Brilliant Skiing

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Brilliant Skiing, Every Day Introducing the Sports Diamond By Weems Westfeldt *OFFICIAL RELEASE I don’t teach people to ski. I teach them to be skiers. ~ Squatty Schuler , trainer, examiner, ski pro, counselor, and my pet redneck in The Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen

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Transcript of Brilliant Skiing

Brilliant Skiing, Every DayIntroducing the Sports Diamond™

By Weems Westfeldt

*OFFICIAL RELEASE

“I don’t teach people to ski. I teach them to be skiers.”~ Squatty Schuler, trainer, examiner, ski pro, counselor, and my pet redneck in The Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen

Learning how to read (an ebook)To Keep Things Simple:

Download it… (which you’ve obviously done. Duh!)

print it out (double sided!)…

read it…

* Tree-Saving Option: (a very wise decision!)

Just read it on the screen, and then tell allyour friends about www.edgechange.com

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This is a short ebook with a lot of stuff in it.It contains pointers, information, advice, stories, photos, thoughts, and philosophizing about one of the most magical sports of all time.

And most importantly, it introduces the The Sports Diamond ™—an easy path to creating your own best days in any sport.

If you read it and learn it, you will be able to ski better, self coachwith confidence, and improve in all sports.

Furthermore, if and when you make the big step and come out to Aspen/Snowmass to ski or ride with us—you will also havesome big fun!

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A Note To Beginners:Welcome to a sport and a lifestyle that will delight, inspire, and transform you.

This is not speculation. This is a guarantee, based only on your openness to new experiences.

Good news! Everything in the first nine chapters of this book will be directlyapplicable to you—only you should be experimenting at slow speeds and on gentle terrain. However, you’ll need a little interpretation so that thevocabulary has some meaning.

There are a few ski concepts you may not have acquired yet. (Or, if youhave, there is a good chance that you haven’t gotten them exactly right!)

Y Skiing is about more than fun. Or, skiing is about fun and more. My friendPaul McKinnie, who teaches for the Ski & Snowboard Schools ofAspen/Snowmass, likes to announce that he is on this planet to have fun,and he is deadly serious about that! That’s a good description of what ski-

ing can be.

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Get The Right Gear:Y Do not buy skis until you have become a lower intermediate skier or have

experienced about two weeks on skis—whichever event comes later.

Y Rent skis from a reputable shop. It’s usually best to rent at the ski areaitself, in case you need to adjust your gear (switch sizes, performance level,etc.)

Y Rent skis no shorter than 110cm (unless you weigh less than 90 pounds)and no longer than 130cm (unless you weigh more than 250 pounds). Theseskis will always give you a distinct advantage in your learning curve. m

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What’s a Weems?Weems Westfeldt is…

Y An ancient ski pro from the StoneAge when skis were chiseled out of

very long rocks

Y A fanatic skier who loves toteach

Y A traveler who has taught skiing in Colorado, New Mexico, Maine, NewHampshire, and New Zealand for 40 years

Y An examiner for Professional Ski Instructors of America

Y The former Director of Operations for Ski & Snowboard Schools ofAspen/Snowmass

Weems has been in the ski teaching world for more than 40 seasons. He has taught and managed in ski schools all over the nation and

the world. In 1986, he settled in Aspen/Snowmass as an instructor, manager, and trainer.

Photo©BrianPorter

Some words about the materialY Who’s it for? It’s for all skiers and all sports people. Even beginners and nonskiers will get it if they combine

the Sports Diamond ™ with lessons from a reputable Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) ski school(such as the Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen/Snowmass).

Y This book is really two books in one.

y The first section explains the Sports Diamond ™. This is simply a framework for moving forward inyour development as an athlete and having fun along the way.

y The second section is an inventory of my favorite skiing pointers, the ones that really work whenI’m teaching students. Not all of them work for everybody, though. Try them all, keep the ones youlike, and toss the others into your mental “recycle bin.”

y The essence of both sections is described in Chapter One.

y The two sections are first integrated in Chapter Five.

Y Above all, don’t get hung up anywhere. After all, the whole point of this story is to keep your focusshifting so you don’t get stuck in the mud.

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My personal biasesY I dogmatically reject dogma. This approach is carefully crafted to include diverse points of view and many types of

approaches, without getting lost in the chaos of too much material. This way I—and you—can remain flexible andagile as styles, techniques, and beliefs change, so that I/you don’t get rigidly fixed in one place.

Y There are a lot of ways to ski, especially these days, with the advent of the nearly magical (and don’t-do-it-in-your-living room) new school of freestyle and big-mountain skiing. However, there is one unifying

element: All skiing is about descending a slope while making turns and, specifically, about turning lefton the left edges of skis and right on the right edges. The transition between turns is really the center-piece of what we all do as skiers, and you will see a strong bias towards this idea in the pointers inthis book.

Y I love ski racing. What we can learn from ski racing will be very obvious.

y As beautiful and elegant and stylin’ as new-school skiing is, the best skiers in the world are still rac-ers—men and women. The best racers can more easily acquire the skills of the other ski disciplinesthan the champions of the other disciplines can step into the boots of the racers.

y Many of the great stars of modern skiing and teaching will attribute their present-day skills to theirearlier training as racers.

y Ski racers also produce the best model for recreational skiers of all levels and physical abilities toemulate. This does not mean that everyone should go faster. It does mean that ski racers are true

masters at efficiently harnessing speed and momentum to achieve control, comfort, safety, anddelight at any speed.

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My sourcesY The Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen/Snowmass. I’m proud and honored to be able to call them colleagues.

Y Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA). I’m also very proud to be one of the 30,000 members of PSIA. PSIAis the organization and family of ski instructors in charge of developing methodologies of ski teaching as well as

training and testing ski and snowboard pros throughout the USA.

Y My teachers. (I didn’t make up all this stuff!) In addition to Ahmed Yehia, I owe an enormous debt to liter-ally hundreds of people who have mentored me along the way. A partial list goes something like this:

y Thanks, Pat Westfeldt Sr., Phil Clark, Sepp Kessler, Mike Leahy, Sherm Carson, Knut Strömstad,George Ostler, Harry Baxter, Loris Werner, Horst Abraham, John Armstrong, Gordon Briner, NancyWestfeldt, Jean Mayer, Dadou Mayer, Gunther Rädler, Squatty Schuler, Curt Chase, Curt Stewart,Doug Mackenzie, Victor Gerdin, Jerry Berg, Rick Vetromile, Megan Harvey, Katie Fry, Rich Burkley,Mike Kaplan, Joan Rostad, Cal Cantrell, and Tom Crum for the coaching. y Thanks to the late Betty Weems, Ben Weems, Buddy Werner, Fred Iselin, Rip McManus, Sugar

Robinson, Ernie Blake, and Eric Smith for the inspiration. y Thanks to all the ski pros for the friendship and the weirdness.y And, most important, thanks to the students who have taught me so much and who have kept me

from having to get a real job.

My resourcesY Thanks heaps to Bill Blitz for the strategy, marketing expertise, and website; Tricia Hohl for the

website and marketing collateral; Michael Ericksen for the cartoons; Brian Porter and RonLeMaster for the photos; Cindy Hirschfeld for the editing; Marcus Knodle for the design; and

Rich Burkley, Katie Fry, Julie Bennett, and Geneva Templeton (all of the Ski & SnowboardSchools of Aspen/Snowmass) for the company support.

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ContentsI N T R O D U C T I O N ..........................................................................1

C H A P T E R O N E Y What If ? .....................................................2

C H A P T E R T W O Y The Plateau Challenge ...........................10

C H A P T E R T H R E E Y The Sports Diamond™ .......................20

C H A P T E R F O U R Y Holding Polarity..............................32

C H A P T E R F I V E Y Master Pointers .............................42

C H A P T E R S I X Y Power ..............................................60

C H A P T E R S E V E N Y Purpose........................................86

C H A P T E R E I G H T Y Touch ..........................................102

C H A P T E R N I N E Y Will .............................................114

C H A P T E R T E N Y Advanced Brilliance ..................135

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IntroductionThe Sports Diamond ™ is the tool that I’ve developed over a lifetime of skiing, teaching, and observing to help

my own development as an athlete. Once you learn how to use this powerful tool, you can create your ownbrilliant days—every day. In the pages that follow, I invite you to open up your awareness and expand your

thinking about what you do to have a great day of skiing and, in contrast, what you do to sabotage your skiingon a bad day. No matter how bad the situation is, only I can crash my day. Likewise, only I can choose to make

it brilliant.

In the last few seasons, my research has been integrated with the work of my friend and colleagueAhmed Yehia and one of his great friends and mentors, Dr. Peter Koestenbaum. Their work has mostlyfocused on business philosophy and leadership. However, Ahmed and I found that performance insports and performance in leadership follow essentially the same principles. We believe that bothfields are described and framed elegantly and effectively by the Sports Diamond ™ and the LeadershipDiamond ®. (the Leadership Diamond ® is a model that helps one enhance leadership skills by draw-ing on the four basic orientations of Courage, Vision, Ethics, and Reality.)

In this, our first book together, we approach the world of skiing because that’s my first love and mainfield of understanding. (Besides, I’m really not sure that I know how to do anything else!)

I hope you will find this book of value not only for your skiing but also for other sports. I also inviteyou to stay in touch with us via our website www.edgechange.com because there will be more pro-duct offerings, discussions, great photos and cartoons, and more information as we grow.

Weems Westfeldt

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C H A P T E R O N E Y What If ?Two Big Ideas for Your Skiing

If I could offer you a tool that would help you banish your learning struggles forever, would you use it?

If this tool could show you how to feel great every time you went out on theski slope—even when you’re not skiing at peak performance or having abreakthrough—would you want it? How would you like to be able to alsoapply this tool to golf? Or tennis? Or cycling?

Furthermore, if I could also offer you the “one great move,” the mother ofall pointers, the big secret of skiing, would you focus your time to learn it?

The tool is the Sports Diamond™

The Sports Diamond ™ is a model for achieving brilliance in skiing (or anysport) through the use of four opposing, yet interdependent, resources:

Power, Purpose, Will, and Touch (which comprise the four corners ofthe Diamond).

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Here are the basics:Power refers to the technical, mechan-

ical, and biomechanical elements of asport; for example, the movements

and techniques you use in skiing,the physical forces (such as

gravity, momentum, and cetri-fugal force), your body’s ownfitness level and equipment.

Purpose refers to tactics, results, orintentions, such as how your skismove in the snow, what types of turnsor descents you make, and what youwish to accomplish. It also encom-passes your strategy, creativity, andturn selection.

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C h a p t e r 1 ~ W h a t I f ?

Good technique can put bugs in your teeth!

Riding switch makes your pants get lower!

Photo©BrianPorter

Photo©BrianPorter

Touch refers to your physical, mental,and spiritual relationship with the

medium or field of your athleticendeavor (e.g., the snow in skiing, the

wave in surfing, or the course ingolf). It also involves rhythm,

flow, feel, timing, intensity,awareness, fun, joy, and loveof the sport.

Will refers to commitment, action, andchoice. Will is about sustained initia-tive, managing anxiety, centering,being present, and balancing—physi-cally, mentally, and emotionally. Youcan only make your move when youelicit the will to initiate, act, and takethe risk.

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C h a p t e r 1 ~ W h a t I f ?

Feel the snow, feel the ski, feel the mountains, feel the speed!

Dropping in!

Photo©BrianPorter

Photo©BrianPorter

Power, Purpose, Touch, and Will can coexist in dynamic balance through aprocess called “holding polarity.” For now, think of holding polarity as alternat-

ing, with frequency and agility, among these four resources without exces-sively emphasizing any one.

Here is an easy and powerful goal for you as an athlete (don’t you love itwhen people tell you what your goals are?). You can achieve brilliance, eachday, by holding polarity among the corners of the Sports Diamond ™.

What holds back athletic performance are the inevitable negative conse-quences of an excessive preference for one or two—or only parts—of thefour resources. What moves your performance ahead is the ability to usethem all in equal measure (over time), rather than merely parking yourselfwithin your preferences. When you hold polarity, the result is brilliance.When you fail to hold polarity, the shine abruptly and inevitably disap-

pears. It’s that simple—once you learn how.

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“ Use the Sports Diamond™ as a strategy for sustainable progress in any sport you choose. ”

The move, The Mother of All Pointersis to change your ski edges perfectly.

If there is a single answer to the question, “Howdo I ski well?” this is it: Complete commitment

to learning and practicing a smooth and simple release of the uphill edges of the

skis as you initiate a turn, followed by animmediate and efficient engagement ofthe downhill edges as you movethrough the turn. It’s the bottom line,end of the day, dharma, big kahuna,boss hog, enlightened, essential, andsacred mission of great skiing.

Before you start to panic, know that“perfectly” is more an expression ofintention than it is a requirement for success. Sometimes it will be perfectand sometimes it won’t. Sometimes

perfect will be different for one setof circumstances than it will be for another. Merely having the

intention to make a perfect edge change corrects all sorts of problemsin an instant.

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C h a p t e r 1 ~ W h a t I f ?

Photo©RonLeMaster

Daron Ralves tipping it over.

Whether you are a first-time or a life-long skier, the edge change is the ONLY technical movethat you MUST do to turn—every time. You can turn on the uphill, downhill, inside, or

outside ski. You can unweight or pressure the skis. You can tip, pivot, or guide them. Youcan brake or accelerate. But you cannot turn right while standing on your left edges.

Changing edges with purpose, com-mitment, and finesse creates the criti-cal linkage between turns that makesskiing fluid and beautiful and master-ful—or not. Everything that happensthroughout the rest of the turn isinfluenced by how well the skis (andyou) change edges at the start.

It is no accident that the largest bodyof technical knowledge put out by skiinstructors focuses on edge-changing.It is the very life-breath of the turn.

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Photo©RonLeMaster

Julia Mancuso: a perfect edge change over a bump.

Making the perfect edge-change is considered The Mother of All Pointers because:

Y It is a perfect cue. It is a very small, simple idea that expands into a whole constel-lation of great movement patterns.

Y It is preemptive. It launches a host of great movements just before the launchof a thousand sinking ships. It blocks out all the stuff that can make my eyesbleed when I watch another skier.

Y It touches all the corners of the Sports Diamond ™. Though mainly foundin one corner (Power), it fully embraces all the others.

Y It can be interpreted andused differently, yet withconsistent benefit, by dif-ferent people with differ-ent problems. It blocksout a whole raft of mis-takes with just one sim-ple idea.

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C h a p t e r 1 ~ W h a t I f ?

Hermann Maier’s version of splitting the uprights.

Photo©RonLeMaster

Different people at different levels will use this pointer differently, to taste. All willlearn to relinquish the grip of the old turn (the past) to ready themselves for the new

turn (the future). All will enjoy (even when perfection is elusive) the opportunity tofeel the skis come alive, to float and fly down the mountain, to be totally focused

on the moment, to manage anxiety, and to connect effortlessly to the snowthrough the dynamics and engineering of the skis. This is a hefty promise, andI guarantee it.

So there you have it: the two big secrets to brilliant skiing in one chapter!Now I encourage you to dive into the rest of the book to discover how tobecome “unstuck” from whatever plateau you may be on, hold polarity,shift among the Diamond corners, and use the dozens of pointers offered totransform yourself into the brilliant skier that I already know you are. Infact, this stuff is so good that it will also help you lose weight, lower yourcholesterol, remove unsightly wrinkles and blemishes, and gain job promotions with higher salaries as well as attract the lover/partner of yourdreams. But I don’t guarantee any of that! m

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C H A P T E R T W O Y The Plateau ChallengeYou’ve nothing to lose But Your Plateaus!

One of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated on the world of sports is the “learningplateau.” This fixation is nothing but a bogus excuse and a bad place to hide.

The plateau, depicted as a flat line, acts as a metaphor for a perceived stall in progress, and it then takes on a ridiculous life of its own. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: Believing you’re stuck on a plateau effectively puts you just where you think you are. The real challenge is how to escapethe illusion that you’re stalled just because you’re not in the middle of abreakthrough.

That is the substance of the Sports Diamond ™.

Furthermore, everything you read here you will recognize as stuff youalready know but perhaps couldn’t quite see. What I have discovered—incollaboration with students, teachers, and performers throughout my

life—is a fine lens through which to view, understand, and act on thisprior awareness. My friend and partner Ahmed Yehia calls it “surfac-

ing the model.” The pieces are already there in your tool kit. TheSports Diamond ™ helps you organize and quickly retrieve the right

tools for the right job.

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Choosing Our Metaphors: Plateau, Peak Performance, & Brilliance

My rejection of the plateau is partially tongue-in-cheek. I understand that plateauis an effective word used to describe that place where we process new informa-

tion and possibilities into our behavioral inventory. I also understand that thisprocessing is often perceived as confusion, frustration, and regression, when,in fact, huge learning is being anchored at that time.

The word plateau has come to imply that you’re stuck in a bad place fromwhich you must break through or out. This perception distorts the process.My intent in reframing the idea of a plateau is to reject the inevitability ofconfusion, frustration, and regression during what should actually be anexciting time in the learning process.

Joan Rostad (a well-known ski instructor and trainer in Montana) has agreat expression for teachers who undermine the period of processing. Shecalls it “stealing the learning,”and I agree.

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C h a p t e r 2 ~ T h e P l a t e a u C h a l l e n g e

Similarly, peak performance is a hard thing to get your mind around. I look at peak performance as the counterpoint to plateau. Furthermore, it seems as ephemeral as

plateau seems eternal. Both of them distort my awareness of the true shiningmoments that are available to me all the time, if I look at them through the right

lens.

These metaphors—plateau and peak performance—are not reality. They are fragmented ways to look at one phenomenon. Instead of riding the junkie’sroller coaster between plateau (or worse) and peak performance, I choose adifferent state, one that I can achieve every day and that keeps me engagedand fascinated. This approach evokes energy, fluidity, awareness, and a feeling of dancing with the elements. It evokes the luminous brilliance of a diamond.

Long term and short term, my goal and my processes are about brilliance. I can’t make the best turns every day. I can’t shoot my lowest golf scoresevery day or beat my opponent in tennis every day. But I can be brillianteach day I go out—in my manner, training, tactics, poise, attitude, engage-ment, attention, centering, feeling, sense of humor, and my will to shine,

even if it’s a brilliance that only I notice.

Relative to the Sports Diamond ™ brilliance is simply achievingsparkling, radiant results using an inspiring, compelling process.

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C h a p t e r 2 ~ T h e P l a t e a u C h a l l e n g e

“ Minimize your struggle by widening your def inition of success. ”

Why the Sports Diamond™?Four burning questions that created it.

©1 How do we make decisions?Each moment, in sports, we make thousands of decisions: Short turns or longturns? Bumps or groomed slopes? Faster or slower? This move or that move?Drop shot or top-spin shot? Fastball or curve? Ski with your husband or skiwith your boyfriend? Can we uncover an underlying framework that willhelp us make better decisions, with grace and agility, as well as recovermore quickly from poor ones?

©2 If there is such a framework, will it apply to other sports and to life in general?Can what I do and learn in skiing make me a better golfer? Can I improvemy cycling skills while skiing, or my tennis skills while golfing? Can I

become a better guitar player from my ski lessons? Can I better accessmy personal potential through how I grow in sports?

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©3 How can I become less discerning about how I learn?How do I call up all of my resources instead of just the ones I’m used to? It is so easy to

get caught in the trap of drifting to a favorite prejudice: “I just do this for fun.” “I onlylike to ski groomed (or bumps).” “I’m visual, so don’t tell me anything. Just show me.”

“Teach me only this technique or that technique.” All of these statements limit whatI can accomplish. When a pro in any sport asks me what or how I want to learn, I

just say, “It doesn’t matter. Give me your best shot!” I want to learn his or herbeliefs and moves and patterns. My preferred learning style may have served

me well on many occasions. However, it can also act as a barrier to keep mefrom accessing a vast collection of other learning resources I might also own.

©4 Why is it that in my more than 50 years of skiing, I've never had a bad day on skis, although I've had many, many days when I've skied very badly?Okay, this is not exactly true. I once had a really bad day when I gotknocked out cold on Aspen Mountain. Otherwise, it’s been very fine, evenwhen my skiing was not so pretty. Why don’t I equate my bad skiing witha bad day? For me, the moment I click into my bindings, I’m a skier, and

the adventure is on. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy. It doesn’tmatter how well I’m doing it—only that I’m doing.

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Who is the Sports Diamond™ for?You.

Everyone.

Learners, doers, and teachers. Experts, intermediates, and beginners.

In Richard Bach’s Illusions, The Reluctant Messiah he writes, “Learning isfinding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you knowit. Teaching is showing others that they know as well as you. We are alllearners, doers, and teachers.”

You assume the role of learner, doer, and teacher in order to achieve yourdaily dose of brilliance. On the other hand, trapping yourself in one role oranother, or in one place or another, will surely condemn you to an endlessplateau. Bach also writes, “Argue for your limitations, and surely they willbe yours.” Argue that you don’t enjoy the learning, but only want to do it,

and surely your learning will decelerate. Argue that you don’t careabout the teaching, and surely you will limit your role as an effective

self-coach. As we move through this material, you’ll experience thevalue of all three modes.

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Diamond Story: New DistinctionsI regularly work with my friend Tom Crum in his Magic of Skiing programin Aspen. (www.aikiworks.com) In one of these sessions I had the opportu-nity to ski with Tony Robbins, the evangelical lifestyle guru. His skiingwas…like…awful. I hadn’t thought it possible to work that hard on skiswith less real success. He struggled and struggled, and made a littleprogress. A very little progress. A really very little progress. At the end ofthe session, during a debriefing with several other ski groups, Tonyinformed us that he had had a terrific day on skis. (I was shocked, thinking,“Jeesh, I’d hate to see what a bad one looks like.”) He then said somethingwonderful that I will always remember and be grateful for, and I think youought to be as well. Tony said that he has a great day when he makes newdistinctions. Mistakes are new distinctions. Struggles are too. His reason-

ing is that they are interesting. Tom emphasizes that it is even more thaninteresting. He remarks that the look of joy on the face of a toddler

falling down as she learns to walk is as powerful as the one she wearswhile trying to stand up.

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C h a p t e r 2 ~ T h e P l a t e a u C h a l l e n g e

“ Not knowing is really a good place.The pre-breakthrough universe is magical. ”

I have recently seen this to be true while watching my grandson learn to walk. (I informedhim that he put too much weight on his left leg. He replied, “Bah ba ma mammmm ahh!”

which means, “I’m making many new distinctions very fast. I’m a learning master. Ispit on your trivial critique.”) If your mistakes and struggles are compelling and

interesting, you have set yourself free. Where’s the plateau? Where’s the stall-out?Where’s the pain from the struggle? Above all, where is the judgment? What I

presume to offer here is an adult’s path to becoming that brilliant childlearner—every day.

Diamond Story: Knowing NothingLast season I was standing at the top of Aztec on Aspen Mountain—a precipitous section of the downhill race course—looking hungrily at a per-fectly groomed, deliciously steep slope covered with about five inches offluffy, dry Colorado powder. In a flash of movement, a “presence” on skisfloated over the lip and into the snow. It was Chris Puckett, a former U.S.Ski Teamer, dropping in and making exquisite GS turns with a dazzling,

high-speed light touch to match the snow and the pitch. His skiing wasso perfect that I was suddenly struck with that amazingly liberating

awareness that I know nothing about skiing.

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This spring I took a guitar lesson from a virtuoso classical guitarist and professor,Ricardo Iznaola. In a few moments he transformed my playing and set me on a path

to start over from the beginning to develop the pieces I had missed learning overmy years of self-teaching. I knew in that moment, also, that I knew nothing about

playing guitar.

Tom Crum tells a story about being confronted by a charging mother whaleoff the Hawaiian coast. He was suddenly face to eyeball with this gentlemonster, and it made him realize that he knows nothing about anything.

Within an hour of Chris Puckett’s dropping in, I was skiing better than everbefore. Within two weeks of my new guitar regimen, I blew past my previous level. As for Tom, he sums it up it with a wonderful awareness thatthe amount of knowledge we have as individuals, compared to all theknowledge in the universe, is so tiny, so subatomic, that it is truly a wonderthat we all struggle so hard to be so right about so little.

Not knowing is really a good place.

The pre-breakthrough universe is magical.

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Finally……to help open the door to the Diamond, consider the following propositions that drive

my worldview.

Y It is really good just to be able to get up in the morning.Y Learning new stuff is always a good thing, even when it's difficult.

Y Meaningful improvement does not always happen in great, big breakthroughchunks. In fact, those are more often the results of many smaller, and some-

times barely perceptible, shifts of awareness. Y Learning includes failing; therefore, all failures teach. Failing is useful.Y When you get to the point where you really think you've got it, it's time tostart over with the fundamentals—just at that moment before you realizethat, in fact, you know nothing.Y Some of it is just magic.Y Peak performance is not as important as brilliance. And they’re not thesame thing.Y We are meant to use the energy of gravity to ride various platforms downmountains on snow, or on waves in the water. On the eighth day, God wentskiing and surfing.Y If you can get away from your trivial obligations of family, country, and

work and come out to Aspen/Snowmass to ski or ride with us, we willremix your skiing or riding for you. We'll also show you how to use the

Sports Diamond™ to coach yourself to the top of your own game inany sport. (A big promise, but what the hell? You've got nothing to

lose but your plateaus.) Good luck! m

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C H A P T E R T H R E E Y The Sports Diamond™

The Good NewsYou’ve got leverage.

This means that small adjustments or improvements in a weak area can lead tomassive improvements throughout the system. Though the area to be lever-aged may only be a small part of the whole package, it is often the key piece.Little changes lead to great moments. Although this idea is normal in sportsdevelopment, students mistrust progress if it is easy—as if it were supposedto be difficult. Oddly enough, they rarely challenge their own observationsabout how easy the experts make it look.

You don’t have to be a master of the system. It doesn’t matter what resource you shift to—what corner of the SportsDiamond™ you try to leverage—as long as you move away from whereyou’re stuck. Although it is better to identify the real leverage area, thereare usually several areas, and working with any one (or two) breaks up the

logjam. This simply requires temporarily giving up your focus for perfec-tion in only one area. You can come back to that area later with greater

ability to master it because you will have developed a wider, moreversatile base by moving within the Diamond’s possibilities.

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Seeing the Sports Diamond™

If you develop a mind-diagram like the one below to manage the SportsDiamond™ you will be able to access it as you need it. Use the little mottosto sense intuitively the distinctions between the corners. Think of the corners being like four buckets (or folders, if you like) into which you putideas and activities so that you can access them as you need them. Powermeans to make the right move. Touch means to feel what you are doing.Purpose means to see the intention. And Will means to make a commitment.Brilliance is the bright shiny you!

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“ When in doubt, shift to another corner. You’ll never get stuck. ”

The Sports Diamond™ itself.

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TOUCH

POWER PURPOSE

WILL

Know theright move!

See it!

Do it!

Feel it!

TOUCH

POWER PURPOSE

WILL

Know theright move!

See it!

Do it!

The Sports Diamond™ dynamic balance between and amongthe corners, or resources.

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Feel it!

The Resources In DetailPURPOSE

This ultimately addresses my intention relative to what my skis do in the snow. Imay think about line, how I travel through the arc of the turn, terrain choice, and

strategies for descent and for shaping my turns. Purpose is also about ultimategoals: Why am I doing this? Is today a day for discipline toward improve-ment, or is it a day to just be mellow and have some fun? What is my visionfor myself and for my skis, right now, this moment, this descent, this day,this week? How can I be creative on my skis?

POWERThis involves the technical world, where I examine and perform with an eyetoward refining technique. How do I change edges? How should I pressuremy skis? How should I turn my feet? How do I make the right move?Power also invokes the external physical aspects of the sport, primarilygravity, momentum, and centrifugal force. Finally, it is about my equip-

ment system—both gear and body. Do I have the right skis for the task?Are they safe? Am I physically fit?

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TOUCHThis refers to finesse and sensitivity. I feel rather than think. What do I feel inand on my skis? How does the snow feel? What am I aware of on all levels:Speed? Cold? Fear? Joy? Fun? Love of skiing? The skiing comes fromrhythm and flow rather than technique. Here, breathing is just as importantas edging is in the Power zone. Touch also includes the fine-tuning of move-ments: duration, intensity, rate, and timing.

WILLIt’s hard to overstate how much good skiing starts or ends here, in theworld of commitment. The Will is me being accountable, saying that I amgoing to ski down the hill, manage my anxiety, and center myself. It’s meskiing in bad weather, aligning my boots, being tenacious, and balancing

myself in motion. It’s me falling down, learning, getting up, and goingagain. The Will is about choosing brilliance—each day.

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“ Small adjustments in a weak area can lead to massive improvements throughout the system.”

Two Levels of Each Resource It may also help you to look at these corners, or resources, on two different levels:

Y Competencies: These are based on relationships and patterns that vary infi-nitely according to the situation. Competencies are about doing. They are skill

sets developed around each resource.

Y Fundamental Characteristics: These are based on fixed possibilities created in advance of the game. Characteristics are about being. They arebasic requirements for each resource to be effective.

For example, the equipment I use (including my body) is a fundamentalcharacteristic; it is who I am on the snow, and what I bring to the game. Themoves I make with that equipment are competencies; they are what I do.

My goal as a skier is to develop both competencies and fundamentals in all four resources. For example, in the Will resource, I may have the under-lying commitment to become a great skier (fundamental characteristic).

But that isn’t enough. I must also have the ability to center myself tomake it happen (competency).

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Finally……the Sports Diamond™ is not a “progression” for learning skiing or any other sport.

Rather, it serves as a door to acquiring and managing skills, experience, a productive state of mind, enjoyment, better execution, and, above all, the ability

to make decisions.

Specifically, the Sports Diamond™ offers:

Y The ability to make better decisions with speed, accuracy, and agility. Youknow where you are in your process, and you know what is next. If youunderstand the elements of the corners of the Diamond, then you canquickly understand where you’re stuck, what’s missing, and where to gonext at any particular moment. In this way, you can self-coach and takelessons better, practice better, perform better, or teach better, becauseyou’ll never get stuck in a dead end. If you’re moving well within theDiamond, you won’t have time to get stuck.

Y A new lens for your perception and a roadmap to guide you.

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Y Leverage—making small adjustments in a weaker corner to deliver brilliant resultsin all corners.

Y Self-coaching skills. Won’t it be nice when you can move through a mistakerather than subjecting yourself to a self-slugfest?

Y A thorough, global approach. Most so-called plateaus are a direct result ofgetting really stuck in one corner, while ignoring the others. The Sports Diamond™ contains and empowers the entire spectrum of yourbehaviors.

Y Adaptability to every sport. I even use it for playing my guitar or ridingmy bicycle.

Y Creation, maintenance, and expansion of your personal brilliance—everyday.

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Diamond Story: Diamond KidsRecently, I took my kids on a helicopter/skiing trip in Canada. It was spring and one

of those weeks where the snow up at the top was perfect, but there was a “rain line”below which the snow was way funky—soft, hard, wet, heavy, icy—you name

it—it was all there. The kids, having been raised on all kinds of snow in all kindsof terrain, aced it. They skied and rode as if the snow at the top was the sameas at the bottom. “How do they do that?” exclaimed my adult friends on thetrip. “How do they go through that garbage as if it were nothing?” “Shhhh.”I admonished. “Don’t tell them. They don’t know that it’s bad.”

Why wouldn’t they know it’s bad? Because they have the best bad-ass diamonds around, and they’re almost as good lookin’ as their dad. Surethey know it’s bad, but that’s not the issue. The goodness or badness is notin their internal discussion. Their internal (non-verbal) discussion is aboutwhat they need to make it happen. And the incredible athleticbody/mind/spirits of young people AUTOMATICALLY find all the pieces.

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In this case they easily found the Touch (the rhythm and feel for the snow), the Power(their fitness and technique), the Purpose (great turns and vast joy), and the Will

(they were totally engaged and committed in being there and doing their dance).The difficulty of the snow—which was beating up the adults—was irrelevant

to the kids.

You can do this, too. And I guarantee you’ll have a better day than if youfocus on thinking, “The snow’s too deep, too wet, too heavy, too icy, toosticky, too bumpy, too white, too whatever.” The snow is what it is-each day.You can’t change that. But you can change how you deal with it and stillgrow as a skier by shifting around within the Sports Diamond™.

Now, I don’t guarantee that you will ski as well as the kids did in the toughsnow conditions. I didn’t. However, I wasn’t any less happy than them,because I worked my own Diamond. I do know that this approach willenable you to think past your performance level, because you’ll be havingso much damn fun getting better on all levels.

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Diamond Story: Tough ConditionsMy friend Squatty, one of the top trainers in the Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen,

also teaches skiing at New Zealand’s Mount Hutt in the southern winter. Last season, he skied on a regular basis with a group of locals. On one of those days

the fog had set in, and about 30 centimeters of windblown snow had fallen. AtMount Hutt there are no trees for visual reference, so Squatty euphemisticallydescribed the skiing as “athletic.”

While almost everyone else returned to the base lodge, Squatty and hisgroup did run after delightful run, and each time he found a “new” type ofsnow for them to experience. Did they ski all of the runs well? No. Did theyremain fascinated with what they were doing? Absolutely. Squatty provided a pathway to brilliance for each of them that was not dependenton their performance level, but that would inevitably improve their skiingjust the same. When people come off the hill, out of the trickiest visibilityand snow conditions imaginable, and they are smiling and laughing, youknow that somebody’s working the Diamond. The only tough part wasscraping the rime frost off their goggles! m

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C H A P T E R F O U R Y Holding PolarityIn Chapters 5 to 10 you will be able to deeply immerse yourself in the resources of the

Sports Diamond ™ through dozens of specific ski pointers. In this chapter we’ll exam-ine the methodology that illuminates the Diamond—holding polarity.

My friend and colleague Ahmed Yehia introduced me to the idea of holdingpolarity. He defines it as follows: “Holding polarity is the art of maintainingdynamic tension between opposing, interdependent imperatives in order to achievethe purpose that each pole shares with the other.”

This is a mouthful! So … read it again. The concept is actually very simpleand elegant. The resources we need to hold in polarity are companions, butthey’re also in a paradoxical relationship, where they appear to be fighting,or opposing, each other.

In the Sports Diamond ™, Purpose, Touch, Power, and Will are interdepend-ent imperatives that must be held in polarity to create their shared purpose: brilliant skiing. Although the use of the word “pole” usuallyimplies only two positions, in many structures, such as the Sports

Diamond ™, there can be three or more poles, or resources, that contribute to the final purpose.

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These resources are interdependent in that they constantly inform and support each other.They are also imperative in that the shared purpose cannot be achieved without the

contribution of each of them. For example, the United States Congress (shared purpose)operates more effectively when made up of both Democrats and Republicans (the

two poles—its primary resources). Overall good health (a shared purpose) can besaid to depend on a balance among mind, body, and spirit (in this case, three

resources). Great skiing (shared purpose) cannot be developed unless the skierknows both carving and skidding (two technical resources, or poles).

If you grasp only one resource as your focus or solution, and consequentlyoveremphasize it at the expense of the others, you’ll invariably experiencenegative consequences. Should I carve or skid my turns? Should I just goout and have fun skiing or should I work on my skiing and do the drills?Should I ski bumps or groomed slopes? The answer is yes. Both carving andskidding are required techniques for brilliance. Similarly, both fun and technique are essential to brilliance. And being able to ski both bumps andgroomed terrain is part of being a rounded skier. None of these options is a solution by itself; all are imperative for brilliant skiing. This both/andmindset of holding polarity between interdependent options is fundamen-tally different from problem-solving (which requires either/or choices

between substantially independent options.)

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The simplest example of holding polarity is breathing. Breathing consists of inhaling andexhaling. These two resources are clearly in opposition to each other, since they require

entirely different and opposing muscles and processes. Yet they are also clearly interde-pendent. One without the other is not breathing. And they are just as clearly impera-

tive. Without the capacity to both inhale and exhale, we lose our vitality, becausewe cannot breathe. The more capacity we have for both, the more vitality we have

in our lungs.

Say I decide that I believe exclusively ininhaling. Inhaling is where it’s at. Inhaling isbeauty, truth, and the American way.Exhaling sucks. It’s germy, takes my airaway, and it’s just not any fun. From now onI will inhale exclusively. The moment I makethat decision, I slip into the negative conse-quences of over-relying on one resource. Inthis case, I die, because I don’t blow out thetoxic air to make room for the new, life-giv-ing air. Likewise, if I focus entirely on exhal-ing, I’ll meet the same consequences. Only if

I have fully committed toboth inhaling and exhaling—

when I hold polarity between the two—do Itruly breathe.

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Rocket science? Maybe on one level.

Power

Photo©BrianPorter

Each resource, of course, has its benefits. In skiing, carving produces a beautiful, controlledturn, usually at higher speeds, and uses the ski according to its design. Skidding, on the

other hand, allows you to go slower and feel more in control of your speed. Dependingon the situation, each resource on its own, or combinations of both, will be most appro-

priate. If I attach myself to one option too fiercely, at the expense of the other, I wouldcarve or skid to a fault. And then I would invariably experience the negative con-

sequences of over-attachment, such as skiing beyond my skill level because I’mcarving too fast, or fighting my equipment because I’m skidding too much.

In sports, the keys to success are both com-peting to win and playing to have fun, bothbackhand and forehand, both drives andputts, both taking lessons and solo practice,both taking a chance and playing it safe, bothlearning by watching and learning by doing.The polarity of both thinking about it and justdoing it is particularly interesting for recre-ational athletes. We all know the results ofdoing either to a fault. If we think about our

sport too much, webecome frozen and

ineffective. If we “just do it” too much, webecome exhausted, inefficient, and bored.

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Sometimes it’s just about flyin’ and spinnin’.

Purpose

Photo©BrianPorter

Two Key Sports Diamond™ PolaritiesClarity <——> Flexibility

Many athletes look for an absolute, clear set of techniques, ideas, and progres-sions that work every time in all circumstances. Many experienced skiers, for

instance, say with all sincerity that they only ski one technique in all situa-tions and in all conditions. I myself am one of those.

On the other hand, many skiers are acutelyaware that every day (every mountain, everytrail, every turn) is unique and distinct and,therefore, requires a flexible, situational set ofpatterns to negotiate it. I, myself, am also oneof those.

I want both a reliable system and set of rulesto take me where I choose to go and I wantto be able to apply them flexibly—in such a

way as to manage the nearly infinite vari-ables that come my way

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Convening really closely with nature.

TouchPhoto©BrianPorter

Process <——> ResultsMany athletes are taught that winning, peak performance, and breakthroughs are

everything. Others contend that it’s all about the journey; the journey itself is thereal destination, and it has to be lots of fun! This is a hard polarity to hold for

many athletes. We are all constantly manipulated by teachers, coaches,friends, and parents toward one or the other.

I maintain, again, that both are equallyimportant. Without results, my process lacksmeaning and purpose. Without process, myresults are unreachable. To hold one or theother is inherently limiting. To hold both ispowerful.

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Anxiety and commitment, sprinkled with a touch of stupidity.

Will

Photo©BrianPorter

Holding Polarity in the DiamondPower is an umbrella term that describes “ski technique,”or the moves of skiing—

edging, unweighting, steering, etc. Purpose is an umbrella term for “tactics,” orthe moves of the skis (the vehicle)—what you want your skis to do and where

you want them to take you.

Many skiers (and too many ski instructors) find themselves focused in thePower corner to a fault. Tactics are not only ignored, they often aren’t evenpart of the package. Few skiers have a clear idea of what they want their skisto do, but most are very precise about what they think their moves shouldbe. They know that they want to get down the hill, be safe, turn, and lookgood. What they usually don’t know is exactly how the ski should travel inthe snow to create the most fun, most exciting, and safest turn. These skiersdon’t know the line of travel. They don’t have an idea of the importance ofline. They don’t know the concept of slicing forward with the edges of theski in order to create a narrow line, where speed itself is the means of control. Their skiing really sucks, and I don’t want to talk about it any-

more, because I just get angry. (Sorry. Am I being hypercritical? Musthold polarity!)

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Yet such skiers spend a ton of time learning the moves. The problem is that the moves theyare learning are not compatible with the tactics they intuitively use. But if they rearrangetheir purpose, then all of a sudden the moves work. Matching tactics (Purpose) to tech-

nique (Power) is the process of holding polarity between the two. A skier who holdspolarity will rarely have an off day—even when he or she is not skiing all that well.

Both Competencies andFundamental CharacteristicsI must manifest each resource with awareness of both competencies andfundamental characteristics. It is no good for me to focus on what I do without also being aware of who I am. I may have all the technique in theworld (Power/Competency), but my body has to be fit enough to use it(Power/Fundamental Characteristic) One of my sons once received aninteresting evaluation from his ski coach, Casey Puckett, a four-timeOlympian, and incredible master and student of skiing. In a nutshell, heexplained that Patrick couldn’t produce the technique he needed until hedeveloped his core strength to the point where he could support the pres-sures this technique requires. In other words, he had to hold polarity

between competency and fundamental characteristic—who he is andwhat he does. As a result, Patrick did an enormous amount of off-slope

work on his core strength, and the change in his skiing was stunning.

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Diamond Story: Playing GuitarWhen I was very young I wanted to play the guitar. So I took a few lessons,learned a few chords, and sang a bunch of folk songs. Eventually, I stalled.The guitar fell by the wayside, and I stopped singing—much to the relief ofall those around me, since my singing voice is only slightly less melodiousthan a crashing train. Years later, I took up the guitar again. But this time itwasn't only to play it. It was to learn it and to study it. Once I shifted frommy locked-in, limiting point of view, I achieved both goals. These days Ihave no bad sessions on the guitar-although I often play it badly (like myskiing). As I child I had wanted to play guitar, as distinct from wanting tolearn it. Later I wanted to both learn it and play it. Now I'm committed forlife as a guitar player/student because I finally drew the balance betweenprocess (learning it) and results (playing it).

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“ The secret to holding polarity: opposition is resource. ”

Finally……the most powerful part of holding polarity is the shift in your mind to anew and broader understanding of what it takes to approach brilliance.Blaise Pascal, the famous French philosopher and mathematician, once said,“A man does not show his greatness by being at one extremity, but ratherby touching both at once.” m

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C H A P T E R F I V E Y Master PointersPointers ~ The Teacher’s Art

A POINTER (OR TIP OR CUE) IS A STRATEGIC PLAN THAT YOU ACTIVATE FOR RESULTS. TO WORK WELL, IT SHOULD HAVE THE

FOLLOWING QUALITIES:

Y It’s simple—both in its explanation and the action it calls for.

Y It lives in one or more corners of the Sports Diamond ™.

Y It is a cue for a single movement that, in turn, triggers a series of complex movement patterns in a way that bypasses thought.

(A note on word choice: Although there are subtle distinctions, I have cho-sen to use the terms pointers, cues, and tips as synonyms. Pointers or tips

are more commonly used in sports terminology, but the word cue ismuch more accurate. But call it whatever you like—it doesn’t matter

to me!)

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“That’s some SERIOUS heavy thinking!”

Most people agree that they can generally retain about three things from any lesson thatthey can later articulate. (Interesting, since it is also clear that you can’t start any movementin sports without having at least 600 things to think about at once!) These “things” that

students take away are pointers, which are mostly considered “breakthrough” pointers—the kind of stuff that gets me past my so-called plateau.

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Pointers are short, effective thoughts or patterns that tend to work in most situations.They’re little gems that actually shift the way you look at your movements. Above all,

they make you feel great.

However, the cue itself is neither the lesson nor the learning. The Buddha said,“My teaching is like pointing my finger at the moon. Do not mistake the

finger for the moon.” A cue is only the spark that ignites the learning. The restof the process is the guidance and the practice necessary to anchor andexplore the applications, interactions, and nuances.

The Book of PointersMany people who write about skiing lay down a system for performing thesport, usually in the form of a progression and often in the form of severalthematic movement patterns. Others write about skiing in terms of a

central theory, where one trick solves all problems.

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In the real world, people learn better when they receive and perform the right series ofcues at the right time—regardless of the system or the main move. Furthermore, the

sport of skiing changes. Sometimes it changes dramatically and seemingly overnight,while sometimes the changes are subtle and creep into the picture.

Wouldn’t it be useful to have a framework that not only contains all the point-ers necessary, but also allows the creation of new ones, and then invites theuser to select from all of the pointers as needed? I’ll be that useful. I offer theframework—the Sports Diamond ™—in a way that will allow you to knowwhat you need and select from the menu of pointers that follows, in anyway you and/or your coach/teacher see fit.

On our website (www.EdgeChange.com), we will regularly update andupgrade these pointers as skiing changes, so that you can always find whatyou need or hear about the latest tips without having to “deconstruct” your-self. The Sports Diamond™ has a global, timeless advantage. The same prin-ciples will be true years from now, though the pointers and their associatedtechniques, attitudes, purposes, and sensations may change dramatically.

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So this is the book of pointers. Some I’ve made up. Most I’ve stolen shamelessly from mycolleagues. All have a primary home in one corner of the Sports Diamond™, though all

are supported and informed in some degree by all four resources of the Diamond. Insubsequent chapters, you will learn how to create and select the right one for the

right moment.

The “mother of all pointers,” given in Chapter One, stands at the entrance tothe Pointer Hall of Fame. (To refresh your memory: Every turn needs an edgechange, so learn to do it perfectly.) It’s both current and classic. Although thespecific nature of it has changed, the idea has always been around in oneform or another. It works for every level of skier and, to some degree, in allskiing environments. Overall, I suspect there is an equivalent motherpointer in each sport. In the future, as we explore other sports with theSports Diamond ™, we’ll find and identify them.

Pointers, even those enmeshed in the Diamond, don’t work unless youallow them to act like seeds that can become full-grown plants. They’re notthe answer to good skiing; they just embody the potential. They neednourishment, through practicing, failing, observing, and making distinc-

tions—but they drive the learning.

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The Master PointersThese are the big four—the ideas that connect all the aspects of the Diamond. Each is

drawn primarily from one of the Diamond resources, and each is also leveragedstrongly by, and fully leverages, the other corners. If you pay even just a bit of

attention to these four, you will become a strong, versatile skier. If you fullygrasp these four ideas, and the nuances of how their primary corners interact,you will have a powerful toolbox to work with, and your skiing will becomeoutstanding. Have fun with them. And don’t panic if it takes you a bit of trialand error to grasp each one.

Two important notions:

Y All of these pointers will work as well for skiers on their first day as they do for experts.

Y If you find yourself temporarily stuck in one, forget about it and shift to another.The leverage gained from the shift will eventually bring you back to success inthe stuck area.

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©1 Ski With Your Feet & Legs (POWER) A poor move from the feet is actually more effective than a good move from the torso. The feet are not a great source of strength, so we don’t normally think about using them

when we seek power. Rather, we turn to the larger upper-body muscles for the powerwe need. However, rigid ski boots amplify small, weak foot movements and translate

them into powerful results at the ski. So move your feet. In fact, move your wholedamn leg.

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Imagine boots and feet disconnected to understand what they are together.

©2 Center Yourself (WILL)Be aware of your center. This refers to your center of gravity, but it also refers to the ener-getic center or inner core that martial artists use. (If you aren’t familiar with this idea, try

to imagine it.) Breathe into your center while you ski. Park your mind there. Move withit. This is how dynamic balance is achieved, and how you can find awareness of the

present moment. This is also how to acquire effortless, fearless commitment.

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Centered, Flowing, Flying, Happy.

Photo©BrianPorter

©3 Make Round Turns (PURPOSE) Whatever “round turns” may mean to you, the term also connotes an arc in which the tailof the ski more or less follows the tip of the ski (rather than trying to pass by it). A car usu-

ally makes round turns, and you feel out of control when the back tries to “overtake”the front. However, we routinely put up with that kind of crap on skis in the name of

slowing down.

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Photo©RonLeMaster

German ski racer, Martina Ertl getting her skis 'round it.

©4 Feel The Snow (TOUCH) Every moment, on every run, the snow changes, whether from exposure, weather, otherskiers, groomers, or your mood. Notice this stuff. Be aware of all the nuances of the

medium you’re working in. Feel it, observe it, listen to it, and just “sense” it.

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Let the snow caress the feet.

Photo©BrianPorter

©1 How To Ski With Your Feet And LegsConnect the foot to the boot and don’t think about the skis. Just move the boot how and

where you want to by moving the foot against the boot shell.

If you want to engage the edge of the ski, plaster the sides of your feet to the sidesof the boots toward the center of the turn. If you want to pivot or rotate, then

rotate the foot within and against the boot shell. If you want to move forwardon the ski, press your shin against the front cuff. Or you can combine all three.

Search for support of the foot movements by using leverage from the mus-cles and bones of the legs. For example, you can enhance pressure to the feetby extending the knee and ankle joints. Enhance forward movement of theshins by moving the hipsforward.

Note how this masterpointer in Power is sup-ported and informed bythe other resources.

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Living in the boots.

Photo©BrianPorter

PURPOSEI can very powerfully drive my intention to move the foot in the boot by my purpose.

Do I want to pivot suddenly to slow down? Do I want to “arc” the foot through the turn?Do I want to pass over the top of this bump or down through the valley of that bump?

One of my important teachers, Jean Mayer of Taos Ski Valley, used to tell me that skiing is simply “eye-foot coordination.” When you see a place you want to go, just

move your foot toward it.

TOUCHThe foot is also the critical tactile connection to the snow. Be sensitive to thesnow through your feet, as if your eyes were closed and you needed to feelyour way along the surface. Foot sensitivity is one of the primary differ-ences between life-long skiers and new skiers. Wake up your feet. Noticeevery nuance of the snow.

WILLBalance yourself over different parts of the feet: the front, the back, thesides, and the center. The connection between your center and the snowinterfaces through the feet and the gear. Ground yourself through the

connection of your feet. You can profit enormously by spending a wholerun, a whole morning, or even a whole day only being aware of the feet.

Think about them, leverage with them, be purposeful with them,sensitize them, and commit to them.

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©2 How To Center YourselfStand quietly for a moment and bring your mind to a calm awareness of your body. Then

gently focus that awareness on your balance point—your center of gravity—an internal,imaginary point about one and a half inches lower than the navel.

Breathe as if you could send your breath to thatplace. Remain aware of that balance point for a

moment. Imagine it as a source of energy thatflows down the legs into the skis and then intothe snow. Then push off to start skiing. Sinceyou’ve now changed your dynamic relation-ship to gravity, re-center yourself while mov-ing. Occasionally, and gently, bring yourmind back to center while skiing, as you willoften be distracted from it.

Centering is a powerful act of the Will. It isdone with great intention and commitment,in order to find the present moment and tobalance dynamically. The wild chaos weencounter underfoot as we careen down amountain on snow is dramatic, fear instill-

ing, and disorienting. Centering helps you find the calm within thatstorm. On another level, centering is so important and powerful that

you could just as accurately place it at the center of the SportsDiamond ™ in place of Brilliance. It is at once a precondition, a

definition, and a goal of great performance. Centering is alsoinformed and supported by the other resources.

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Re-centering on the fly

Photo©BrianPorter

POWERCentering almost magically provides mechanical alignment. When I center myself, thebody tends to give up the odd muscular compensations that lock me into contorted andinefficient positions. The center is also the center of energy in the body. (Trust me on this.

I don’t know how it happens, but all the martial arts guys say it’s so, and they can breakbricks with their hands!) In your mind’s eye, direct that energy down your legs and

into your skis to load the pressure into them (pressuring the edges makes the skisturn). As a result, I gain strength without rigidity—a prerequisite for real power.

PURPOSEOne of the critical purposes is to move the skis through the arc of the turn andto move the body, while balancing with the moving skis, through a similararc. If I center myself, then I can move my body from center in a very clearpath through the arc. The connection between the center and the skis ismanifested in the way they move together with direction and purpose. Thesimple way to look at this—especially for those with some anxiety—is tothink about moving the center down the hill at the moment of edge change.This brings everything into service of the magic arc, as the skis respond withcomfort and liveliness underneath.

TOUCHJust as centering is created from awareness, it also creates awareness.

When I calm and align myself through my center, I increase my connec-tion to all that is around me. Specifically, this allows me to feel skiing—

the snow, the skis, the speed—at a much deeper and more immediatelevel. My moves and responses gain a fluidity and naturalness that

entirely bypass technical thought.

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©3 How To Make Round TurnsDirect or guide your skis along a descending arc in the snow. This is the simplest of ideas.

It is all about what your skis do on the snow. The most common alternative to movingforward through the arc is to pivot the skis across the direction of travel in order to

throw on the brakes. Or the skis may go in opposite directions with no direction fromyou at all.

When you decide to make your turn round—creating a curved and relativelynarrow track in the snow—you opt to manage speed, as the skis first curvedown the hill and then progressively move across the hill to slow down.

This round turn, or some semblanceof it, is the centerpiece of tactical ski-ing. Sometimes the curve will endearlier and sometimes later, depend-ing on the conditions, the pitch of theslope, or your need for speed. As aclear purpose, the round turn cre-ates progressive, fluid, connectedmovements that are easy, fun, andunder your control.

The round turn is supported andinformed by the other resources

in the following ways.

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Photo©RonLeMaster

Hermann Maier goes full circle.

POWERThe skis are designed precisely for round turns. They will do other things, but this is at theheart of their design. Furthermore, 90 percent of instruction and theories are dedicated todriving the skis through a round turn (including my emphasis on edge change). The goal

is to progressively (not suddenly) steer the skis and/or pressure the edges through theturn until the skis are pointing back across the hill. Then steer, pressure, and edge in

the new direction.

TOUCHThe feeling of a round turn is exquisite. It is marked by the sense of forwardflow through the arc and by the wonderful sensation of centrifugal force. (Idefine centrifugal force as that feeling of pull to the outside of the turn, likea ball on the end of a twirling string. Power gets transmitted to the skiswhen the skier resists that pull. What really happens doesn’t matter; what itfeels like is what counts. So, you physics freaks who will say it’s somethingelse, or that it doesn’t exist, just back off!) The feeling of this turn reinforcesit powerfully, and the sense of making the movements smoothly and pro-gressively is central to performance.

WILLUnderlying every Purpose must be the Will to perform it. So many parts ofa round turn seem counter-intuitive that you must decide this Purpose

will supersede all others and carry it out with single-minded commit-ment. The main interference comes from the fact that you must first

drive the skis and body down the hill, a slightly insane maneuver thatcan feel a bit like bungee jumping without a chord. However, if the

commitment is 100 percent (99 percent being woefully inade-quate), then the joy and control experienced during the round

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©4 How To Feel The SnowWake up the feet! Imagine feeling every little bump and

ridge in the snow all the way out to the ends of your skis,as if your nerve endings extended through them. Life-

long skiers develop a feel for the snow that seems toput them at a tremendous advantage. Partly it’s due

to the literally millions of “remembered” interac-tions they’ve had with the snow from a very

early age. However, much more than just repe-tition is involved. Awareness, not just lots ofrepetition, is crucial to achieving success.

For me, the starting point of each day on skisis the moment I push off, feeling the snow asif it were alive. Feel the texture of it, the soft-ness or hardness of it, the way the skis glideacross it, the speed it gives you, and the waythe ski edges penetrate it. Take it all in. Watchthe variations in the surface structure and pitch. Listen to the sound of thesnow brushing against the ski edges. All of this allows you to process andrespond to real stimuli while avoiding thought and language. In this man-ner, you begin to trust your body’s intelligence and understand that it is

fed as much by awareness as it is by thought. Most important, your feelfor the snow is going to tell you how much of what movement possi-

bility or pattern to apply. If the snow is hard, I need to edge withmuch greater care and finesse. If the snow is smooth and strongly

resilient, I can power on the edge with confidence. Feeling thesnow is fiercely supported and informed by its connections to

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Magic immersion!

Photo©BrianPorter

PURPOSEAwareness of the snow-as it is that day-drives my vision of how I will ski. From awarenessof what I feel, I can decide (often intuitively) how fast to go, what kind of turn to select,what kinds of movements of the ski in the snow I will make (e.g., braking? carving?), and

what kind of terrain I will seek. All of these are informed by the sensory information thattravels from the snow to the skier through the skis and boots.

POWERThe best technique for increasing sensation is to relax the muscles-especially

those in the legs and the feet-as much as possible. Being relaxed allows you tostay upright and keep the skis turning on their edges. Rigidity, on the otherhand, blocks sensation. And as the feel of the snow becomes more notice-able, your body/mind system will make great intuitive choices about whatmovements suit the situation. If the snow is soft and deep, for example, youmay focus on flexion/extension, while backing off from trying to steer theskis against the heavy snow resistance. Or if the snow is very hard, your biggun is going to be working your edges.

WILLCommitting to feeling your way along the snow is challenging and impor-tant. You’ll encounter a lot of interference. For example, we often try to beactive and aggressive in search of yesterday’s success. Or the anxiety you

may feel as you accelerate into a turn can overpower you, causing thebody and mind to become paralyzed. To feel the snow-while relaxing

the muscles and making great technical choices-you must choose tostay loose, ready, and sensitive in the face of powerful, intuitive sur-

vival mechanisms and ego investments to the contrary. You mustchoose to feel the snow exactly as it is right now, today. m

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C H A P T E R S I X Y PowerWithin the Sports Diamond™, Power refers to the arena of technical, mechanical, and

biomechanical forces. It includes your movements and your ski gear, and the internaland external forces they use and create. Your own physical power, as reflected by

your fitness, agility, and coordination, is also an important element.

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Hot Finn ski racer, Tanja Poutiainen, making a perfect edge changeunder the watchful eyes of seventeen AspenSnowmass Ski Pros she

hired to help her race. It is the definitive answer to the question, “Howmany ski instructors does it take to analyze a light bulb turning?” She

was criticized for not getting close enough to the blue pole.

Photo©RonLeMaster

Power Pointers1. Changing Edges

This is the foundation of great technique. Most of your Power/technical work shouldfocus on how to change edges well. Changing edges (from the left edges of the skis

to the right edges, or vice versa) is the critical move at the critical moment thatdetermines whether you will make, and connect, smooth, fluid turns—or

whether you’ll be taken over by alien beings bent on destroying your dignity(and your body).

What follows are several ways of thinking about edge change. Each servesas a different cue to evoke a different awareness in the body, and all areeffective. You choose.

Y Change both edges at once. The body wants to “walk”—using one foot,then the other. Resist the bipedal urge! Instead, tip both edges from one sideto the other at the same time. This is, after all, the definition of “parallel”skiing. Discover which of your edges you normally change last. Then makeit the first one you change, until you’re changing both edges simultane-ously.

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Y Tip first, then turn. Your boots are naturally tipped uphill at the end of a turn. Before youtry to change direction, tip both of them downhill. Tip them downhill before you try any

other move. Very scary! It can feel like you’re falling off the mountain; but it’s also oneof the best feelings in skiing. Tip your boots progressively—like you’re dialing up the

volume—so you don’t over-tip and tip over!

Y Make the edge change quickly. The actual change from uphill edge to down-hill edge should happen quickly, minimizing the time your skis are parked in

neutral, where nothing happens. This does not mean you should changeedges suddenly, or with high pressure or a high angle. It just means youshouldn’t loiter in the “dead zone.” Only when the ski edges are workingthe snow can you make effective turns.

Y Tip the downhill ski first. Feel the tip from the toes, foot, ankle, knee,and/or hip. It doesn’t matter which one, only that it feels right. This clearsthe way for the uphill ski to follow suit. The uphill ski won’t tip unless thedownhill one goes with it or before it.

Y Let the hips float across the skis. They kind of want to anyway, as grav-ity and centrifugal force pull the center of mass (the hips) to the outside ofthe turn. Only your resistance keeps it from happening. So let your hips

move from the old turn into the center of the new one.

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Y “Charge” the turn with the downhill knee. Aggressively pointing that knee down the hillwill change the edge of the ski and bend that knee relative to the other one. Both pointingand bending the inside knee are prerequisites to a good edge change. The idea of chargingacts as a trigger to create the new angles.

Y Pedal. Shorten the downhill leg relative to the uphill one by pulling it upwardtoward your torso. (It’s the same idea as the previous tip, just a different take). This

brings the body from the inside of the old turn (uphill) to the inside of the new turn(downhill) and makes you change the edges. (While you pedal, keep both skis in

contact with the snow.) Just as in pedaling a bicycle, in good skiing, with fewexceptions, there is only one short moment when both legs are equally flexed.Spend some time with this pedaling idea on slightly steeper terrain. It isincredibly powerful and really challenges the paradigm of the old “up-and-down” method of skiing.

2. General Edge WorkY Stand wider than you think you should if you really want to carve. Ifyou don’t want to carve, don’t bother—nobody’s forcing you to. However,if your legs are too close together, the inside leg will often interfere withyour attempt to increase the edge angle of the ski. So spread ’em, baby!

And keep your legs wide throughout the edge change.

Y Move your hips directly over (or even to the inside of) yourinside knee. This would be the left knee for a left turn, and the

right knee for a right turn. This gives you a point of reference tofeel if you’re tipping inside the turn or not.

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Y Slice, don’t smear. This is the choice between using the flat blade or the sharp edge of aknife. Most skiers do a little bit of both. Great skiers dial up one or the other movementaccording to the need. For great skiing on intermediate slopes, dialing up the edge of theknife is a beautiful thing. If you do it, you will be admired and even worshiped.

Y You don’t have to carve. But that doesn’t mean you have to drift mindlessly throughthe turn either. You can still control your arc via the edge and side-cut of the ski by

skiing on the sides and adding some steady torque with the feet and legs. If youstand on the edges without increasing their angle to the snow, you’ll be able to

turn at slower speeds than carving requires—but still not lose the overall senseof an arc. Know which you’re doing primarily—carving or skidding—andwhat the trade-offs are of each.

3. PressureSkis are meant to bend while tipped on their edges. That bend comes frompressure, and the pressure comes from the muscles and centrifugal force.(There are wonderfully complex arguments about the physics of skiing, andin this arena, I defer to Ron Lemaster (www.ronlemaster.com) because inthe world of physics, I have no idea what I’m talking about—and Rondoes.) On skis, look at centrifugal force as whatever it is that seems to

throw you to the outside of the turn. That force gets transmitted to theski as pressure, and it bends the ski and enhances the turn. Great skiers

(like you!) manage this pressure with great effectiveness.

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Y Load the ski. If you’re able to build pressure onto the edge of the ski, itwill bend into the turn. So do whatever it takes to load (and then unload)the skis. There are two power sources for this necessary pressure:y Your muscles, which straighten the leg against the ski. To understand this,

straighten your arm against something or somebody, and you’ll feel thatyou’ve applied pressure.

y Your speed. Gravity > Speed > Momentum > Power—applied against theski—makes the ski bend into the turn as long as the edge remainsengaged in the snow.y Use both sources, but use speed first, because you’ve already bought

significant quantities of gravity through the purchase of a lift ticket.(Or maybe you’ve earned it by hiking up the mountain.)

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Hermann Maier, getting loaded.

Photo©RonLeMaster

Y Move forward. Move more than you think you should, more than you think is necessary,and more than you think is safe. At the start of the turn, move your shins against the frontof the boots. This pressure will transfer to the front of the ski. Your goal is to make the edgesbite into the snow by putting pressure on the shovel of the ski at the moment of edge

change. On modern skis, the front of the ski absolutely drives the turn. Furthermore,since the skis accelerate at the moment of edge change, you need to accelerate with

them, and in anticipation of them, if you have any intention of maintaining control.Avoid the tendency for the hips to drop back and down as you press the shins for-

ward by tightening the stomach and pressing the hips forward as well. (For areality check, notice whether your big thigh bones are more or less vertical, or

more or less horizontal. If they’re closer to vertical, you’re probably movingforward pretty well.)

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Bode Miller: One brilliant diamond—They oughtto give medals just for making turns like this.

Photo©RonLeMaster

Y Maintain resiliency as you work with the snow. Ski/snow contact is a really goodthing. Only when the skis are touching the snow can you work with it and the ter-

rain to create control and comfort. The changing pitch of the terrain and yourchanging angles of approach cause dramatic changes in the resistance pre-

sented to the skis. Your body is an intelligent, active suspension system con-sisting of a whole string of interactive joints—ankle, knee, hip, waist (lowerspine), and neck (upper spine). Think of yourself as a spring with conscious-ness. The legs and torso retract and extend to absorb and apply pressure atwill. Use this ability to maintain your resiliency—extend to keep the pres-sure up as the terrain drops away and flex to absorb overloads of pressure.If, however, you get to the very top of the spring (i.e., your full body length),you’ve lost its tension, and likewise if you “bottom out.” The capacity tomaintain resiliency will be doubly useful when the terrain changes radi-cally, as it does in bumps. Finally, the spring works better when the coils arein alignment; that is, when the body segments are in balance.

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Y Use differential leg bending. The classic skiing mantra is to “bend the knees.” This wasactually a wonderful piece of wisdom that lost its impact as it became an instructor

cliché. The idea behind it is that stiff legs decrease resiliency and readiness. You bendyour knees in all sports; it’s the athletic stance, and it’s fundamental. What’s rela-

tively new in skiing (more noticeable in the past 25 years or so) is the understand-ing that, since skiers use the edges of both skis, they must bend each leg a differ-

ent amount to keep edge angle and pressure consistent. For example, if I wantto make a left turn, I need to bend my left leg more than the right one in orderto maintain the correct amount of pressure and edge angle on each ski. (Thisis also related to pedaling in the “Changing Edges” section.)

Y Pull back the inside foot relative to the outside foot. There will alwaysbe a natural tendency for the inside foot to advance (relative to the outsideone) during the turn, and this tendency will increase throughout the turn.Minimize it by bending the ankle of the inside foot fiercely against the frontof the boot. Say you’re turning left—increasing the angles of the left edgesof both skis, inevitably shortening the left leg relative to the right leg, andmoving the hips in (and forward) toward the center of the turn. As this hap-pens, the left foot will want to creep ahead relative to the other one inorder to make room for the right leg. Don’t let it creep. Hold it back. The

result will be better focused and more effective turning pressure to theedges of the skis.

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4. CrankCrank is the term I use to describe all movement—circular or rotational— around an axis.It is an enormous part of good skiing. It’s also the most natural (but not the easiest) of all

the skiing movements, though it is by far the most overly and/or poorly used, too. Mostof the pointers regarding it are designed to diminish the normal crank that occurs from

movement of the big muscles in the body, which results in the dreaded “full-bodyrotation.” Full-body rotation (FBR) is a contagious, but curable, disease not yet

recognized by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. It remains the dirty lit-tle secret of the ski world. Don’t get it. Don’t do it. It’s an ugly, horrible thing.

Instead …

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Unwinding

Photo©BrianPorter

Winding up.

Photo©BrianPorter

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Winding it out.

Photos©BrianPorter

Y Steer the boots by turning your feet against the boot shells. This is a powerful antidoteto FBR. The body wants to/needs to/is driven to twist in the direction of desired travel.Therefore, it is natural to use the big torso muscles to rotate the skis. But you don’t realizethe power of your feet, since they are encased in stiff plastic boots. You try instead to over-

come the apparent resistance of the boots and skis with big torso moves. Instead, twistthe feet against the sidewalls of the boots in the general direction you want to travel.

The boots are so responsive that even a small amount of twist will be enough to makethem turn the skis. The body/mind, being extremely intelligent, will automatically

pick up on the good results and increase the crank of the feet for whatever effectdesired. Does this sound like the “ski with the feet” pointer from a previous

chapter? It is. Hmmm … it must be important.

Y Steer both legs toward the turn. Does it feel like you’re already doing thisas you steer the feet? Good. Keep it up.

Y Keep the torso from initiating steering. This is both possible and easy ifyou follow the two previous pointers. It is either impossible or very hard todo if you don’t.

Y Squatty’s move: Twist the inside of the thigh toward the turn at initia-tion. In other words, twist the left thigh toward the left turn, and the rightthigh toward the right turn. When used with a clean edge release, thisoffers a very powerful, confidence-building turn. It also brings the rest of

the body into excellent alignment with the turn and completely curesthe dreaded FBR.

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5. Terrain-Specif ic WorkFOR BUMPS

Y Drop the tips down the backside of the bump. Skis don’t turn unless they’re in con-tact with the snow. (In the air, they can change their aim, but not their direction of

travel.) As you crest a bump, the front of the ski juts into the air. When you get theski to make contact with the snow again, you can

work it. If you delay, you’ll travel quite a wayswithout being in the driver’s seat. Therefore,

immediately following the edge change, lifewill get really good if you slap the ski tipsdown the bump’s downhill side. This isessentially the same move as “dropping in”in surfing or half pipe riding.

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Mogul Dancing.

Photo©BrianPorter

Y Reach for the pole plant. The toughest (read, scariest) thing for many skiers to do is tomove the torso down the hill into the next turn. Yet the fluid linking of turns that results

from this move is what makes good bump skiing happen. A great tool for movingyour torso downhill is to reach, with the pole hand, straight down the hill towards

the next turn’s pole plant while you’re still in the previous turn. If you reach earlyenough, the sensation will be like you’re “hand-walking” down the hill, and

you will be totally ready for each successive turn.

Y Extend into the valleys between bumps, then retract as the pressurebuilds. This draws on the resiliency skill suggested in the section on pres-sure. In the undulating terrain of a mogul field, it’s quite a challenge toextend and retract, as the bumps create massive variations in angle andspeed. The bumps seem to have minds of their own, and skiing them can belike riding a wild horse. (I’ve actually seen moguls move from place to placeas I approach, and I’ve heard them laugh hysterically as they launched me,unsuspecting, into the air.) In every set of bumps are places in which theworld just seems to drop out from underneath you, and other places wherethe bumps seem to rush up to smack you in the face. Use your resiliencyin a massive, exaggerated way.

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For example, as you approach the steep lip of a bump (and your skis are actually goingupward), pull your knees up toward your chest, while keeping your hands forward. This

retraction movement allows you to absorb the shock of the impact. As you pass overthe crest of the bump and into the gaping canyon below, straighten your legs and

move your hips and hands forward. This extension movement keeps the skis incontact with the snow and prepares the body for the next impact.

Y There are two critical points to making the system work:y Keep your head up. This blocks the absorption at the right place, so you

don’t get whiplash and you can stabilize the torso to prepare for the nextbump.

y Go through the whole range of movement smoothly and with the terrain,feeling the resiliency of the body and the change in pitch of the surface.

Practice on very small undulations of terrain, without turning—eitherstraight down a shallow hill or traversing across a shallow mogul field. Thisway you can feel how you should pull up the knees as the terrain rises, andhow the feet drop away as you pass over the crest. Then try it with a turn,making the edge change at the moment of maximum retraction (when theankle, knee, and hip joints are all flexing deeply) and then extending the

legs into the “valley.”

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Y The big crank. To really dump a lot of speed in a hurry, quickly pivot the feet underneaththe legs. This classic move brings the skis quickly across the hill and throws on the brakesnicely. You can do this progressively or suddenly, depending on the nature of the emer-gency. In bumps, skiers often throw the big crank very suddenly at the moment of edge

change, which is actually way too early to be effective. Their intention is to slow downthe turn before it really gets moving. Yet at turn initiation, there is really no room to

move the skis that way. The skis just end up getting caught in the valley and bounc-ing around like a pinball. The best place to throw the big crank is at the end of the

turn, as the skis exit the valley and come out underneath the previous bump.Now there is lots of room to crank and dump speed. But the more speed you

dump, the more aggressively you’ll have to start the next turn.

Y The big stop. This is the same as the big crank, except that you dump allyour speed. This is an emergency stop!y Do it at the end of the turn.y Do it suddenly.y Plant the pole for the imaginary next turn, to stabilize your torso.y Don’t count on it looking good. It’s a nasty, ugly thing, but it works.

FOR POWDER

Y Use the new skis. It’s the 21st century. The all-mountain fats, mid-fats,and obese fat powder skis currently available are spectacular in soft,

deep, loose snow. You no longer have to have the touch of a goddessto ski it. With these skis, you can even ski powder really badly and

still have a wonderful time.

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Y Ski it like the big bumps, with lots of retraction (or flexion) and extension. The pres-sure requirements are the same for bumps and powder: As the skis come across the hill, thesnow offers huge resistance; as the skis go downhill, the resistance is small. Absorb the

resistance by pulling up the knees (retraction) and make contact with the snow againafter the edge change by extending the legs into the turn.

Y Porpoise. This is just another way of looking at flexion/extension. Pull up theskis to the surface of the snow at the edge change, then let them dive back into

the snow while going down the fall line. Think of this movement in terms ofthe ankles and feet: As the skis come to the surface, advance the feet. As theydive, catch up to (but don’t pass) the feet.

Y Pressure both skis. The skis don’t have to be weighted evenly, but if oneski has little to no pressure on it, the snow will deflect it while the other skistays on task. This is not a pretty sight. The skis begin to flee in oppositedirections.

Y Always keep the hands moving forward. Because of the extra turningpower made available by the more resistant snow, the body often tends toturn too far, torquing you back up the hill and into the inevitable over-the-handlebars shoulder roll (admittedly, an excellent maneuver and lots offun to watch). But if you keep driving the hands forward—especially the

inside, or uphill, hand—you will correct an imbalance that causes 72percent of falls in powder (based on a famous study that shows that

83 percent of all statistics are made up).

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Y Stand tall. Skiers have a tendency to crouch in powder, as they search for muscles tocrank with. But doing so will wear you out after one run, and you will be forced to spend

the rest of the day skulking about the hot tub, waiting for your friends to come back andtell heroic stories of their exploits. Instead of crouching, just pull up the knees at the fin-

ish of the turn for a brief moment, before you re-acquire a tall, elegant stance. (Thereis an exception for very long-legged skiers. If you get too tall, you may interfere

with migratory birds or let those long legs get reeled out too far. Instead, keep thehips slightly flexed.)

FOR STEEPS

Y Reach down the hill for the pole plant. You must be ready to make a 100-percent-committed move with the torso in order to keep up with and con-trol the accelerating skis. If you plant the pole down the hill early, then yourtorso will be ready. (This is the same principle as for bumps, since eachbump has a small steep on the downhill side.)

Y Make the perfect edge release. The tendency is to hesitate at turn initia-tion. If you let go of the edge at only 80 percent, you will accelerate, andbecause you’re not fully in the turn, the acceleration will be uncontrol-

lable. Even 99.9 percent edge release is too damn little.

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ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Y Buy good gear—and trust it. This stuff is really expensive, but it also really works. Andgood gear will even do most of the work for you. You can certainly find deals out there,

but don’t shortchange quality for price. Good gear can do a lot to overcome bad tech-nique. This stuff has been designed and redesigned, tested and retested. Very little out

there is not good. You’d have to be a moron to build bad stuff with the technologythat we now have. But make sure to find the gear that is right for you. Read the

annual ski magazine tests and demo gear to find out what you like, then find apro to show you how to use it.

Y And while we’re talkin’ gear… Buy Völkl skis, Tecnica boots, and Markerbindings. And tell ’em Weems sent ya—I’m jonesin’ for a new setup thisyear!

Y Trust the forces that are out there. Gravity, momentum, and centrifugalforces are fine friends, and they can pretty much take the place of 80 percentof your muscle power. Great skiers make skiing look effortless. And it iseffortless for them because they let external forces do the work.

Y Get fit. C’mon, it’s time to realize that this is a sport and your body isyour biggest investment. It doesn’t matter how you do it or how fit youbecome. Just a little bit helps. Do anything you want: walk, run, bike,

swim, do pilates, spin, surf, windsurf, play ping-pong, play soccer,skateboard, ride horses… do anything that makes you happy. But get

up off your butt, put the video controls down, and be somebody!And it’s really time to give up the most widespread of all

American pastimes: eating stupidly.

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Leon’s Diamond StoryRead and memorize this exquisite creation of Leon Joseph Littlebird. He is a very fine

ski instructor and trainer in Summit County, Colorado, who uses this example toshow ski instructors what we sometimes sound like when we’re stuck in the

Power corner. Other than that it has no earthly use and, therefore, is truly awork of art.

A state of flux in the angular valving of gravity is achieved by counter-rotic-ipational polarity on a reverse lateral base minimizing outward torsionalthrust, while anticipating compound peripheral extrusion and avoiding thecounter-intuitive occurrence of socassic resonance, while enhancing articu-lated, forced, dynamic struts with alta-gyrometric, balance-articulated,solid unobtanium parameter enhancers.

(By the way, do you know how hard it is to find unobtanium?)

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DIAMOND TALK ON POWERPower is a big part of the brilliance of your day. The Power corner is where most ski

instructors (and sports teachers) hang out professionally.

Power is not only about technique, but also about natural forces, your body, andyour equipment. It contains your menu of moves, and the muscles and body struc-

tures that create and allow them. Power also includes the environment beyondthe body: momentum, gravity, centrifugal force, inertia, and the snow.

Furthermore, it involves your gear: skis, boots, poles, bindings, clothes, gog-gles, helmets (wear one!), and sunblock (put it on!)—all those amazingdesigns that interface between skier and snow, allowing us to truly tran-scend ourselves.

FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

The ForcesThe natural, external forces, or principles, described by physics are funda-mental to all sports. The most important ones in skiing are gravity, friction,momentum, and centrifugal force. You don’t have to be a physics major tounderstand their importance.

Just realize that the energy of skiing that does not come from you comesfrom these external forces. And because of this, skiing is often a free

lunch.

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Y Gravity is the big motor that runs the show. Most of the other external forces result fromthe speed and momentum that gravity enhances as friction between the skis and the snowdecreases.

Y The other big player is centrifugal force … or centripetal force … or cencuealoozal force… or whatever it is that wants to throw your coffee all over your passengers when you

try to turn the car with one hand and drink it with the other. In skiing, we turn. Inturns, we must manage centrifugal force. Ignore this stuff at your peril!

Here’s the sequence again: Gravity > Speed > Momentum > Energy. Energythat is applied to steer, bend, or edge the skis is what lets you master control.There’s an interesting paradox that all skiers know, either intuitively or con-sciously: It is precisely the speed attained from the pull of gravity that allows us toturn the skis and, thus, stay in control of our speed.

The GearThis refers to the platform and/or the tools we use, the interface betweenthe player and the playing field. In skiing, you don’t ski. You operate yourboots. And your boots are connected to the skis through the bindings. Theskis are designed to make some pretty energetic moves in relation to thesnow and the physical forces, as a result of the energy you transmit throughthe boots and bindings. You gotta live with those results, so you better payattention to what you tell your boots. Furthermore, are they the right

boots? Are they custom-adjusted for not only your fit, but also for yourstructure? Are your skis up (or down) to the tasks you set for them

with your moves? Are the skis wide/narrow, long/short, orlight/heavy enough? Are they good looking? Do they match your

outfit?

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It is astonishing how many wonderful athletes can’t realize their potential because of theirrefusal to be at least semi-gear freaks. Buy the stuff. It’s really cheap relative to what it isand does. This is the best time ever to buy new boots, bindings, and skis, as well as all sortsof cool accessories. The fit and interface capacities of boots, the shape and dynamics of

skis, and the function, protection, and fashion of ski clothing are all fabulous.

The Body. This is about you—the driver, the skier, the player, or the pilot. It includesyour biomechanical abilities, your structure, and your health and fitness. We can

get so caught up in the gear, the mountain, or the snow that we forget that weourselves are the finest piece of equipment of all—although often poorly main-

tained. So many people whine about how counter-intuitive skiing is.Ridiculous! Skiing is perfect for us. We’re built for it, or rather we built thesport to suit us: our structure of skin, bone, ligament and muscle; our sen-sory capacity; our decision-making skills, learning ability, and awareness;our energy producing and nervous systems—skiing perfectly complementsall of these. You’re one hell of a piece of integrated pilot and equipment. Soact like one.

COMPETENCIES

Technique. The world of technique is where too many athletes and sportspros live too exclusively. But it shouldn’t be ignored altogether, because itis an excellent, and critical, part of the mix. Technique is about the moves:

edging, pressuring, and torque. It’s about bending the knees, and keep-ing the hands forward, and twisting or counter-twisting.

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It’s about the pointers that drive you crazy—put all of your weight on your outside skiwhile moving your inside hand forward and pointing it at a 20-degree angle to the body,and dropping the outside shoulder one inch and sliding the foot back while moving thehips forward. Yet technique also relates to the pointers that help you achieve enlighten-

ment—the magic move that leverages everything else and gets happily mistaken for abreakthrough. Technique is how you ski.

Although many regard tech talk as nothing more than babble, it is actually quite anamazing human capacity to take movement patterns, break them down, via lan-

guage, into their component parts, and then put them back together. Thiscapacity for analysis and synthesis is unique to our species. Yeah, we overdoit. Nevertheless it’s a magical skill, and just because we can make it complexdoesn’t mean that we can’t make it simple.

Good technique has one great result: the use of one’s body/equipment inharmony with the natural forces to apply power efficiently and effectively.The best of the best use natural forces and equipment when they can andmuscle power when they have to.

And Yet More on GearBoots: Feet are weak, with relatively little muscle. Ski boots are strong andamplify the feet. Therefore, a small movement within the foot can be trans-ferred quite powerfully to the ski through the boot’s leverage. The boot is

an amazing piece of equipment; great at transmitting power to the skiwhile providing increasing comfort and warmth for the skier. Boots

are also incredibly expensive, yet worth every dime. However, bootfit is fairly generic, while people’s body and foot structures are not.

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Most people just want to put on their boots and go skiing. But well-performing boots mustbe customized, through footbeds, flex adjustment, ramp adjustment, and alignment. Ifyou’re going to invest all that money in buying boots, make sure to spend that extra bit tomake sure that they work well for you.

I spend hours getting my new boots worked on, and the result is that they are perfecton the hill. In fact, they are so perfect (and therefore hard to replace), that when I

travel by plane, I buy a seat for my boots but ship my kids with the luggage.

Choosing skis requires little brain power. Buy what feels good. Match them toyour outfit. Nobody makes bad skis these days. They all apply power to thesnow in such a smooth and fluid way that they make skiing totally easy. Onecaveat: Make sure your skis are tuned well. A bad ski with a good tune willski better than a good ski with a bad tune.

There are basically two types of skis to consider: all-mountain (go-any-where, do-anything models that favor loose, soft snow but also ski well onpacked surfaces) and carving (go-anywhere, do-anything models that favorpacked slopes but are pretty good on loose snow, too). There are, of course,higher and lower performance levels within these basic types as well as spe-cialized versions, such as big-mountain skis, skis for very deep snow, orrace skis.

(And this section is kindly brought to you by Völkl skis, Tecnica boots,and Marker bindings—my beloved sponsors who see to my safety,

effectiveness, and efficiency every day as I go out to risk life andlimb. I am such a whore.)

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SOME PHILOSOPHIZING ON POWER

Power is highly technical and often verges on the scientific (and the pseudo-scientific). It isthe resource corner in which most people (teachers and students alike) think teaching and

learning to ski takes place. It is also the corner in which most people flounder.

Simplicity and accessibility are key. On the one hand, the more simply something isstated, the more it becomes metaphor and cue, rather than actual description. It can

easily become too simple to be useful. On the other hand, if technical informationis too complex, it can be paralyzing. Teachers, learners, and performers have a

huge responsibility to simplify effectively. To make a complex pattern simple,but not simplistic (or trivial), is not an easy chore. Furthermore, developinga cue to launch the correct movement pattern is a daunting task.

So in this sense, one of the goals of the Power domain is to achieve techni-cal awareness in such a clever way that we can go smoothly through thedevelopment levels of knowing it, understanding it, using it, taking it apart,putting it together, and making choices about it. (This is taken from Bloom’staxonomy of the cognitive domain: knowledge/comprehension/applica-tion/analysis/synthesis/evaluation) (This is also the limitation of Power: itcan be too complex to translate the thinking to the doing if the skier is over-loaded with information.

Nevertheless, beautiful techniques—movement patterns andsequences—are the central themes of the Power resource. They are

worthy of attention. They are critical and useful when held in polar-ity with the other resources. They’re like skiing with chains around

your body, when you really aren’t. m

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C H A P T E R S E V E N Y PurposePurpose encompasses strategy, tactics, goals, and results. It is also about intention, which

precedes and supercedes the use of Power. In skiing, Purpose has a lot to do with line(where to go, where to turn, and shape of the turn) as well as conditions and terrain

(what do they require? How shall I approach them?) The Purpose resource is aboutsmall and large, short-term and long-term, practical and philosophical purposes.

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Different strokes

…for different folks.

Photos©BrianPorter

Purpose Pointers1. Tactics (Line)

FOR TURNS

Y Focus exclusively on your line. Line is so important that a good one aloneoften creates great skiing. Mostly people focus on line only in bumps and

steeps. Do it everywhere. This enables you to bypass technique (and thought)and create clarity about what you want your skis to do in the snow. You canread the history of your line by looking at the tracks you’ve left in the snow,but focusing on line is like seeing those tracks before you make them.

Y Move the skis through and along a curved line. It’s that simple. Moveyour feet and skis along the snow just as you would move your hand whenmaking a curved path along a flat surface. You don’t need technical instruc-tions for this! Just let the heels follow the toes through the arc of a turn, trac-ing as closely as possible the same arc. Old-time instructors call these “footarcs,” and you can even do them in the snow without your skis on. Standwith weight on one foot, supporting yourself with your poles, while youtrace a forward arc through the snow with the light foot. Now do it on

skis, downhill, with both feet.

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Y Squatty’s foot arcs. (Remember Squatty? He’s one of my great teachers—an awesomepro with the Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen/Snowmass). Once more, standing on

one foot (with skis off) and supporting yourself with your poles, trace an arc throughthe snow with the light foot. This time, however, flex the leg you’re standing on as

you create the arc with the other foot. Flexing aligns the body with the arcing footand allows the hips to move through this “vir-

tual turn” effectively. This movement is a verypowerful simulation of a great turn on skis.

Y Feed the tips to the fall line. Direct the skisinto the turn by turning the toes down the hillrather than brushing the heels uphill. Mostskiers improve dramatically with this simplechange in perception.

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Squatty’s arc tracks.

Photo©BrianPorter

Y Trace a thin line through the snow with your edges. Line is your signature. Is yours aprecise, sinuous, graceful slice into the snow? That is skiing. Or is your line a wide,

smeared sideways swath? That is braking—or “not skiing.”

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Slicing.

Photos©BrianPorter

Smearing.

FOR DESCENTS

Y Ski nonstop runs, at least four every day, or eight if your ski area is small. If you’re fit,there is no reason to ever stop skiing until you get to the bottom of a lift—unless, maybe,

you’re waiting for your boyfriend. Most people, however, ski trails in sections demar-cated by changes of pitch or turns in the trail. This kills the rhythm and character of the

mountain and blocks you from really understanding it. As the saying goes, shut upand ski! Nonstops are a great example of how changing your idea in one corner

(e.g., Purpose) leverages results in the other three: Touch (developing a real feelfor the mountain), Will (the courage to push through a little fatigue and take on

the whole hill), and Power (through uninterrupted skiing, your techniquealways improves). So, yeah … nonstops.

Y Ski nonstop runs making short turns on groomed blue slopes at leastonce a day. Adding the element of a complex, busy turn will give you a reli-able short turn for steeps as well as develops great technique and rhythm.It doesn’t matter if they are great short turns or not. They will improve withpractice because the body is smart enough to figure it out. Let the bodydance. Get your mind out of its way.

Y Change the size of your turns and change the part of the run you ski on(another great one from Squatty). Usually, if people make several runs onthe same trail, they won’t vary more than two or three yards from where

they skied at any other time, and they’ll make exactly the same type ofturn all the way down. Instead, offer yourself variety within a familiar

landscape, and the benefits of developing different tactics won’t beoverwhelmed by adjusting to a new location. (This big rule actu-

ally applies to many situations: Develop new stuff in a familiarlocation.)

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5. Terrain-Specif ic WorkFOR BUMPS

Y Make the edge change at the crest. For my money where the edge change takes placeis the number-one issue that throws off bump skiers. And like all great cues, it’s as

much about Touch, Purpose, and Will as it is about Power. For most skiers, the placeto begin a turn (or make the edge change) should be right at the crest of the bump,

the high point where the skis begin to jut out into the air. At this point, however,most new bump skiers start their turns too early (starting too late is rarely a

problem) and either catch their tails on the preceding bump or have to hoptheir tails to clear it. They start so early because of abject fear that they won’tbe able to get those unwieldy skis around in time to keep from slamminginto the bump below. But this is the time to wait. Wait until the skis travelfarther out over the crest. Wait until the crest is directly underneath the archof the foot. You will feel the tips want to drop down the back side. At thatvery moment—not an inch earlier or later—make your edge change. If youdo it at precisely that moment, nothing in skiing, including green terrain,will be easier mechanically. Your skis will seem no longer than your bootsand can be edge changed and steered effortlessly. Remember, one inch tooearly is way too early!

Y Ski most bumps by going over the crest at the exit of one “valley”(like a waterfall) and into the trough, or outside wall, of the next. This

line closely matches the feel and rhythm of the terrain as well as thedesign of the ski, creating beautiful, dancing skiing. And it’s easy

and really fun!

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Y Learn how to improvise your line. Whichever line you choose, I guarantee you will notbe able to stick to it more than 50 percent of the time. So don’t panic when the line doesn’twork. Instead, pull moves out of your back pocket that you thought you didn’t have. Trustthem, while realizing that some will be truly masterful and some will be very funny. The

following drills will help you improvise:y Turn on every other bump for ten turns (traversing across the hill at the end of each

turn), then turn on every bump for ten turns. y Turn the skis through half a left turn (straight down the hill), then back to the

right. This will bring you diagonally across the hill, instead of straight down thefall line.

y Widen your stance, face your torso down the hill, and attempt uniform radiiof turns no matter what the shape of each bump. This will force you to turnin many other places than at the crest and, therefore, widen your repertoireenormously. Some turns will be rough, some edgy, some skidded, somecarved, and some will be monuments to futility. It doesn’t matter. Just keepturning. In this drill, it is the intention that teaches.Y Never stop—until you run out of bumps or oxygen. If you stop, you rust.

FOR POWDER

Y Go faster. Loose, soft powder snow offers more friction than packedsnow. If you don’t carry enough speed to overcome that, your skis will bogdown and your muscles will end up doing the work that momentum

could have done (for free).

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Y Drop in. The unpredictability of loose snow combined with its friction causes many skiersto turn much too quickly, staying in the fall line for only a split second. Shape your turn sothat you descend down the fall line a bit longer than usual—so that you actually lose somealtitude—and you will manage your speed beautifully. “Drop in” to the turn like a surfer

does to catch the wave. Drop in deep.

FOR STEEPS

Y Drop in, dive deep. Let the skis run down the hill before you turn them backacross it. You can probably drop in less than you would in powder, because you

don’t need that kind of speed to overcome friction. However, you will need alittle momentum to bend the ski enough to drive you out of the turn.

Y Control the turn finish. For speed control, bring the skis back up the hilland even skid them a bit if you want; the speed control is at the end of theturn, not at the edge change. Just like anywhere else, the edge change is amoment of acceleration.

Y Fling the body down the hill at the edge change. On steep terrain, theedge angles required are far more dramatic than those on shallower terrain,in order to counteract the downhill pull of gravity. Likewise, the distancethe body must travel across the skis to apply such an edge must alsoincrease dramatically. At turn initiation your center of mass must travel

in an instant from way up the hill (relative to the skis) to way down thehill. You may feel as if you’re truly falling off the edge of the world.

Though this movement mainly belongs in the Purpose resource, ifyou’re afraid of it, engage the Will. But do it! (You’ll note that this

pointer is repeated nearly verbatim in the Will description.)

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MORE FUN STUFF ON PURPOSE

Y Don’t work on technique while playing the game. Technique awareness is for practice.Purpose awareness is for playing the game. When you ski for skiing, be aware of your linewhile letting your technique support the Purpose. When you ski for improvement, be

aware of your technique. Obviously, there is overlap but don’t mix them up. Techniqueand Purpose are different.

Y Direct your skis through the snow. Make choices about how the ski stirs thesnow—choices that give you clear, desirable results. I can choose to make the

skis drift, smear, slice, and even retreat. They can go uphill, downhill, forward,and backward. Choose clearly.

Y Choose your goals. Be clear about your desired turn type and shape: Shortturn? Long turn? Fast? Slow? Steep? Flat? Round? Pivoted? If I’m searchingto achieve disciplined technique, I will ski differently than if I were search-ing for adrenaline.

Y Choose your motivation. Why are you skiing? Be clear about your goals.Is it work or fun? (Either or both are all right). Am I here to improve? Whatdo I want from skiing? What are my technical goals? What are my socialgoals (chicks dig guys that can ski!)? Am I here for the scenery? Or theaction? Or the exercise?

Y Lower your criteria for success. One of the most powerful strategies forcreating brilliance every day is to not expect very much. You can be very

sure of what you want, but be prepared to achieve it in very smallincrements. That way, you’ll always be available to move toward

your Purpose without ever getting thrown off track.

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Diamond Story: Transformation—My Real Purpose

Extend. Amplify. Get stronger. Go farther. The difference between a skier hurtlingdown a mountain and a lesser human walking is the difference between perhaps a

fish and a crab. One is fluid and graceful and flies, while the other just sort of scut-tles about along the bottom—presumably shopping.

When you ski, you step out and become more than you were. In a literalsense, you harness all the power available to you, and it creates a new you.When you put on the skis and boots, you are amplified and transformedinto something else—a different realm of relationship with your universe.An empty-handed person on a tennis court becomes a different creaturealtogether when the hand acquires a racquet. That person becomes a“player.”

I’d be comfortable defining an athlete as someone who has acquired themeans to extend or amplify him- or herself through the combination ofgear, physical skill, awareness, attitude, and fitness in order to excel in agame, sport, or physical activity. As a skier you transmute into a master of

controlled free-fall, a turning machine, a terrain dancer—totally at homeand in control of your destiny. With your technique you become unrec-

ognizably distinct from your previous self, since you’ve harnessedthe wild forces of nature to do your bidding. Dude, you are such a

stud-muffin!

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DIAMOND TALK ON PURPOSEFUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Y The turn. This is the indispensable unit of performance for skiing, comparable to theshot in golf or basketball. What are the basic elements of all turns? What is different

for different types of turns? Are we doing short turns, long turns, “shmediums,”or mixing it up? The type and direction of the power I bring to a turn depends

exclusively on what kind of turn I’m making. We can all agree that the arc isfun. Even extreme, big-mountain skiers are almost always in an arc while onthe snow. That’s where the magic is—without exception. In slope-style andbig air comps, too, the skier’s body turns and twists throughout its flight.(Am I stretching it here? Perhaps. But not as much as those crazy peopleare.)

Y Terrain. We tend to look at and describe skiing in terms of what we likethe most—bumps, powder, groomed, whatever. But terrain choice mustchange continually if I’m going to grow my skiing. Sure, I have a basic turnthat is my Purpose, but in what ways must I tweak it on the steeps, forexample, or in the bumps?

Y Goals and motivation. If I’m not too clear on why I’m skiing in the firstplace, it’s going to be awfully tough to improve. Improve what? For

what? I don’t have to have a great or noble purpose. Just goofin’around is plenty. But without any goals or motivation, I’m outta

here. They are what keep me in the game. And, the motivationmust ultimately come from the self.

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COMPETENCIES

Y Line and tactics. This area first led me to discover the Diamond. When talking to racecoaches, I noticed that they would often remark how racers need to forget about technique

on race day and just concentrate on course tactics. You presume technique, and you focuson tactics. About twenty years ago, I decided to experiment and stop teaching tech-

nique first. Instead, I went backward and started with tactics and strategy. For exam-ple, I’d ask what a student wanted the ski to do in the snow. Should it skid, slip,

slide, carve, cut, drift, hop, or flip—in general, what line should the ski tracedown the mountainside? I started with the idea of connected round turns and

told people that I didn’t care how they did it, but that we would all make theskis scribe arcs in either direction. We did it with our feet (out of the skis) onthe snow, with our hands, in our imaginations, and with our skis on. Guesswhat? The technique appeared on its own to support the tactic. And notonly that, but a damn good technique appeared. These people taught them-selves to carve. The lesson here is that if you are clear about what you wantyour skis to do on the snow, your body, which is smart, will invent whatyou need to do the task. (This relates to the classic “form versus function”argument: Technique (Power) should often serve the tactical needs(Purpose) just as much as Purpose is influenced by available Power consid-erations. I have since evolved to believe that one must focus on both tech-nique and tactics, both Power and Purpose.)

Y Strategy. This is the big brother of tactics—the overall plan of descent.Should I ski bumps all day? Work on nonstop runs in the bumps? Ski

one bump run and one groomed? Should I just go straight into thebumps, or should I work on my short turns on groomers for an

hour before I hit the bumps?

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Should I work on my short turns on blues before I try them out on blacks? If I just launchinto skiing with no strategy for the run, the day, or the segment, achieving fun performancewill be a crapshoot. If I decide to not think and let the skis take me where they may, thatcan actually be a pretty good strategy; however, it’s a strategy for learning to react and

cope. If that’s my goal, that’s cool, because it means I’m willing to accept some difficul-ties without surprise and work through them.

Y Achievement. This is always underneath the surface of Purpose. I want to excel.I want to ski well. I want to ski faster, better, longer, deeper, and quicker. I want

to keep score: number of runs, number of vertical feet, number of hours, andamount of time in a racecourse. The achievement drive can be as vicious aplace to get stuck in as “tech-head world.” I must be ready to downplay thetendency toward overachievement because it can really get in the way ofother viable Purposes.

Y Gear interface. How do I want my skis to move in the snow? Whatshould I do to keep my windsurfer from skipping through the chop? Whatdo I want my racquet to do when it touches the ball? How much energy doI want to get out of my skateboard as I transition up the vert? Contrary tothe dangers of overachievement, the benefits of really understanding thegear interface are often underestimated. (And, much of this understandingcomes from Touch.)

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Diamond Story: Squatty’s Chest HurlA wonderful example of an excessive focus on Power, or technique, comes from my friend

Squatty. He once had a student who was totally convinced, through all of his readingand all of his ski lessons, that the secret to skiing was a move in which you drive your

chest downhill. Moreover, this was the only move you needed.

Squatty, in his inimitable bedside manner said, “Wow! I’d like to see that. Wouldyou show me that?”

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Photos©BrianPorter

And the guy did. From a traverse, he hurled his chest down the hill, falling flat on hisface and torso. Squatty, being the consummate pro (and chewing blood from his lip

to keep from giggling) said, “Well, maybe that’s not your best side. Show it to mein the other direction.”

The guy took off traversing the other way and hurled himself onto the snowagain. And this is where Squatty’s genius in using the Sports Diamond™

really stood out. Instead of giving the guy another technical piece to screwup, he shifted—to Purpose: “Let’s direct the chest a little more toward thearc of the turn, toward the front of the skis, so we don’t have such a hardlanding.”

In this way, rather than having to develop a whole new move, the guy wasable to take what he had and redirect it tactically for great and instant suc-cess. He had had an okay move but a bad tactic, a reasonable application ofPower, but cluelessness about Purpose.

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Diamond Story: Skiing On IceYears ago, during a thin snow year, small surface springs in the mountains would

bubble up over the snow and sometimes form gnarly ice blisters. These could reachas long as fifty or more feet down the hill, but were often only about five to ten

feet wide. One year we had an ice patch like that at Taos Ski Valley, and as weapproached it I stopped my group and told them we were going to ski it. I rev-eled in the sudden increase in rebellious tension. I said, “I guarantee that youwill do this just fine, and if I’m wrong, I will refund your entire ski weekpackage out of my own pocket. But … you must stay right behind me.”

They all agreed, so we started with trepidation (and me giggling) towardthe ice patch. I reached the patch and traversed across all five or so feet of itto the snow on the other side. The group did exactly the same, everyone’sskis clattering loudly. When we were all safely and easily across, I said,“That’s great. That’s all for today. No more ice.” Disappointment showed onsome of their faces, but I insisted. To shorten the story, the next day Iallowed one turn on the patch, and then we quit. The third day, we didtwo. By the fourth day, I had totally lost control of the group, and they

insisted on really skiing the damn thing. m

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C H A P T E R E I G H T Y TouchTouch is about the subtle responses to the question, how? It’s more about applying

finesse than it is about mechanics. Touch relates to me personally as a player and asan artist on the snow. How do I manage my moves to achieve beautiful, fluid, joy-

ful, creative skiing? The answers to that question relate more to awareness andpresence than to concrete solutions.

Touch is also about the medium and one’s con-nection with it. Our medium as skiers is thesnow on the mountain. It could just as well bethe ocean or the golf course. It’s where welive. It’s what we are immersed in. It’s boththe playing field and the Power-filled inter-face between the player and the game.(Power in skiing comes from the way wework the snow—the way we squeeze thejuice out of it—and the way it talks back.)

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More touch than I need.

Photo©BrianPorter

Touch Pointers1. Awareness

Y Breathe while you ski. Rhythmical breathing creates awareness beyond thought.

Y Look ahead and down the hill, especially in challenging situations (bumps,steeps, ice, etc.) The eyes really direct the path your body takes. Let your gaze

bounce down the hill ahead of you, drawing you with it.

Y Put rhythm into your skiing. Sing a song, count the turns, trigger therhythm with the poles—it doesn’t matter how you do it. Rhythm will carryyou smoothly from turn to turn, through all the pitfalls, mistakes, and self-critiques that often derail nonrhythmical skiing. Let skiing be an elegant,artistic dance with the snow and the mountain. The rhythm will create it.

Y Smile while you ski. It’s hard to frown inside when you’re smiling out-side. And if you’re frowning inside, your body shuts down. Remember,there are a lot worse things you could be doing right now.

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Y When you move, move like a river. When you are still, be still like a mountain. This ismy favorite tip from one of my favorite teachers, Tom Crum. It implies the fluid nature ofskiing, the flowing down the hill. At the same time it evokes the living stillness of the

mountains, the act of being quiet and calm without being rigid. This is one of those won-derful pointers where if you don’t know what it means just pretend like you do, and

you’ll figure it out.

Y Listen to the snow. Many different sounds are created by your skis touchingthe snow. They vary according to technique, tactics, and snow and terrain con-

ditions. Ski whole runs, just listening. You’ll soon be able to identify thesounds that show up when you’re skiing well and those that occur whenyou’re not. Your body/mind will then help you find the right sounds moreof the time. (Hint: Quieter, softer sounds indicate more efficient, effectiveskiing!)

2. TimingY Learn to sequence correctly. This means putting together the parts in theright order at the right time. It takes a lot of experimentation and feel todevelop, but it is huge. For example, change edges before you turn. Touchthe pole during the edge change. In high-performance skiing, the maxi-

mum edge angle should occur in the fall line. In slower turns, and onsteeper slopes, engage the maximum edge angle a touch later. Moving

forward too long after the edge change creates havoc. When youknow your moves, play with the sequences. Experiment.

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Y Make your movements progressive. Sudden, as opposed to “quick,” movements alwaysdisrupt the harmony of skiing. If you’re going to make a specific move, don’t do it likeyou’re flicking an on-off switch. Dial it up; dial it down.

Y Look ahead, but ski one turn at a time. I gleaned this wonderful idea from an arti-cle on the great Austrian ski racer of the 1950s, Tony Sailer. The idea is to be in the

present and the future at the same time. Yes, look ahead to develop awareness ofwhat’s coming, but, for sure, you’ve gotta love the turn you’re in.

Y Touch, don’t plant, the pole. A jamming pole disrupts rhythm. Allow thepole to swing forward with the centrifugal force at the end of the turn. Touchit to the snow, then hang on to its handle so that it doesn’t drag back. Anddon’t load the pole. It is not there as a pivot point, a handle, a brake, or asafety bar; it’s there to help balance and time your turns.

3. Terrain and Soft SnowFOR BUMPS

Y Look downhill (again!). Even when we get good at looking downhill inmost terrain, we tend to lose that ability in bumps. Enlist Will to keep the

eyes trained downhill so you can develop the awareness of your possi-bilities in the bumps. Look directly downhill, developing tunnel vision

and banishing peripheral vision. Your line will then appear as if bymagic.

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Y Breathe. Breathe consciously. Exhale loudly at the end of every turn. Don’t even worryabout the inhale. If you exhale effectively, the inhalation takes care of itself (thanks to

instructor March Henley, at Aspen Highlands, for this tip).

Y Accept and enjoy that bumps are a chaotic, fun, and funny playground. Youwill never ski them without mistakes. Watch carefully, and you will see them

whispering to each other, planning traps and surprises for you. They are themountain rascals.

FOR POWDER

Y Move smoothly and efficiently. Powder requires the ultimate economyof motion. Small, smooth moves in soft snow are amplified to create bigresults. Big, jerky moves are amplified to create very amusing results.

Y Connect the turns rhythmically. Do not allow yourself to ski across thehill for any distance. If you do, the rhythm dies, and each turn becomesmore difficult. In powder, more than anywhere else, the feeling ofrebounding rhythmically from one turn to the next is the most critical—

yet also the easiest piece to develop. If you develop a rhythm, it willcarry you through, even after a few falls.

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Y Short count the turn finish. This is also related to rhythm. The deceleration at the end ofthe turn is exaggerated in powder; therefore, the end of the turn should be of shorter dura-

tion. You need to feed the skis quickly into the next turn so they don’t bog down. Myrhythm is a short count coming out of the fall line and a long count going in, with

almost a pause in the fall line itself. The rhythm is like one-twoooo, one-twoooo, withthe one coinciding with the finish of the turn and the twoooo with the initiation

from the edge change on. For those of you into classical music, the first move-ment of Brahms’s Fourth Symphony was clearly written for powder skiing. The

only question is, how did Johannes know?

Y Float through the snow. Powder is not the kind of snow for digging into,grinding into, or hanging on. Be soft and delicate and light on your feet—even when it feels like you’re taking a risk. It’s really not that much of a riskwhen you aim for the feel of the skis floating.

STEEPS

Y Free-fall into the turn. On steeps you’re literally falling off the side of themountain, so you have to develop the faith that your edges will catch youas the skis come around. You will experience a little bit of extra comfort if

you just enjoy the elevator ride. It’s like the feeling you get when youjump of a small stool or a stair step—everything is committed to the

drop.

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Y Enjoy the intensity of the adventure. It is unique. It’s the big wow. Sure steeps are scary,but that doesn’t mean they’re dangerous (if you choose them carefully, that is). Look downthe hill and allow yourself to be amazed at the angle of the pitch (even if you’re a beginner,you can feel this). Realize you’re skiing down it and feel the delight of that. Enjoy the thrill

of adrenaline. It’s one of those rare moments when you seem to be more alive than ever.(Thanks, Packy Westfeldt!)

Y Feel like you’re a falling leaf. A leaf falls for a moment, and then, because of itsangle to the cushion of air beneath, it stalls, flattens out, and slows. It’s the same

for your skis: They accelerate, and then, as the edges begin to grip, they stallthe fall and bring you across the hill. Then you must make the effort to startthe fall again.

MISCELLANEOUS TOUCH POINTERS

Y Keep the legs in motion to manage the pressure to the edges of the skisContinually flex and extend the knees, hips, and ankles, as well as tip theminward and outward. And don’t lock up your legs. . Only through such con-tinuous, fluid movement can you really keep your skis moving the waythey should, anticipating, responding, and connecting to the forces gener-ated by gravity, momentum, and centrifugal force. My old mentor, JeanMayer of Taos Ski Valley, talked about applying pressure, then releasing

the pressure. In this way he would “caress” the mountain as he skied.

Y Move fluidly through the turn transition. When we don’t per-ceive of a turn “finish” at the transition, the movement through it

is seamless, and turns flow together effortlessly.

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Y Balance while in motion. Think of balance as a verb, not as a thing to “be in.” Youmove to balance, always staying active and never holding one position.

Y Think “link.” Always link your turns. A single turn is the analyzable unit ofskiing, but it’s not actual skiing.

Y Be creative. Fred Iselin, one of my great heroes from the early (early!)Aspen days, insisted that “skiing is a symphony.” He got tired of watchingall the “itsy bitsy” turns of the early 1960s. A run should consist, for exam-ple, of a few short turns followed by a long, swooping turn with a nice hopover a bump, then a dive into a gulley, finished off with a foray into thebumps. Mix up your skiing. Make it interesting. Make it a dance. Conductyour own symphony.

Y Glide. Skis are not meant to burrow, dig, or grind in the snow. They’redesigned to glide over and in it. You don’t even have to think of technique.Just make your skis fly over the snow.

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Diamond Story: On A MotorcycleI once rode my motorcycle from Aspen to Arapahoe Basin—a distance of about 150

miles over a couple of beautiful Colorado mountain passes.

The first leg, up Independence Pass outside of Aspen, was in the predawn, andI had just the spread of my headlight to identify deer, marmots, raccoons, and

all the other varmints who often inadvertently commit suicide (and takedown the bike riders with them), as they scurry into your light. The usualsearch for the right line, proper speed at turn entrance, inward tip of themachine, tire grip on the road, acceleration to exit the turn—all that wasmeaningless compared to shutting down speed and searching the roadsidesthrough my peripheral vision.

The cold, a relatively balmy 35ºF wasn’t too bad, at first. I was dressed verywell, and the Aspen side of Independence Pass is sort of tropical. Mydescent down the east side into the arctic temperatures near Leadville wasanother story. The concern for deer gave way to the understanding that, asmy speed increased on the straight road across this freezer of a high moun-tain valley, I was clearly going to die from cold.

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I don’t know the math of this, but I do know that when you add 70 mph to 35ºF, the chillfactor is brutal. As my core heat began to plummet, and I realized that the bike’s heatedgrips were not keeping my fingers loose and warm, it was clearly time to pull over to a gasstation, go inside, and raise my body temperature to a survivable level.

After thawing out a bit, I continued on over Fremont Pass, where I ran into a thin glazeof ice on the smoother portions of highway. Once again, I had to dump speed, float my

feet close to the pavement, and stay loose. After awhile the road seemed drier, and Iplunged into the dark, cold valley leading to Frisco and Lake Dillon.

I finally broke into the sunshine at Frisco. The heat from the sun as it began towarm my fingers, arms, and legs was like bathing in the warm water of thetropics. My God! I thought, the temperature is almost up to 40ºF. Maybe I’lleven take off my shirt and relax for the rest of the trip. But, no! The early sunshone directly in my eyes as I rode the along the lake toward ArapahoeBasin.

There would be no mercy on this ride!

This was clearly one of my most brilliant rides ever—one I will rememberwith pride, humor, and humility. Yet technically I didn’t ride very well—just well enough to make it to the ski area. So how could an event so dan-gerous and cold end up so excellent? It’s because I deeply touched the road,the weather, the mountains, and the motorcycle. My journey was well sup-ported and informed by Power, Purpose, and considerable Will. But the

sense of Touch, in particular, was transformative, and the memory of itwill remain with me for life.

And, if I ever try a stunt like that again, somebody stop me!

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DIAMOND TALK ON TOUCHFUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Y Sensitivity and awareness. All the parts of Touch are available to you throughawareness and sensitivity. You must feel, and truly experience, all the elements

of this sport while rejecting the notion of judging any of them. This rejectionextends to you, too. Approach skiing as if it isn’t just about you. Approach it

with wonder and fascination. What’s that sound? How cold is it? What doesthe snow feel like underfoot? After fairly intense technical sessions, many ofour instructor-trainers at AspenSnowmass will say, “Okay, time to dial downthe think meters and go get some wind in our faces.” What they mean is thatit’s time to go take a run, but they purposely shift their language from thetechnical to the elemental—speed, cold, wind, etc.

Y Presence and poise. When you’re connected to everything around you atthe moment—the mountain, the snow, the air, the people, the gear, and,above all, yourself—you can find the confidence that you belong there, thatyou’re a part of it, even that you’ve earned it. If you don’t know how thisfeels, just imagine what it would feel like if you did. You’ll understand.

Y Emotion. Joy, fear, elation, delight, anger, frustration, love, hate, angst,humor (and maybe more humor). All of that is out there and a part of

this game. Let the bad stuff just pass through and appreciate andacknowledge the good stuff. It’s all good.

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COMPETENCIES

Y DIRT (duration, intensity, rate, timing). To make a move is not enough—it has to bemade in a certain way. In skiing, the snow and the pitch are rarely uniform, so the movehas to be made in an infinite variety of “certain ways.” Every move takes place over a dif-

ferent time span, with a different intensity, is repeated at a certain variable rate, andbegins and ends at a unique moment relative to other movements. This is indeed

Touch. So much of skiing is repetition and practice, yet so much is also instinct. I notonly own the move, I own the ability to improvise its application to suit the

Purpose. Sometimes I practice a specific and appropriate dose of DIRT for a cer-tain situation. Other times, I just make it up. Of course, “making it up” might

technically be called a “recovery.” (Thanks to renowned skiing biomechanicsprofessor George Twardokens and Aspen instructor Megan Harvey for thisidea).

Y Rhythm. “Boomalackaboomalackaboomalackaboom” carries me throughtimes of bad technique better than good technique carries me through timesof bad rhythm. You gotta pretend like you can dance!

Y Expression. I recall (sort of) a drunken friend exhorting a crowd of row-dies by saying, “Hey, let’s all take off our clothes and jump up on the tableand BE SOMEBODY.” Now that’s expression! Expression is also my “writ-ing” my signature in the snow with the edges of my skis. It’s play and joyand fun and imagination. It’s creating my personal relationship to themountain—and it is very beautiful within each skier. I will never forget

how when my son Ben was quite small he would be skiing along, andsuddenly he would stop, seemingly going into some strange, concen-

trated state. Overhearing him one time, I realized that he was imag-ining himself at the start gate of a racecourse and giving himself a

countdown. The kid was about to win the World Cup! He wasgonna BE SOMEBODY. m

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C H A P T E R N I N E Y WillWill is about commitment, sustained action, balance, and growth. It addresses your

determination to achieve, to transcend, to survive, to thrive, or merely to stay upright.It is the base platform for the Sports Diamond™ and draws deeply on your courage

to create change—to transform yourself. The Will corner also addresses choice: Youuse your will to make choices and then carry them out with accountability for

both the process and the results

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Hermann Maier, less than two years out of a motorcyclecrash that nearly took his leg off. They said he’d never ski

again. This is not about technique. This is about Will.

Will Pointers1. Anxiety

Y Experience it. Choose to look it squarely in the face. Greet it. And take the follow-ing steps to cut your anxiety down to size rather than allowing it to expand into a

paralyzing agent.

y Pinpoint the source of your anxiety. Is it fear of failure, fear of injury, fear ofthe unknown, fear of ridicule, fear of success, or even fear of fear? Is it fearof the whole mogul field, or fear of a particular section or even a singlebump?

y Rate your anxiety’s size or power on a 1 to10 scale.

y Note the difference in feeling fear at, say, a level 3 and a level 10.

Y Be aware of the present moment. According to Tom Crum, aikido mas-ter and life coach (see www.aikiworks.com), fear operates through oscilla-tion between past and future. You may be concerned about something thatmight happen in the future based on a story or experience in your past.

In some ways fear only exists in the past and future. The more you arein the present, the less you suffer from fear.

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Y Advance your level of terrain or speed in tiny increments. Push your envelope a smallbit, then go back to where you are comfortable. For instance, ski one bump that gives you

anxiety at a level 3. Then stop, acknowledge your achievement, and give yourself theinstructor’s handshake (That’s where you reach out to shake hands with a friend, and

as he goes for your hand, you instead reach over and pat yourself on the back). Skianother similar bump, then find one at a level 4. The search itself is a fear reducer.

Y Enjoy your fear by separating it from risk. In this way you can tap intoadrenaline that fear generates while eliminating your anxiety about potentialinjury. I learned how to do this while bungee jumping. I discovered that I liketo scare myself, but I don’t like to take risks. Bungee jumping, with a rep-utable company, has a high risk perception and virtually no risk reality. Inskiing, too, the perception of risk is higher than the reality. Snow is usuallysoft, and, therefore, very few falls will actually hurt you. There are certainsports I don’t do, because the perception of risk is low while the reality of itis high. (No, I won’t tell you what they are, because my own perception maybe flawed by my lack of experience!) So take steps to diminish risk.

If you like to ski fast, for example, choose an empty trail, ski in the middleof it, check your bindings before you start out, and wear a helmet. Yourrisk reduction will be enormous, and you can still enjoy the abject fear

(read adrenaline rush) of skiing at high speed. How simple is that!?

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Y Reduce your fear through sequenced procedures. My brother-in-law, Chuck Appleton,was an officer in the Massachusetts State Police. I asked him how people in his professiondeal with the fear of confronting dangerous situations. He answered that they drilled theirprocedures so effectively that in each situation the responses were automatic. In his won-

derful autobiography, Chuck Yeager, the test pilot, describes the same process. In skiing,I have learned that the presence of anxiety is a cue for me to drop off my edges into the

turn. At that moment the skis are committed and turning and in control, and my feardisappears entirely. Let the presence of fear cue a drilled response.

2. BalanceBalance, as an act of Will, is so critical that I originally located it as an entireresource in the Sports Diamond™. Furthermore, astonishingly little attentiongets paid to the act of balancing by snowsports teachers (or teachers of anysport, for that matter).

It’s time you paid attention to balance. You can’t get very far if you falldown, right? Balancing yourself is also the secret to efficiency, and effi-ciency is the secret to answering that age-old question, “How do they makeit look so easy?!”

Normally, a lack of balance comes from being either too strong or toodefensive—under the false belief that you can muscle your way down

the mountain or that you’ll encounter real danger. In general, womenare beautifully free of the first belief but often succumb to the sec-

ond. We men, of course, are totally hardwired to try to muscle ourway through damn near anything!

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Note that balance is not a position. My rule of thumb is that once you’ve been in a positionlong enough to recognize it as such, you’ve been there way too long!

Balance is an act of Will because to stay upright, or to be efficient and effective, is some-thing you must continually commit to, or you’ll suffer the consequences of your neglect.

Many of the pointers that follow can just as easily go into the Power resource; I haveplaced them here to underline their critical relevance to balance as opposed to their

use in making turns. Long-time skiers will find much in this section that seemsheretical, and even painful. Get over it! This is new-school ski technique, and it

is so much better, easier, more functional, and accurate that you’ll be delightedif you just “give it up.” I’m 160 years old, and the change has been exquisite.

Y Keep moving and stay loose. Balance is a verb. It is something you aredoing in motion. In skiing, it involves realizing that you are on a surfacethat seems to be moving and changing rapidly, and so you must move andadjust with it, or it will leave you behind. The changes in pitch, snow con-sistency, and angles to the surface all create challenges that you feel as speedand pressure changes of varying degrees. The joints and muscles are per-fectly designed to adjust to these changes if you are willing to allow themto function smoothly and efficiently.

Staying loose and fluid in the joints—especially the ankles, knees, hips,waist, neck, shoulders, and elbows (did I miss any?)—allows you to

make the tiny adjustments that are consistent with balancing.

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Y Work on your “hand jive.”

y Position the hands and arms forward, outward, and at waist height for balance. Liftand spread the arms using the shoulder joint, with elbows bent, palms facing and tippedslightly upward, and poles held loosely. Imagine you’re carrying a giant beach ball.

Having your hands lower than waist height is okay as long as you don’t let them dropback significantly. Holding them at higher than waist level, however, is a “de-balanc-

ing” move.

y Move the hands with the turn. Push the inside hand/arm ahead to keep theinside half of the body strong and aligned. The outside hand/arm shouldrotate through the turn arc at the same speed as the legs.

y Let the hands and arms float. If you hold them rigidly, the whole balanc-ing system will fall apart.

Y Angulate. Hold your torso vertically while edging. The angle will beformed at the hip and knee joints when the torso is more or less vertical andthe legs are more or less tipped to the inside of the turn. Most skiers balancebeautifully relative to their edging skis if they maintain a vertical torso andlevel shoulders. I recommend that long-time skiers lose the habit of angu-lating by leaning the torso to the outside of the turn (with the exception ofturn initiation on very steep terrain).

And, long-time instructors, I recommend you lose the habit of teach-ing this movement. I haven’t taught the old approach of balancing

on the edges by leaning downhill in more than twenty years. Yes,it works, but it’s just extra “stuff.”

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And today’s shaped skis are so effective on their edges and so quick into the turn initiationthat it’s no longer necessary to heave the torso to the outside of the turn for balance. In fact,as your performance level rises, you may find that a little inward tip of the torso is not sucha bad thing.

Y Flex and extend the legs. The knees and ankles—along with the waist—are the mas-ter joints for skiing. Keep them loose—able to extend and flex constantly and smoothly

while skiing. More often than not, the angle of flex in each of these at any one timeis equal to the angle of flex in the others. They work together to manage the pres-

sure changes that challenge balance. Keep them working for you.

Y Keep the hips quiet—in all three planes. The hips act as a sort of univer-sal joint—where the major power transfer takes place—between the torsoand the legs, and, therefore, must move only minimally. The nearly irre-sistible tendency is to rotate, tip, or drop the hips down and back. You canreally help your balancing by keeping the hips forward, more or less squareto the ski tips, and level.

Y Anticipate and preadjust. The balance-upsetting changes in speed andpressure are predictable. When the slope gets steeper, the skis go faster.When I start a turn, the pressure builds. When the slope gets flatter, the skisgo slower. When I begin an edge change, the platform I’m riding on getssteeper, so I go faster. When I collide with another skier, much pressurebuilds and I stop—badly.

If you keep looking ahead, you can anticipate these and other situations,and preadjust for the balancing mechanisms that each requires. If the

skis are going to accelerate when I release the edges from the oldturn, then driving the hips forward will balance me on the sweet

spot of the accelerating skis.

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Y Pressure both skis. Both skis turn well on both edges. Although the outside ski shouldstill be dominant throughout the turn, pressuring both skis (rarely as much as 50% on eachski) creates great turns in great balance.

Y Be aware of your center. (See Chapter 5, too.) Awareness of the body’s center creates anearly magical feel for balancing and is one of the primary commitments in all motion.

Y Ground yourself. Though this concept is related to centering, it’s not quite thesame. Grounding refers more to the location of your commitment to the snow

through your feet (and is deeply informed and supported by Touch). Imaginethat you can sink roots into the snow through your feet. Just the intention todo so will “connect” you in a very direct and comfortable way to the changesin the snow, creating powerful balancing skills. Experiment with differentparts of the foot—forefoot, arch, heel—to find the best connection for eachpart of the turn. Doing so will also connect you to the sweet spot of the ski.Focus especially on the forefoot during the edge change (and generallyavoid the heel at this time).

Y Balance your gear. Your boots are an essential component of balancing onsnow. Even if you are a fairly new skier, find a good boot fitter and spendsome money and time on getting your boots dialed in.

I can’t overstate the importance of alignment, fit, and stability relative toyour boots. Would you buy a fancy new Porsche and take it out on the

road without getting the wheels balanced and aligned? No, you justwouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t even do that with your Mini-

Cooper!

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3. Surrender! And Attack!Oddly, these two ideas are the same, depending on how you look at them. Both attack

and surrender must happen at the edge change. The surrender is the passive part, ofcourse, where you give in completely to the pull of gravity that wants to take you

down the hill from the relatively safe perch of your edges. Attack, likewise, is theactive part, where you not only give up the

safety of standing on your edges, but alsolaunch into the gravity stream with full com-mitment. Only by using these two compo-nents in concert will you be able to drive theskis into the turn. Both are monster commit-ments that produce instant and perfectresults. All of these tips are different ways ofaccomplishing the same idea—both attackingand releasing.

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Photo©BrianPorter

Will is more than making the face. You gotta make the move.

Y Extend your energy down the hill. Imagine that your center is more than just your bal-ance point but also a source of energy that can move your body. Direct it or let it flow—

over the skis and down the fall line. This will bring the hips across the skis and to theinside of the turn, allowing you to line up against your turning skis so that you can

work them.

Y Stand up and out. At the end of the turn, you’re usually slightly crouchedfrom edging effectively. Standing up (and away from the hill) will release theedges. Once they’ve released, you’re knocking on the door to the new turn.

Y Free-fall toward the valley. Similar to standing up and out, this idea isabout more out and less up. Move the center of the body quite far down thehill, as if you were falling off the mountain and leaving the feet behind.

There is a point of diminishing returns where you will lose contact with theskis and fall downhill—go just less than that. But, ultimately, skiing is con-trolled free-falling. The control comes from doing it with enough commit-ment to re-engage pressure to the edges on the downhill side of the oldturn, as you initiate the next turn.

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Y Charge with the downhill knee. To start a left turn, for example, the left knee mustfirst drive downhill as you come out of the right turn. This directly tips the skis toward

the new turn and opens the door for the rest of the body and gear to follow. My friendSquatty achieves the same thing by twisting the femur (left for left turn, right, for

right turn) toward the turn. If you ever hear an instructor talk about an activeinside ski, this is what he or she is referring to.

Y Collapse the downhill knee. This is the passive version of the precedingtip. If the downhill knee collapses, its resistance to gravity ceases, and thecenter of mass will readily move into the next turn.

Y Move the hips aggressively forward and downhill. Not only will you getthe skis onto the new edges, but you will also connect the edges to the snowat the tips, which is where the excitement of the turn really starts. You’llknow it works when you feel the downhill edge of the tip of the downhillski start to bite into the snow early in the turn. It’s magic!

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4. Terrain and Soft SnowFOR BUMPS

Y When in doubt, turn the skis down the hill. If you’re scared, going too fast, out ofbalance, or just plain discombobulated (which may be the perfect word!), turn the skis.

Only then can you follow the rhythm of the bumps and, paradoxically, regain con-trol of your balance and line.

Y Regain balance and speed in a series of turns. Don’t insist on the ability tohave both at any moment in one turn. Balance and speed control are notachieved at the same point in the turn. You achieve balance during the accel-eration into the new turn. You achieve control by turning the skis back upthe hill at the end of the turn.

Y Control is not necessarily the ability to stop quickly at any moment. Ifthat were so, we would always be out of control in our cars on the freeways.Control is the ability to keep moving, to change direction and manageupcoming events and obstacles.

Y Don’t stop. When you stop, the turn you make will always suck. Whyeven bother caring about it? The show is over by then.

Y Always start straight down the hill, never in a traverse. Do this, andyou will attain the life-giving speed that turns difficult skiing into

easy skiing. Think about the use of Power (speed and momentum)to apply turning energy to the skis.

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FOR POWDER

Y Balance on the middle of your skis. Sitting back is a major dumb human trick, as wellas the major myth of powder skiing. I don’t even want to talk about it.

Y Be a speed merchant. Going too slow is just as bad as going too fast. The friction fromthis kind of snow is very tricky so be intensely aware of your speed—drive the skis

around before you pick up too much and start them back down the hill before youlose it all. The idea is to maintain the same speed all the time.

Y Keep driving the inside hand forward. That hand wants to drop back anddown, as the snow’s resistance tends to overturn the skis and the body goeswith it. If you keep your inside hand ahead of your hips, you will recoverfrom 90 percent of potential falls (no exaggeration!).

FOR STEEPS

Y Fling your body down the hill at the edge change. The edge anglesrequired on steep terrain are far more dramatic than those on shallower ter-rain, in order to counteract the downhill pull of gravity. Likewise, the dis-tance the body must travel across the skis in order to apply such an edgeincreases dramatically. At turn initiation, your center of mass must travel

in an instant from way up the hill (relative to the skis) to way down thehill. It truly feels like you’re falling off the edge of the world—horrify-

ing at first and then very beautiful. If you’re afraid of it, this move-ment belongs primarily in the Will resource. Otherwise, it’s a sim-

ple statement of Purpose. Whichever … just do it!

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Y Look down the hill. In order to fling the body down the hill, you must absolutely, withno hesitation or flinching, look down it. To some this seems obvious, but to others (and youknow who you are!) this seems insane.

MISCELLANEOUS WILL POINTERS

Y Go skiing in all weather and all conditions. This will have an amazing effect onyour versatility and self-respect. There are no bad conditions. Each has its chal-

lenges, and each has its rewards. Time and again, those who go out often andwhenever become great. Mentally, this is not so easy; it is an act of pure Will.

Y Practice. Focusing on practice is entirely different from going out for fun(although it doesn’t preclude fun). Instead of connecting Will to Touch, itconnects Will to Purpose. Look at practice in the way you would look at,say, practicing yoga. You would do it with attention, presence, and power-ful intention. So instead of just taking a run, work on one specific idea, suchas clean edge release, for the entire run. You’ll have to accept the good, thebad, and the ugly—giving time for the body/mind to find what works.Doing so requires that you trust the future, knowing that improvementswill come with repetition and precision.

Y Recover. Great skiers make great recoveries. This does not mean thatyou should struggle hopelessly on a turn that is doomed to end in a fall

(that’s the kind of stuff injuries are made of). Just don’t give up too eas-ily. Enlist your agility to regain your balance, and you will be amazed

at how good you are at doing it.

Y Link turns. Don’t stop until you’ve made at least ten turns—even if they’re terrible.

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DIAMOND TALK ON WILLFUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Y Centering. There is another kind of centering that is fundamental to who youare. This is the you that is prealigned and preconnected with the pull of gravity

into the Earth. In skiing it has two components: one that pulls you into themountain and one that pulls you down the mountain. In this manner, you arealways in some sort of relationship with gravity. The trick is to be aware andappreciative of it.

Y Holding polarity. This is much more natural to do than people believe.It’s about the refusal to be limited in scope. Holding polarity between andamong the corners of the Diamond is a bright path to brilliance. It’s the keyto never getting stuck on the plateau. To move with agility to a new place,without getting overly hung up on having invested your identity in just onecorner (great technique, having fun, being brave, feeling the snow), is anamazingly graceful and elegant way of being. It requires abandoning theego’s need to hold position, but it relieves you of the wasted energy of too

many false distinctions. The reward is being a master of all positions.

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Y Managing anxiety. Anxiety and fear are not the biggest deals out there on skis, but theyfeel like they are. First, understand that anxiety is not a bad thing, and, second, rememberthat everybody has it. The goal of the Will is to manage it, not eliminate it. If it does disap-pear in the process, that’s fine, but negative self-judgments about having something so

normal as anxiety are a waste of time. The good news is that everyone can manage anx-iety, and, to do so, you are not required to be or act braver than you actually are. (In my

entire career, I’ve met only one student who couldn’t manage anxiety at some level.I think she actually had a toxic chemical response to adrenaline. She’s a wonderful

woman who just found excitement to be painful. She still skied, and quite nicely,but I don’t think she ever fully enjoyed it.)

Y Transcendence. The Will to be more than you thought you were is verystrong, but it can be obscured by competitiveness and ego issues in skiing.Take a moment to appreciate what you’re doing: controlling a free-fall whilebalancing on a plastic/metal/wood platform down a frozen, tilted surface.And then you go up and do it again. Even if you’re not great at it, you’reawesome for even doing it. You’ve become an amazing, magical mountaindancer. You’ve transcended your old self.

Y Integration of mind/body/spirit. Any separation between the mental,physical, and emotional parts of you is false. All three parts are available toyou all of the time. When they work together, you become a better athleteand a better learner. The trap is in thinking too much or too little; in being

too emotional or too disconnected; in being too physical or too unfit.You may initially prefer to work from one or the other of these capac-

ities, and that is fine. However, don’t allow yourself to become fixedon one at the expense of the others. You should be holding polar-

ity between and among the three poles of mind, body, and spirit.

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Y Positive reinforcement. We all need positive reinforcement (which is not the same, by theway, as lying about how good we are). Think of positive reinforcement as marking andrewarding the movements that approximate the behavior you desire—even when they

don’t fell great, yet. Traditionally, learning to ski or to ski better has been about the sortsof movements you do wrong. (“What would you like to learn in your lesson today?” “I

just want to find out what I’m doing wrong.”) Where do people get that stuff?Imagine what it means. I am presenting myself before an instructor, at enormous

expense, just so that he can list my failings. I already know that I have them; I justwant to be accurate with my list. How ridiculous! Years ago, I used to play this

game in ski lessons: When somebody asked me to tell them what they weredoing wrong, I’d say no. “What do you mean, ‘no’?” the student wouldrespond. I’d say, “No. Knowing what you do wrong is not going to help.Knowing it is the same thing as rehearsing it. If you want to ski better, let’sfocus on what to do right. Hell, I don’t know what you do wrong. I don’teven watch you ski. If I watched, you would just give me bad habits.”

Any dog trainer worth her salt knows that positive reinforcement is whatmakes behavior both predictable and fun for the dog. Negative, correctivestuff sometimes works, but too often it takes away from other performanceaspects, instilling such things as fear of failure and rigidity. Negative rein-forcement is more about the instructor/trainer and our insatiable appetitefor power and control. Positive reinforcement is more about the stu-

dent/dog and the utter joy of learning new stuff. Find instructors whoknow how to give it. Ignore friends who don’t. And, for sure, give it

to yourself!

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COMPETENCIES

Y Balance: the verb. This is the story of anticipation and recovery. It is the sustained ini-tiative to stay upright and at ease through making constant, small and large move-

ments designed to reaffirm our commitment to being a skier instead of a collapsedheap in the snow. It is the commitment to embrace change and move with it.

Anticipation and adjustments. As I look ahead, I can see how the surfacechanges and intuitively plan my own changes to match. If the snow goesfrom packed to deep and loose, the skis will slow down. So I shift my weightslightly to the back in anticipation of the sudden slowing, which will natu-rally shift my weight forward again. This way, I end up in the balanced mid-dle.

Agility and recovery. I need to move quickly and with courage. I need tomove in odd directions and move often. Balance is often mistaken for hold-ing position. The agile movements of balance are really about rejecting posi-tion and staying in motion with the moving environment. Most often, Irequire agility to recover when I haven’t anticipated well, or enough.When the shift in environment is dramatic, my agile recoveries are the

epic achievements of my Will to balance.

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Y Balance: the place. In spite of balance being primarily about movement, my generalstance and posture go a long way toward determining how agile and adjustable I can be.

I seek effective starting places—positions to move from and through—in order to gainthe best use of my body/mind system within the snow. To achieve this, you should

usually have all the joints slightly flexed, with the torso slightly rounded but mostlyupright. In other words, bend your knees, or “get ready.”

Y Centering. I view this wonderful practice through the elegant work of TomCrum. If you haven’t attended one of his Magic of Skiing courses in Aspen orelsewhere, you’re really missing out. Consider your wrist to have beensoundly slapped—a really uncentered thing to do! Centering is about all ofthe above, and more. It’s about simultaneously connecting to your physical,spiritual, and energetic centers. It’s about putting you into a relationshipwith all that’s around you and beyond, as well as being completely andfully in the present moment. It allows you to really perform at your best andhighest. All the stories that have prevented you from reaching your finestbrilliance evaporate and become irrelevant. I advocate centering before youstart any movement. Then I advocate re-centering at least once after you’vestarted so that you reconnect with the new dynamic state. This creates anongoing balancing that is peaceful, elegant, and joyful—all at once.

Y Commitment. You launch, you hurtle, you careen, and you fly. Youmake your move. You dive down the hill, off of the old edges onto the

new ones. You bungee jump. You commit.

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C h a p t e r 9 ~ W i l l

Diamond Story: Rail RidingIn the southern winter of 2004, while skiing in New Zealand, I had had enough of watch-

ing all these magic kids in the terrain parks as they hopped onto the metal rails and slidsideways to the end, then landed in the snow and skied or rode away as if nothing very

weird had just happened. It was clear that I had to try it myself.

It didn’t really look that hard, so I skied up to a very small rail on a gentle slopeand hopped on. For some reason I hadn’t even imagined that this surface

would be, like, about a hundred times as slick as snow. My skis acceleratedsideways so fast that in an instant my feet were above my head and my bodyslammed ignominiously across the metal rail. I felt the pain in the way thatonly a 60-year-old can!

A new approach was in order. The Will to ride was not enough. The Will tolearn, maybe, was a better idea. After a few technical pointers from one ofmy sons about staying low and forward, with a wide stance, I began mypractice.

First I stood on the rail sideways in the stance he advised, and then Ireleased myself to slide to the end. Once off the end, I walked up again

and repeated this—at least twenty-five times. The Purpose was to getadjusted to the sliding before I tried to leap onto the rail.

Next I stepped from the snow to the rail with one foot and slid. Thiswas followed by a quicker, more aggressive hopping step that

ensured the ski was in motion as it contacted the rail.

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C h a p t e r 9 ~ W i l l

The second ski hopped up behind. I did this another twenty-five or so times. Each time Itried to access my sense of Touch, feeling what the rails were “telling” my skis about howto move on them. Each time I became more sure of myself and available to use the Powerpointers I had been given by my son.

Next I approached the rail in a slow wedge and smoothly (well, sort of smoothly)stepped up and slid. Another mass of repetition followed.

Each time in this progression I ended up having a different experience—some-times balanced, sometimes not, but always comfortable and secure in the fact

that I was making progress. The mistakes were good—interesting and useful.And as long as I kept to my Purpose—to slide, to grow slowly, to not fall—everything moved along fine. My sense for the rail increased, I figured outnew techniques, and , of course, I destroyed the edges of the skis. (Rail rid-ing is not about edge change; it’s about edge obliteration. No matter. I hadalready decided to sacrifice this old pair to the ravages of the rails.)

With the help of the Sports Diamond™ I was able to coach myself to a rea-sonable level without injury in a short amount of time. With the help of awizard coach using the Sports Diamond™, I could have made three timesthe progress in the same time. Either way, it was a brilliant day. And theweather really sucked.

There were some very weird side effects. I noticed that the crotch on mypants lowered considerably, and they became baggier as I progressed.

Girls with jewelry in their tongues started speaking to me. And nowI wear goggles and a crocheted hat even while driving my car.

Brilliant! m

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C h a p t e r 9 ~ W i l l

C H A P T E R T E N Y Advanced Brilliance (sort of )

After reigniting my ski teaching career in AspenSnowmass in the winter of 2005, I have made a few discoveries that I keep returning to in all of my lessons, and in my

own skiing.

In sum, these are my new, but perhaps older (in other forms), beliefs:

Y The most essential principle of Touch is flow.Y The most essential principle of Will is attack.Y The most essential principle of Power is alignment.Y The most essential principle of Purpose is interface.

Let’s examine each statement more thoroughly.

Flow, as a function of Touch, is that part of you that stays aware as the pres-ent unfolds and moves constantly and consistently within those moments.

Y It is normal for most athletes to “hold position,” or create a stance thatseems safe and technically proper. In skiing, we talk about bending the

knees. However, it’s not just that the knees are bent. Rather they arebending and unbending with the ankles. It’s not that you are in bal-

ance, but that you are balancing. Balance implies action.

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Y It is an interesting paradox that great skiers appear to be so “quiet.” If you look at themcarefully, however, they are anything but quiet. They are in constant motion, but the move-ment is hidden because it is in harmony with the movement of the skis across the snow

and down the hill. While the skis don’t stop moving, if the skier does, rigidity will set ininstantly. Furthermore, if the skier “stops” the body, even for an instant, the inch more

that the skis travel will leave the entire skier system behind.

Attack results from Will supporting movement and, therefore, energy in a veryspecific, narrow direction. In physics, we speak of a vector, or a force in a par-

ticular direction. Therefore, attack seems to drive the vector.

Y The flow described earlier is not random, and there is not much room forerror within it, especially at the magic moment of the edge change. The skierhas to be entirely committed to channeling a precise, determined, and art-ful flow of energy through the turn.

Y The flow of energy (Power) toward Purpose is absolutely directed by Will.It is all right (and normal) to make small errors in the exact vector, but it isnot all right to decide not to attack. The ski racer who won’t take it downthe hill, the tennis player who won’t swing through the ball, the windsurferwho won’t drive forward into the jibe, and the mountain biker who keepsthe brakes on through the corner … these athletes must ultimately sum-

mon the Will to attack.

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C h a p t e r 10 ~ A d v a n c e d B r i l l i a n c e

Alignment is critical to Power. When the parts of the body move to maintain skeletal align-ment when challenged by the angles of turning, the energy to the skis is greater, and skiingbecomes effortless.

Y In order to effortlessly manage and benefit from a ski’s design—its edges, side geom-etry, flex pattern, and torsional strength—the body needs to behave like the “intelli-

gent” suspension system it is. Imagine the body as a spring, able to build andrelease pressure while its coils compress and expand. If one part is bent out of

alignment, the spring won’t operate smoothly. Similarly, if the major joints ofthe body, from the ankles through the neck, don’t flex and unflex in harmony,the body’s suspension system will get kinked, unable to move smoothly andeffectively. For example, if the knees bend but the ankles don’t, then the hipswill move behind the feet and the “spring” is useless. Add the variables offorward speed, sideways speed, and edge angle, and alignment and theflexion/extension (spring) capacity of the body becomes even more critical.

Y Many classic ski pointers are designed to align the body, through an effi-cient, coordinated functioning of the joints, to effectively apply energy frommomentum and centrifugal force to the ski while minimizing musculareffort. This is why (in addition to balancing) we flex and unflex at ourankles, knees, hips, waist (lower spine), and neck (upper spine). It is whyan instructor may ask you to adjust your inside ski position, ski with the

legs bending differently from each other, or move your arms one way oranother. All of these movements are meant to get your body to align

over the skis.

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C h a p t e r 10 ~ A d v a n c e d B r i l l i a n c e

Y The most critical alignment takes place at foot level, within the boots. Boots are generic,and feet aren’t. You’ve got to get your “wheels” balanced and aligned in order to perform.

Many of the best intentions to create alignment are foiled by boots that have not beenadjusted to the body that wears them.

Managing the interface, as a principle of Purpose, means to discover and use theski’s ability to create a running surface in the snow.

Y At some point every platform or tool in sports connects with and alters themedium of the playing field, whether it’s a fluid, a ball, or a surface. Forexample, how the ski moves in the snow, what kind of surface it creates, andhow it nurtures that surface underlie the ultimate purpose of all movementpatterns.

Y Normally the ski moves forward through the arc of the turn, riding on asurface that the ski cuts out of the slope. This surface can be quite thin (oneedge width or less), quite deep (in soft snow), steeply angled to the slope,or so shallowly angled that the skis drift away from the point where theedges bit into the snow and skid through the arc.

Y Most technique results in some sort of behavior of the ski and the snow.My Purpose is to know what I want the ski to do and to cut an appro-

priate running surface to allow that. m

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C h a p t e r 10 ~ A d v a n c e d B r i l l i a n c e

Diamond Story: Skiing with HaroldOne of my favorite people and students is a gentleman named Harold Grinspoon.

Harold is the diamond. He really works on his technique (Power), and always asksfor the next piece of the puzzle, while developing a keen sense of what he needs

to change or tweak as the day develops. He essentially coaches me, the instruc-tor, about what he needs.

The beauty of Harold’s approach is that now he naturally shifts to the differ-ent resources. He engages the Will to go out and ski in both blizzards andsunshine, flat light and bright light. And he uses his Will to step it up—oftenrisking a touch more speed, a deeper dive into the fall line, or a slightincrease in terrain difficulty.

After awhile, he will stop and say, “I’m done with these dumb ski instruc-tor turns. I want to do short turns (Purpose) because I like the sense ofrhythm (Touch).”

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C h a p t e r 10 ~ A d v a n c e d B r i l l i a n c e

One day he pulled the ultimate Touch move on me. He said that, having watched the chil-dren’s theater productions of Aspen’s Kathy Crum, he wanted to bring a sense of play-

ful innocence to the skiing—like that of a child. So we started to play on the hill—ajourney back through time to the moments of wide-eyed discovery where every-

thing was new and fascinating and fun. Well, we didn’t actually make it back thatfar. In fact, we only got to college, because right away we started talking about

women and telling jokes.

These days, he carves his turns with rhythm and grace, laughs when he falls,is thrilled to just be out in the snow among friends, and skis whenever hecan. He knows that some days it works great, and some days it’s more dif-ficult. And none of that bothers him, because he knows, as KlausObermayer of Aspen is fond of saying, the great question of each day iswhether the skiing will be fantastic—or just terrific. This is “brilliant skiing,every day."

And Harold is only 75. Just think how much fun he’s gonna have when hegrows up.

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C h a p t e r 10 ~ A d v a n c e d B r i l l i a n c e

So that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

I hope you enjoy the possibilities that open when you approach sports with theSports Diamond .™ It has the capacity to help you lift you to new levels of joy

in any sport that you do, and to create a brilliant day for yourself—every single day.

Please stay in touch with us through the website, www.edgechange.comFrom time to time, we’ll be offering new products and opportunities forsports and leadership and we hope to keep you on our list of friends.

In the meantime, come on out and take a Diamond Session on the dry,beautiful snow of AspenSnowmass.

Weems Westfeldt [email protected]

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