Alpine tip by Kate Morrell
I have noticed over the years that there are quite a few loose gripped pole flickers out there. I love you all, but you need to take a look at what this is doing to your skiing. It’s not all your fault. I know it was taught, “Hold your pole loose with the bottom three fingers relaxed and barely touching the grip. That’s it, now flick it out there!” (see Fig.2)
This was taught to promote flow, and a less mechanical “look” to skiing. What it also did, however, was diminish one of the most important reasons why we swing the pole. The pole swing is used to help move our center of mass into the new turn. If we grip the pole loosely and let go of the pole grip, the pole tip is on an undisciplined arc. Just use some simple physics: even though the 5-ounce tip of the pole is moving out front, the 100+ pound plus center of mass is left behind. Do you see where I am going with this?
You may think your center of mass is moving forward when really it is only your pole tip moving forward. Simple proof: hold your pole with a loose grip and flick it out to the point you’d want to plant it for a medium radius turn. Did you center of mass move? Maybe, but probably not very much. Now grip the pole some what firmly (not a death-grip) using all your fingers and swing the pole to the same target touch point (see Fig.1). You will notice that in order to reach the target, ankles flex, and center of mass moves forward.
When skiing, gripping the pole forces the center of mass to move with the pole swing and helps provide a functional tension in the framework of the arms, across your chest and in the core muscles stabilizing your torso which is important by the way.
So Kate’s catchy ski tip is, “Wanna rip? Get a Grip!” In closing, I have to ask myself, “If promoting a loose grip created this mess, what kind of mess am I going to create?” Stay tuned and we can talk about it on the slopes.
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