PowerSki Lab

  How Many Phases Does a Ski Turn Really Have? A Cross-Country Comparison — and Why Steepness Changes the Answer PowerSki Lab | Ski Technique · Biomechanics — By Dr. Sungchul Yang   Introduction Ask any certified ski instructor how a turn is structured, and you'll likely hear some version of "initiation, control, finish, transition." It's a clean, teachable model — but is it universal? Does a racer on a steep giant slalom pitch experience the same turn structure as a recreational skier cruising a groomer? In this post, we dig into ski instruction manuals from North America and Japan, alongside peer-reviewed alpine ski racing biomechanics research, to answer both questions. 1. Turn-Phase Models Differ by Country — and by Purpose In the United States (PSIA) and Canada (CSIA), a rough three-part logic — initiation, shaping/control, finish — shows up repeatedly, but there is no single fixed, universally adopted standard. The terminology has actually shifted over time: an ...

  Knees & Skiing #3 — My First Surgery As I shared last time, a failed jump landing on Yongpyong's Silver Slope left me with my first knee injury: a complete ACL tear. Back then — around 1989 — there was a saying: "If you tear your cruciate ligament, your career is over." For an athlete, a torn ACL was almost a death sentence. Deciding on surgery The next year I entered university and made up my mind to have the surgery. At the time, the two most renowned knee surgeons in Korea were a leading specialist at Kyung Hee University Hospital and another at the Police Hospital. After some difficulty, I became a patient of the Kyung Hee surgeon — and I still can't forget that day. A shock in the operating room Two days before surgery, I slipped out of the hospital one evening and had a beer with friends — a decision that came back to haunt me. The night before the operation, repeated blood tests showed my liver values had risen, so general anesthesia was switched to...

   Knees & Skiing #2 — ACL Tear vs. Meniscus Injury: What They Actually Feel Like In my last post, I shared how my first serious injury — at 18, on Korea's steepest race slope — turned out to be a complete ACL tear. That raises a natural question: what is an ACL tear, and how is it different from the other injury skiers fear most, a torn meniscus? Having lived through both, I want to describe what each actually feels like — in the moment, and in motion — in the hope it helps you understand what your own body might be telling you. A torn ACL: the "pop" and the instability When my ACL tore, I heard a loud "pop" inside my knee — startlingly loud to me, though no one else could hear it. It felt like a thick rope snapping. That sound is so vivid I'll never forget it. (Doctors often ask a new patient whether they heard a "pop" — it's that characteristic.) Right after the injury: pain floods in fast, and the knee suddenly feels unusable. T...

  Knees & Skiing #1 — 1988: My First Knee Injury I started ski racing later than most — in my first year of middle school. Because I started late, I had to work harder than anyone. Back then, training eight or more hours a day (dawn, morning, afternoon, and extra sessions) was simply normal. My body grew strong, and my thighs became so thick that people would stop and stare as I walked to school — "Is that guy an athlete?" (My training logs from those days are still somewhere in my parents' home in Vancouver. On my next visit, I'll dig them out and share them with photos.) The 1987–88 season and the "Silver Slope" "At the start gate, national race, late 1980s" That season I was preparing for the national championships. Back then, all the major races were held on the "Silver Slope" at Yongpyong Resort — the steepest slope in Korea. That year was special: with the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics approaching, the organizers wanted to gi...

About PowerSki Lab Hello, I'm Dr. Sungchul Yang Skiing has been my whole life — as an athlete, a scholar, and a teacher. I began as an alpine ski racer , competing and standing on national podiums before taking my passion abroad. In Canada, I spent years training and earning my professional credentials, coaching at the Whistler/Blackcomb ski school and racing club. I hold CSIA Level 4 and CSCF Level 2 certifications, along with ISIA Level 4 and KSIA Level 3 . But I wanted to understand skiing more deeply — not just how to do it, but why it works. So I returned to study, earning a master's and a doctorate in sports management from Korea University. Today, I bring those worlds together. I'm an associate professor in the Department of Sports & Technology at Seokyeong University , and I serve as chair of the academic committee at the Korea Ski Instructors Association (KSIA) . As an FIS Alpine Technical Delegate (one of only sixteen in Asia), I also work at the internat...