text by John May, technical review by Rick Lyons, photos by Tyler Barnes, originally published in the Winter 2009 issue of the NW Snowsports Instructor
A memorial service was held this summer on the slopes of Mt. Hood for our beloved friend, Counter. Although a body has not yet been found it’s widely accepted that the cause of death was due to overuse and misunderstanding. Counter is survived by its next of kin, Squared.
Leading up to the disappearance of Counter many ski patrons had witnessed its abuses and mistreatments. There was an eye-witness account of a counter overdosing at Mt. Hood Meadows where a skier was hell-bent on keeping his upper body facing down the hill at all times. The worst atrocity was in a medium radius turn on North Canyon (an easy blue run) where he insisted on keeping hips, shoulders and hands pointed directly downhill through the finishing phase of the turn. After further investigation this abuse of counter was cited as the reason why the skier always ended up back on the inside ski with excessive tip lead only causing gross rebalancing and re-aligning movements to start the next turn.
Other reports indicate that Counter was so despised that it was banished from local shops and community bookstores. Local banker, Tip N. Side was so disgusted with Counter that he chose to “square up” at the finish of his turns so that hips and shoulders faced completely across the run in every turn. Tip N. Side said, “I have no use for counter! If I just face across the hill every turn, I can slow down by bracing against my downhill ski and skidding sideways. Yeah, it tires me out and makes it really tough to move into the next turn, but at least when I fall I’ll be up the hill rather than down.”
When asked if he would ever consider adding some counter, Tip N. Side responded, “Are you kidding me? That just gets me all twisted up and swings the tails around the tips! I’m sticking with rotating my hips around so I can set up a skidded brace for safety.” On a side note, banker Tip N. Side is also the president of the local WHTPF (We Hate Turning in Powder Foundation) and is organizing the NNBC (No New Bumps Coalition).
In another sighting, patrons at Stevens Pass saw Counter being dragged all over the mountain in various turns, shapes and conditions. We had a chance to catch up with someone who spoke with Counter in the final days and she said “Oh that poor Counter, it was just so misunderstood. Last week at lunch I found Counter curled up crying in the corner.” When I asked what was wrong, Counter just said “I can’t take it anymore, these skiers are over using me because they think if a little is good then a lot must be better. I tried to remind them that humans are designed for fore/aft movement, but oh no, they insist on twisting their spines in to a Möbius strip every turn. You know, they just end up over pressuring the outside ski through the finish and can’t flow into their next turn.” Our eye witness felt that Counter was so distraught, that it’s no surprise people are reporting it’s disappearance.
With all these reports of abuses, overuses, no uses and excuses Counter seemed to have left this world due to confusion and over application.
However, conspiracy theorists have asserted that in the week leading up to Counter’s disappearance there had been visits to the Functional Movements Plastic Surgery Program at the I.T.T. Institute. It’s even alleged that Counter had reconstructive surgery and put away the one-piece Scot Schmidt Steep Tech ensemble in an attempt to blend in on the hill. Even though a body has not been found, authorities cite Counter’s lack of presence in efficient and effective skiing as grounds for declaration of death.
Not convinced, a local Movement Analysts Team searched for Counter on the slopes by interviewing many efficient skiers. They began noticing skiers achieving incredible performance by aligning their bodies to their tip lead, and when asked flat out, “Where’s Counter?” The skiers would respond “Oh I stopped trying to create counter and started squaring up to my ski tips.” Confused and suspect, these analysts asked for an explanation. Here’s the transcript…
Movement Analysts (MA): Square to your tips? Don’t you mean square to your skis? I thought that was bad.
Efficient Skier (ES): Apparently you are misunderstanding me. Instead of aligning your hands, shoulders, hips and torso to the direction your skis are pointing or facing, simply align them to the natural amount of tip lead that is created through the finish of a turn.
MA: Hold up! This isn’t new, we just interviewed that banker Tip N. Side and he tries to do this every turn.
ES: He takes it too far. That banker loves to skid and brace off his downhill ski through the finish. I’ll bet he told you that old nugget about falling up the hill is better than falling down the hill. He over rotates his hips and shoulders at the finish of every turn, rather than keeping his body aligned to the small amount of natural offset or tip-lead that occurs through the finish of the turn.
MA: Tip-lead Alignment? What does that do for you?
ES: It keeps you in the most optimal alignment to do what you want when you want. First it creates a far better stacked position to manage pressure. I used to hear Counter always complaining about the inability to manage pressure at faster speeds because the body faced a different direction than the feet creating a very compromised structure. Second it allows us to access our feet and legs more readily. We don’t have to make a rebalancing movement through transition just so we can start the next turn. A key indicator for me is sensing my inside foot under my inside hip, instead of in front of it. Or as some folks say – keeping the inside hip over the inside foot. Bottom line: Keep your hips over your feet relative to the line of action and you will be stacked to use your tools the way you want.
MA: Stacked is good, but hips over inside ski ankle seems like you’ll have too much weight on the inside ski
ES: Ah gothcha! I said keep the inside foot under the hip, not lean inside or put your weight on your inside ski. You are still directing balance to the outside ski and managing pressure through both skis, but by keeping your inside foot under your inside hip, relative to the line of action, will allow you to use your new outside ski earlier in the turn. In fact, great skiers can start engaging the new outside ski before it even technically becomes the outside ski.
MA: Huh?
ES: C’mon, I saw you guys at the PSIA-NW Summer Ski Camp, as well as at Timberline clinicing with Mike Rogan this summer, and then again at Fall Seminar listening to keynote speaker and former US Ski Team Coach Greg Needell. If you can begin to slightly edge and pressure the new outside ski while it is still the inside ski, during the finishing phase, then you will be able to start engaging the ski earlier and get better ski performance. In fact you not only get earlier engagement but also balance, speed control, and the Level III standard known as “carving immediately.” But, you can’t get any of it if you are not in a stacked and aligned position. Aligning to the natural offset of your ski tips and keeping your hips over your feet keeps you in the position to do whatever you want, whenever you want.
MA: I’m getting it now. You don’t face across the hill because the hips come around too far and you create a downhill brace. So if we just face downhill all the time then we should be in the money because, if little is good as you’re describing then more must be better.
ES: Whoa, pump the brakes! Just like “over squaring” doesn’t help neither will “over countering.” Think of it as the sweet spot. Not enough counter you get over-rotated and braced, but too much counter and the inside foot typically moves excessively ahead of the inside hip putting you on the tail of the inside ski. “Over countering” can happen in two forms 1.) is a twisting of the spine where the shoulders and chest face down hill, but the pelvis and hips still face across the hill or 2.) all portions of the upper body including the pelvis face directly down hill but are stacked over the heels rather than the front of the arch. In either case the skier will have to make a rebalancing move before flowing into the next turn.
MA: That seems to make sense. We want to align our hands, shoulders, torso, hips, etc. to the minimal amount of tip lead that naturally occurs through the finish phase. So it’s a continually stacked alignment to keep us in position to get the most ski performance. Thanks for sharing with us! Tomorrow’s headline will read, “No more use for counter rotation.”
ES: What? No, no, no. The misuse of counter-rotation is dead. We still want to keep turning the feet and legs more than the upper body but in a manner that maintains continual stacking with hips over feet relative to the line of action.
MA: But, but, but…
ES: But nothing. For example if you are making a turn shorter than the design of your skis or maybe skiing the bumps, trees, chutes or a close set gate, then you’ll definitely be turning the feet and legs under a stable body to take the skis through the intended path. Some call this skiing in and out of counter which is a functional outcome of great movements rather than a position or a look you create. However, even in these shorter turns we still find improved performance and control from aligning to the tips and stacking.
MA: Even with short radius turns?
ES: Yes, even with short radius turns.
MA: Hmm … so too much counter or too little counter inhibits efficient skiing. The ideal position is to stay aligned to your ski tips or correctly “squared.” Correctly meaning hands, shoulders, torso and hips aligned to the natural tip lead that occurs through the finishing phase or square to the tips. From this alignment you have the most options to use the tool the way you want, when you want. So just the right amount of counter is ideal, but I don’t know if you heard, Counter is dead.
ES: Due to a non-disclosure agreement, Counter has asked us to not mention its name since moving into the Abused Concept Protection Program but since the cat is out of the bag, then we can confidently say that Counter is alive and well in efficient skiing. Simply said countering or aligning your upper body (pelvis included) to the natural offset of your skis (aka “tip lead”) will enable you to do want you want, when you want.
Final Thoughts
Alignment of the upper body to the tip lead is not a new concept. It is the fundamental basis for turning feet and legs under a quiet and stable upper body. A quiet upper body can be statically illustrated indoors simply by standing up then pointing your feet to the left or right by rotating the femur in the hip socket, without rotating your hips. The axis of rotation should run between the arch and ball of your foot, not the heel. You will notice there is no twisting of spine and there is a natural offset or tip-lead created by these movements. Now slowly rotate your hips and torso to align with a straight, imaginary line drawn between your big toes. You are now “square to your ski tips” or “optimally aligned.” Granted this is a static example, and when you add forces generated in a turn, tipping of the lower legs to edge/de-edge the skis, there will be additional movements necessary.
Keeping the upper body aligned to this minimal offset results in little if any rotation of the upper body. This minimal movement can be described as “quiet” and “stable.” Beyond looks, this alignment is incredibly functional, because it allows immediate access to the skis with no rebalancing movement needed to enter the next turn. Stance influences tip-lead. An ideal stance width is skier dependent and based on characteristics of a person’s body structure (wide hips, narrow hips, height, etc.) but here are some key guidelines.
The stance should be wide enough to enable a full range of edging from both skis by tipping of the lower legs but be narrow enough so it is unnecessary to move the center of mass excessively laterally to be able to extend or flex either leg. Typically matching the width of your stance to width of your hips is a good starting point. It’s much more effective to balance from a consistent stance compared to one that is changing during a turn. So once your stance is established, the goal is to keep it consistent throughout a turn.
One of the key points with “aligning to the tip lead,” is to maintain a functional relationship between the inside hip and inside foot. A common mistake is to have more tip lead than hip lead. If the hip is not aligned with the foot the tendency is for the skier to be back as he tries to engage the new outside ski. The relationship of the hip and foot needs to be balanced with the line of action, which is the combined forces acting through and into the bottom of the skis. The line of action changes dramatically with speed, turn radius, snow surface and terrain.
To achieve this alignment, the inside hip, torso, shoulder and arm should remain higher than, and ahead of, the outside hip, torso, shoulder, and arm. One should be able to draw parallel lines across the ski tips, feet, hips, shoulders and arms. These parallel lines help address the confusion of how much counter is too much vs. too little, because it provides a tangible orientation of the upper body to the skis. How much further you turn your legs than your torso is directly related to the desired turn outcome.
In the photos and diagrams shown the skiers are statically depicting a desired medium radius turn outcome so the legs are turned slightly more than the torso. If the desired turn were shorter, the legs would turn further across the torso and the resulting tip lead would match.
Static Activity
Standing perpendicular to the fall line on a slight hill, find your default stance. Be sure the inside foot is directly below the inside hip, so you can feel boot cuff contact, where the inside ankle is flexed more than the outside ankle, and the inside hip is higher than the outside hip. Now, have a partner lay a pole on the snow matching the ski tip offset created by your stance. Balance a second pole across your arms. Align the pole across your arms so that it is parallel to the pole on the snow. This gives a visual reference to help you anchor kinesthetic awareness of optimal counter.