Afterwards, we practiced our starts for the dual slalom - one of the gates was set up at the bottom of the hill on a raised platform and Diego showed us how to get the tips of our skis up and to use our poles to push us out of the gate - this was better than using the handgrips because gripping them means that you have to let go of your poles.  None of my team mates had done this before either so it was good that we were able to get some practice.