How to Tuck

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This is very cool; recently Ted Ligety (currently GS champ and bloody legend) stated on his blog he wasn’t too sure of his own ‘tuck’. Perhaps in response Hans Olsson (top Dowhiller and gliding master) has posted a blog of his own about how to tuck.

Copied from his page:

Tuck like a champion. November 18, 2011Coming up on the mountain this morning, things were not looking very good. 15cm of fresh powder on top of our freshly injected hill, is normally = f####g Disaster!! I know you can do a lot if you get access to a ratrac & good coaches to give instructions, but today a new level of amazingness was reached. They turned up side down on the whole situation & took out some “gandalf the grey” magic & turned the hill into the icy pist we were looking for!!

So lets go over to some tucking instructions…

Are you a ski racer & have a hard time killing the flats, well listen up…

Tucking ABC..

What NOT to do.

*Do not go to deep in the tuck! That way you can´t absorb all the small bumps & its very hard to move smoothly during a turn.

*Do not lean forward & have pressure on the front of the skis. That makes the skis want to turn instead of floating nice on top of the snow.

*Do not dip you ass low to get the pressure on you tails, that makes your aerodynamic suck nuts+ you can´t absorb bumps in a effective way!

Do not go to a wind tunnel & try to find the best tuck possible. Just because its the best aerodynamic position dosen´t mean its the fastest position while skiing! Your stans, pressure points, absorbing abilities are way more important factors in the search of speed!

What to do…

*Try to have your ass as high up as possible, without dipping your arms & upper body to low. That creates a aerodynamic position that still allows you to move freely & relaxed!

*Make sure you have your knees in a perfect straight parallel position, imagen your self being a sled!

*Make sure to have properly bent poles that fits your tuck!

*Focus while tucking, use every little bump as your friend & try to create speed instead of loosing speed on them!

*If your not fast on the flats & you think its boring to work on your gliding skills… Well go & have some MC Donalds, make sure to super size your meals. Yes thats right, “meals” & not meal, one meal is for sure not enough!!

Questions will for sure be answered by Dr Liontuck!

/Hans