What do ski racers learn?

Question

OK. It seems like a lot of racers and freeskiing competitors nowadays know very little about the technical aspects of the gear they use.

Back in the days when I raced, things like DIN, boot sizes, proper weights and heights for what ski sizes we used, waxing, types of wax, etc. etc. were things we just learned. Either our coaches told us this stuff or we learned it on our own somehow.

Are these things still taught to racers nowadays or is the focus simply on racing skills and techniques?

This is something I've noticed over the past few years...I'm just curious.

Answer 1

I don't race FIS or USSA, but just masters. Still, as a ski racer, I've learned a lot of what you listed above, plus more in terms of the technical aspects of carving a turn, body position etc.  The coaches I've worked with have dealt mostly with skills and gate techniques, but they will tell you all about wax, edge sharpening, etc if you ask.   A lot of what I've learned about wax and tuning I picked up from other guys that race.

Answer 2

How does that stuff help you get down a hill faster?  It is the sort of arcana that is only useful in boring conversations between old farts.

Answer 3

What the racers are taught will depend on each coach. Some will do early fall clinics to teach about skiis, wax, boots, so forth, others do not have the time or money to do this.  Also some ski shops will put on programs to teach anyone hot to do this and to try to sell the attendees new equipment.

Answer 4

Im not sure if you are talking about some of the so called "ski racers" on here, but Im pretty sure most of them are full of ****.  I had one supposed ski racer on here asking a question about what kind of socks to wear while skiing...he stated that he wore "cotton ankle socks" while racing.  I told him to get a new coach.  Its kind of like in the golf forum where everyone is a scratch golfer and can bomb it 350.

And Ian...all that stuff does help you get down the hill.

Answer 5

I don't agree, both of my kids race for high school and they are very aware of DIN, they sharpen and wax their equipemetn before races and know the proper USSA ski sizes etc. On ething I will say I have noticed in recent years is the popularity of ski racing seems to be declining. Of course this is atributable to snowbairding as well as the freestyle skiing fad that are currently popular.