Richard Amacker - The master of skiing drills

This episode is brought to you by Carv, the digital ski coach. Now, one of the features I've had the most fun with all time is simply the fact that Carv tracks every single turn you make. I treat it a bit like Strava, so at the end of the day it tells me exactly how many turns I've done, and those numbers keep adding up across the season. So last season in Australia, I had a few days where I was doing nearly 2,500 turns, and my legs were tired, but it was really cool to try and have that number there motivating me, and I'm quietly working my way towards my 1 millionth turn with Carv. So the other metrics I've been diving into lately, and these are new for this season, are very unique, and these are turn corridor and turn radius. And I don't see many skiers using them, but they tell you a lot about the shape and flow of your skiing. So the turn corridor shows you how far you're traveling across the hill, or the time almost between apex to apex, and how long you're taking to transition. While the turn radius measures the actual arc you create once you start the turn. So these can be different, you can have like a very wide corridor, say 18 meters, but a lower turn radius, or the other way around. So when you compare the two, it opens up a whole world of experimentation, and it would be a bit like a race coach will set different types of race courses to influence a racer or skier to change the timing and mix it up. So I encourage you to look into this if you've got Carv and play with it and see if you can manipulate it, because it's only going to improve your versatility. So I keep my Carv on my boots every single day because you never know quite know when like a change in technique or a new ski resort or skis will show up in the numbers, and it's great at the end of the day being able to check that, or even after the fact. And I'm really looking forward to the day I open the app and I see turn number 1 million So, if you want to explore your skiing in a completely different way, check out Carv, the digital ski coach, and thank you team for sponsoring this episode.

Hey everyone, before listening, if you really want some context on the person I'm about to speak to, head to Instagram and search Richard Amacker. Okay, this guy is incredible. The reason I wanted to reach out and talk with him is due to his playfulness, the amount of varied drills he can execute with high precision and fun. Like, after watching Richard's channel, you just want to go out and do some funky, strange things that you'll find out does help him push the limits of his skiing. So I wanted to share this because I think a lot of people can get stuck on maybe being too internal and not really experimenting enough with their skiing. So this should, I really hope, bring some inspiration to go out there and test and try some things to the extreme. Let's get into the interview. And, uh, just a word on Big Picture Skiing. So Big Picture Skiing, my company, is the reason I can now do a lot more of these free interviews, these free webinars, and more Global Skiing Podcasts. So if you haven't checked it out, please head over to bigpictureskiing.com and maybe just subscribe for a month or even just check it out, do a free trial. I put all my really, really good stuff there along with my business partner Sam, ex-World Championship ski racer. So if you really want some insight, some great ideas, drills, theory, and another perspective on skiing, head to bigpictureskiing.com. Alright, let's get stuck into it. Here's the interview with Swiss demo team member Richard Amicker.

Richard, pleasure to meet you. Now, I got in touch with you because I found your Instagram channel, and the first thing that struck me was your playfulness and skillfulness within that playing on skis. And so you seem to be, uh, like right into experimenting, pushing the limits, um, playing with like all the extreme Differences in skiing. Can I ask where, where this came from? Like, was it a, an idea with a friend, or is it just you? Are you quite a playful person?

Um, yeah, so I started with, um, with skiing when I was 2 years old, so quite a long time ago. Then I started with the alpine ski, ski racing for more than 15 years. And then I moved to freeriding, and I spent quite a lot of time on the Freeride World Qualifier and the Freeride World Tour. And I think it came from there because skiing for me is a— for sure is a passion. And I love skiing, and I love all that kind of ski, not only alpine racing or freeriding, but everything in skiing, all the aspects is for me really important. And I try to train a lot on all the skills to get my skis the most playful as much as possible. So This is really important to me, and of course I'm doing some stuff on Instagram. It's like specific turns or specific tricks, but yeah, why not trying something different than the others? And it makes me happy, it's fun, it's always cool to push the limits, and this is the aspect of skiing that I love and and it works. So, so it's also cool.

Can I ask, say, with some of the, the, like, what people would maybe see as sort of strange exercises, like, you know, the knees going out like a butterfly and coming in, and the wobbly knees as fast as you can, like 100 times going one way, and then in and out, in and out the other way, since sort of like playing with that stuff Did you actually like teach yourself or learn some new things that you were like, ah, when I like, I just felt something new, or you understood something better because of playing like this?

You know, with, um, with friends or with a co-worker in skiing, with other ski teacher, uh, we always try new things, new, new tricks. And, uh, and, uh, of course I need to train a little bit before to do it, but it's not, okay, today I'm gonna learn one new trick. No, I think with the several years I trained a lot of things and then it came in my mind and, okay, why not doing some video about those tricks? And this is the idea. Of the beginning, yeah, trying to do new stuff. And to me, it shows what we can do in skiing. Of course, you can do left, right turns, you can do blue, red, how do you say, gates, but you can do also a lot more exercises or tricks or fun parts in skiing. And, and those exercise with the, with the knees, of course it could be dangerous because it's like, yeah, quite, uh, quite, uh, ugly to, to see, uh, doing it. But, uh, but, uh, in the same times, if you If you can reach those, those levels, then it will help you to improve also your ski technique. And that's, I think, really important in skiing. If you want to, to improve yourself, you need to discover new things.

Yeah, great. So did you— because you, you said you grew up and you, you raced FIS for, for quite a while, so, uh, Euro Cup, Europa Cup?

No, no, only fees.

Okay, yeah, great. Now, did you have any good coaches you can remember that you really sort of like liked a lot and that helped in this way? Like, did you, did you get trained a lot doing drills and exercises, or was the training a lot of do gates, um, do weights exercises? Um, like, what was, what was your training like from your coach? Did you have any good coaches?

Um, so I would say, um, I had one, one, uh, one really good coaches, and the only one, and it was my, my father. So yeah, yeah, my father is, uh, is, um, is also a ski teacher. It was a ski coach. And of course he helped me a lot on my technical skills and he's really inspired me. So if I have the level I've got today in skiing, it's because of him. And then of course when you're doing alpine skiing at a certain level you don't have time to do other things than only gates, gates, gates to, to get the, the automatism, um, to get better in alpine racing. So, but I remember always when, when I got some, some free times, a lot of my friends in alpine ski racing just went home or just quit the day And I just say, yeah, but skiing is our life. Come on, guys, let's go skiing, let's go powder skiing, let's go do some snow park, some freeskiing. And that's, I think, the reason why I'm also at that level today. And also, yeah, I'm really— yes, skiing is my life. I would say it's quite simple.

Excellent. So then, I mean, see, when I watch your skiing, like, it's at a— it's just an extremely high skillful level. And so people might look at it and go, um, Richard must like never feel like anything is difficult. Do you know what I mean? Like, but can you explain, is there an area or a part of skiing that over time you have found like you've had to work on harder, or you think is a particular skill that is tricky to, to work on?

Yeah, yeah, of course. Um, of course on Instagram I show, I show only the, the good things. I show only good, uh, the good tricks, the good, uh, the good turns. But of course, uh, beside the Instagram video, it's it's not always that easy. So sometimes I'm doing some, how do you say, crash or crash video or fail video. And no, of course, but you know, every day I'm going on the skis, I have some goals to reach. And for me, it's a kind of motivation. To go on skiing and try to reach new goals. And with this way, I think I can improve myself every day I'm going on skis. And that's the way I see, I see skiing.

Of course, this season, have you got a goal this season? So you're about to come into your winter soon. Like, what do you want to do? What do you want? Is there something in your skiing you want to change, you want to make better?

So this season, um, of course, um, I can improve some, some details in my, in my skiing. Like my arms, it's something I need to, to work on because I have always—

tell us about this—

I, I have always the arms up high and, and, uh And I'm working since quite a long, long years now to—

but do you think— can I ask a little bit? This is good, this is good. So I'm interested, like, so you see this as something that's not, not good? You— and is it because you don't like the look, or do you think it is affecting something?

I don't think it's affecting a lot of— on my skin. Maybe a little bit too, um, I lean a little bit too much in the turn because I'm doing this and then my shoulders come in the turn. And that's Richard.

Richard just lifted his outside elbow because people won't be able to watch, but he's just showing his outside elbow. And, and maybe as you're listening to this, bring up, uh, search on Instagram Richard A— how do you pronounce your last name?

Amaker.

Amaker, which is A-M-A-C-K-E-R. So you get an idea of what he's talking about. But anyway, back to you. So that elbow sometimes comes up, which is— you're saying is sometimes a sign when it's really high that you've tipped in too much.

Yeah, so maybe for me it's not affecting too much, but when the people are seeing this and if they are doing the same, maybe it will affect the skis, and that's maybe not the best way. And the, the other side, um, of course it's maybe a little bit like a truck driver is, is doing some, some skiing. So, so maybe for the look, it's, it's look better if I have the elbow a little bit lower.

But, um, can I jump in here? Because this is one thing that I, I think I like about your skiing And, um, I do some online coaching with people, like privately, in groups, and I posted a video in there of you skiing compared to someone else, how you always keep your, your elbows flexed, like your, your arm is bent. And, and from, uh, I guess, kinesiology sort of biomechanics point of view, I think that's clever because you're keeping things in much closer to your body whereas a lot of people are stretching out their arms too much. And, um, like for example, in the pole plant, when you watch your pole plant, your arm actually comes— your hand comes closer to your body. Nearly everyone else, their hand moves further away from their body when they pole plant. And, and, um, like I observe these things and, and look at you and the, the capability, like your skill level of freeride racing, all sorts of different things, and go, hmm, maybe his arms— that's, that's what is really great about his skiing. One thing that helps is, is this, is this position. So I'm just interested that you see it and go, maybe I'll change it. And, uh, and I think we always look at our own skiing and go, oh, I don't like that. And you look at someone else, you go, oh, I like that, I want to be more like them. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, and then of course then it's, uh, it's proper at every skier. Of course we have some, um, some technique drills that we need to have to, to, to, to, to the ski functions. So we need to, to have some skills, technique for the ski that functions. And the other side, you have also your proper style, and that's also important to keep that proper style, because, um, okay, now with this, with this handbrawl hat, you know, okay, this is Richard Macker. And maybe, uh, maybe when we saw somebody else, okay, this is this guy, I know, I remember, I saw already him. So this is also a signature. So if I will change it, maybe I will change this signature, but at the same time, yeah, we need to keep our style for sure.

Yes. So is there someone whose arms, like, in the ski world you particularly like, and you sort of, you know, if you were to be changing yours, like, you go, oh wow, I really like the way they hold their arms? Um, yeah, someone you look up to or like their style.

Um, difficult to say. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm looking a lot of videos and, um, of course I'm— I take some, some things from, from each and, uh, and, uh, it's always interesting how also the different country or the, the, the ski technique are totally or some difference in the, in the skiing. And, um, yeah, I think it's really interesting. And I have the chance to, to work with the, with the German, um, ski team, ski teacher, and they have total other technique. And, uh, it's, it's kind of, uh, it's kind of interesting. And then when you see the Italian guys, ski teacher, they are really like, bam, really, um, RoboCop.

Yes, sort of. Yes. Yeah, rigid. Yeah, yeah.

And they all— the old Italian ski teacher are skiing with the same style. And that's— I found interesting for me because I am also in the Swiss Snow Demo Team and we have all a little bit different style. But in the Italian, they have all the same style, like also a little bit the, the Basie style. They are also really stable with the upper body, stable with the hand, and they just move the just move the legs. Exactly. And I think it's really beautiful when you see all the teams together, but then maybe if you reach that level, then you don't have any more, how do you say, flexibility to have your own style and how to, you know, how to, to manage home style or association. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, I found that, that interesting too. I've been to two interskis and you can really see a country like where someone has trained and how they look. There's a certain style, um, for sure. So at the, the last Interski, was like when you came back from Bulgaria, was there like— did you draw some inspiration from anyone in particular or a team there?

I wasn't, um, in the Swiss Snow Demo team already. I just—

oh, you are now?

Yeah, I'm now.

Yeah.

Okay. I just started, um, 2 years ago, just after Pamporovo. And, uh, yeah, I'm looking forward for, for Levi next, next winter ski race.

Okay, okay, okay, cool. And how is— so then if we switch gears and talk about that, how, how is the process to get selected for the Swiss team? Are there like 3 different sort of times you have to try out and each time they take away people, or do you have to write a paper?

Um, not really. We are a pool of experts in Switzerland, and, um, this pool is doing all the formation, all the trainings for the future ski teacher. And we are about 30 to 40 people. And then every 5 years now So we have a selection and it's one-day selection and we are doing some crazy, crazy stuff in this selection. It's really hard but really, really cool and really, yeah, fun. Yeah, fun. We just ski all together and try to push our limits and And then you saw the people are just so stressful and then they just miss the selection. And yeah, that was really interesting. I did already two selections and that was always fun with the stress when it was a little bit at the start of alpine ski racing competition is like, Similar to that. Yeah, nobody else speaking and they're all stressed. But yeah, take it easy, it's skiing.

Yeah, I always found that impressive, um, that like at Interski, the Swiss team have a very— like, their ability to do lots of things like hit the jumps and do tricks and then ski very high-end, uh, short turns, carving Um, yeah, very impressive. So that's, that's a, that's really a Swiss standout thing, I think. Um, and even your comment around the, around the arms, like, I remember being a bit confused perhaps even like, uh, 10 years ago and going, my association doesn't talk about this. When I hear about people like stable upper body and don't move your arms and and this sort of thing. But, you know, now it's a very different, uh, like, perspective or viewpoint I have on, on the arms. And so I really have come to appreciate that and, and started to incorporate that, that a little bit into, into my skiing. I can see my skiing has gone from a bit robotic to more fluid and, and free over the years. And I'm looking— is that one of the things I'm really looking to change as well next time I ski is his arms and, um, and playing with, with using them more.

So, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry, let's—

now you go ahead.

You know, um, one guy is, is blowing my mind and it's Kandi Tobeks. You know Kandi Tobeks?

Yeah, sure do.

This guy is, um, his ski technique is totally different than everybody else, but he's doing some crazy things in skiing. Like when he was on the Freeride World Tour, just, yeah, just, he was the best. And in all the videos and all the stuff is moving so much his upper body, and, and it works. Yeah. So why staying in a robotic, um, uh, position? No, come on, let's— yeah, keep, uh, keep yourself, uh, cool and, and, uh, try to have a travel— try to have a cool posting. I would say.

Yeah. Do you think there's— does anyone come to mind on the World Cup circuit that you think is a bit more, uh, free versus robotic?

Um, yeah, the, the— maybe in the Alpine ski racing, the models is a little more robotic, but of course then you have a different style and you can, you You can see with Marco Odermatt, the Swiss guy, is really coming up and then lower, and he's coming with a new type of skiing. As we saw last year with Marcel Hirscher, he was always lower and keep the center of gravity really really near the snow. And then we have Marco Delmatz is going up high, like, like in the '90s. And, and that's awesome because the two types of ski technique work. So that's cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. So you run some, uh, you, you teach Swiss instructors how to be instructors? And you also run camps for people interested in just general skiing?

Yeah, I've got my academy. So I'm working for Swiss Snow Sports, so for the formation of the ski teacher. I'm working also for the Swiss Ski School here in Nanda in Valais. And I have an academy also where I added some, some group in there with alpine ski racing or freeriders. They're doing some junior competitions, but with, uh, with my planning, it was really hard to, yeah, to set up all that camps, and I decided to stop it. And now I'm more focused on the, on the private coaching, and I'm also doing some clinics about a specific tema, about moguls, about short turns or carving turns, or, or how to use a new technology in skiing, or, or so, yeah, more like this.

Um, hey, so, so for example, like in one of those clinics, uh, say we take short turns What do you, what do you find? There's lots of problems, but is there one or maybe two main things you're like, oh, these people really are not very good at this? And, and so you, and, and then do you have some really good ways or exercises you like to choose to help these people with this, this one or two main problems you always see?

So, um, yeah, I see one, one main problem in, in short turns, in parallel turns, carving, or slide turns. It's the timing with the turns. I mean, you have the— in Switzerland we talk about 3 phases, so we have the initiation, phase 1, phase 2. And a lot of people doing the initiation phase and then want to use the ski as soon as possible, so they are, they're in phase 2 already. And, um, and when—

so they skip phase 1, they skip phase 1.

And that's the, the biggest problem I saw in skiing right now, uh, in Switzerland. That they skip the Phase 1. And when you skip the Phase 1, then the ski can't, can't, uh, function as a good ski. So you lost your outside ski, or the outside ski just, uh, how do you say, chatter, or chatter. Yeah, yeah. Or you, uh, you just give up the, the turns and then you're taking a lot of speed. So you can't control your speed.

This episode is sponsored by Carv, the digital ski coach, and one of the updates I've really enjoyed this season is the addition of separate SkiIQs for moguls and short turns. In the past, Carv scoring was mainly built around carving metrics, which meant everything was viewed through that lens. But Carv have gone deep on that research and completely separated what makes a great short turn or mogul turn different from a carved turn. To give you an idea of how accurate it's become, the person at the top of the carve leaderboard right now isn't a carving specialist, it's Olympic mogul skier Matt Graham. So the best SkiIQ in the world at the moment is coming from someone who lives and breathes bumps, and to be honest, my own highest SkiIQ is also in the moguls, which makes sense because that's my favorite type of skiing. What's really exciting this year is the addition of turn tempo, so basically your turns per minute. It's such a simple external output that's incredibly fun to play with. So good skiing isn't just about edge similarity or parallel skis, it's about how you interact with the terrain and whether you can change your tempo on demand. So seeing numbers like my quickest tempo of 117 turns per minute in the bumps gives you something concrete to compare, refine, and work toward. I've been working with Carv since 2020, and every year I'm genuinely impressed with how much the product evolves. They keep expanding what you can measure, and they're covering more and more of the turn types that skiers actually use all over the mountain. So if you're interested in tracking not just your carving but every turn you make on the snow, check out Carv. And a big thanks to the team for supporting this episode.

So my, my drills, my exercise for this is to feel this phase 1 as much as possible. So at first I'm doing some exercise with leaning, like really straight and just try to lean first of all into the side. So no angulation, no angulation, nothing during all the turns. And then I'm saying, okay, now you're leaning till the fall line. So in the fall line, going a little bit straight away and from the fall line just make the angle of the angulation. And that's how to feel the fall line. The people somehow cannot feel this and trying to do it with—

Do you know, this is something I find like so interesting is like, is this, is the feelings in skiing. So you and I perhaps, like, you know, we have these feelings and that is what makes us get up early, put the ski boots on even though they're tight, and, you know, go out in bad conditions. But because the feelings we get feel so good. But what is so hard sometimes is to get how to teach the feeling or how to teach the exercise that gives the feeling, isn't it? So if I try and get you now, think about this phase 1. Can you try and describe the feeling in like as best possible way, as though I'd never skied, but maybe I've done other sports? How would you describe it?

What is this feeling in the phase 1?

Correct. Um, Yeah, like, is it heavy? Is it light? Is it, uh, fast? Does it feel like you are almost— like time has slowed down?

Like, yeah, the Phase 1, uh, we always say, so we try to, to reduce the resistance of the snow we try to research the resistance of the snow, or we try to use the resistance of the snow. So in the phase 1, you try to research the resistance of the snow, so you're quite light, you're not that heavy, you are in the preparation for the phase 2 where all the forces coming and you need to, to fight against them. So in the phase 1, you're just preparing the, the war.

So, so, okay, so for example, say it's— you, you walked down to the, to the river right now, you take your clothes off and you put your foot in first, you feel it, you check it. Like this idea, this is your— you're saying research, feel it out. Is it very slippery? Where do I need to adjust my, my, my angle? Yes, people miss that, don't they? So there's—

there's—

so, so do you get a sense, like, if you like close your eyes now and think about it, do you almost feel like that time does slow down a bit there? Like you feel— and then it's actually very fast for the rest of it?

Yeah, we, we are saying with the phase 1, it's the, the courage— how do you say courage?

Courage.

Yes, yes, courage phases, because you are taking speed Or you can also— we, we are also saying this is passive phase because it's— yeah, you are a little bit on levity, levity, levitation, levitation.

Yes.

And, and, uh, and that's interesting in the phase 1, um, to, to adapt, to research this, this, uh, this snow to feel how the snow is also, you know. In every turn, the snow can be different. Yeah, soft, hard, icy. So this phase 1 is where you feel the snow, and then you can—

without pushing on it too much. You have to, you have to feel it.

You feel the snow. Exactly.

Yeah, yeah.

And then you feel this snow, and then on the phase 2. Okay, now I know how is the snow, I know which is the movement I need to get for, uh, control my speed in the, in the turns.

So then, so then the feeling in phase 2. So if we, if we take away, like, because I think feelings are good because, uh, they make a lot of complex things and words very simple. So this idea of like, feel, feel the snow and be light. Phase 2, are there some, are there some feelings like, like, uh, you know, get strong? Or, or is there still a little bit of research, feel the snow, and it's coming in, coming as across to phase, you know, just into Phase 3? Or like, what do you feel if you try to describe Phase 2?

In Phase 2, I would say now we have the feeling of the snow, and now it's not about, okay, I need to have all my power in Phase 2. Now, if you are right with the movement, you just have to do like angulation, so get lower with your center of gravity, make the angle for the angulation. And when it's hard snow, you're going lower and lower. When it's soft or spring snow, you can adapt a little bit your movements. So you cannot do a big movement, but just a few movements to get in the spring snow. I say always, okay, keep your You wait, maybe not half-half, but like, uh, 60-40. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And in the hard snow, of course, you have more pressure on the outside ski, like 80. Yeah.

So, you know, thinking it's been a little while since the last time I skied because I've been in lockdown, but I'm just sort of closing my eyes and thinking of like a, say, a nice medium turn. And, and a word that comes to mind is, is like drop. I really feel that's where I, I sort of start, like you're saying, with the angulation. I feel my center of mass drop. I don't feel it move inside the turn more. Would you agree? It's like a kind of like get down because there's actually about to be even a bit more pressure coming up just at the, like, say, the, the last part of phase 2. Because Phase 2 is kind of like the middle part, but it's the end of that middle part where it really pushes you, pushes into you.

Yeah, I always got a good images about angulation as sitting on a chair. So if you have— if you are standing on the, on the skis and you say, okay, imagine that you have a chair behind you, but not behind on the bindings, but behind a little bit on the side, and you want to go there and just sit down, and then automatically your center of gravity gets lower and you're making an angle, so angulation, and that's it. Yeah, yeah, that's quite simple with those images to to, to, to, to, to make understand the, the people, uh, what's angulation.

Yes, yes. So then phase 3, what about that point? What are some feelings for you personally, like you, how you would describe to me if I again had never skied?

Um, so I—

you mean the initiation part, or, uh, like, so now we've done Phase 2 and then Phase 3. What do you feel is—

for, for us, Phase 3 is, is the initiation phase. So we, we've got really, um, if I can describe it, we have initiation, then Phase 1 till the fall line.

Yeah.

And then Phase 2, and then we have again the, the initiation phase.

Okay, sorry. So, okay, that helps. So Phase 1 is the first half of the letter C, phase 2 is just the second half, and then in between the next C is, is the initiation.

Yeah, exactly.

Yes. Okay. Yeah. So that's interesting. So that, for, in a way, even makes the, the phase 1— people need to be patient for even longer than perhaps they, yeah, they think. Because don't you think that— I think there's a lot of confusion with people around like early pressure, looking for early pressure and stand on your outside ski. Don't you think there's— what's your thoughts on that?

So to me, it's, it's really important to, to have the pressure as soon as possible on the new outside ski. But who say um, pressure is not using the skis, kind of. Nice. Um, yeah, when, when I'm, I'm doing the initiation phase, it's okay, I'm, I'm out of the, of the, out, I'm out of the phase 2 in the turn, and then, okay, how to do the initiation phase? I'm transferring the weight on the new outside ski when I'm still on the edge of the turn before. So I'm transferring the, the weight on the new outside ski, and then everything's coming from the new outside ski to start to reduce the pressure on the— to reduce the, the edge angle on the, on the, on the old turn. Yeah, exactly. And then everything's coming with this one, and then you have the weight already on the good skis, I mean. But this is the pressure. But then just with the feeling, trying to research the new, the new outside ski, and trying to research the resistance of the snow till the fall line, and then from the fall line then you're gonna use the ski, then you're gonna use the resistance with this center of gravity going lower with the angulation, and then you can turn and finish the turn.

So tell me if this maybe makes sense— that the, the early pressure you feel is nothing more than the same amount you would feel if you were standing right now almost, and you just went from right foot and you stood on your left foot, whereas, whereas phase 2, the pressure builds because of the turning forces. And, and so maybe a mistake is people go pressure from the weight of their body and they try and get turning forces too before they've researched and, and felt the snow.

Yeah, exactly. And, and what the people are doing also really really often is in the initiation phase, they are not transferring the weight on the new outside ski. They just want to lean as soon as possible. And when you lean as soon as possible, you are leaning on your inside, on your future inside skis. And then you're wrong because you are on the, on the wrong skis to go on that way. And you need to research during the turn your outside ski, and sometimes you cannot find it.

So then now if we come back to like Richard, the, the playful Richard, and so what about like when you've done turns where you are trying to carve a lot but on your inside ski? Do you think there is value and that is helpful in any way for Phase 1 to actually do the opposite, to try and feel not just outside but feel almost everything, 80%, 90% inside?

Interesting. I never tried, but, um, I mean, everything that you can do in skiing can help you for everything. That's, that's the, the most important things. As, as I mentioned already before, if you know, uh, all the tricks I'm doing on Instagram stuff or something like this, of course maybe it's not useful for doing the turns, but in, in the details you can, um, know a little bit more your skis, more your skills, more your body. More where you are in the, in the, in the atmosphere, or I don't know. But, um, everything you're doing will help you. So now maybe if you are in the, in the inside skis at the beginning of the turn, and then in the phase 1, and then at the phase 2 you are going into the, the, the, your outside ski, maybe it can helps you to, to have a longer Phase 1, I would track, I would try.

I'll tell you why, because I like, I like doing that sort of thing. And the reason why is because, so say we were coaching some people and they were doing the mistake of leaning in too much. And here's the thing, because at the beginning of the podcast you were saying one problem is people don't practice, like no angulation and leading in. So say we tell them that, nothing more, they start doing it, but then they do it on the inside ski. So now we have to then talk about the next thing, which is outside ski, inside ski. I think, like, for me, I like playing with making them, okay, let's do all on the inside ski. So more than the mistake they're doing So they really feel— because when you do, like, it's hard. Like, you— we would both go, this is— if we went down a black slope and tried to purely carve all the way around, it would be very difficult. I don't— you know, we'd have to be so strong. I mean, makes me think of the, the one-legged athletes, you know, slalom GS, who only have one leg, how they can do it. It's, it's amazing. Right? But, um, but they've figured out how to, how to do the same things, like maybe a researching phase 1 but with the inside ski. And then at least they would go, okay, that's the limit, you know, if 100% of my weight is there right now, I can start working back to 100%, uh, the other way. So, um, that was my— that was why I asked that of you, um, if you had done that? Um, because I imagine you also do one-ski skiing with your, um, guests.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's really important to, to, to have to, to ski on one skis, um, just on the first for, for the stability of upper body because if you are not stable when you're doing skiing on one skis, it's more difficult. So if you are stable with the upper body, it's gonna be easier. And then for everything is a good exercise for skiing on one skis, for angulation, then for feeling the outside ski, then to find the balance in skiing if you're doing only on one ski. So inside ski is going to be difficult, outside ski is going to be easier. But, um, yeah, all, all the exercise is really interesting and, and yeah, for get better.

Because, you know, like, uh, like, I just like challenging these ideas, like a good turn must start early on the new outside ski. Well then, what about again, the Olympians who are on one ski and they don't have— they only have an outs, you know, a right foot or a left foot, yet they can ski better than a lot of, like, so many people. So that rule is not a— I guess I'm saying it's not an absolutely critical rule. It definitely helps, but, you know, do you know what I'm saying there? Like, it's sort of— yeah, yeah. So, um, just interesting. Okay, so then if we look at, uh, freeriding, your, uh, your freeriding, is there, is there a common problem you find when you get people coming on your camps to do, uh, freeriding stuff?

Um, I think first is the knowledge. So this is the, the most important things in freeriding, um, to know is the experience, um, the knowledge of the mountains is really important to, to if you want to, to go outside of the slope. And, uh, if you know, um, oh, um, yeah. And, um, then, um Of course, in terms of, of techniques, um, my, my, uh, young guns was not issue from alpine ski racing or moguls, or they just started directly in, in freeriding. And then I had a lot to do, uh, with them in, in terms of technique, and, uh, and that's really important. To have a good base of technique to do some freeriding. It helps you for everything in, uh, on slope, off slope, off piste, and also it's security. You know, when you're going in freeride, the speed is your friend, and if you want to go fast, you need to have the technique. And that's the most important and can save some, some big problems.

Yeah, cool. So, so it comes back to again, like, you, uh, you must have the, the basic skills. They're the same off-piste. Um, so then sometimes you see people that have just jumped straight into it because they think it's cooler and they don't want to do carving, all that sort of stuff, they, they can only get so far because their skiing skills are stopping them getting further. So then what about, uh, line? Like, that must be a really fun thing once they get better, to start getting creative and, and helping them see the terrain and how they can start using it.

Yeah, the line is, um It's quite tough. It's coming with experience for sure, because I remember the first time I tried to draw a line, I just— I was just lost in the face. Because in the Freeride World Tour, in the Freeride World Qualifier, we cannot go into the face to look how it looks. So we are—

I remember that. I did Telemark. Yeah, so yeah, you can't— it's very hard, isn't it?

It's— you have to look at it from above and yeah, you're looking for, for opposite side or from above the, the face, and then you, you need to, yeah, to imagine where you're going, how big are the stuff, how big are the, the trees. And how steep is it, and that's coming with experience, of course. But then, you know, you have some different lines, so some technical lines where it's quite steep with a lot of rocks or a lot of trees. Then you have more like open, wide line that makes you— okay, you can go faster and you can go bigger. And then you have like more like smooth terrain for maybe all the freestyle stuff into the line. And then I think, uh, what's really important is to know what is your kind of skiing. And I knew quite early my kind of skiing It was the open, wide, big stuff to jump. And I tried some technicals, but I was, I was really bad.

Not as strong there. You're better at the—

yeah, yeah, exactly, where you can go fast and, and big jump.

So you've won, you've won, you came first, yes, in, in one of the Freeride World Tour stops. Where, where was that?

It was in Courmayeur in 2012, so it's already a long time ago.

And what was— can you remember your line? Like, what did you—

yeah, I remember my line because, um, it was, um, it was a beautiful day, it was bluebird, um, but I picked up the last number So I was a little bit angry. So last number, it means that you are last at the top of the face. They are already, uh, everyone else escaped, um, they already, um, how do you say, room, no, pack all the things, you know. I was on the top and I was saying, okay, you have two choices: stay positive or stay negative. And I was saying, okay, I saw the line from others, I can see nearly all my line from above, so you need to stay positive and you have the line in your mind and let's do it. So I started with a little, with a little drop, then taking a lot of speed, then another big drop, and then one turn, two turns, and the last big drop, and then straight down. And I knew I had a good run. I had a super feeling. And then I won. I was like, oh, cool.

That must have been one of the best feelings.

Yeah, it was, it was really a good feeling. I mean, you know, you worked so hard to, to be part of the Freeride World Tour, and then you are in, and then you are not in, but you won, uh, before people that you used to, to show, to, to see on TV, or TV, or to try to inspire by. And, and then you won, you beat them. So it was, uh It was quite, uh, quite, uh, quite cool for me.

Well done. That's amazing. I think like if there's one important message in there, it is the, the psychology, like your, your head, your thinking. Like you, you said you had two choices because you're probably angry first because you're last. Everyone skied, you're waiting, people are packing up already, they're already like, oh, it's done. And then, but you, but you, but you turned it into a positive and you tried to draw all the positive things out of it. And because a lot of people listen to this podcast, you know, there are times when they're faced with high-pressure situations, exams for instructing and that sort of thing. And it's very easy to get caught up thinking of the negative. Oh, the snow is not very good today. I don't like it. Oh, I'm the last one down again. But look what can happen. Maybe if they remember, like, Richard, new to the freeride world tour, up against all these famous people, and he, you know, he wins. This can happen. It's very inspiring.

Of course. Yeah, yeah, trying to stay positive. Of course, it's not always the— always easy to stay positive, but, but if you are staying positive, if you taking the things in a positive way, you have much more chance to get your goal. And I'm always function with goals, that's really important to me. It's okay, fixing objective and then trying those objectives in everything in my life is going in the same. When I'm going skiing, I have an objective. When I'm thinking about a project, okay, let's do this objective and reach this goal. And then it makes me really motivated to go into, to stay positive, to fight for. And then it works or not, but you try everything to, to, to reach the goal. And that's That's the most important things.

Yeah, I think that really comes across. I mean, I even through your Instagram channel, just the sort of positive fun side of things, uh, you can see that there. Hey Richard, um, I always ask people like good skiers about this and there's varied answers, but equipment and specifically ski boots, do you— are you the kind of person that you just like, you, you— because you ski with Head you put your foot in a Head boot, it fits, off you go, you never have to touch them? Or are you— no, okay, this has got a face like no. So what do you have to do? And, and can you give any tips or anything to people? Because I think, I think a lot of people already start off in the wrong place because they don't realize how much their boots can, one, like, cause problems, pain, but two, also make skiing just harder.

Yeah, of course. Um, yeah, to me the boots is, is really important, and, uh, I'm working quite a lot on the boots, um, just already to not have any pain. Because when you have some pain on the ski boots, you know, you're gonna ski with them for 200, 200 days per year. So if you have some pain and then some, some big patches, I don't know how to say in English, but, but, uh, it could be, uh, really worse than that, can stop your season. So, so I'm really, um, focused on not having pain on my, on my foot. So the, the, in summer I'm always going to, to head in Kennelbach in Austria. and then they are doing, um, yeah, they are fitting my boots. So I know where is the, the, the pressure point, and then I push them, or I just, uh, I do say grab, grind, grind.

Yes.

Yeah.

And, uh, so then, like, because I'd imagine you're in like a 150 flex. Exactly.

I'm 93. Yeah, exactly, on the ski racing boots. And, um, I always ski with this in freeride, in, um, on slope skis, on racing. And yeah, it's really cool. Now I try some other boots, um, when I'm—

and what do you feel?

When I'm, when I'm teaching or something like this. I think, I think it's a, it's, it's a question about habit.

You're used to a, you're used to a boot feeling a certain way, and you know if you do this inside it, this happens. You can predict it is this, do this, this happens. And a new boot, you don't have years and years of knowing how it behaves.

Yeah, exactly. And but when, when I was on the Freeride World Tour, I tried one season or one summer when I was in, um, in Argentina and Chile. I tried the Freeride boots, so a little bit softer. And, um, but it was 130, but I feel really bad during all summer. I was like, every, uh, every landings I just came forward and, and just, just fall over. And I just came back from, uh, from, uh, MFS, uh, South, South Hemisphere. And I said, okay, no, I need to go back on the, on the ski racing boots. But now, um, with, with the experience and, and I'm not competing anymore, I can have some some open, open minds, a little bit wider, you know. And, um, and I tried some, some other boots, softer. And of course you can maybe not doing the same as you, you can do with the racing boots, but in the same times you have also the, the comfortable, uh, aspect. And when you're ski teacher or ski coach and you and you're skiing 200 days per year, it's important to have also the comfort zone. And, um, and I'm trying to find the balance between, with, between those, those, those two aspects.

And do you, uh, do you do much else other than the comfort part? Like, does Head— they— you must have a guy, an expert, that— does he do the, the cuff and the sole? Does he do anything there, or are you just pretty neutral?

Yeah, so your alignment, the canting, um, I don't know exactly how we do it, but he's saying my, my legs, I have a little bit, um, my, my legs in bow.

Yeah, yeah, bow leg.

Yeah, yeah, the bow leg. And, uh, so they are doing something with the canting to, to compensate this, this bow legs. For the sole, I have the flat foot, so I need to have an orthopedic sole that I'm doing with a doctor. And yeah, then yeah, just be comfortable in your boots and try to get the good boots for you and for your level of skiing. I was pretty surprised when I was on the Freeride World Tour weekend we could see where the people come from. I mean, I was on Alpine ski racing boots because of Alpine ski racing years before. Then you saw the freestylers is coming with the full tilt 80 flex, and then you have the moguls. It was also like a freestyle bench. And then you have more the mountain guide or the freerider, and then they have some walking mode on the boots. And yeah, it was pretty interesting that we saw all kind of boots and then all kind of skis too.

Hmm, yeah, cool. Do you remember, just question that came to mind, With the boots you tried in Argentina, the, the softer ones, did you have them all properly fitted, like the cuff and the canting? That was all done too?

Yeah, yeah, everything was done. Yeah, just the feeling with it was so soft. Yeah, too soft.

Yeah. Uh, my, uh, colleague and I, we interviewed a guy on the Australian Olympic mogul team a few weeks ago, and he was saying this season in Australia he was trying a new boot which was softer than his usual boot, and he hadn't really tried it yet. Anyway, I spoke to him the other week and I said, how is it? And he goes, he likes it in the moguls better, but he said he doesn't like it skiing down to the moguls as much and doing that, like more carving-type turns. Um, so it just speaks to, like, you know, what you're going to be, uh, you know, using your boot for and what you're trying to get out of it. Like, you're always going to compromise a little bit. Um, and so, you know, for him, obviously the compromise is because his sport is moguls. He, he wanted that extra range of motion with the ankle flexing more easily, and he said his absorption was much better. But his edging was not very good. Obviously, he's sort of— the boot is collapsing a bit and under the pressure, and it's not going into the ski as well. So I thought that was interesting. Hey, Richard, is there anything— you go ahead.

Yeah, what was also interesting, I had the chance 3 weeks ago to go with the Swiss ski team, so with the slalom World Cup. Yeah, and it was really interesting, interesting to, to, to speak with them, with the trainer, with the, with the athlete. And, um, about the, about the boots, we, we, we think for a World Cup ski racer, uh, you need to have the stiffer boots in the world, uh, the tightest Uh, you can do buckles, you can do, but in, um, but now they are not trying to have the stiffest boots, not trying to stiff as much as possible, but they want to have a little bit more, uh, free movements, or how do you say, liberty of movements. And that was really interesting because we always thinking about all this guy in the ski boots, they are so tight and they are so hard. But yeah, of course it's hard, but, but not, not as it could be in the, in the past. Uh, they are trying to have more liberty of movement.

And this is, this is quite new, like almost only this season and maybe last season they're trying this?

Um, yeah. Uh, we spoke about the, the guys who, who are in on Fischer, and they were, they were trying this and they feel better.

Oh, so the athletes reported they liked the feeling? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really interesting. So, uh, yeah, because I'm— because I didn't grow up really skiing much, even alpine skiing, I only put alpine skis on it. Like 22. Um, and I know a bit about the body now and like the feet and that sort of stuff. Like, I've always had, uh, I've done a lot of work on my boots to make them comfortable because I feel that that ability to still like move your feet more naturally and, and, and move a little bit is, is really important too. So Yeah, that's interesting to hear that, um, they're doing that with the, with the top athletes. So are you going to experiment with anything like from that? Are you going to change anything or try anything different with your boots?

No, I don't think so because, okay, it's 150, but then, um, you know, I can, I can adjust my, my, uh, tightness of the boots when I, I try to to close the buckles. And of course, to us, is not, uh, to us is not a kind of performance skis. So you need— you don't need to go as fast as possible, but you need to feel good in your boots. And when I'm feeling good in my boots, this is my goal.

Yes, so maybe it's— maybe you're— you were saying, uh, like you said about the tightness thing, it's more that these guys are not— they have a stiff boot but they're, they're not tightening it so much, so they have a little bit of— okay, yeah, makes sense. Yep, because I think a lot of people do do that. So, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you go, but thanks so much for your, for your time, Richard. It's been really interesting. Talking to you. I hope people go and check out— yeah, I hope people check out your, your Instagram account for one, which is, uh, Richard A-M-A-C-K-E-R. Uh, you also have some videos on, on YouTube. Um, I had a look at your website, but I can't— I didn't— Google didn't translate it, so it's, um, it's in French. French. Yeah, so I couldn't see that, but, but for the French-speaking people, he's got a website there and you can find out about Richard's academy and freeski camps. And, um, are there any other ways people can connect?

Yeah, so, so my YouTube channel is, uh, going to be a little bit more active from, from this year. And then, uh, the website, um I will start with the new website and it will be also a platform where we can go and, and buy some, some videos about tutorials like, like technical skills or some, somewhere like this. And yeah, it's coming out in November.

Ah, cool. So have you filmed all the stuff for that last season?

Uh, last week actually.

Last week? Okay, okay.

On the glacier.

So when you— yeah, because I saw you had— you were— so that was when you were up when the Swiss team was training on the glass? Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, you filmed some stuff. So what can people expect in that? Help, help with carving turns?

So we're gonna, we're gonna spoke about a lot of things, uh, for the first season. I want to, to try the people to understand better the, the language that we are speaking, to after understood all the videos. And then a little bit the basis of technical skis, then they have all the keys to understand the videos. And then we're gonna speak about the basic attitude, the carving turns, also the, the typical fail on the, on the carving turns, or typical mistake, sorry. And, and then switch skiing and one-slope tricks.

In English or in French?

So it's gonna be, um, in French first and then a voiceover in English.

In English, yeah, cool. And, and when you said, uh, we, is that with another skier or just—

I'm not just me, I'm sorry, but just the crew around this project, the film.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, cool. That sounds really good. That's awesome.

Um, great.

Anything more you wanted to, to finish up or tell people?

No, thank you very much. It was, uh, it was great. It's always great to, to speak with, uh, with other skiers. And, uh, of course it's kind of, it's kind of crazy that I'm in Switzerland, you are in Australia, and we are, we have the same passion. And that's, uh, that's awesome.

Yeah, yeah. I have to say, that's one thing I'm, I'm sort of grateful for COVID has made it sort of much easier to, again, even, you know, the world is going more and more online, but I think it's pushed people even more there. So, people like us, it's very easy to connect and see there's some similar interests and you've got some interesting viewpoints. And yeah, so I'm glad we got to have this conversation and hopefully we get to actually go for a ski together. Yeah, that would be really fun. That would—

I would love, I would love to, to come over Australia to ski too. Uh, I have been already in New Zealand skiing in Queenstown and Wanaka, but never in Australia, and I would love to. And hopefully with, uh, hopefully with this situation, uh, will get better and And, uh, yeah, we can do this. Yeah, of course. Great. And of course, if you're coming in Europe, uh, you, you know, you have some, some place in my, in my room, in my house.

Thanks very much, Richard.

Thanks to you.

This episode is brought to you by Carv, the digital ski coach. Now, one of the features I've had the most fun with all time is simply the fact that Carv tracks every single turn you make. I treat it a bit like Strava. So at the end of the day, it tells me exactly how many turns I've done, and those numbers keep adding up across the season. So last season in Australia, I had a few days where I was doing nearly 2,500 turns, and my legs were tired, but it was really cool to try and have that number there motivating me. And I'm quietly working my way towards my 1 millionth turn with Carve. So the other metrics I've been diving into lately, and these are new for this season, are very unique and these are turn corridor and turn radius. And I don't see many skiers using them, but they tell you a lot about the shape and flow of your skiing. So the turn corridor shows you how far you're traveling across the hill, or the time almost between apex to apex, and how long you're taking to transition. While the turn radius measures the actual arc you create once you start the turn. So these can be different. You can have like a very wide corridor, say 18 meters, but a lower turn radius, or or the other way around. So when you compare the two, it opens up a whole world of experimentation, and it would be a bit like a race coach will set different types of race courses to influence a racer or skier to change the timing and mix it up. So I encourage you to look into this if you've got Carv and play with it and see if you can manipulate it, because it's only going to improve your versatility. So I keep my Carv on my boots every single day because you never know quite know when like a change in tech technique or a new ski resort or skis will show up in the numbers. And it's great at the end of the day being able to check that, or even after the fact. And I'm really looking forward to the day I open the app and I see turn number 1 million. So if you want to explore your skiing in a completely different way, check out Carv, the digital ski coach. And thank you team for sponsoring this episode.