HOW TO SKI TREES | Find your flow

Summary

This video provides tips for gaining confidence and improving skills for skiing in trees and off piste terrain. It recommends preparing physically and mentally before heading into trees, including warming up muscles to respond quickly, removing poles, and lowering goggles for better vision. Tactics are offered such as analyzing terrain zones to find less dense tree areas first, taking the path of least resistance, pausing frequently to reassess conditions, and leveraging moguls for easier turns. Drills to practice rapid stopping and carved rounded turns are also described to control speed, improve timing and line choice through trees. The goal is to smoothly pick lines down the mountain for greater enjoyment of untracked snow.

Takeaways

• 😊 The video provides tips for gaining confidence skiing through trees off the groomed trails
• ⛷️ Assess your parallel turning abilities before skiing trees to manage risk
• ❄️ Remove ski pole straps and pull goggles down to prepare for skiing trees
• 🌲 Look for more open areas first when choosing lines to ski through trees
• 😮 Use quick hockey stops to practice rapidly stopping in front of obstacles
• 🌳 Focus on the gaps between trees, not the trees themselves
• 🚨 Pause every 5-10 turns when first skiing trees to take in all the variables
• ↕️ Utilize mogul tops in trees for easier tight turns with less ski tip resistance
• 🤸‍♂️ Practice rounded S-shaped turns using the snowmobile track corridor drill
• 🌲 With practice, tree skiing can become effortless, playful and enjoyable

Q & A

What are some things Kevin recommends checking before heading into the trees?

Kevin recommends taking off pole straps or clips so your poles don't get caught on branches. He also suggests putting goggles down to protect your eyes from low hanging branches and blown snow.

Why does Kevin recommend skiing with a partner when venturing into the trees?

Skiing with a partner in the trees adds an element of safety. Even if you get separated, you have a way to communicate via whistle or yelling to ensure your partner is okay.

What is the purpose of the fast turn drill Kevin demonstrates?

The fast turn drill is meant to warm up your muscles so they can respond quickly to make decisions and turns while skiing in the trees where risk is higher.

What is the purpose of practicing hockey stops outside the trees first?

Practicing hockey stops on the groomed slopes allows you to get comfortable with the rapid leg movements needed to stop suddenly. This translates to being able to stop quickly to avoid obstacles in the trees.

What tactic does Kevin recommend for choosing lines through the trees?

Kevin recommends zooming out and analyzing zones first to identify the more open areas to start. Then he progresses to tighter areas slowly as comfort level permits.

Why does Kevin suggest only skiing 5-10 turns before stopping when first venturing into the trees?

Stopping frequently when first skiing trees allows you to take in all the variables - changing terrain, snow conditions, etc. It prevents you from getting overwhelmed.

What features should you look for when trying to improve flow in bumpy sections?

Seek out moguls and ride on the tops where there is less resistance to turn skis. This allows quicker redirection.

How do you know when you have mastered skiing through trees?

You will no longer be thinking consciously about it and instead effortlessly picking lines and making decisions as you happily ski through.

What is the purpose of the corridor drill Kevin demonstrates?

The corridor drill with the tracked out area helps shorten turns and dial in timing/rhythm which is vital when navigating tightly spaced trees.

What does Kevin recommend if you struggle with the corridor drill?

If struggling with the rounded turn shape, return to the groomed run to practice before trying the trees again.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Introducing skiing in trees tips

The instructor introduces himself and explains what he loves about skiing in trees - the freedom, ability to pick your path and flow through the terrain. He outlines prerequisites like being able to make confident parallel turns on groomers and assessing if you're ready before heading into trees where the risk is higher.

05:01

❄️ Practicing rapid movements with hockey stops

The instructor explains the importance of warming up so muscles respond quickly when needed in trees. He demonstrates practicing hockey stops on groomers first, emphasizing turning legs rapidly to come to a complete stop, then trying it in ungroomed snow to mimic stopping for trees/obstacles.

10:01

🗺️ Tactics to improve line choice

The instructor shares tactics to choose better lines when skiing trees - doing a zone analysis to identify more open areas first, chunking the run into 5-10 turn sections to process all the variables, using moguls/bumps to aid quick pivoting and looking for windows to sneak through gaps between trees.

15:02

🌲 Mastering rounded turn technique

The instructor explains how advanced skiers make tree skiing look easy by focusing on rounded s-shaped turns. He demonstrates the corridor drill - planting poles in a middle track and getting skis to the outside tracks to create shorter, smoother turns - useful when taking this technique back into the trees.

Keywords

💡trees

Trees refer to skiing off-trail through wooded areas with trees, as opposed to groomed ski runs. Skiing trees requires more advanced skills to navigate the uneven terrain and avoid obstacles like trees and stumps. The video focuses on building confidence and skills for skiing trees safely and smoothly.

💡line

Line refers to the path or route a skier takes down the hill when skiing trees. Choosing a good line through the trees is important for safety and optimizing the descent. The video talks about analyzing terrain and gaps between trees to pick the best line.

💡flow

Flow refers to smoothly linking turns together when skiing trees. The goal is to pick lines that allow you to make rounded turns in rhythm without stopping. Achieving flow in trees requires practice in assessing terrain and developing skills like rounded turn shapes.

💡round

Round refers to the shape of turns when skiing trees. Rounded, S-shaped turns allow quicker changes of direction to maneuver through trees. The corridor drill in the video practices rounded turns between imagined lines.

💡stop

Being able to stop quickly is an important skill when skiing trees to avoid obstacles. The video demonstrates hockey stops to practice rapidly turning the legs to come to a complete stop.

💡risk

Skiing trees has higher risk than groomed runs since trees and uneven terrain don't move if hit. Tips in the video like removing pole straps and chunking the run reduce risk in trees.

💡open

Open refers to gladed areas in the trees with wider spaces between trees. The video advises starting in more open sections of trees to build confidence before progressing to tighter sections.

💡untracked

Untracked means snow that hasn't been skied before. The video notes untracked snow in trees as a benefit since it's often lighter and better quality than heavy tracked snow.

💡pitch

Pitch refers to the steepness of the terrain. The video mentions assessing pitch when analyzing tree zones to find an appropriately challenging line.

💡gaps

Gaps refer to the spaces between trees that create a path or line to ski. The video emphasizes looking for gaps to ski rather than focusing on the trees themselves.

Highlights

Discuss tips to manage risk before skiing trees like removing pole straps and putting goggles down

Emphasize importance of warming up muscles to respond quickly in trees

Demonstrate hockey stop drill to practice rapid leg movements for stopping

Choose more open tree areas first when new to build comfort and experience

Ski trees in short segments of 5-10 turns to process information and conditions

Look for moguls on top to make quick redirection turns in trees

Aim to ski the gaps between trees, not the trees themselves

Use corridor drill with pole plants and ski tracks to create rounded turns

Check turn shape metric in app to monitor progress on rounded turns

Allow pressure to build in turns instead of twisting skis

Spend time practicing on grooms then applying in trees

Discussed minimizing risk factors before entering trees

Practiced rapid movement drills to react in trees

Focused on line choice and visibility when new to trees

Worked on rounded turn technique through corridor drill

Transcripts

well if you don't have that much

confidence in the trees or you're not

really sure what to do in there this is

going to help you

hi everyone I'm Kevin Jordan psia

national team member and we're here in

beautiful sunny Aspen Colorado

hey so today we're going to take a break

from skiing on the groom and we're going

to head into those trees

what do I love about skiing in the trees

it's the freedom the ability to kind of

pick your own path and really flow

through there

a lot of people don't know where or when

to turn and that's what we're really

going to address with some of the tips

in this video

[Music]

am I ready to jump into the trees well

here's a couple things you want to ask

yourself can I make confident parallel

turns on the groomers can I stop when

and where I want to anytime we jump into

the trees our risk factor is going to go

up why because trees don't move all

right and you don't really want to wrap

yourself around one of those things

first off we're going to take either our

pull straps or if we click into poles

we're going to make sure that we remove

that why because if pole gets stuck in a

tree or something it's not going to take

my arm with it the other thing I'm going

to do is I'm going to put my goggles

down there's a lot of low hanging

branches uh you know hopefully the snow

is really good and powdery and so it's

kicking up in my face I want to be able

to see where I'm going the other thing I

can do is I can see with a buddy ski

with a friend

when I go into the trees safety and

numbers we all go in together we may get

separated that's okay but we need some

kind of way to communicate so we can use

a whistle like

or a yodel or something like that just

to let my friend know where I am

[Music]

so before we head into the trees we're

gonna go warm up and why is it important

for your body to be warm because you

want your muscles to be able to respond

when you need them and you may need to

make some quick decisions and quick

turns in the trees

we're going to do the fast turn

challenge I'm shooting for 25 or more

let's see how we go

start turning quickly in three two one

all right here we go one starting to

turn two three four okay six seven eight

nine 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27.

you got 30 on that one

all right

so again that's just to warm you up and

you're looking for a 25 that's your

challenge or more so that you can use

those short turns that you practice here

over in there in the trees

in the trees I'm gonna have to make my

decisions a lot quicker and I'm really

going to have to get good at moving my

body or very rapid movements so we're

going to do a hockey stop and all I'm

going to do is really pay attention to

turning my legs actually coming to a

stop

what you want to be able to do is come

to a stop but also be able to get out of

it and move so that you can maneuver

around a tree around a stump around an

obstacle maybe a creek bed something

like that and I'm going to do it out

here on the groom so that I can get

better at it before I take it into the

trees so let's do some I'm going to do

about three seconds practice each way

and I'll talk you through it come on

alright so what I'm trying to do is turn

my legs really quickly I'm trying to

practice on both sides and actually come

to a stop

as you notice I'll actually go down

I may even plant my pole here because

I'm having a high edge angle and what I

commonly see people do is they might

lean a little bit up the hill this way

and they might do it but they don't do

it fast enough and now all of a sudden I

haven't actually stopped

you want to be able to come to a stop

because if there's a tree or a root or

something in front of you and you

actually do need to stop you want to be

able to

stop right there

[Music]

all right so now we've done some hockey

stops on the groom let's take it to the

ungroomed all right I'm gonna make a

couple turns here and then I'm going to

come to a stop all right so I'm going to

turn and turn and then oh oh there's a

tree I need to stop all right I'm going

to turn a little bit turn a little bit

oh there's a tree I need to stop

okay so I'm just looking again for those

very rapid movements

all right

I'm gonna keep on going you may have one

side a little stronger than the other

but it's important to actually come to a

stop there we go stop that way

one or two and then I could even

stop right there all right but it's

important to come to a stop and notice

how I'm actually moving down so the legs

are turning quickly I'm moving down I do

have a high edge angle but if I move

down I can help to stand on this outside

ski a little bit more than the inside

one that's going to help me

get out of it and go the other way

[Music]

let's try some in the trees here so I'll

give you a little demo right and as I'm

going down here

all right if I see a tree or something I

might want to be able to stop right

before it versus running right into it

so I'm going to turn boom just stopping

right before these there could even be

some big powder in there

all right

so now that we've practiced kind of

stopping in front of them let's we can

almost stop but instead of stopping I'm

gonna keep on going so okay I need to

keep on moving instead of coming to a

complete stop

now I'm starting to flow pick my way

through the trees

and that's how I'm skiing the trees

so take a look at that turn comparison

pressure metric and see which side is

maybe stronger and which side is weaker

pay a careful attention to the weaker

side and maybe practice more repetitions

on that side let's see if we can get

that weaker side up to the stronger side

all right here we go

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

[Music]

I'm going to give you a couple tactics

to help you improve your line Choice

when you're skiing the trees

all right so our first tactic what we're

gonna do is look at a general Zone

analysis if you zoom out for a little

bit and just look at different places if

you're new to trees you're going to look

for the places that are a little bit

more open all right because it's really

important that we want to ski the spaces

or the gaps not the actual trees what I

mean by that is we don't want to look at

the trees instead we want to look where

we want to go

so let me give you some examples here

from where I'm standing right here I've

got really three options that I'm

looking at right now

over here I've got a little bit

closer together trees might be a little

trickier to pick my line but they're

smaller and the snow is a little bit

more untracked in the middle here I've

got a mix of

some tracks that have been skied up

um maybe it's a little bit steeper not

as steep but there's still some ways to

go and it's not completely wide open

over here I've got it's very wide open

there's only some big trees in my path

I'm gonna go head that way first it's a

little bit more tracked out with the

snow but because it's my first time in

the trees I just really want to get

comfortable what's the snow doing and

give myself the best options to go

around things

[Music]

I want to set myself up for Success how

am I going to do that I'm not going to

ski the run the whole entire way instead

I'm going to ski 5 to 10 turns and then

I'm gonna stop I'm gonna chunk down the

run and that's going to give me the

ability to kind of pay attention to the

fact that a lot of things are coming at

me I've got trees coming at me I've got

stumps I Got Roots I've got snow

conditions they're changing the pitch is

changing there's a lot of things to take

in

all right so I'm gonna go through here

okay now it's going to open up a little

bit for me

all right

not so bad for the first time through

it's a little bit wider open here okay

it gives myself

a little more room for error and now I

can kind of take a look it's pretty open

here but I may try to dip into some of

the trees over to the right

here we go

so in here I'm looking it's a little bit

wider open

a little more skied up

and now I've got some options in between

here

it's over this roll

all right I'm looking for

where can I sneak maybe I can go around

this way

now it's gonna get a little tighter

whoop

sneak on through so I keep looking for

where I want to go not where I am

another step is that when I get out into

the open and maybe it's a little more

skied up

sometimes I'll start to get some Moguls

or little bumps in the trees I'm

actually looking for those kind of

things why because whenever I'm on top

of a mogul and if I try to turn on the

top of it there's less resistance on the

tips and the Tails of my skis so it's

really easy for me to make those quick

turns I can make some redirection

changes pretty quickly but being on the

top

versus being in the trough

all right how do you know you're going

to be doing this well or what are you

going to be feeling

at some point you won't need to think

about it anymore you'll be in the trees

you'll be making decisions on the Fly

you'll be cutting through little lines

looking for opportunities little Windows

of how you can sneak through two trees

and you're going to be hooting and

hollering all the way down and I'm gonna

do that right now

woohoo

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

from surviving the trees to being

thriving in the trees this is what the

best skiers do when you watch the best

skiers they're not thinking about it

there just looks like it's effortless

and they're just being able to go

wherever they want and they have so many

choices

what we're going to focus on is turn

shape and turn shape roundness we're

going to try to make very rounded s

turns and something that can help me is

something called a corridor drill what

I'm going to use is the snowmobile track

where I have three lines in the snow

I've got the track from the snowmobile

in the middle and I've got two outside

ski lines I'm going to try to plant my

pole in the middle of the tread track

and then the ski tracks I'm going to try

to get my skis to the outside

all right it's going to create a shorter

turn for me which is important in the

trees and it's going to help my timing

and my rhythm

now if you don't have a snow making or a

snowmobile track all you got to do is

Imagine three lines down the slope

somewhere all right so if you're doing

the drill you can take out your phone

and you can get into free ski mode you

can start recording and afterwards you

can check the turn shape metric and see

if you're doing this well if your scores

are pretty high

there's a good chance that you're making

some rounded s shapes

if you if your score is a little bit

lower then you got some more work to do

but if you keep practicing this drill

that will really bring these scores up

so the important thing to remember is is

if your scores do go down just remember

that you're continuously trying to make

those s-shaped rounded turns through the

trees right and if you need a little bit

of help you can always come back over to

the groom and then take it back into the

trees

[Music]

okay so I'm doing the corridor drill I'm

planting on the trail the tread of the

snowmobile track feet are going to the

outside

feels like I'm doing this Well turns are

nice and smooth and rounded

all right

a lot of people have trouble they might

be twisting their skis too much and

twisting it and that's not creating a

very smooth so you have to allow the

pressure to build up a little bit

and allow it to go around

but I'm always playing my pole down the

hill this just helps me with the flow

and the timing and this is what I'm

trying to do in the trees

hey so remember this takes a lot of time

takes a lot of practice so look at the

turn shape metrics okay spend some time

on the grooms go back into the trees and

then come back out it may not happen

overnight and I am still working on

things in the trees all right so spend

some time practice practice

foreign

[Music]

well thank you for taking this lesson

with me I hope we've improved your

confidence in learning how to ski trees

or spending some time in the trees so

what do we do in this lesson well first

we talked a little bit about some tips

to manage or minimize some of the risk

in the trees next we use some drills

like the hockey stop help us really

focus on that rapid movements of our

legs alright and also being able to

control in the trees our speed where

we're going to go next we moved into

some talk about where we want to go how

we improve our line our flow through the

trees and finally we worked on some turn

shape metrics to help really smooth out

our turns by using a corridor drill so

we can really make some nice symmetrical

s's through the turns through the trees

and really find our flow one of the

things I love skiing about the trees is

usually the snow is a lot better there's

less people in there and it's really fun

so I hope you enjoyed this lesson I hope

to see you out there in the trees maybe

Venture off from the groomers into the

trees some more and you'll have more

confidence you'll have more fun

and we'll see you next time