How To Ski and How Not To

by Vivian Caulfeild

The sensation, however, will be quite different to that of an ordinary standing long jump, in which the heels leave the ground as the jumper crouches, and the spring is made from the toes. In this form of the “Sats” it is very important that some of the weight should remain on the heels, which should not be allowed to rise from the skis in the smallest degree. You will find that any pressure on the toes and lifting of the heels will, though it may seem unlikely, almost certainly tend to make you finish the “Sats” in an erect instead of an inclined position.

The accurate timing of the “Sats” is naturally most important. If it is made too late and the knees are still somewhat bent as the jumper leaves the platform (see [Plate LIII.]), the completion of the movement in the air will push the skis below their natural line of flight, and the jump will be shortened—not a very serious matter for the beginner. If, however, the “Sats” be made too soon, and the jumper’s weight comes on his skis again before they have left the platform, he will have a nasty fall forward. This need not trouble you, for you are certain to find the greatest difficulty in managing to make the “Sats” soon enough.

The more slowly you make the movement, the sooner you will have to begin it, and the more difficulty you will have in timing it accurately, but at first if you try to make it quickly you will probably not do it correctly. I strongly advise you therefore to go through the slow and careful practising stage, not on the jumping-hill at all, but without skis, in your bedroom or anywhere else. Practise this movement at any odd moment; it will soon become mechanical, and if, before you start jumping, you have learnt to make this movement quickly and accurately, you will have made things enormously easier for yourself.

When practising the “Sats” without skis you will, of course, find that, as your weight comes on your feet again at the end of the straightening movement, you will be in the act of falling forwards. You can prevent doing so by making a quick stride forward with one foot and dropping into the Telemark position; but don’t do this until the last possible moment, first making quite sure that you are perfectly straight from head to heels and inclined at a sufficient angle. See also that your feet are held quite parallel and touching each other.

So much for the first method of making the “Sats.” The second is as follows. From the preparatory crouching position spring straight into the air with a free, swinging action, but as strongly as possible, at the same time giving the body a slight tilt forward, so that it becomes more and more inclined during its flight through the air. The spring is made from the toes this time, but instead of the legs being drawn up as in ordinary jumping, they should be quite straight and in line with the body as they leave the ground, and the feet should be pointed downwards, exactly parallel and close together.

This movement (the arms are swung as before) is much like that of a dive from a springboard; but while the diver’s body has to make half a revolution, or pass through an angle of 180° during its flight through the air, the ski-jumper, even in the case of the most exaggerated “squirt jump” on the steepest hill, could hardly have to change his angle by more than 45°. The ski-jumper then would seem to have the easier task.

The difficulty is that, whereas the diver wants to land (?) head first, the ski-jumper would rather not, and instinctively shrinks from the slight effort in that direction which is necessary.

The remarks in the description of the first method as to timing, &c., hold good here, and it is equally possible and advisable in this case to practise without skis. When doing so you should, after your spring into the air, land on the ground on tip-toe, tilted as much forward as possible, with your feet just where they left the ground, and absolutely parallel to and touching each other. A fall is avoided as before by dropping into the Telemark position.

When the “Sats” is made very suddenly and energetically in this way, the jumper may notice a tendency not merely to give an insufficient forward tilt to his body as he springs, but even to tilt it slightly backwards, so that he lands on his back with his skis in the air; and this in spite of the fact that he may quite have overcome his nervousness and desire to shrink back.

I think it may be worth while to explain this.