Jumping

Jump Turns | One Stick | Two Slicks | Cross-Country | Between The Sticks | Your Head | Falls | Good Runner | Competitive Ski-ing | Cross-Country | Jumping | Slalom | Slalom | Giant Slalom | Waxing | Fellow Skiers

"The finest thing in ski-ing
Has always been the spring.
You'll find you get much more applause
Than when you do the swing."

Jump Turns and Geländesprünge

Anyone who has done a little ski-ing and feels fairly confident should try and learn to do moderate jumps for he may suddenly come upon a small obstacle such as a stream or a ditch. Faced with this danger, make a small jump and you will be completely master of the situation. If you are on a tour and you come to a precipitous slope which makes your heart beat faster and you are afraid to make a turn or you come suddenly upon a patch of very bad snow, you are lucky if you have taken the trouble at least to learn a simple jump turn.

The Jump Turn with One Stick

The most common jump turn in open country is with one stick. As in all these types of jump you get into a squatting position, look carefully for the best patch from which to leap, concentrate then on your position and the jump, stick in your downhill side stick, jump round it and land as gently as you can with a good Telemark. See that the skis, as you take off, in the air and above all as you land, are parallel. It is even more important to see that the stick, according to the speed is stuck in sufficiently far ahead, otherwise when you leap your skis will slide away beneath you and you will come down hard on your backside.

The Jump Turn with Two Sticks

In this manoeuvre you do exactly the same as with a single stick only here you place both of them well to the fore to one side near the ski points and therefore you have two hands to help you swivel your body round die sticks. They are particularly useful when carrying a pack.

The Geländesprüng

This is the most useful jump for a ski runner and it must be learned and practised by anyone who goes in for the sport. In much skied over, bumpy country it can not only prove extremely useful but also a pleasure. The geländesprüng can be made with or without sticks, and at great speed the atter are unnecessary. In the event of unforeseen obstacles, on the other -hand, the sticks can serve to give a thrust-off and also to steady the landing.

If your speed is not too great and you see the obstacle in time, the geländesprüng is the best way of overcoming that obstacle. If, however, you jump over a trough into the air, in order to land on the far slope, the sticks help you to retain your balance and to get the necessary Vorlage.

What young fellow in the world is not thrilled at pulling off a really good jump and having mastered this art, not to be forgotten is a small Telemark take-off on your leap. That dots the i's and crosses the t's.

Jump Turn Between the Sticks

This is not too easy and demands a certain amount of strength in the arms and the stomach muscles apart from the skill to turn in the air between the sticks and then land correctly. The crouching position should be used, both sticks placed when possible a little in front of the ski points, the body raised high with the arms whereby the legs, with parallel skis will be swung as high as possible in the air and then at the peak turn sideways and land in a good Telemark position. Soft landing, elasticity of the knees and ankle joints is important, above all when you jump far out into the blue. This leap between the sticks serves no particular purpose but it is very important as gymnastic practice, looks aesthetic and, in this way, fulfils its purpose. The phrase from Hubert Mumelter's primer says: " Courting Capercailzies sing, ski teachers over fences spring," is perhaps another reason for learning this jump.

Using Your Head

You should not only run on skis with your legs, you must have your wits about you. In other words, you might easily run into a tree. Trees don't step aside and are not to be considered as brakes. You must also be able to recognise bad snow. So take a good look at the terrain, the snow, etc. and consider how you propose to overcome this or that obstacle. Just as in business you have to prepare for all eventualities, the same applies in ski-ing. I have noticed, however, that the best business people with their agile minds are by no means the best ski runners. Everything has to be learnt and mastered. Many ski-ing movements may reside in the blood, nevertheless you have to concentrate before every swing you make. While I have complete mastery of my skis, and can safely say that before each swing I am concentrating 100 per cent., I notice that I pass trees and obstacles whereas my pupils are apt to rush straight for them. These big solid obstacles apparently have a particular attraction for beginners. In any case, the pupil has eyes in his head and he must learn to use these eyes to take in all the obstacles and to decide in a flash in which direction his swing must take place. Just as important is the immediate recognition of different types of snow all of which need a different technique and get you into a host of troubles if you think that you can treat them all according to plan. So remember the precept, " Don't run pigheadedly and heedlessly over the countryside but look round, reflect, make your decision at the right time and react as the occasion demands ".

l. With the shoulder forward, the knees releasing the pressure and the ski the body begins the swing.

2. The ski carrying out the turn lies flat.
 
3. and slowly the shoulders go forward with the swing ski.

4. Important is the correct placing of the whole weight of the body on the ski carrying out the turn.

The Reuel Swing

5. The Reuel Swing is very good practice for balance and for con trolling the body on one ski.

The Tempo Swing
1. The start of the swing.
2. The very slow advancement of the shoulders.
3. The body at speed is not too far forward.
4. The ski points naturally lie close together.
5. The skis are parallel so that to the fore they cannot come apart.

6. The swing is completed before the next swing is begun.

1. The body is pushed off powerfully on the particular ski.
 
2. The whole weight is balanced out on one ski.

3. On flat going the double thrust off with the stick gives additional speed.
 
4. The whole body is used in the swing!

The jump between two sticks is good gymnastic exercise. The body is raised high on sticks, the legs swing high out to the fore, and turn when they reach the highest point.

The Vertical Four
1. Entrance into the vertical. Of importance is the estimation of the   maximum   speed possible.
2. Don't be scared.    Hug the poles.
3. Outer ski and stick in action, knees release the pressure and start immediately the next swing.
4. Once   more   the   outer   ski,   stick,   engage stick  and  at  the  same   time  enter  the  new swing position.
5. The correct shoulder is to the fore! The speed   in    the   last   gate    has    once    more increase.

The Vertical Three
1.  Swing in. Enter with the body raised.
2. Checking position. Stick forward—hug the pole.
3. Watch the progress of the ski. A slight stem position of the skis.

4. The last gate is also taken with body raised and the skis lie flat for the next figure.

Eye of a Needle or Knee l.

1. In each figure it is important to enter the gate with body raised but be careful that the ends of the skis do not hit against the upper pole.
2. Hug the poles, use your stick, check and begin the next swing.
3. The shoulder swings, the skis are barely weighted.

Eye of a Needle or Knee 2.

The same figure carried out from the other side. The edges grip, the shoulder goes forward with the body to the next swing which will be carried out flat to the following gate. (Here to compensate the brief counter shoulder movement is shown.)

The Seelos Figure 1 (2 open and 1 closed gate form the figure).

1. Entrance into the open gate.
2. The closed gate is taken from the right since this is faster and better for the second gate.
3. Unweighted the skis glide flat,

4. until

it is necessary to use the edges in order to take the following gate at the right speed.

The Seelos Figure 2
1. The approach.
2. The closed gate from the left, hugging the poles.
3. The speed is slowed down which, at the same time, is the preparation for the next swing.

4. Unfaltering the skis and the body pass through the next gate.

Falls

Remember that there is danger inherent in every fall and therefore try as far as possible to avoid them. In ski-ing it is a question of sliding on them and not falling so my maxim is: not Schuss—crash, but Schuss—swing and counterswing. Turn after turn. Moreover you should not think that a bad fall gives you extra pep for your ski-ing art and your pleasure or helps you in the least to become more proficient. On the contrary, it can set you back for a long time, destroy your confidence and retard the progress of your lessons. Since you cannot possibly help falling occasionally, when you do so, do it in as elastic a manner as possible. What should your behaviour be? In the fraction during which you fall, by grasping the situation correctly you can still react correctly. In a fall never let yourself go, but try to make the best of a bad job and brace your body against the ensuing crash. The legs must never be allowed to flap aimlessly with the skis. The whole body must be braced to the utmost for a joint can easily be dislocated or strained.

For Good Ski Runners and Those who will one day enter this Category

By and large, the ingredients which go to make an elegant skier who can run at speed are strong will, courage, agility, strength and endurance, keen eyes, a healthy heart and lungs, not to forget a sense for movement. The ambitious person who wants to develop into a crack skier must, apart from special talents, be endowed by nature. Today the most intensive training and ambition are not enough to bring you into the foremost ranks of the game. But apart from talent, all those virtues which go to make up a good ski runner are to be found in a normal healthy man. As soon as you see that it is not a proof of great skill to speed like a lunatic or a dud rocket round the country endangering all your fellow men you have taken a step in the right direction. For with time a feeling for the beauty of movement as you run will be born in you. This would go much more rapidly could the ski runner be able to see and observe himself. Unfortunately, it is impossible to surround the practice slopes with mirrors as is done in a riding school in order to check your position. Many crazy shooting gallery figures would then disappear from the practice slopes and one danger would be removed from their fellow skiers. How many people feel that they have it in them to become racing skiers? Determination displays itself in ski runners above all in the fact that one is hard and uncompromising with oneself. You must never give up. Go on practising and practising and training even if it takes ages to learn the parallel swing. Practise your weaker side until you are as proficient as with the easier side.

It is a pity there is no comptometer that could show you how many falls could be avoided had the ski runner not given up the ghost. The fair sex, above all, but also the men should get into the habit of checking after each fall to see whether it could not actually have been avoided. All the figures in ski-ing demand a certain degree of courage and skill. In this sport there are always dangerous surprises which on the slightest abandonment can entail a danger. One thing is certain, anyone who runs away from danger is at a disadvantage compared with the man who resolutely and calmly grapples with it.

For Competitions (but also for proficient non-competitive skiers) Even if you are not a big shot, and have attained a certain proficiency in ski-ing, you can go out on a tour in order to assess your strength. People speak of racing routine, racing experience, and I have a few comments to make on this. It is obvious that the skis must be well waxed. It is important not to get excited before the start. To be a little keyed-up is a good thing for this will give you the necessary tension and readiness for action, but if you get into a highly nervous state you become paralysed. The thought that you are going in for the race, not for the purpose of winning but for pure pleasure and love of ski-ing should comfort you. On your first race you should never rush at things like a bull at a gate. Keep calm. Don't exceed the speed of which you are capable and keep your wits about you or else you will fall. Each fall costs valuable seconds which cannot be made up.

Is you then try to make up time you are overtaxing your capabilities, you will fall again and finally get yourself into a mess.

For racing adopt three basic rules. Avoid falls as much as possible, for a fall robs you of your strength, courage, self control and self confidence. It is a waste of time. In our days a roan will have lost the race even if he only falls once. In the old days you could roar down in a schuss and win a race, but those times are past for the top liners. You cannot afford it. Moreover, the possibility of winning a race by staking everything on one card is out of proportion to the risks you run. It is important to practise over the piste. If you have time, climb up to the top, try to memorise the difficulties so that you can be clear at what speed you must negotiate certain tricky spots and where the dangerous key positions are. Then observe how really first-class skiers handle these problems. Do not forget on your climb up to take the shortest route, to notice where you can take a rest and limber up your muscles. Distribute your strength well according to the difficulty of the descent and pay attention whether the piste demands all your efforts at the beginning and grows easier towards the goal or whether you have to pull out all your reserves at the winning post itself. Another important thing is your breathing. Breathing is the most important thing in every sport. The oxygen in the blood forms lactic acid as a result of tired muscles. So take care and in no circumstances, even in difficult spots gasp for air but breathe steadily whenever possible. The results of not breathing properly are premature overtiredness of the muscles and dangerous falls.

Cross-Country or Langlauf

Anyone who goes in for cross-country runs will wish to know this art in all its beauty and impressions. Apart from everything else it is the best possible training for ordinary downhill ski-ing. The muscles, which easily become stiff after over-training in schuss, are loosened up by the elastic steps used on cross-country runs. The whole body, the lungs and the heart will be trained for endurance which can only be of advantage in ordinary straight .descents. Cross country running makes greater physical demands on the individual than those demanded by ordinary downhill running. The straight descent runner always risks his limbs; the cross-country runner should excel. The latter is not only fighting against the clock, against the stiff, tiring climb, leaving him with his tongue hanging out, against steep descents which he has to overcome with a pair of small boards on his feet; he fights above all against himself, against weakness, loss of energy and the goblin which in his weariness always tries to persuade him to give up. But there is no question of giving up on a cross-country even if your skis have been inadequately waxed. Nor is there any surrender in ordinary descents or Slalom. I can state with pride that I have never abandoned a race in my life. Training for cross-country has its obvious advantages. In the morning or sometime during the day, when you have an hour to spare, you can put on your boards and train for this short time. Also at night in the moonlight or near a city or a big village where some light is cast by the lamps you can, after your day's work, put on your skis and wander off through the forests, woods and hollows or train on the flat meadows. Cross-country on a moonlight night when winter has donned her magic garb will give you hours of incomparable pleasure in addition to being excellent training for the body. You must get the feeling of being able to glide on your own impetus through the winter landscape.

Jumping

Who has not dreamed of one day being able to fly through the air on a pair of skis without a trace of fear? Only the ski jumper can experience this. It is not nearly as difficult as you imagine for here, too, practice makes perfect. Naturally, you can't start on the Olympic jumping hills and you must train on small " Schanzen ", make hundreds of jumps, increasing the height of your take off run and then, one day, the moment will come when, without a qualm, feeling like a bird, you will fly off from a big " Schanze " out into the blue. By constant training and practice you forget your fear and eventually completely master the technique of jumping. You can believe me, although I admit it sounds hardly credible, that to run down break neck descent in racing tempo is far more difficult and dangerous than a jump from a big " Schanze ". Before one of these downhill runs, my breakfast does not taste too good, but in recent years I have left to take part in a jumping competition as calmly as though I were off to drink a cup of coffee.

The important thing in jumping is a cool, well balanced take off during which you concentrate on the jump—a resolute but not exaggerated take off from which your position in the air will depend. If you have not achieved your right position in the air on this take off, you can recapture it by powerful arm movements in the air. Then comes the landing. This is the most important and incidentally the most difficult part of a jump for here you have to concentrate all your mind and energy in order to land on the ground in complete control. Younger junipers have often used up their energy before they land. Here, too, training and practice naturally give you the possibility, after hundreds of jumps, of distributing your energy between the take off and landing. Jumping is a very individual affair and each great jumper has his own peculiarities, his own " wrinkles " and his own style. The take off, the way he takes up his position in the air, and finally how he sails down to the landing, are all personal matters. Today people differentiate between ski jumping and ski gliding. On Schanzen of up to 80 metres, I like to speak of jumping, whereas from 80 to 140 metres, which is today the world record, one can safely talk of ski gliding or flying. Anyone who is interested in jumping will know that in recent years the technique has also completely changed. The take off today really has much in common with the gliding through the air of a bird. Calm as a mountain jackdaw, the jumper sails through the air, using the air pockets for his speed, flies down towards the valley and lands with perfect safety.

Slalom

Slalom is the haute école of ski-ing for both the championship and the ordinary skier who wishes to develop his technique. A certain skill is presumed. The Slalom Course runs through a series of gates set at intervals in a predetermined direction and composed of two poles of the same colour which are called gates. Three different coloured flags are used, red, blue and yellow. (Yellow is only used to denote a particular danger.) A slalom course should be laid out so that the running through the gates is fluid and, despite the skill of the runners, affords great demands. A slalom runner can pass through the gates as he pleases. He can fall through them or even knock over one of the poles with his shoulder. He merely has to get his body and his skis through the gate. If he runs with one ski outside it, or misses a gate he is disqualified. In order to win a slalom race or to be among the leaders, great skill is needed and also a little luck. The essentials for this type of running are, as we have already mentioned, firstly great skill, secondly, the capacity to judge accurately the highest possible speed at which a gate can be taken and thirdly, first-class ski materials, well waxed and suited to the snow conditions of the course. Whether the course is icy or through wet snow a slalom ski has to have knife sharp edges. Finally, the runner must keep the course—each individual gate from above to below—in his head so that he knows the sequence of gates and the figures which he can use to his best advantage to negotiate them. There are closed gates which have to be taken on an angle, open gates to be taken directly and then figures which can once more be taken from either side. Certain risks must also be taken in order to cut off the seconds necessary for victory.

A basic rule is to take the gates as high as possible, only to use the edges where absolutely necessary and to let the ski rest as flat as possible on the snow as it glides through the gates.

The Purpose of the Slalom

One cannot say that slalom has perfected technique, but perfect technique is demanded. As opposed to the free swing in open country, one has to learn to swing at certain prescribed spots. It is not possible in slalom, as in free downhill ski-ing, to use a certain freedom and even Rücklage but it is necessary to swing precisely at the right spot in order not to miss the next gate. In a " verticale ", for example, where the gates are set below each other, one must work speedily and correctly with stick and shoulder and have the necessary Vorlage to take the weight off the skis when necessary, the task of the latter being to squirm by the shortest route through the gates. The weighted point leads and makes possible the swing and its weighting demands Vorlage. Then the ski point slips away and you have the same feeling as in a front wheel skid on a bicycle or a motor car.

The slalom runner has to be very speedy, lithe and elastic as a cat. Each part of the body must react at lightning speed.

Once more it is a matter of training. Slalom is not a particularly old sport and was invented about 30 to 35 years ago. In recent years it has been very much streamlined so that fantastic slalom specialists have developed. For some strange reason, any first-class downhill skier will be a good slalom skier but the contrary does not apply. The name of the various gates which are used in a slalom must be mentioned here.

The Vertical Chicane: three or four gates, one below the other in the line of fall.

The Transversal Chicane: the gates stand on a slant one below the other as the name implies.

The Hairpin, Eye of a Needle, or Elbow: two gates close below each other forming the figure.

The Seelos Gate: this figure is formed of three gates.

Between two open gates is a vertical dosed gate which can be entered from either side.

The Sliding or Swing Gate: open gates are placed alternately left or right, vertical or horizontal so that the skier can pass through them in rapid tight swings.

Apart from these main figures there are many variations which can be used according to the requirements of the terrain. For training it is a good thing to set up these single figures in sequence and to enter them at the greatest possible speed so that when it comes to racing the pupil can travel at full speed.

The Giant Slalom

This is the very latest branch of competitive ski-ing. I am very proud to be able to say that this was one of my ideas and that I am the creator of this magnificent and useful event.

It was in 1934 when I still had the two minutes' terror of the Marmolata Race in my legs that I had a conversation with the organiser of that race, Dr. Gunther Langes. I expressed my opinion that the direct descent of the Marmolata was quite crazy—in other words, to roar down these incredible slopes in schuss. I suggested that nothing could be more magnificent than to exploit these vast slopes to the full and turn the race into a Giant Slalom. This would tax the runners even more and demand a greater technical skill but certainly no more resolution.

Dr. Gunther Langes adopted this idea in 1935 and I received an invitation to participate in the first Giant Slalom in history on the Marmolata course. Unfortunately, I had a prior engagement but the same year I ran my first Giant Slalom over the Dorftäli Standard course in Davos. The demands that this drop of 2,100 feet made on my strength and capabilities far surpassed my imagination. After winning it I was completely groggy at the winning post. It is certainly a magnificent sensation and a very taxing one to rush through the gates of a Giant Slalom course at 40 to 50 miles an hour. If a Giant Slalom is arranged by a good skier with a feeling for speed potential, the latter is fairly controlled and lies within the bounds of possibility. There is nothing more exciting than to speed down into the blue at the greatest possible speed, but it is more intelligent to check this mad speed by gates set at the correct spots. In other words, to take the worst sting out of the course, as we say. Many of the courses may appear to the moderate skier as breakneck and irresponsible. They are only dangerous to people who are lacking in skill and who are not in world championship class. They risk their sound limbs, do not know their limitations and court an unnecessary danger.

It is the task of the organisers, according to the class of the competitive skiers, to arrange the course so that each participant has to give of his best without having to run too great a risk.

If the slalom needs lightning speed, agility and reactions, the Giant Slalom demands a knowledge and a mastery of the course, control of the speed and personal calculation of how to take the gates!

In one word, the Giant Slalom is a real test for champions.

Waxing

Waxing in the old days was an art on its own. Today, when skis have good fast surfaces, the waxing question is by no means so important.

For the average skier, paraffin or silver wax will give him a fast running ski. For racing through changing types of snow, paraffin of various consistencies is best. In the meantime, synthetic wax, as a? result of its better lasting qualities, has proved better actually than paraffin. One thing is certain, today no one bothers to use sticky wax, such as cobblers' wax.

To my Fellow Skiers

Show yourself at all times and everywhere worthy of the greatest sport in the world—ski-ing.

Never run faster than your skill allows: you are endangering both your comrades and yourself.

Count your falls so that in the train on the way home, in the hotel, at the bar, or in the hut up in the mountains, you can be silent about half of them.

Be ruthless with yourself. If you find a swing easier to one side than the other then practise the weaker side until they are both as good as each other.

If you follow everything that I have written in this book you will become a good skier. You will experience the joy that has been given to us in ski-ing, a sport which, as no other, will keep your body healthy and in trim.

Practice, practice and practice, never give up and you are bound to succeed!