NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/skiing/9037

Text File | 1992-12-31 | 3.4 KB | 69 lines

Newsgroups: rec.skiing
Path: sparky!uunet!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!math.utah.edu!news.math.utah.edu!jon
From: [e-mail] (Jonathan Byrd)
Subject: Re: Mass and Speed Control (especially on bumps)
Sender: [e-mail]
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 19:49:53 GMT
Distribution: na
References: <[e-mail]>
In-Reply-To: [e-mail]'s message of Thu, 31 Dec 1992 18: 11:55 GMT
Organization: University of Utah
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 55

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (warren.a.montgomery) writes:

   One topic I have yet to see discussed either here or by a ski
   instructor is what larger, heavier people need to do to stay in
   control on steep bumpy slopes.  I'm not huge (190), but I'm bigger
   than the people people who I see gracefully bouncing through bumps
   controlling their speed with just a little scrape on each, and
   I've never understood how they do it.  I can make tight, quick
   turns on a steep slope, but after half a dozen I am approaching
   warp speed and it's time for a long scrape or a big turn up hill.
   No trouble on smooth slopes but deadly on the bumps.  Once that
   happens, it's back to stumbling around in terror of going too
   fast until I get (over) confident again and point them downhill.
   The heavier you are, the more potential energy you have to
   dump in descending  a steep slope.  It's all got to go either into
   your edges or your knees.  Contrary to someone else's posting, I
   can't stay in control plowing on steep, hard slopes, no matter how
   hard I edge.  There's just not enough friction to absorb the
   energy.  Having had one knee operation, I'd just as soon
   minimize the energy absorbed in my knees.  Any 200 pounders out
   there who can ski bumps?  How do you keep from accellerating?

The acceleration due to gravity here on Earth is independent of mass;
all objects fall at the same rate, if all other variables are equal.
Remember the story of old what's-his-face, and the leaning tower of
Pisa? ;-)

Perhaps there is something different about the frictional forces that
oppose the acceleration.  Maybe heavier people melt the top layer of
snow under their skis faster because of the increased pressure.  This
may lead to a reduced frictional coefficient.

Another possibility: Are you sure that you are travelling as fast as
the lighter people you see dancing through the bumps?  Sometimes
smooth, graceful motion can make a skier appear to be going more
slowly than he is really going.  Perhaps these skiers are comfortable
at faster speeds.

I think that the most likely factor is your anticipation of the bumps.
There is a tendency for heavier people to be slower than lighter
people.  Momentum and all that.  If you suck up your knees an instant
before you hit the bump, and extend them quickly down the backside of
the bump, you can maintain a firm connection to the ground, and carve
a smoother, more continuous turn.  Make sure you keep your tips on the
ground at all times.  When your skis come off the ground, you are in
freefall, with no friction to slow you down.  Also, you have no power
to turn when you are airborne.  Another advantage of keeping your tips
on the snow is that you get some shock absorption from the flex of the
ski.

Of course this is only one man's moderately humble opinion. ;-)

--
jonathan byrd
[e-mail]