I was told that view at a ski clinic hosted by Edmond Denis, then the Avoriaz ski school director, in 1969 when I began teaching skiing. Edmond Denis knew what he was talking about; he had lost both sets of toes from severe frostbites in climbing the south face of Aconcagua in 1954. It was the first time that someone made me understand that the inside edge of my foot – not my ski – was “carving” the snow and that to stay in a neutral point when any acceleration took place, I had to pressure my inside big toe – not push my knee forward or “press the tongue” of my boots. This made a huge and fundamental difference in the way I approached skiing by understanding that the action took place at the very surface of the snow. A lot is said about anatomical foot-beds and proper canting, conditions to which – if they’re less than perfects – skiers eventually adapt, but not enough is said about skiing from the very sole of the foot. With that in mind, I’m not surprised that Killy would have spoken of “foot intelligence” as he was the first to break-away from upper-body dogma, specifically exaggerated movements from torso, arms and hips. Instead, by focusing on his “foot-work”, Killy became an iconoclast, developed a style of his own where the rest of the body followed his foot motion and only assisted with “jet” accelerating bursts that would usher the “avalement” technique. As a way to illustrate the somewhat nebulous point I’m trying to make, just think in terms of a skier feet as the “cause” of everything, while the rest of a skier body motions are merely a collection of “symptoms”. Now, start thinking on your feet every time you ski!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Smart feet
"The intelligence of the feet" is an expression attributed to Jean-Claude Killy when he spoke about the importance of the foot as the foundation of skiing. As we’ve discussed earlier, everything in the sport begins and ends with the foot; on that basis, when we ski, the entire feedback loop starts and finishes around our feet. The foot is the sensor as well as the transmission of anything we do on the slopes. It must also become a skier’s virtual “dashboard.” To become really good, we must think about our skis as the natural extension of our feet. 
I was told that view at a ski clinic hosted by Edmond Denis, then the Avoriaz ski school director, in 1969 when I began teaching skiing. Edmond Denis knew what he was talking about; he had lost both sets of toes from severe frostbites in climbing the south face of Aconcagua in 1954. It was the first time that someone made me understand that the inside edge of my foot – not my ski – was “carving” the snow and that to stay in a neutral point when any acceleration took place, I had to pressure my inside big toe – not push my knee forward or “press the tongue” of my boots. This made a huge and fundamental difference in the way I approached skiing by understanding that the action took place at the very surface of the snow. A lot is said about anatomical foot-beds and proper canting, conditions to which – if they’re less than perfects – skiers eventually adapt, but not enough is said about skiing from the very sole of the foot. With that in mind, I’m not surprised that Killy would have spoken of “foot intelligence” as he was the first to break-away from upper-body dogma, specifically exaggerated movements from torso, arms and hips. Instead, by focusing on his “foot-work”, Killy became an iconoclast, developed a style of his own where the rest of the body followed his foot motion and only assisted with “jet” accelerating bursts that would usher the “avalement” technique. As a way to illustrate the somewhat nebulous point I’m trying to make, just think in terms of a skier feet as the “cause” of everything, while the rest of a skier body motions are merely a collection of “symptoms”. Now, start thinking on your feet every time you ski!
I was told that view at a ski clinic hosted by Edmond Denis, then the Avoriaz ski school director, in 1969 when I began teaching skiing. Edmond Denis knew what he was talking about; he had lost both sets of toes from severe frostbites in climbing the south face of Aconcagua in 1954. It was the first time that someone made me understand that the inside edge of my foot – not my ski – was “carving” the snow and that to stay in a neutral point when any acceleration took place, I had to pressure my inside big toe – not push my knee forward or “press the tongue” of my boots. This made a huge and fundamental difference in the way I approached skiing by understanding that the action took place at the very surface of the snow. A lot is said about anatomical foot-beds and proper canting, conditions to which – if they’re less than perfects – skiers eventually adapt, but not enough is said about skiing from the very sole of the foot. With that in mind, I’m not surprised that Killy would have spoken of “foot intelligence” as he was the first to break-away from upper-body dogma, specifically exaggerated movements from torso, arms and hips. Instead, by focusing on his “foot-work”, Killy became an iconoclast, developed a style of his own where the rest of the body followed his foot motion and only assisted with “jet” accelerating bursts that would usher the “avalement” technique. As a way to illustrate the somewhat nebulous point I’m trying to make, just think in terms of a skier feet as the “cause” of everything, while the rest of a skier body motions are merely a collection of “symptoms”. Now, start thinking on your feet every time you ski!
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