First turns this year, my focus is back to the basics; face downhill, keep your head up, keep your hands up, pole plant and gently release, and the most dominant focus is to keep my feet underneath me.
Most of the time I think about my feet and where they are in relation to my upper body. Extending my skis and feet away from my body is completely terrifying. I don't have the confidence to lay out an extended arcing turn.
Here's an old picture of me pouching a nice easy groomed run, notice my feet.
My feet are somewhat extended from my body. You can see the snow spraying out to my right, the bottoms of the skis, and most importantly you can see my feet extended from my center. They are not underneath my center of mass, my stomach, my shoulders or head. This extended position is similar to when I broke my leg.
Over the course of this season, I've been very conscious to keep my feet underneath me. My turns have been somewhat skiddish. Check out this video and notice how my feet stay underneath my body.
I have some work ahead of me. Mostly I have been tele'ing, and find the freedom of movement in my leg is more difficult but also more therapeutic. I get tired quickly but I feel the muscles more engaged with a tele turn, especially an inward spiral engaging the thigh and muscles around the knee. Here's my first powder day on teles this year.
