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My comments are based on 30 years of watching the PSIA Demo Team, Examiners, and trainers' skiing and their teaching. In addition, you could investigate and question any full-cert candidates? They echo everything I stated as well. The examiners teach one thing, and the demo team demonstrates one thing, then when they ski off at the level they make turns, the good ones totally change their movements from how they teach. I've had a current Demo Team member acknowledge this openly in front of the PSIA National Team coach. I don't portray anything that isn't happening. I don't make shit up.

@@skiwhh - oh, I'm not questioning that. I'm very familiar with your background and reputation. We've had several students that have taken some of your clinics and rave about them. I may not have experienced the honesty that you've described above myself personally. But I have skied with several national team members and they've never shared that with me. What I am saying is that my experience so far has been different than what you describe. Not all the time. But I've definitely met some at the higher levels that aren't just carrying the torch for PSIA. They really are trying to describe the movement patterns that they ski. What I'm trying to highlight is a bigger problem, imho. The parroting. Instructors that just steal ideas from the clinics they attend and use them without fully understanding the why. We do a lot of things out of habit that I question whether or not it's actually helping the ski/snow interaction at all.

Glad you found Harald and had some great results not just with your skiing but with teaching others as well. Keep up the great work.

Harald does in fact talk about the importance of "hip levelling" in his PMTS ( it's a part of Counter Balance). Hip levelling is not a primary movement but it is linked with tipping the feet. With quick short turns the hip levelling will happen almost the same time as tipping occurs.

​@@markbaldock6659 Saying that tipping the skis on edge is a "primary movement", and "hip leveling" is not is just nonsense BECAUSE THEY ARE PART OF THE SAME COMPOUND COMPLEX MOTION. This cuts right to the heart of the flaw I see in all instruction, including HH. Hip leveling IS tipping the ski on edge. The legs, are two opposite sides of a kinematic parallelogram. This skis bounded by the snow surface and the pelvic bone are the other opposite sides. Look at a parallelogram. You can not change the angle of one side, without ALSO changing the angle of the opposite side. They are linked. So, when you designate tipping the skis on edge a primary movement, and the hips something else, you are fundamentally mischaracterizing what is going on. THEY ARE LITERALLY THE SAME MOTION. They happen at the same time. Hip leveling IS tipping the skin on edge. Period end of story. Most of the young skiers that way say "look how talented he/she is..." are just those who naturally, without even knowing they are doing it, tilt their pelvic bone in the right way, at the same time, as ski tipping. In other words, they just naturally move the opposite side of the parallelogram. This is about 10% of skiers. Most skiers fight tipping by NOT understanding that they have to tilt in the frontal plane, so their lower body is fighting itself. That is why you see Mikaela doing this: ruclips.net/video/DG_Dg7_NIt0/видео.html Do you EVER see her hip tilt and the ski tipping NOT happen at the same time? LOL...no. They are the same motion. Nothing shows this any more clearly than MS doing this hip hike drill.

@shooter7a I agree with what you are saying, it is a lot simpler and I also ski and think that way. HH defines the same movements differently, in less cohesive terms and not so holistically. I think with way he describes his movements he is trying to get skiers not to hip dump, lean or extend to push their weight downhill.

@@markbaldock6659 The easiest way NOT to hip dump is to tilt keep the hips square to the direction of travel, and tilt. Watch that clip of Mikaela. See how the pelvic bone stays square to the direction of travel. Failing to explain how to move the hips is one of the reasons people hip dump. You tell them to carve by tipping the skis...but fail to tell them they ALSO have to tilt at the same time so the motion works. Then, they can't make it work, and because they do not tilt, they engage is other incorrect motions (a-framing most of the time, but also hip dumping) to get the skis to tip. Hip dumping is what happens for some people when you do not explain how to move the hips. So that explanation of why HH uses terms that he does makes no sense at all. Just explain the full motion. Hips must tilt at the same time the skis tip.

@shooter7a You should be talking with HH, it's his descriptions of movements not mine. I've already said the description you use is simpler.

Thanks for your comments and great feedback. It's awesome skiing powder with Harald's efficient movements and as you say it works in all conditions. I hope you got your spot, and all the best for Hintertux...

Great to know you are kicking goals with Harald's concept especially the pulling back and tipping the downhill ski to the little to edge, that transformed my skiing after I got to ski with Harald in Telluride around 1997. His advice worked wonders for me back then and I am glad to her it's still working today! all the best with your season.

Hi Ian, great to hear from you. One of the best parts over and above helping skies reach new levels thanks to Harald's alignment and coaching programs is spending quality time and learning about and from quality people like yourself. Thanks for the update and all the best with your skiing...

@@BigGameAcademy I should have added Peter that we all owe a lot of gratitude to the coaches like yourself and all the others that have been so integral in PMTS. 👍

Thanks Ian, greatly appreciated.

That's great to hear. Well played! Harald sure does put a lot of smiles on lots of skiers around the globe!

Great question, that I will need to put to Harald.

Thanks for sharing. If you can take what Harald is saying and then re intemperate into how you already think of skiing then I suspect you are on the right track! Such a great group of skiers in here, all here for the right reasons, getting better at skiing, and sharing their expertise. Be nice to grab a few turns with all of the positive commenters in here one day. All the best with your skiing this season...

Skiing with Harald is something special, thanks for your comments.

It's like every turn you have a choice in transition to either go big toe edge and push and fight gravity or relax, shorten, and bend the stance ski leg and allow it to flatten and embrace gravity. Two options - wildly different results.

Thanks for you comments.

Great question. I'll be interested in Harald's thoughts as well. There may be some coaches on the East Coast there are chat groups dedicated to this (you may need to sign up - its free): www.pmts.org/pmtsforum/viewforum.php?f=5. I suspect one of the main reasons has to do with as a regular traditional ski coach that's part of a national system, you don't have the option to teach anything else. Hang in there, the more you can learn how to self-calibrate your own PMTS skiing the better. I know Harald plans to talk about this and how to self calibrate yourself on the hill - it's mind blowing what Harald does! Less than optimal alignment might be a factor for you. Harald's system of working on and improving dynamic balance is easiest with optimal alignment. One of the best way to understand Harald's system is to coach it to others (speaking from experience of nine seasons as a Harb camp instructor). When you are the one out in front, and being relied on to make their day, I find your brain works doubly hard to solve problems plus it seems to help you to be better at noticing things that work in your own skiing and demonstrations, so you also find your self-calibration ability becomes more attuned to efficient skiing. Lastly best to work on PMTS at slow speeds, you would be amazed how slow we skied at our race camps, when working on new drills. Harald likes to take speed away, so you have to figure out how to really balance dynamically without the crutch of speed. All the best.

@fourftr, definitely join the forum. There's a good chance you'll find somebody or somebody who knows somebody who's into PMTS in your area who you could ski with. Even if you don't find anybody to ski with, if you can get somebody to take video of your skiing, you can post it online and the forum gang can analyze your movements, give you feedback and suggest PMTS exercises to work on.

This may help you understand the situation. Harald teaches techniques that top racers use to become expert skiiers. Its not about easier or harder but is a different technique than what is taught by the majority of ski schools who are only permitted to teach recreational intermediate skidded skiing. Fundamentally Harald teaches skiing on your edges while maintaining balance through correct movements to bend the skis and carve to turn.

The sport of skiing used to require ski weeks to gain reasonable access to ski green slopes just to accomplish wedge turns. With PMTS you can achieve a parallel turn in one day if you have the stamina. Becoming "great" or even becoming an expert at any sport requires dedication and a complete package of training and coaching. PMTS is the most direct route to becoming an expert. A major influence in your journey to expert skiing is having your ski boots set up properly which is a large part of our Harb Ski Systems program. Without this component, you can struggle for years even with the best PMTS coaching. The ski industry downplays this aspect of ski learning because the training and application required to do this correctly are extensive. A proper boot setup can immediately change your skiing, so if you aren't having the success you are expecting, it's most likely your ski boots. More than 80% of skiers can improve their skiing with the proper boot, boot fit, and boot setup.

Spot on!

Awesome to hear how well things are going. Thank you for sharing your experience and positive comments. Harald's crowd are such great humans! FYI a decent sized car washing sponge makes the 'glove' task easier to begin with. We spent plenty of time doing this drill with Harald as I came to Harald with a comfort zone built from hundreds of days skiing misaligned, pushing and seeking the big toe in transition, and (world class) knee driving. This drill helped me a lot to build a new comfort zone around relaxing to release while allowing the stance ski to flatten from its big to edge and then continue over to the little to edge through transition (as it becomes the free foot) and into the high C part of the turn. Performance check: If skiing narrow with dynamic balance is still difficult after the glove drill, it may not be just movements, you might want to investigate getting your alignment looked into also if you haven't already. When investigating performance I observed and created this Big Game IP from my time with Harald and coaching 1,000's of skier athletes to come up with this 'simple' formula: Your Winning Formula + A Winning Nature = A Big Game Performance. When you get this right, it is amazing, as your performances jump levels when your Big Game Performances 'Naturally Shows Up'. The reason for saying 'Naturally' is that here at BGA we train a Winning Nature at the 'Unconscious Level' to power your Winning Formula. When this comes together it is also described as being in the zone or a flow state where time stands still as you can access everything you need to make that turn, carve that race gate, win that race or whatever you want. Sounds like you already have a Winning Nature as do all Harb enthusiasts. So the reason for mentioning optimal alignment is because it's a significant factor in your skiing Winning Formula. I wish every skier in the world could experience skiing with optical alignment as it just feels right! And it also equals the best opportunity for achieving dynamic balance. Saying it another way - skiing is two different sports. Skiing With Optimal Alignment vs Skiing with Poor Alignment. The good news is you may already have optimal alignment or be very close. When skiers progress rapidly, a naturally good to great alignment is usually a factor. But just keep it in the back of your mind, if you find the task harder than you think it should be over time. But... regardless of your current alignment on a scale from 0 to 10 (ten being optimal) the work you put in with Harald drills, especially the glove drill, will definitely pay off now and in the future. All the best!

Thanks, Damian, I've never been called a genius before.

Thanks for your comment and well said! For me, it's like I had two ski careers. The first was misaligned with big toe movements in transition which led to slow times in the race course, knee injury, and an early retirement from ski coaching. After meeting Harald, my second career was aligned skiing, using efficient movements like The Phantom Move in transition, and eventually working my way up to the top of the field in ski coaching and racing. I am grateful for both careers, but I am never letting go of career two, as it's way easier on the body and so much more fun!

Thank you for you comment and agree 100%!

Me too, I'm 72. I went to one of his clinics, I have all the books and have seen so many of his videos, I ordered the DVD set back before digital. I really like "Anyone Can Be an Expert Skier II" the best out of the 3 books. I don't like the way "Essentials" is organized. "II" is more linear. The biggest breakthrough in my skiing was his concept of tipping and pulling back that old downhill ski that becomes the free ski and moving and keeping it close to the other ski.

Great to hear your skiing is going well and thank you for sharing your experiences with applying Harald's Primary Movements.

Glad to here the tipping and pulling back, the Phantom Move is working so well for you, stay tuned as one of the next videos will be a deep dive into that! Thanks for your comments and feedback.

Hi Mike, I know Harald tends to recommend narrower waisted skis. The ideal here is... Have you had your alignment looked at? Any chance you can get to Harald's store in Colorado? As this is the ideal, as you build an world class alignment from the ground up. Ideal and optimized Boots, footbeds, liners, canting, shimming, binding delta etc. And then ski selection. You may already be spot on, but always best to invest the time to know 100%. With that said, if that's not possible, I plan on doing a video on ski selection with Harald, plus (like a PGA Tour what's in your bag) and go through all of Harald's skis and why! If you can hold out for that one. If you can't wait, as it may be a month or two, you can join this Facebook group, skiers over 60, that Harald runs and ask directly in the group: facebook.com/groups/141449078836551 as I am sure there are plenty of members in there with the same question. Finally, from me, I follow Harald's advice. My current ski is a Head Worldcup Rebels I.SL 170 cm which is 69 mm waist. Its 2016 model, as I don't ski as much as I did atm. This is a race construction heavy slalom ski, and is great for carving on piste. I am 57. 6'2" 185 pounds. I got that ski as Harald said I would love it, and he was 100% right. it's a serious ski. Before then I skied the original (and best!) HEAD Supershape and then they stopped making it, when I was in the market for new skis, otherwise I would have gotten another one of those,. The good news is they re released it and it is now called the SUPERSHSPE E-ORIGINAL PERFORMANCE SKI - which is even narrower around 66 mm waist - I'd probably go back to that ski, now that it is available again, as it's a little more versatile than my current ski. I skied that ski all over the mountain and up to waist deep power in Ferine for abut five seasons, (but it's not exactly designed for all mountain skiing!) it's best on the groomers, so I know it really well. But I always like to check in with Harald in case there is something better! As he gets to test skis each year. I was a ski tester here in Australia for 17 years, back in the day also, but again, that was a previous life! So I am not up to date with the latest gear...

Very much appreciate for your feedback, its very helpful and I'm definitely looking forward to your next video. Thanks much @@BigGameAcademy

Ok, we are on it, stay tuned, and thanks for the feedback...

Thank you for your comments and yes, I too was astounded to meet Harald almost 25 years ago. He was telling me the very same thing back then and as an Australian ski writer and a retired (at 22 years old) ski instructor due to injury from misalignment, I was super knocked kneed but didn't know it, and we got to work on my alignment as a step 1. I was so impressed I went to my editor here and I said - we have to write about this guy! We ran pages and pages on Harald, his alignment and Primary Movements Teaching System every year for over a decade. I was able to rebuild and recover from chronic knee soreness, once aligned in skiing and on my bike, and I had a second career ski coaching Harald stuff, after retiring from skiing, I took up masters ski racing and after learning how to get out of my own way and bring my Big Game, I was able to win even picking up a $10,000 at one race, all thanks to Harald! So the good news is, my advice is - to get to his Alignment Store which is less than an hour away from Winter Park. That's so much closer to Harald than me living here in Australia!! I suggest you get your alignment sorted first, it's a key component to establishing your dynamic skiing balance. Learning his movements and working on your dynamic skiing balance is way easier once you have achieved optimal alignment. (Note: your alignment may already be spot on - but best to have it checked and know by the experts!) harbskisystems.com/pages/ski-shop FYI... Here is the alignment process I would take clients through when I ran my own Harb Ski Camps in Canada and Australia, that Harald and Diana taught me. I assume it's similar or improved now. Step 1. Off snow... We did the assessment where we take a series of measurements (54) of your lower body and foot function and recorded them. Harald has a database of over 20,000 assessments now. Then we would assess your boots, footbed, liner, setup, skis, binding delta based on your specific foot and lower leg functions, and explain everything based on our measurements... and we would then walk you through what's working for you, what isn't and build a plan to move you to optimal alignment. At Camp, I would have also already seen you ski, and videoed runs balancing on all four edges and a straight run and some regular turns as well. But once you have done this for a while, you can get amazing results just from indoors, as you get to see both on snow and indoors so as an experienced Harb-trained alignment specialist - you can get really close just indoors as you have the experience of both. But it's always best to have your dynamic balance re checked on snow, if that's possible. I am not sure how they do that at the shop now, but I am sure you can work something out. Once your alignment is sorted, start with Harald's most popular video - The Phantom Move, and go from there! Plus yes the books and videos are incredibly helpful. I used to ski with my autographed copy of Harald's Anyone Can Be an Expert Skier book, in my jacket, and pull it out on the slopes of Beaver Creek, when I was working there! Gosh almost three decades ago. One of our next videos will be on the Phantom Move unless we change our minds! Best of luck. PS I used to race triathlon, once my knees were healed after meeting Harald, and 18 months off all sports to fully recover, and one of my Harb guys, Jeff Tan, put me onto Total Immersion Swimming, loved it, so your comparison from my experience is spot on. Welcome to the out there common sense community!

ok, the short(er) answer to the above is - if you want to optimize your skiing and take it to new levels - step 1 optimize your alignment - as the difference is night and day between skiing aligned vrs misaligned - otherwise they are two different sports! How do I know this? Because my first ski coaching career I was misaligned and I got mixed results and my knees developed chronic pain, so bad that I couldn't walk down a flight of stairs without supporting most of my boy weight on the railing (at age 22!). After meeting Harald, I healed my chronic knee soreness and over time, as I was always scared to push too hard, I regained full knee function,. I returned to ski coaching and every day even teaching beginners and intermediates, my skiing improved, because we teach expert movements in Harald's system After retiring from ski coaching (as second time!!), I had another successful career Masters racing, where again I took things slowly again, as chasing high performance skiing had destroyed my knees and my confidence in the past, but as each season past, my confidence in my knees and myself grew, and eventually I developed into a successful ski racer. All that's to Harald and his training - and a little bit of work - ok a lot of work on my part! So I am a pretty good case study!

@@BigGameAcademy thank you for the comprehensive advice, you are a true gentleman! I will definitely stop by Harb’s shop as we only live 26 miles away! I’ve got my work cut out for me, which is great. Before I discovered your channel and that of Harald, I was more or less mindlessly skiing hoping to miraculously converge to expert skiing. Now I have plan and a system to study!

Skiing Career 1: Misaligned (4.5 degrees knocked kneed left / 3 degrees knocked kneed right)+ inefficient movements trying to release and transfer by pushing off the big toe edge to a new big toe edge = poor results, the bottom half of the ski school and resulted in crippling injury - ski racing at the back of the field. by 14 seconds to the National Guys. Skiing Career 2: Aligned + efficient movements by relaxing the stance leg into transition and transferring balance to the little toe edge of the free foot - The Phantom Move = excellent results. Year 1 was still the bottom half of the ski school (as I was still eliminating my old movements) but over time by year 7 top of the ski school - ski racing year one I was still at the back of the field but by year 7 only half a second behind the National Development Team Racers. and winning my age group against ex Olympians... This is why I am so excited to help share Harald's message, as it simply works when you put in the work!

To figure all of this out, I spent weeks with Harald, even moving into his home pre-and post season, learning all I could from watching, listening, and asking endless questions. I was building my Skiing Winning Formula, even though I didn't fully realize it then. I did all of his training also and qualified as one of his coaches. After a few seasons running Harb Camps in Canada and Australia, I got there less and less as we got busier. I am so grateful for the time skiing with Harald and for the 95% of the other time skiing by myself and coaching others - as this is where I learned how to self-coach myself. This led me to develop the Big Game Academy and my Big Game IP, which is inspired by my time with Harald and what I learned (the hard way) through ski racing. My Big Game IP is the ability to self-coach yourself by identifying and combining your Winning Formula with a Big Game Mindset to achieve great things. Figuring out the second piece, a Big Game Mindset, is what truly elevated my results, as this is the trickiest part because most of it plays out at the unconscious level. But I was able to figure this part out, once again by applying Harald's training, where I was taught to focus on the single most important element. When you do this when taking on your own unconscious mind - you can begin to see things for what they really are! That's how I was able to build up a deep understanding of how the unconscious mind works for and against us, piece by piece, and how to take control of your unconscious and turn it to your advantage. It's what I am passionate about sharing and teaching today via the Academy in an easy-to-follow step-by-step process - that has taken me three decades of pondering, questioning, and trial and error with input from the best of the best to fully figure out - because you won't learn this stuff in school!

Wow, well said. Your comment speak volumes for the thousands of the grateful skiers out there who have discovered Harald and tapped into his books, videos, programs, and camps. Have a great season!

Thank you for this write up. You got me interested in reading his books.

Howdy, thanks for your question, yes it works on straight skis. It works even better when your alignment is optimal. Stay tuned for the next video as we plan to show some videos of the great skiers through history, and get Harald's feedback on when they are using Primary Movements and his Phantom Move.

@@BigGameAcademy OK, I tried it yesterday , I have 42 year old skies Hexcel Sundance 2's straight skies. I ski very well on them, I found that to get to the other edge in a turn, you have to have a pole plant to release you into the next turn with the inside leg light and the proper lead change. Balance was a issue on the straight skies, come paired to the Newer skies today! I couldn't lift my inside leg to help turn with my straight skies but I can with Newer skies and it works Great!

@@RoyDPowell-Royalmae Wow, it's way harder on straight skis. here is a clip of Ingemar Stenmark making The Phantom Move under race conditions for inspiration but sounds like you have it sorted, well played! - ruclips.net/video/fEgcYVnUpAo/видео.html

Send me to your progression of lesson one, not using the wedge I raced in the ‘70s and only taught in the last 10 years. I’m not eye to eye with PSIA…

And this could have been the PSIA teaching system if they had paid attention to Harald years ago.

Thanks for your comments, yes there is a lot of gold in here. The more times we can capture Harald's knowledge the better!

Thanks Jeff, yes plenty to think about and introduce or reintroduce into the float and through transition to maintain functional balance for ease of entry from one turn to the next. Bring on those High C turns!

Thanks for the feedback, I especially love to here from racers. Racers are a special breed! Stay tuned, much more to come from Harald!

@@BigGameAcademy I too skied with the VR17 in my early twenties (and the Nevada Look bindings) , They were great on the icy, rarely groomed slopes of the Pyrenees mountains at 205 cm ( I am only 5'7") ! I bought Harald's first book in the 1990s. What a revelation! I trusted him, stuck with the phantom move and one leg dynamic balance and my technique changed in 5 days for the better. Carving with high edge angles became possible. Now in my eightieth year I can carve down the mountain with little effort, which wouldn't be possible with my older, stiffer technique of the ESF (French Ski School). Skiing in Les Arcs a month ago, I wanted for my wife (intermediate-advanced) to take a private lesson from a ski coach. He was a good skier, but He taught her the ESF technique unweighting the skis by extending both legs through transition. I observed him while carving together and we were both doing the opposite, as we should (flexing to release) . How could more extension lead to the ultimate goal of flexing? it's like a stop over in Paris on a NY to LA flight! All my gratitude goes to Harald whom I never met! What an exceptional and intelligent teacher!

Glad to hear you are skiing so well. So much easier working with and using gravity to your advantage rather than having to fight it at every turn!

Well said!! The best part is it's repeatable. I remember Harald saying to me - when he was younger (not sure how young he was referring to) most days were good days but once he had figure out his full system of movements and alignment and how all of the parts fitted together, now every day is a good day!

Thank you for your comment. One of the best parts about mastering Harald's efficient skiing system is once you master the understanding and the movements, you are instantly 'qualified' in a sense to help others around you with their skiing as well, as your story demonstrates. I have enjoyed working with 100's of fantastic clients over the years and Barb and Sue were some of the standouts as we still catch up. We were at lunch last year and they were telling me how many people they have taught Harald's system to - and the numbers are amazing! Harald gives so much, and then his community gives so much as well, it's a wonderful thing to be a small part of as well. We are definitely doing more interviews, stay tuned!

Howdy, and thank you for sharing your positive experience skiing with Harald and I am glad to hear your skiing is still trending in the right direction thanks to the work you continue to putting in. It takes work to understand and then adapt Harald's efficient skiing movements but once you 'get it' the magic of skiing the mountain as you wish (rather than as the mountain wishes) is truly life changing for those of us who love our skiing.

The secret is being able to identify as a coach (or self identify in your own skiing) the single most important move (SMIM) that is going to take you (or the client) out of balance or you need to work on to elevate your (or your clients) skiing. To be able to identify this you need to be an expert in 1. Movement - Harald teaches the five essentials of skiing plus there is a whole lot more if you want it - I personally also love some of his earlier work around RTE and his instructor manual. 2. Alignment - boot, ski, and liner equipment selection, plus equipment set up, footbeds, canting, cuff alignment, bootwork etc. 3. The mental game - which Harald is an expert in and this is what I have specialized in post ski coaching (with Harald) for regular athletes given I live 1200 miles from the snow now - and I wanted to stay in the coaching space as I love it! Now the SMIM in skiing could be because of movement, alignment, mental game, or a combination of the three. So Harald and I are going to release a series of videos on this channel and on Harald's channel sharing Harald's inside secrets to all of this because his camps sell out each year in 24 hrs, so Harald doesn't have any real competition in this highly competitive space, where most like to keep their secrets to themselves, especially at the World Cup Level, so buckle in everyone for some world-class training. (Editors note: I figured I'd answer this for you - as it's not anyone else's responsibility who is posting positive feedback here to do the heavy lifting for you - so best not ask them moving forward - and this is the last time - from me also. Hint: keep an open mind and put in the time - like Harald has done! As the answers you discover for yourself (from putting in the work) are a much greater gift.

BGA’s note below says it all. Funny part is that “the secret” you seek involves patience. 🎉 Get the books or DVD/downloads! One can open up a whole new world of skiing.

Max left coaching with us and took up the position as the head golf professional at Fernie which is a full time commitment. This means he isn't ski coaching. You will find him skiing the back country around Frenie and on the hill when the crowds aren't there!

Love it. This was a similar experience for me. it's like a whole new world of possibilities opens up, in a instant if your alignment is out and you met Harald or his team and you get back on track! You go from struggle street to 10 feet tall and bullet proof on skis!

Very interesting, but what was the problems with boots or what?

Just saw this. Skiers come in effectively three alignment categories. Aligned, knocked kneed, and bow legged. Aligned are the lucky ones as their knees are in a neutral position and they can stand on a flat skis in parallel and in balance with their muscles in co contraction so they have full mobility and full balance. Abut 20% of skiers are naturally aligned. Knocked kneed skiers natural alignment means their knees are tipped in when standing in parallel, and so they don't ride a flat ski in parallel because their knees fall to the inside and it's much harder to balance and the net result is the ski wants to drift out and away from under you when turning. The way to address this is with a laterally stiff ski boot, a supportive footbed and often with some canting - high side inside under the ski boot. These changes confirmed on snow will bring the skier into optimal alignment and their muscles back into co-contraction and in balance when skiing in parallel. The Big Benefit here is with optimal alignment you can now relax the stance leg in transition and it and the ski will keep tracking the way you want. When skiing misaligned you cant relax in translon as the ski wont do what you want and will drift out and away from you. As skiing is such a balance sport this misaligned drifting out kills your ability to ski efficiently. Bow legged skiers knees are tipped to the outside, so it usually treated in the opposite way to a knocked kneed skiers. Rotary boot, support foot bed and hight side outside canting under ski boot. So ideally to ski better - Step one is to optimise your alignment and then you will be in the best position to keep working on Harald's dynamic balance skiing movements that lead to efficient skiing where you get to embrace gravity rather than fight it at every turn!

Thank you and all the best for a fresh start at Mission Ridge. It's going to be a great New Year. When you say you have felt stuck for a while do you think that is equipment and set up (alignment) or movements or something else?

Hi and thank you for reaching out. I'll defiantly be asking Harald in a follow up interview on this so to get his expert view for you. In the meantime I will share a little of my story of overcoming knee injury and how I would do it even better and way faster today. I was forced to retire from ski instructing at 22 years old with severe knee soreness. This was way before I met Harald!. I was skiing very misaligned but didn't know it. I couldn't walk downstairs without supporting most of my body weight on the railing. I had to take 18 months of all sports and I was lucky to work with an expert physiotherapist here in Australia (a US physical therapist) and we created a program to slowly rebuild my knees by avoiding pain working out. I then met Harald a couple of years later. At that time I could ski around without pain but I was still very cautious and didn't try and push into high performance skiing. Meeting Harald I then understood what had gone wrong with my alignment set up and how to avoid that. At that time I would have still rated my knees at 7/10. I started training with Harald and I was so impressed I signed on to sell Harald books and videos here in Australia. One thing led to another and a few years later I launched and ran Harb Ski Caps in Canada and Australia (with Harald and Diana training our team of coaches) kind of forgetting that I would need to start skiing full-time again. It all went well and I kept rebuilding my knees. After several seasons of ski coaching camps, I took up ski racing and I was still taking it slowly each season racing as I never wanted to screw up my knees again. Each season I gained more confidence and in my last season, I won a decent race with a $10,000 trophy! Now if I had to rehabilitate my knees again - I would go straight to Ben Patrick the knees-over-toes guy. Recently, having stopped training anything like when I was racing, and too much time in front of this computer, my right knee started to blow up again first time in 20 years, which was obviously a big concern, and I found Ben's stuff and I implemented it immediately and I got results quickly as there is no pain when you do his exercises or you stop and back off the training to an easier pain-free level. Ben is brilliant and I have sent him plenty of thank you emails for his work. This is me, Peter Stone from Big Game Academy, and no one else recommending Ben Patrick 100%. Here is his website link and jump to the FAQs as he does a great job explaining this as his knees were way worse than mine and his knees are now way stronger than mine. My knees are now stronger than they were when I was at my peak in ski racing thanks to Ben as I only ski a few weeks a year at the moment. Good luck - www.atgonlinecoaching.com/ (Note: we don't make anything from this recommendation)

Thank you for the lengthy response. I will definitely review knees over toes guy again. You are right, the key is not flaring up at all. I have been doing the Flemish guy’s program (can’t remember his name but he’s a patellar tendinitis survivor). He is all about minimal to no flare ups. I accidentally flared up on Sunday because I changed the rom of my isometric leg extension rehab program. I almost went into a freak out. I’m sure you know how scary knee flare ups are. The good news is it’s calming down and ipso facto I am less stressed about the tendon flare. My Surgeon and PT are all about the “2 year plan” when it comes to knee injuries or surgeries. 1 year to heal, 1 year to get strong again. You can’t heal a tendon and get strong muscularely at the same time. It’s taken me 51 years to accept that…

Once you get through the healing phase, Harald stuff in terms of correct equipment and alignment and on snow set up and supporting primary movements is the best way I know of (having done this myself) to ski the way you want. One step at a time and we are here to help. All the best with it. And let us know of your progress or any challenges.

Very well said. and thank you for your comments. My lightbulb moment was in Telluride in 97 after skiing the weekend with Harlad with some brand new perfectly aligned and tuned skis in perfect snow conditions, then I had my last day in Vail (which was magical) and the next day I was back to Australia where I had to wait months to see if I could recreate the magic. It took me quite a bit to get back to that level, as I wasn't on snow nearly as much the next few seasons. The good news is it never leaves you when you get it, but sometimes it takes a little bit, to get it back. Nothing like time on snow to recreate the magic. We'll keep it simple and short moving forward with a single main focus per video to keep the good stuff from Harald coming. Stay tuned for more...

Will definately follow up on Dodge boots when we do some ski boot chats... Stay tuned!

@@BigGameAcademy Well no one bats .1000. Harald has missed it a couple times too, like with the carvers. MJ missed a lot of game winners. Remember. You make it into the baseball hall of fame batting .300!

I certainly don't bat 1,000 either, but I still have my carvers, although I rarely use them up here around Byron Bay Australia anymore as I am in a full sweat just getting my ski boots on up here as it's so hot even in winter! When I was in Melbourne which is much colder in winter we used to get out and about, but I always felt like I dodged a bullet when I would come back in unscathed! The carves really helped me in between seasons around 2004 and 2005, I used them a lot back then!

Thank you we appreciate your feedback and we are inspired to do a lot more...

To each their own. No sense playing the who’s snow sport is better. Alpine skis, tele, backcountry, snowboard, snowshoes: get out and enjoy the snow. ❄️

Well said. Agree 100%! He's a living legend!

He's the coolest!

@@BigGameAcademy Peter. One thing that's really cool about HH is his politics and how outspoken he is. I love that about him. Harald tells people who he is and what he believes in -- he's been that way for as long as I've known him. Like how he lambasted the PSIA. Or how he'd blast ski forums like epic ski (now skitalk) for blocking discussion of PMTS. No jive. They actually blocked members from talking about PMTS - for years! They're still doing it! This is a big part of the story that should be told. Please ask him about this.

Thanks for this, we plan on going deep into boot fit and alignment in shorter form videos.

Thanks for the feedback and well said. I am speaking with Harald shortly about what to share next following the theme of simple and effective that will give the biggest benefit to those watching, so stay tuned for more!

I really have to ask the purpose of your post, aside from a rant. It has nothing to do with the subject being discussed.

It would be nice to be able to ski for $8 a day today!

Much prefer modem boots, we are very grateful to you ski pioneers who helped shaped the sport!