HOW TO SKI IN TOUGH TERRAIN | 3 Tips with Tom Gellie

So this video is for those skiers who lack a little bit of confidence or lose their confidence when they delve off the runs into tougher terrain. Hi, my name is Tom Gellie, ex-Australian Demo Team member and founder of BigPictureSkiing.com. Today I'd like to help you in building confidence in tougher terrain. So in this video I'm going to try and give you some actionable tips and things to focus on so on your next trip you're going to feel far more confident and able to tackle that tougher terrain. So before we get into the tips we need to know what is tougher terrain. The main things are there's obstacles and there's variable snow and today very variable snow. There's punchy sections where I'm pushing all the way through, there's icy sections, there's beautiful windblown powder, there are bumps, there are dips, all those things they make it more difficult for me to do my edging and turning of the skis. So I need to know that's going on before we can get into the tactics that I can use to help get through those things much easier. So tip number one is change your attitude, don't change your technique. This is because I commonly see skiers when they come in here and they're they're trying to venture into tougher terrain their confidence drops, they go back and all that makes it more difficult to tackle this terrain and make the skis turn. So to give you an analogy if you were off running on a smooth path that then veered off into a mountain trail with roots and logs and stones and steps you wouldn't change your running technique you'd just heighten your senses and awareness. Same thing you wouldn't run and then stop at every obstacle you'd try and keep your flow moving through those things. Okay and that comes down to the way you approach the run, how you think about it. What makes our skis turn and give us control on the piste is no different off piste. The same edging, turning all those things are happening here so there's not that much a big of a difference with the technique coming into this tougher terrain. So this is a great area on the hill there's a slightly more challenging piece of terrain next to a nice easy groomed bit I skied this morning. So look for this terrain at your own resort because this is perfect training ground for working on changing your attitude but not changing your technique. So I want to emphasize that it's easier said than done but it's a really important point. Okay if you can focus on what makes you ski well on the piste that's going to keep your mind focused on the outcomes as opposed to the worries which will start freezing you up. So easier said than done I understand that but if you can really get this tip of really being confident with your attitude and focusing on on the technique you're going to get through this a lot easier. Tip number two of today's lesson is visual training and terrain reading. So people will often lose their confidence because they don't know where to turn and why. So if I give you an analogy you're in a crowded place what do you automatically do? You look for the gaps in the crowd because the gaps give you freedom to move through the crowd. Conversely if you tried to bully your way and push your way through a group that's much more effort harder work. So on this tougher terrain I'm going to try and show you some places that make it easier and so you can choose a line like you're choosing your path through the crowd. So in a nutshell the places you want to turn are these high points these features that allow you to free up the tips and especially the tails of your skis. So look for those in your visual training and your terrain reading and try and link them up into one smooth run. So I wanted to stop here because this is a good example of where to not try and start a turn. I'm in between two high points. This and behind me are higher points so my skis are kind of like flexed in. Tip and tails are very stuck so to free my my tails up is difficult. They're going to want to catch on the back of this bump. I just moved waited until I found a higher point like this. I now get the effect of like a seesaw where I can now easily get my tails free to turn. So very much a timing thing. This is a good example of not where to start a turn. You can ski through here but your focus is on the high point to create a seesaw effect and get your tails free for an easy start. So I'm going to try and focus on some more high points in the terrain down here that are going to free me up and also make it a lot more fun. It's like a video game. I'm trying to link up these little kind of points that make it easier but also feel really fun to hit. Okay so starting off I'm going to ski right into this high point. It's going to free me up, make it fun. Another high point, another high point. That's freed my tails up. I've got to be quicker here. Another high point. Looking, looking, looking. Got it. Here I can finish up. Any little high point can help me finish a turn and free my tails to start the next turn. It's a matter of linking these points through using your eyes to find them. So at the end of the day if you're still having a tough time in the tougher terrain I'd recommend going back to basics and focusing on a key skiing skill. So for instance four and a half balance is probably the most obvious one I'd recommend going and working on. There's plenty of videos out there to help you with this topic. If you happen to have carve then you can look at all the data. Like I've been skiing today and it's collected all the metrics on the different skiing skills. So I'm going to choose the weakest one and then try and do some drills back on some easier terrain, smoother terrain to improve that score because I'll know my technique is going to be better and I can take that back into the tougher terrain. Because tip number one, don't change your technique, change your attitude. So to recap, remember change your attitude, don't change your technique. Do some terrain reading and visual training so you know what line, where you want to go and why. And then third, it's always important to go back and make sure you work on your basic ski skills. Get those right and everything's going to be much easier. So these tips, I still use them. I was using them today filming this video. Every time I rocked up to some terrain that was a little, you know, uneven, there was some tough snow, I hadn't skied there before. Straight away, my mind automatically went to the things we've talked about. So if you can focus on these, it's really going to open up the whole mountain to you. So it's going to take some practice, but it's going to be awesome and you're really going to be rocking it in no time. So if you enjoyed this video and the other content we've created, please hit subscribe and leave a comment because we'd love to make some more stuff for you. So I hope you have a good day on the slopes. Thanks, see you next time.