I apologise that it’s been awhile since my last post. Other commitments get in the way and some things get neglected as a result. Regardless, I’m writing today about one of my pet peeves that I’ve been noticing recently: ski drills. Let me start by saying that I’m not totally against all drills. There is a time…
Traditionally, the start and end of the turn has been defined by a C shaped curve. Linked them together and you should end up with the S shaped turn that we so commonly see. Traditional turn shape. Now here’s the problem. Almost all skiers mentally approach skiing using this traditional C shape curve. What results…
Skiing is made up of a series of simple movements performed in repeated succession. That just means we move parts of our bodies in certain ways and we do it over and over again. More importantly, almost all the movements in a snowplough turn are fundamentally the same to the movements performed in the moguls,…
In skiing there is talk of a ‘Basic Position’. It is essentially a basic athletic stance + angulation and is referred to as a strong desirable position. The basic athletic stance is flexed ankles, knees and hips. Angulation is creating angles with our body by moving our knees and hips. When you’re traversing, you’re pretty much…
When we ski, we shouldn’t be looking down at our feet or skis. So we can’t see whether what we are doing is right, enough or even wrong. We have to feel it. Video can be a useful learning tool but ultimately, the only immediate and constant feedback we have to rely on is what…
“My short turns feel like shit. I’m heel pushing to slow down cos I can’t turn my legs to finish my turn because I’m not crossing over because steeps terrify me.” That was part of a recent conversation I had with a fellow instructor who was preparing for an exam. In that sentence, she…
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…
turnshape 