|
Equal parts artistry, grace, athleticism, and personality, skiing at its core is our
attempt to make the interactions between person and mountain as harmonious, attractive,
and fun as possible.
That is not to say skiing is difficult to learn. It isn’t. The following tips and
guidelines will help you establish a foundation of skills on which to build.
In Preparation
- Be willing to work at things you can’t do well. It’s OK to feel
uncoordinated and uncomfortable. You learn best when you do things you are not yet
good at. You learn least when you practice familiar or comfortable skills.
- You will learn a movement pattern best by pushing your body to the extremes of
the pattern. Whenever you are trying to develop a movement, you should exaggerate
it far beyond what you feel is about right. You must learn what it feels like to do
too much of something, as well as too little.
- You learn new skills best in simplified environments. Don’t challenge
yourself too soon. If, for example, you are working on up and down movements to
improve mogul skiing, start by learning on smooth, easy terrain. Not until you have
the movements perfected should you go into deep bumps.
- Remember to bring a sense of play and fun to skiing. Simply put, you’ll
learn better this way.
- Last, but perhaps most important, TAKE A LESSON.
General Guidelines
- Don’t Fear the Lift!
Falling down as you get off a chairlift is a major fear for new skiers. As your chair
approaches the exit ramp your anxiety grows. Everyone’s staring at you to see if you
make it down the exit ramp on your feet. It’s a recipe for disaster. You’re bound to
fall victim to stage fright and wind up on your butt.
Or are you?
One of the most common errors you can make getting off the lift is to look down. Don’t
do it. Because your body tends to follow where your eyes are looking, you’re likely
to fall if you look down. Instead, focus on a tree or sign ahead of you and keep
looking at it! Keep your weight over the balls of your feet and your knees slightly
bent and just glide.
- Shift Your Weight Forward and Backward
With their hourglass shapes and advanced materials, skis these days have remarkable
“self steering” capabilities. That is to say, if you know how to take advantage of
them, they practically steer themselves. Leaning forward places more pressure on the
flexible tips of the skis and makes it easier to begin a turn. When you want the ski
to stop turning, return to a neutral position with your weight over the balls of your
feet. This will put pressure on the stiffer mid-section of the ski and cause it to
straighten out.
A note about shifting your weight front to back: It is important to think about this
movement originating in your ankles. To bring your weight forward, think about
pulling your feet up toward your shins while pushing your knees forward. You should
feel your shins pressing against the tongues of your boots when you perform this
motion. To shift your weight back to neutral, think about standing up on your toes.
This motion will bring your calves in contact with the backs of your boots.
As you reach greater proficiency as a skier, this forward-backward motion will be
nearly constant as your turning becomes more frequent and the time spent between
turns (traversing) shortens.
- Develop a Sense of Up and Down
While your front-to-back motion should originate in your ankles, your piston-like up
and down motion should come from your knees, hips and lower back. As you shift your
weight forward to begin a turn, you should also compress your body (think about
pushing a spring together). As you exit the turn, straighten out your body smoothly.
This motion will lighten the pressure on your skis, making them easier to steer into
the next turn.
- Teach Yourself to Edge
A great way to learn balance and the optimal use of your edges for control is to
balance on one ski. Ski on your uphill ski, slowly, across the slope, then turn on
that ski. When you’ve completed the turn, switch to the other (uphill) ski and repeat.
Turning on one ski will teach you to glide on the flat of your ski and shift between
edges seamlessly.
- Weight on the Uphill Edge
When traversing a slope between turns, your weight should be on your uphill ski. As
you prepare to turn, roll your weight, transitioning from the uphill edge of the
uphill ski, to the flat portion of the ski, and then onto the downhill edge as you
compress into a turn. As you finish your turn, shift your weight to your new uphill
ski, and start the process over again.
- Square Your Shoulders
When you ski downhill, keep your shoulders square to the fall line (the line a ball
would follow if it rolled down the trail) rotating your hips and lower body as you
turn your skis. Your lower body should move up and down as your weight shifts, but
your upper body should remain relatively still (no twisting).
- Don’t Rely on the Poles at First
Using your poles is an advanced technique not needed by most skiers. Practice your
turns without poles by holding your poles together with both hands, horizontal to the
ground, at full arm’s length in front of you. This will also help you keep your
shoulders square to the slope.
- Pole Planting
Don’t lean on your poles for balance. Instead use them to coax your body weight
forward. Reach in front of you and choose a pole plant around which to pivot your
turn. Remove your pole before you ski past it, and plant it again ahead of your turn.
- Putting it all Together
The skills outlined above are each important parts of downhill skiing. Though each
can and should be practiced separately, you should strive to piece all of the
movements together into a coherent whole. When all of these skills are working
together, your skiing will both look and feel
great.
|
