How Skis Turn

Ski turning is a fundamental part of alpine skiing sport. How well people ski is defined by how well they can make their skis turn in all conditions of snow surface and terrain. So the questions how do skis turn and how do you make them turn.

Ski design has evolved over many years with each year bringing in a new wrinkle to make skiing easier or to explore a different form of skiing. This blog is about how all mountain and recreational skis are designed to make skiing better.  It is a engineers perspective trying to make a very complex process easy to understand in common language. To this end, I will leave out all my coded technical engineering term.  

First, ski turning is a symbiotic relationship between three main components, the skier, boots, and skis. The boots and skis are chosen to fit the skier so all can work together to make a turn.

The turn.  The turn is made of 3 parts.  The first part is the transition or start of a turn.  This is a dynamic process, moving forward in a curve fashion.  The perfect curve is an arc of a circle that is split into 2 parts at the middle of the curve.  It is not quite perfect since the arc is used to both change direction and control your speed.  Controlling speed is the none perfect part.

The ski slides slightly sideways through the arc roughing up the snow. A “carved” turn has the minimum amount of roughing called side slipping and leave a very narrow snow path. On the other extreme where both skis are in a snowplow or wedge shape maximum of roughing or side slipping occurs. This latter form of skiing maximizes the amount of ski path width and side slipping for a beginner. The ideal path of a turn has a uniform amount of side slipping on both halves of the arc.

The ski.  Here is where it gets a little tricky. Skis are made in many different shapes and sizes for the many different uses. 

All Mountain Ski

I will stick with the all mountain ski that can be used on both hard packed and light powder snow. Newer skis are becoming wider under the foot and little longer again.  Basically, they are narrow at the boot mounting in the middle and wider at the ends. This hourglass shape makes skis unstable for moving in a straight line but helps to make turning much easier (Figure 1). Also, skis usually have flexible ends that will bend for a given load. The amount of flex will depend on what the ski is used for.  I’m assuming the boot and skis fit the skier.

When a ski starts sliding it is like turning on a switch, it becomes alive.  As soon as it starts to move it gains kinetic energy with speed. The ski must then be controlled.

To make a moving ski turn is a simple process.

Knee Tilt
 

You, the skier, must tilt your knee (figure 2) in the direction you want to go and at the same time  press on the ball of your foot to move the balance point forward (figure 3). 

Ski Pivot Locations

This engages the front portion of the ski tending to bend the ski (the darkened area on the ski in figure 1). The more you press on your toe pad the more the ski will bend and turn on the forward pivot point. This puts more pressure on the front of the ski and relieves some pressure on the back. You can then control the size of the arc and the amount of side slipping. Hence the shaded area showing the change in of the arc shape with the change in pressure, in the (figure 4).  As the turn progresses the pressure on the boot moves back to the heel and thus the pivot point.  The transition starts again.

What is this kinetic energy that I slipped in? Simply, it is the ability to do work. As soon as you start to move you have it.  You have to stop to get rid of it.  In skiing, you push snow out around. This will either slow you down or if you push hard enough you’ll stop. You can also use some of this energy to move your skis around by just pressing on your skis at the right place and time. This is similar to riding a bicycle where it takes very little energy to steer the bike. You use a small amount of energy, in order to move a large heavy object, in a different direction.

The boot. I use a relatively soft forward flex boot and like to keep my boots loose on hardpack snow. This allows my ankles to bend but still have the side rigidity of the boot for making the ski’s metal edge dig in. The boot has another function in that when clamped down in place it will stiffen the centre portion of the ski. This function helps when skiing on ice conditions. It also ads weight for kinetic energy.

The Person.  How you stand on skis is most important in making them turn easily and effectively. If you can shift the pressure on your boots from toe to heel equally well, then you are centred on your ski. The easiest way is to just move your boot forward and back under your upper body.  Leaning and/or moving your hands back and forth works. There are other ways to start a turn such as pushing on the middle of the ski or on the boot heel. Pushing on the middle of the ski takes more effort and time. Most people are taught to ski this way.  Pressing on the heels moves the ski balance point to behind the boot, also a way to ski. In the adaptive sports application there are some people that can’t bend forward or get their weight forward, then this is another option.

Remember this is about skis turning not skiing.  The person must add the skills and timing to make turning happen.

Basically the ski is shaped and bent to follow a chosen path.

A Short Introduction to Alpine Skiing

Strathcona Provincial Park
(large park in the middle of Vancouver Island) 

If you want to learn how to ski there are several things you must learn to do.  There are relatively easy things such as acquiring the necessary winter wear and need ski equipment. Then you must learn how to put on ski boots and skis. Then, the harder part when your skis are on, you must learn to turn and stop. Be forewarned, skiing can take over your mind.

Turning is a little hard to describe because there are several ways to turn and several reasons why it is important to turn. Starting with something easy, turning is necessary to take you in the direction you want to go.  Turning is often for self-preservation to avoid dangers and bumping into other skiers or snowboarders. Turning is also used to control your speed.

Turning to control your speed is of most interest to a beginner skier for several reasons.  Gravity is the thing that pulls you down a hill. If you do nothing to control your speed you will go faster and faster. What will slow you down is the snow dragging on your skis and the wind drag you create due to your speed increases.  You will eventually reach some limiting speed depending on the steepness of the hill and if a wind its direction.  On a beginners hill, your final speed may be about walking speed or as fast as you can peddle a bike.  On really steep hills your speed could be anywhere from 120 to 160 km/hr. I have never even approached the higher speeds.

To control your speed on skis you must learn how to make them scrape sideways on the snow surface during a turn.  This is basically what you need to learn as a beginner skier. This is what your beginner lessons are primarily about. You must learn to ski a serpentine path down a hill, with each turn controlling your speed. The steeper the hill then more effort or energy you must use to make each turn. You progress to this skiing level.

If all you did was make turns down a hill, skiing would soon lose its attraction.  To enjoy skiing you must learn to meet the many challenges along the way.  Steepness is one, but there are different trails and terrain with moguls, glades, jumps, and bumps, etc. Speed is good for generating adrenaline and excitement. It can be addictive.

And then there are the 3-4 different ways to start a turn that got me started on the path to develop and create my ski method for beginner skiers. I reached a point in my skiing where I could not improve and couldn’t figure out why and what to do.  The secret was learning how to steer my skis quickly and efficiently. The question was why didn’t I learn sooner? And then, what and how soon could I have learned? This is what my manual and video are all about, how to become a good skier in the shortest and most efficient way.

This blogging site is for beginner downhill skiers, people returning to the sport and those wanting to improve their skills.  Highlighted is my free Manual, AlanR Method, Learn to Ski. The manual has 3 sections. The first section is about preparation to start. The middle section is lessons on how to ski. This section includes 6 sequential lessons which are based both on how skis turn and 5 basic skills we needed to learn in order to control skis. The last section is the background of a few of the basics.  

The Genesis of My Manual

Early Morning Mt. Washington CA

This problem was put to me by Ryan and Jen, two of the best ski instructors on Mt. Washington (Canada). We were at the halfway point up an 8-minute high-speed chair ride.  How does a bicyclist going fast around in a circle, leave the circle at speed?  I had 2 solutions right away. The connection to skiing absorbed my skiing for the next year.  
Have you figured them out yet?  Most cyclists find a solution subconsciously and with experience work out both solutions.  On a bicycle, you can steer it under you to get your weight relocated on the appropriate side or you can peddle harder and accelerate out of the turn.

 I have written about one solution previously, the Dynamic Transition. The other solution, accelerating out of the turn, I left alone.  This is the stuff that should be examined by those interested in the dynamics of ski racing. On skis, you can’t peddle faster but you can certainly accelerate.  This is far beyond beginner skiing.  But it is where I found a different way to ski.  
I had been taught most of the pieces but had never been able to assemble them in a usable fashion. The clue was to steer your skis under you similar to when biking.

The concept of steering skis is not well thought out or applied. It is certainly not given space in most ski journal and videos on the internet.  What I found in the year following my epiphany was that steering skis is the easiest way to make them turn.  The design of shaped and softer more flexible skis are a great enhancements. They allow a skier to shape and engage the front portion of the ski and thus control the size and shape of the turn. My first attempts at steering skis were part of the fun of skiing that I was missing.  I tried steering my skis under me while going fast on a short uphill. My skis flew out from under me landing me on my backside, but it was such an amazing and unexpected happening that is spurred me on. 
When should we have learned how to steer skis? Why was this technique not included in our lexicon of ski knowledge? The way we teach skiing hasn’t really changed much in the last 50 years. It was time for a change. Making skis turn is simple.  If you tilt your knee in the direction you want to go and you lean forward to apply pressure on the ball your foot, the ski will turn. There is a but, you must learn to get your body in the right position to make it happen. I found that the 5 basic skills that we learned are most important to make this simple move. I place equal emphasis on these skill in my lessons. I also changed the rules on how beginner stand and move.  
My years of teaching beginners became criteria for determining the best approach. I like the progression approach where each lesson builds on the previous.  I like the idea of making every minute count and every motion skill related. All the backup information is in the manual.
My lessons are skill based and beginner oriented. They are fastest, most complete and safest path to parallel skiing.  AlanR

Beginner Skiers Plans:

Snow Ghost

Beginner Skiers Plans. 

There are two types of Beginners, those that have never tried downhill skiing Plan 1, and those that have Plan 2.  

Plan 1:  You are a New Skier  

1 to 3 below are preparation before going to a ski hill. 4 to 7 are the lessons you perform at the ski hill.  

1.  Download my manual and read the first section on beginner preparation. This section of the manual has enough information to get you to the hill.
2.  Look at the video and read the second section on of the manual describing the lessons.
3.  Go to a resort and rent your equipment. Make sure your boots are comfortable and don't hurt.
4.  Find the beginner hill and start at lesson 1. The first lesson is about mobility and practiced on flat land. Spend about 15 minutes on each lesson.
5.   Follow lessons 2 to 4 on a gentle hill. 
6. Try lesson 6, about speed, on a cat track hill. This could be the last part of beginner hill where you can go straight down.
7.  Repeat the lessons until you do them with confidence.

Comment:    Lessons 2 and 4 should be performed very slowly, almost stopping. Lessons 3 and 5 should be performed slowly at first then gradually increasing your speed with each repeat. By increasing you speed in lesson 3 you will increase your stopping ability. By increasing your speed in lesson 5 and shortening your distance between turns you will find it easy to ski with yours skis parallel.

Plan 2:  You are : Starting Again

                 

                 You are equipped and you can make snowplow turns, but you want to advance. You must start again because several new concepts are added to the beginner program as you will soon discover.  

1. Download the manual
2.  In section 1 read about boot fit. 
3. In section 2, lesson 1, Start with Stationary Balance in Feel Your Feet
4. Follow the lessons in order as each lesson is a prerequisite of the ones following.  

Note: 

Lesson 3 is training one leg at a time. One leg is doing most of the work and the other is controlling the direction straight down the hill.  It is the best way for a beginner to stop and it is about a critical skill (Pivoting). 

Lesson 4 is about initiating a turn by pressing on the inside portion of the ball of your foot. This is the easiest and least energy using way to steer a ski.

Comments:

My lessons are really simple exercises for learning the 5 basic skiing skills. Each lesson emphasizes a particular skill. Lesson 6 is a test of speed and confidence. 

Spend about 15 minutes on each lesson. Don’t look for perfection first time. Repeating the lessons several times until performed flawlessly. 

At some repetition, during lesson 5, both skis should remain parallel during the turn and the end of one turn is the start of another.
The lessons are how I teach skiing. My manual has the extras comments you get during a lesson from me.

What is an Intermediate Skier?

One of the problems in skiing is there is no standard that defines an intermediate skier.  You know that you are not an expert as you will often hesitate to go down a Double Black diamond run.  You may struggle down a Black diamond and feel comfortable on Blue runs. Some kids don't seem to have a problem as you see them snowplowing down the steepest of hills.  

I had the opportunity of taking a course with one of the CSIA masters Don Korjevan who challenged us to examine our own skiing and to critique it.  I tried but found I was stuck.  It is difficult to bootstrap yourself to another level if you don't have a path to follow.  I once watched some CSIA and racers skiers training on a race course together. There was a major difference between the stiles of skiing.  The racers seem to sparkle on the course but I still couldn't see how it was done.  

Eventually, Jen and Ryan (Now Director and Deputy Director Mt. Washington Snow School, BC, Can) gave me the clues and opened a new dimension in skiing for me. My main question was why did it take so long for this to happen?  Why keep this a secret?  How did I get to this new level of having fun on skis again? At last, I was able to critique my own skiing and determine what was needed. In a nutshell, it was my skills needed quite a bit of work. So I developed my own definitions of some of the skiing terms and tried to get rid a lot of baggage. I also wanted to develop a progression that encouraged good skiing right from the start.  So my method is the result of my studies.  It is based on the basic skills that we use to talk about but never seemed to practice.  

The two skills that I was lacking were pivoting/counter rotation and what I call dynamic balance. 

So if you are an intermediate skier and want to move ahead you can test yourself on how well you can do the lessons in my manual and video. What is missing from your skiing?  Do you monitor the pressure on your feet when you shift your balance ( lesson 1)?  How slow can you perform (lesson 2 edge control)?  How are your pivoting skills, can you perform lesson 3 going in a straight line down a hill?  Do you start your turns with pressure on your big toe pad (lesson 4).  These are gauges that you can use to test your skiing. And finally, how well do you blend these skills (lesson 5)?
View my next post on the transition from beginner to intermediate turn.

Alan’s PRSF Ski Knee Witch Craft

 Alan’s PRSF for damaged knee cartilage: A possible alternative for the PRP procedure 

Below is my knee history and attempt at knee restoration. It is a slow fix in terms of many months but only takes a few easy minutes a day.  

I’m presenting this information now because it may help someone who has a similar experience to mine, to get ready for the next ski season.  Some people have tried the procedure that I follow and found an instant feeling of relief.  I have found a way to greatly increase the flow of nutrients to the knee using the knee’s natural structure and components. Minimally it improves the lubrication of the knee and ultimately, if lucky will repair the cartilage.  I have practice this for 7 months as a replacement for the PRP which failed me. For me the results are much better than the PRP and I name it PRSF (Plasma Rich Synovial Fluid).  All you need is to be able to count to 5 slowly, a few minutes time every day, and a compression band or 3 or 4. You can skip to the bottom for a description of the procedure if you’re not interested in how this came about.

About five years ago my right knee joint started to fail. Three years ago I mentioned this to my doctor and he recommended a joint replacement and set up a meeting with a local surgeon.

The surgeon told me that the replacement knee joint wasn’t as good as good as mine.  He gave me several alternatives. Three were knee injections and one was a brace.  The three injections were $200, $300 and $500.  I asked which injection was the best and he said the $500, which was the PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma). I opted for the latter and the brace.

I tried the brace route and found it the most painful experience. The hinges on the brace did not align with my knee centre of rotation. This caused great misalignment of all parts of the knee joint.  I gave the company a long detail note on what was wrong and eventually got a refund. That is another story.

Then, I also tried the PRP injection. After a year of 3 PRP injections the last one failed. A week after the last injection I woke up and found I couldn’t bend my knee. Very slowly I was able to bend it. The range of bending was sufficient for skiing. What to do about my knees?

I opted for a replacement and found the lineup waiting time was a year.  Then, I looked at the mechanical contraption that I signed up for and was not impressed.  So I started my research in earnest with the goal of determining what happened to cause the failure, what the PRP is supposed to do and what is the best alternative.  I’m a mechanical engineer not a medical doctor, so some of the reading was hard going. Some of the descriptions of some of the processes were not clear to me.

Platelets for instance are generated in copious amounts every day and their primary purpose is to cause blood clotting in wounds. Their secondary function is to help start healing. If not used, their life expectancy is about 8 days at which time they are processed out of the system. Doing the simple math there is always 8 days of supply in your body for damage control. I could not find a definitive answer for their use in the PRP application. Maybe bone surface coating.

I found some contradictory information. For example the general consensus is that there are no blood cells in normal synovial fluid and yet there are test to determine the white blood cell count in rheumatoid joints.  

I also found that the synovial fluid in the knee has some repair components that fix the normal wear and tear.  Failure of the knee joint is usually cause by excessive overload, infection and rheumatoid arthritis.  When the built in repair system is too slow and can’t keep up with these traumas, the knee joint fails. There is some stem cell work being explored and replacement cartilage is being grown and inplanted. This work is only in the experimental stage and not of much value to me.

In February I met a chiropractor, Jerome Fryer, who asked me to redesign a prototype chair of his for production. During our negotiations he told me about some of his work. One item he mentioned was that you can pump plasma into the lower back joints by bending over and then press on your upper thighs. This process stretches the joints in the back. It should be noted that joints are enclosed by a membrane that keeps the lubricating synovial fluid in the joint. When you stretch a joint, plasma (filtered blood) flows into the joint and fills the space created.  The time frame is in 3-5 seconds. The effect is to make you slightly taller for a while.  For several reasons I declined the project but this last thought intrigued me.

During my knee brace experience I learned about the knee construction and how it worked mechanically. I also learned a bit about all the components and how they function.  Articular cartilage, the amazing bone surface material and its lubricating liquid, synovial fluid, are the basic components that make all joints work.  There is also the membrane surrounding the joint that contains the synovial fluid and filters blood creating plasma. When in operation there is a continuous minuscule flow of fluids in and out of the joint.

The red and white blood cells are filtered out by the membrane leaving nutrient rich plasma to enter the joint.  The bone also supplies materials necessary to rebuild damaged parts.  The plasma and synovial fluid mix acts as both a lubricant and the medium for distributing these nutrients to the damaged area. When the plasma mixes with synovial fluid the viscosity of the mix is high enough to not leak back out through the membrane. (My guess, but some leaking must occurs in order to remove waste.)

The process during loading (walking, riding, etc.) the normal joint discharges a very small amount of the synovial fluid from the loaded surface and when unloaded the same amount is replaced. The displacement, of how much the cartilage is compressed is very small, about the thickness of a sheet of paper. The flow of liquid into the joint is similarly very small when the load is released and this is most likely the reason that the repair process takes so long.

When the knee cartilage is failing or failed, a relatively large space is created. The leg can now be bent both in the normal front to back motion but also very slightly from side to side. The surgeon checked the degree of damage this way. Bending the damaged knee sideways opens a gap about 100 times larger than in normal use.

The knee has two pressure contact points, one on the inner side (medial) and one on the outside side (lateral) of the joint. Either one or both of these surfaces can be damaged. One is a fulcrum in the below process for bending the knee sideways.

Muscles  Pushing Knees Together

So here is my solution for my right knee analogous to the back extension above:

•   I press with very low force, my right foot ankle against my left foot instep. This bends my right leg sideways, using the muscles for pressing my knees together. My right leg knee is slightly bent.  The gap between the upper and lower bones open about 2 to 3 millimetres( on the medial side).  (I can feel the top of the tibia and the space that opens.) (After 7 months the opening is much less.
•  I hold pressure 5 seconds then release it. (The plasma fluid in-flow time. 
• Then I quickly flex and straighten my right leg 5-10 times in the normal direction to mix the plasma and synovial fluid. It helps if the limits in both directions are reached. 
•  I repeat this process 4-6 times until I feel the fluid fill the space.  It feels cool (in the temperature sense of the word) as I feel the fluid spread across the joint space. No more is necessary.

·         I do this 2 times a day on my bed or sofa, once I get up in the morning and once when I go to bed.

When I stop with my knee bent 90º I can feel the added fluid around the base of the patella (water on the knee). The knee joint is now slightly over filled with a Plasma Rich Synovial Fluid, hence PRSF.

One caveat is that I use a compression bandage biking and walking for exercise but not usually around the house.  I believe a compression band helps to increases the fluid flow between the front and back of the knee engineering wise.  For Skiing I use a compression band with side braces built in for some torsion (twisting) stiffness. At night I use a very light pressure band to keep the fluid in working space of the joint.

Some stress is necessary to ensure appropriate repair. Biking and walking are normal now. I’m holding off on running.  Something is happening and I know it is better. Unfortunately, I don’t have the equipment to determine what it is.  It took me a long time to cause the problem so I figure that it will take a long time to repair. I will know when and if this process stops working, the joint space will be filled and that my cartilage is repaired. The procedure has no effect on my good left knee.

Dare I say that some cartilage is being replaced?  Witch craft!

Next, my rheumatoid arthritis fix for skiers of course. AR

Where to Start: Flat Land Training

    Before you start down a hill with your skis on it is best to learn a few simple skills. This will prevent you from being permanently damaged or maybe permanently turned off the sport. 
The whole process can proceed quickly if you do the flat land exercises first.  Then proceed slowly on a gentle hill first learning how to stop and then learning how to change your speed from slow to faster and back to slow.
The flat land training teaches how to use feet and legs in order to accomplish a certain feeling or action. It also introduces you to the rudiments of how skis are made to turn at your command.  Spreading your feet wide  wearing your boot without  skis attached you can simulate the same feeling you will encounter when making a ski turn.  
For instance when you lean forward you will feel both pressure on the ball of your foot behind your big toe and on your lower shins. By shifting your upper body from side to side you will feel the pressure needed to make your skis turn. 
If you repeat this motion without pressing on the front of your boot you will be in the perfect stance for you when skiing down hill.  
(When you become an intermediate skier the only difference is that both your feet will be side by side. You will also be facing down the hill with your skis on and starting a turn.)
     Next when gliding on one ski by pushing forward with the other starts your training for sliding and gliding on skis.  You can either make a square or go back and forth in a straight line.  At the corners or the end of a short glide line you make a turn by scraping the snow with your ski. By pressing out with your heel you can make you ski fan out in a wedge shape. If you use your right foot you will make a left turn. The process is similar to spreading peanut butter or mayonnaise on bread.  Give both feet a chance to go around several squares or lines. This motion simulates slowing down or finishing a turn. 
By completing these moves and exercises you have practiced all the rudimentary skills necessary to ski.
All the above is included in my free Manual noted at the top right corner of this blog.

Beginner Skiers Second Lesson Notes and Tips

SFS    FAST Slow Slow to Stop

Beginner skiers must learn to control speed, to stop and to turn.  This requires you to make your skis slide sideways to the direction that you are going.  You sort of scrape the snow with the edges of your skis. The harder you scrape by increasing the angle the slower you go.  If you scrape hard enough, you will stop. This is shown in the sketch to the left, Fast Slow and Slow to Stop.  Your first 2 lessons using my method are all about this scraping process.
  
The next picture shows me in the stop position.  Legs apart and almost straight, tip of skis close but not touching. Ski back ends spread wide. Me bent forward at the waist and arms wide.  Poles dragging.  A beginners stance for maximum scraping effect.

Beginners Stance

The last pictures show the effect or pattern in fresh snow of going fast and slow.  Where the pattern is narrow I was picking up speed, less scraping effect; and slowing down where the pattern is wide, more scraping effect.  You can see this in motion by clicking on the Free ski lessons video.  

Slow Fast Slow 

Tip:  The first few lessons are performed in slower motion, about walking speed.  The closer you can come to a stop without stopping will give you a measure of your skill development. The theory is that it is best  to learn first how to do a particular move and the necessary skills slowly and well, before you apply any speed.

Notes:  For a beginner to stop on a beginner hill the legs must be pushed as far apart as possible.  If you can't stop then using this method, then the hill is too steep for a beginner or you may be bowlegged like me. In order to get the maximum ability to stop it is necessary to have at least one ski at 90 degrees to the direction you are travelling, lesson 3. 

Eventually when you have finished the six lessons and can ski parallel with some confidence then try stopping with both feet side by side, a so called hockey stop. Stopping with two feet is by far the best way to stop and takes the least amount of effort and energy

Good News, Video and Trip

East Glacier Park, Montana, 2 days from home.

      In my last post in the spring, I promised a video of my lessons.  Andreas Ruttkiewicz, my collaborator in this venture, finished tuning the final cut and so it is now Public on YouTube.  I am really pleased with his work. For fun, he added my bloopers.  Here is the link Video: Learn to Ski, AlanR Method . The site is a work-in-progress and fine tuning will continue.  
My process for learning how to  ski is now complete. You can see and try each lesson.  You can reinforce each lesson by reading the manual for details. You can reinforce what you learn in the lessons by reading and understanding the third section of the manual. In this last section, you can find the answers to many of the Why questions.
There are some differences between the manual and the video which I will edit over the next year.  I like the part in the first lesson on mobility.  For going around in a circle, I show how to push out with your heel in order to turn your skis.  This is a fundamental move which includes 4 of the basic skills and is repeated often in different forms in the following lessons.  In lesson 3, you continue the first portion of alternate stopping but instead of stopping you just slow down to almost a stop and then continue with the next partial stop. I forgot to video this last portion of lesson 3. We will work on it.  
I know the current trend is to let the student try and explore and to learn by experience.  But I am old school in that I believe that skiing is potentially a dangerous sport and some basics should be learned before any attempt at open-field skiing.  I also believe in introducing the 5 most important skills in the very first session.  People stall out at the intermediate stage because some of the skills were not emphasized.  Pivoting is a good example.  
My trip home was wet for a couple of days. But Ontario to BC in 8 days, on a large scooter and camping along the way, is not bad ( 4400 km). The next day after the above picture was taken, it rained for 2 hours in the morning, going from Troy, Montana to Osoyoos, BC. The last day through the mountains of southern BC was spectacular.