feet together. Repeat this in all directions. (8) Stand with feet in straight line, one in front of the other. Jump as high as you can, land, steadily balanced, on the spot you left. (9) Practise the “Sats,” both methods, also drawing up your legs in the air, saving yourself from a forward fall in each case either by dropping into Telemark position or by a jump forward with both feet together. (10) Stand with feet parallel and touching, knees together and bent, body slightly stooping. Swing arms and shoulders, and turn head as far round to the right as you can. Reverse position sharply with a jump, so that feet then point to the right, shoulders and head full to left. Repeat this quickly. If you find any of the balancing exercises too easy, try them with your eyes shut. Number (10) may not teach you the “jerked” Christiania, but is highly beneficial to the liver. |