Setting the Speed Dial

by Lane McLaughlin, Technical VP

There seems to be a common desire among skiers and riders of all abilities that jumping is fun. While the size of the air appetite may range from huge air to flying under the radar, everyone seems to enjoy some measure of lift off and flight. The key to keeping the air experience fun is getting to a landing zone that provides the creature comforts of the soft landing and a graceful exit. With the plethora of jumps in your resort’s terrain park, and with all their shapes and sizes, you need some strategies for sizing up those features and helping your flyers land in the sweet spot. Too often, I watch the eager jumper buckle on the knuckle and occasionally splat on the flat. A day or career of jumping fun can fold like a bad poker hand with this kind of abuse.

So, suppose you and your students have ventured into the Terrain Park and you come across your “golden jib” – a juicy feature you’d like to try for the first time. With some nervousness, anticipation and a calculating mind, you inspect and assess the feature with the purpose of determining a critical piece of information. How much speed do we need?

It’s on everyone’s mind. They want to know what it takes to make it to the sweet spot of the landing zone. Not knowing and fearing the consequences of missing the mark can scare people away altogether. Assuming that your gang is attempting a feature within their abilities and comfort zone, here are some methods that can help you dial in the speed for a successful outcome.

The Copy Cat

With enough traffic moving through your “golden jib”, your crew can observe a spectrum of success stories and come up with some does and don’ts. Compare the starting point, the line and tactics (e.g., skating, tucking, carving or scrubbing) of those who land where you want to land. These are variables during the approach that set the appropriate speed for the feature. Become a copy cat and mimic an approach that works.

The Chat Room

The speed ingredients for any feature can change from day to day and throughout the day as park crews tweak the features and Mother Nature changes the snow conditions. Therefore, it’s very important to chat it up with the park crew and your fellow park participants. You’ll get the late breaking news that a rail is getting sticky, the snow is slow, a landing zone is too short and other useful intel’ you can use to adjust your game plan.

The Tow In

For those in your group that have succeeded on this feature, they can play leader in a follow-the leader game that virtually “tows” the follower along the line and speed to succeed. For safety purposes and having only one student on the feature at a time, the tower should maintain the appropriate speed for the follower up to the take-off zone and then safely navigate themselves out of the flow of the feature and allow the follower to solo the take-off, maneuver and landing.

The Hip

For those that need to discover the relationship between speed and distance for themselves, finding features that are “hipable” can provide them a progressive and measurable process for dialing in the right speed. “Hip” features have nicely shaped landing ramps along one or both sides of the main feature. These landing zones provide the skier or rider with landing options regardless of the distance of their maneuver. As a progression, the coach and student can work together to associate the speed of the approach with how far along the hip they land. When the student can match the speed to the desired landing point then they can apply these associations with more confidence and accuracy on the features that have a set take-off to landing zone distance.

The Rollover, Roll-by

 For those that need to build some feeling of matching their speed to the relative size of this “golden feature”, picking a speed and rolling over or along side the feature should provide some visual and spatial feedback. How much speed is necessary to roll up the take-off ramp and onto the feature? How much time elapses while on or alongside the feature? How much speed is gained or absorbed moving down the landing ramp? These simulations can help size the feature up and help the student determine the appropriate speed for the feature as a whole – from approach to landing.

Practice Time

 Lead your group through these and other activities inside and outside of the park that build their skills, confidence and trust in each other to utilize these different methods. Starting with features that have little consequence to choosing the wrong speed provides a safer and valuable learning process. Eventually the student’s experiences and these methods pay off in fewer leaps of faith and more calculated approaches, success stories and truly “golden jibs”.

Getting your speed dialed in is just one element to being safe and successful while jumping mountain and park features. But, it’s a very important element that can be taught, learned, practiced and refined. As my good buddy and teammate RJ Nichoalds once said (to a ski patroller no less), “I’m not teaching them to jump, I’m teaching them to land.” We can all pitch in a little to help our flyers of all calibers to set the speed dial and touch down in the zone.