Intermediate level of skiing
Skiing fresh untracked powder is one the most sublime experiences a skier can enjoy. Yet it can also be a daunting experience that can be frustrating for an experienced intermediate skier who has yet to attempt powder. I’ve seen and spoken to many a skier new to powder coming away from their experience either fearing…
A good pole plant will make your turns both easier and better. A bad pole plant on the other hand can be completely detrimental to your skiing. In fact, it’s almost better for you to NOT pole plant than to do a bad pole plant. Again, like most things in skiing, a pole plant is a…
Edging is such a vast topic when discussed but at it’s core it is a ludicrously simple movement. The skill of edging, in isolation, starts with the inversion and eversion of our ankles. (Here’s an article on anatomical biomechanics if you’re into that stuff.) That’s fancy speak for rolling your feet from little to to big toe using our…
Edging is the skill of tilting the ski onto an angle against the snow. This skill when combined with the other skills (balance, twisting, etc) results in multiple effects. On its own, I like to simplify edging as giving skiers a grip on the snow. When we have a firm grip on the ground, other…
Put any fool on two planks and they’ll be able to head straight down a hill. Gravity ensures it. Skiing is all about turns though. And we should make turns for two reasons only; “We turn to change direction or to manage our speed via turn shape.” A huge bonus is that those turns start…
In my first few seasons of instructing, I had the good fortune of teaching an honest-to-god rocket scientist (who shared with me that rocket science is actually a lot simpler than a whole lot of other sciences out there). He was an inquisitive student that was learning the snowplough turn. I remember one of…
A round turn shape is the canvas where all ski movements are painted on. It’s tough to perform the movements correctly if you’re not skiing in a rounded turn shape. It’s like the path a race car takes in a racecourse. That path is the framework so to speak. Deviate from that path and you’ve…
Part 1 of speed control showed us what’s wrong. Now lets find out how to do what’s right. This topic usually gets a bit techie. Its the nature of the concept unfortunately. Lots of physics and that kinda stuff involved. This is my simplified version of it all. The shape of a turn manages a…
Speed control is usually the first lesson I find myself having to teach. Most skiers have little understanding of efficient speed control when it comes to steeper terrain. In fact there is a large percentage of skiers out there who have very little speed control at all. They put a few turns in until they…
You know how in boxing movies when the boxer trains for that big match, he does a whole lot of other stuff besides boxing. (Enter the theme music for Rocky films). Boxers skip to improve their footwork in the ring. They run to increase their endurance so they can last round after round. All that…
turnshape 