AIR ANYONE?
by Karin Harjo
PSIA-NW Tech Team Member
DCL

So, you are finally feeling confident in the pipe. Maybe you’ve just taken one of our Intro to Park & Pipe Clinics and things are starting to click. The walls no longer look like icy precipices that would drop you to your demise just by looking at them the wrong way. In fact you can ride up and down both walls quite comfortably, but just can’t seem to take it to the next level-getting air out of the pipe. Using the ATML model (Approach, Take-off, Maneuver, Landing), here are some keys to each step that will help you up and out of the pipe.

To begin with, lets talk about how you view skiing the pipe. Look at it as making inverted ski turns, with the apex of the turn happening above or at the top of the wall. I like to call it making rainbow turns down the pipe. The same mechanics used while skiing down the hill apply here as well. There is an edge change, flexion/extension movements, turning movements and balancing movements, all enhanced by a round turn shape.

With that in mind let’s take a look at the Approach, the first step in our model. If you have spent any time around the pipe, you may have heard the term “pumping the tranny”. This refers to how you work the transition and the vert (steepest section of the wall) of the pipe with your legs. Some of the most common mistakes are sinking through the transition at the bottom of the wall or retracting or sucking your feet off the wall at the lip (top of the wall).

In order to ‘pump the tranny’, resist the temptation to collapse in your joints by sinking through the bottom transition of the wall (photo 1) and instead, extend through the transition (photo 2) and start to absorb the vert by allowing the wall to push your skis and legs towards you. This is very similar to the extension of the legs through the first phase of a ski turn. Likewise just as in skiing, flexing or sinking too soon leaves you with no range of motion in the joints to absorb terrain or in this case the wall. Doing so here results in either getting bucked off and lawn darting into the pipe or you have to retract your feet off the wall to turn-both of which make it hard to achieve your goal of getting air out of the pipe.

Next we move on to the Take-off phase. The two keys to the take off phase are, 1) How your skis leave the lip, and 2) What trajectory angle you choose to take out of the pipe. First, You want to leave the lip on flat skis and not on edged skis. Leaving the lip on edged skis (photo 3) forces you to lean into the pipe, compromising airtime by pulling you out of balance. This also makes it difficult to stay over your feet, which as we all know is the key to our gravity driven sport. Leaving the lip on a flat ski (photo 4) allows you to be centered over your skis in a better position of balance for take off. This also aids in the timing of the edge change, which happens at the apex of the turn above the wall. An easy way to gauge whether or not you are doing this is by the sound your skis make when leaving the lip. A flat ski will be much quieter than an edged ski.

Subsequently, the trajectory angle that you choose to take out of the pipe is essential in achieving air. The most common mistake is to take a line up the wall that is too vertical or straight (photo 5) with the thought that “If I want to go high then I have to go straight up!” Not so, in this case going straight up the wall results in a loss of speed making it more difficult to get air out of the pipe. It also forces you to have to make abrupt movements to turn, because you are not heading in the direction of travelwhich is down the pipe. What you want to aim for is leaving the wall at a slight angle down the pipe (photo 6). This allows you to maintain speed going up the wall and sets you up for a round rainbow turn down the pipe. As in skiing, be sure to stay perpendicular to the changing slope while moving along your trajectory.

Gulp! And now the air and the Maneuver phase. Once in the air, whole body turning movements will be vital to your success in achieving a round arc (which also ensures a balanced landing). You want to avoid turning the legs or upper body separate of each other which usually results in under-rotating the turn as in photo 7 (this hurts!) To help bring the whole body around, look over your down hill shoulder back into the pipe and spot your landing-as your body will follow where you are looking. Be sure to bring the up-hill arm around, driving it towards where you are looking back into the pipe as in photo 8.

PANIC!! Throw down the landing gear! Ok, don’t panic but now we are in our last and probably most anticipated step - the Landing phase. Once in the air, you are at your most compact or flexed point (photo 9). As you turn to re-enter the pipe, extend your legs in order to make ski/ snow contact with the wall (photo 10). This happens quite naturally since our natural instinct is to find solid ground as soon as possible. Once you have made touch down, anticipate the next wall (just like anticipating the next turn when skiing), repeat and hang on!

When putting these tips into practice, start by dropping in and slowly working to a higher apex on each wall. The key here is to start small focusing on the timing and execution of the tactics and movements mentioned above. As you gain more confidence, increase your speed and before you know it, you’ll be in the air!!