"Four Words Point Way at Every Turn"
By Craig McNeil
January 3, 2006
I recently visited Aspen to catch up with an old friend, John Clendenin. Clendenin is a former two-time world-champion freestyle skier and director of Camp with the Champs, a two-day program designed to teach skiers of all ability levels how to ski moguls and off-piste conditions. Clendenin's goal is to safely introduce skiers to the joys of all-mountain skiing.For the past 10 years, he has worked to develop what he calls the Aspen Method. Clendenin, who has a book due out in 2006, says the cornerstone of the Aspen Method can be summarized in "four words . . . 1) drift, 2) center, 3) touch and 4) tip."
He said those words were chosen "so that skiers could assimilate the information very easily."
The first of the four words, drift, refers to the use of the little-toe edge of the uphill foot and ski to set up the skier for the turn. In many cases on steep or bumpy conditions, skiers come through a turn and use a hard, abrupt edge with the big-toe edge of the downhill ski to slow themselves down and control speed.
Unfortunately, such an abrupt use of the edge is not only hard on your knees and legs but results in the skis squirting out from under you, leaving you in the back seat and hanging on for dear life.
Initially, the drift is used to begin momentum and set you up for the turn. Because the drift is about edge control, it is the independent use of one ski that helps create the drift. By tipping the uphill foot and ski to the little-toe edge, a gentle tipping or "feathering" of the little-toe edge of the uphill ski will direct the skis uphill. This subtle tipping enables the skier to control the rate of speed as well as manage the terrain.
The drift
• The drift is how you begin your movement into a turn. Whereas the use of a hard edge set creates a hard ride, soft edges allow the skier to drift at will to control speed and manage terrain.
• In this photo, John uses the drift to set himself up for the turn by tipping the uphill ski (the left foot and ski) to the little-toe edge.
• Think of the drift in terms of how you use your edges to help the skis move into, or set you up for, a turn. It's a way to manage your speed in steep, difficult or bumpy conditions through the independent use of your ski edges.
Set up for the drift
• Drifting should not be confused with skidding, which is an unintended slipping of the skis off your intended path of momentum.
• A proper drift is an intended and balanced use of your ski edges underfoot.
• The drift revolves around the action of tipping one foot to the little-toe edge. In this photo, John controls the drift by subtly tipping the uphill foot and ski (the left ones in photo) to the little-toe edge.
Drift from a traverse
• By fine-tuning the use of tipping your uphill foot and ski to the little-toe edge, you control the angle of the skis to the snow and, in turn, the amount of slipping or drifting the skis will do as you move across the slope.
• From a traverse, begin tipping the uphill foot to the little-toe edge. Do this subtly so there is no hard edge set but, instead, a soft or feathered approach to using the edge.
• Tipping the uphill foot and ski to the little-toe edge will direct the skis into the slope. Tipping the foot and ski to the little-toe edge should be done smoothly and gently as a way to control your speed and manage the terrain.
