In defense of snowplow

I recently circulated a ski video that I shot this spring in “Son of Rattler,” a gnarly tree run, at Deer Valley Resort. The person I intended it to (to mark his birthday) is Austrian-born, Gerhard Zimmermann, a buddy of mine. He told me that he loved the ride showed on the video but said he had some reservation about a snowplow of mine just before a tight spot. I'll let you preview the video so you can judge for yourself but it's true that I never renege on hitting the brakes when I have to, by using this instant, convenient and efficient wedge! Short of the asymmetric “hockey stop” that is also impossible to fine tune, a quick wedge is powerful, symmetrical and precisely adjustable.

As a matter of fact, since I've been editing my own videos, I've noticed that anytime I'm tree skiing, I use stem christies quite liberally and, frankly this beats hitting a tree! I also noticed, this winter, while watching downhill world cups, that certain racers were not bashful in using snowplow in negotiating some tight spots. Since I didn't remember who and where, I had to contact Doug Lewis, the excellent sports commentator at Universal Sports, a former U.S. ski team downhill racer from the mid 80s who regularly placed in the world's top ten, including on the terrifying “Streif.”

Doug not only confirmed that it indeed happened this winter, but at the Wengen Lauberhorn race, no less. According to what he recalled, about one minute into that downhill, right after the Mitch-Kante, a few racers headed into the Kernen-S turn that consists of two 90 degree turns they enter going about 50 mph, had to drastically cut their speed down to around 25 mph before hammering the left foot turn into the S, and did so by “pulling” a powerful snowplow! Since they had to cut their speed anyway, that age-old technique was the most appropriate to prepare for that tough right turn. While nowadays snowplow seems discredited as being a “girly” thing to do on skis, I use it everyday when I'm on the snow. It's part of my tool-box!