The recent article in the Fall 99
Professional Skier (“The Ups and Downs of Ramping the Foot”, pgs.20-24) and
the indoor session devoted to checking balance point and foot bed contact at the
Mt Hood TD training session has led to a renewed focus on the effect of boot
fitting on stance, balance and performance. Armed with this new perspective and
experience I decided that before we went out for our first on snow clinic this
year we would all check ourselves indoors. The principle that stuck in my mind
that was in the article was “In simple terms, the purpose of the heel lift is
to bring the ground up to the foot so the body won’t have to compensate to
find it.” In other words, we were going to bring the boot foot bed up into
contact with the foot when the body was in balanced, athletic, centered stance.
The expectation being that if we started there, we could more readily adjust to
the demands of the turn, terrain or task to maintain that full contact and the
balanced stance regardless of the situation.
The
outcome of the exercise was very interesting. A number of people had difficulty
determining when they were balanced over the whole foot. In many cases when
these people were placed in the centered stance with knees even with the boot
toe and hips over the arch or center of the foot, they found that their heels
were not in contact with the boot. We started stuffing these boots with wedges
of cardboard under the heel. Others felt that their heels were heavy when the
hips and knees were placed properly. Upon checking, these folks had heel lifts
placed in the boot to lift the ankle into the ankle pocket. In these cases we
added cardboard under the whole foot bed. Next came the test and check for
understanding. We went out on the snow to see if there were any differences,
keeping in mind that for most of these folks this was their first day on the
snow since last season.
After
a warm up run or two, we began looking at the basic balance and ability to move
appropriately from turn to turn. In most cases there was a noticeable change in
the performance of those who had been adjusted. To further check out the changes
we did some simple balancing exercises such as lifting one ski or side stepping
from a straight run. The balance point stayed centered and was much improved
over the displayed performance last year. As the day progressed, we continued to
explore the effect of the change and the results were quite encouraging. The
final test was done on their second day on the snow. Midway through the session
we spent some time doing hops from ski to ski in a straight run, hopping both
skis in a straight run, hopping both skis with a pole plant and, finally, small
hop turns in the fall line on a gentle slope. The change was confirmed. Without
exception the “adjusted” instructors were able to accomplish the task to
some degree. The change was pretty dramatic since the year before they could not
even marginally accomplish these tasks.
Bringing the boot into contact with the whole foot enabled these instructors to assume a more natural stance on the skis and their balance was centered so that they could use their muscles to attempt the task rather than to help keep themselves balanced after the first attempt. The comment most of them made afterwards was “this is the first time that I could feel my whole foot on the ski and it was pretty neat.” The few minutes we spent at the beginning of this season checking our stance in our boots will doubtless pay off many dividends throughout the season with more personal satisfaction and more skilled students who will have better models to emulate.