​ What to teach
Skiing Moves ​
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1- Athletic stance with ankle flex
2- Turning with the feet
3- Moving over the turn
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​Skiing Moves take time to develop and maintain because they are opposite the way people move naturally. Teaching can be challenging because people can have a hard time doing what you ask them to do. Knowing what to look for and how to make it happen makes learning fun for you and the customer.
Natural moves
1- Leaning back on a slope
2- Turning the shoulders and hips
3- Tipping the upper body inside the turn
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These natural moves combine with the forces in a turn to move skiers back and inside rather than over the turn. For more details go here
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This is our training program called Visible Skiing Moves
Beginners
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Goals
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1- Athletic stance with ankle flex
2- Athletic stance in gliding wedges
3- Start in a gliding wedge and turn with the feet​​
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​Athletic stance Video
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After the appropriate amount of flat work: walking, turning, and making wedges, teach the athletic stance on the level. Then make sure it is there before every run because people will lean back on a hill. Focus on this to be successful, you need to know how to see and create an athletic stance.
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1- Put hands in front like holding a lunch tray, bounce on the balls of the feet (or the toes for kids)
the ankles, knees, and hips are flexing
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2- Feel the chest over the toes. Stop bouncing before the top. That is the athletic stance
3- Adjust individual joints if needed: ankles, knees, hips, hands, eyes looking ahead. This is the same position they use for other sports like soccer or tennis. Step from foot to foot on the balls of the feet. Go quicker so they can feel the chest over the balls of the feet
Tell them to start in an athletic stance before every run so it is the first thing they feel. Make sure they do it and provide verbal feedback or physically position them if necessary.
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They will lean back when they: get on a slope, go further up the hill, or when the slope gets steeper.
Leaning back is a natural move that is very hard to change. It makes it difficult for skiers to turn with the feet. Skiers should feel weight on the balls of the feet with their chest over the toes.
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Ankle Flex
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Flex forward just with the ankles and return, feel legs push on the boots, loosen the buckles if necessary. Be sure the knees don't bend. The the knees bend because the ankles can't flex very far forward without skis or the skier will fall forward. The same thing happens with skis on. Stance changes through the turn, people need to be able to return to the athletic stance.
​​​Gliding wedges video
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Reinforce the athletic stance by making several gliding wedge runs so people experience sliding on skis while in an athletic stance.
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1- Start in an athletic stance make a narrow wedge and ski straight downhill. This gets people comfortable sliding downhill in an athletic stance. Provide verbal feedback while performing: look ahead, hands up, feel the weight on the balls of your feet, chest over the toes. Start with skis parallel if the snow is slow.
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2- Bounce in a gliding wedge feeling the weight on the balls of the feet and chest over the toes. Be sure ankles, knees, and hips are flexing. People will often not be flexing the ankles.
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3- Flex forward just at the ankles in a gliding wedge and return to the athletic stance.
4- Go from a narrow wedge to a slightly wider one and back. Repeat this several times, these are called wedge change ups.
5- Start with skis parallel and make a wide braking wedge to stop. Be sure they stay in an athletic stance and do not lean back. Weight on the balls of the feet chest over the toes. Repeat several times going faster each time.
Gliding wedge turns Video
1- On the rope tow, make a gliding wedge run to get comfortable using the rope. Then work on turning by starting in an athletic stance and gliding wedge with at least 3 seconds of speed. Next make a very slight turn, go straight, then turn in the other direction. The pattern is straight, turn, straight.
You changed their focus to turning and have them on the rope, so they will lean back. You must make sure they are in an athletic stance with a narrow wedge. Turn forces can push them back after their first turn.
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2- Turn by pointing both big toes. Or pushing on one big toe then the other. Try combining both turning and pushing, or reverse the order and try to push and then turn. This helps them continue to focus on their feet and turn from the ground up, rather than turning their shoulders and leaning inside the turn.
Be sure their knee is moving forward like they are kneeling down not moving, be sure they are flexing the ankle and not the knee, and their hip should not move out to the side and flatten the ski.
3- Make a certain number of turns as you move a bit higher. Go from 3 to 6 turns, then make 3 larger turns by moving slower to make 3 big turns from where you made 6. Make three big then three small. Next change the order and go from small to big. Go faster in a gliding wedge and quickly push on one toe then the other to make very small turns.
4- Link turns and then turn more across the hill to stop. Do in both directions. Touch hand to the downhill knee, then bounce on the downhill toe. Focus on the feet so they don't turn their shoulders and lean inside the turn.
Moving over the turn
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1- Be sure customers do not turn right away before they have speed straight downhill.
2- Make sure they are not turning too far across the hill.
3- Be sure they are not rushing from one turn to the next without going straight
Any of these will increase the chances that they will turn with their upper body rather than from the from the ground up.
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When skiing straight downhill your momentum works with gravity to increases speed that-
1- Reduces friction
2- Improves stability
3- Creates more force so the skis respond quicker
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Making minimal turns, just enough to start slowing down allows momentum to move skiers downhill as soon as they stop turning. They become comfortable moving over the turn as they learn to control their speed and direction. This creates offensive skiing right from the start with an athletic stance, focus on the feet, and Big MO (momentum) let it go and go with the flow.
All the pieces have to be there because the natural move back, causes greater chances that the upper body will be used to turn. If they are back at the ankles, using too much knee like sitting in a chair, or leaning back at the waist turning from the ground up will be hard.
If they look like they are sitting on a chair and you say put your weight on the balls of your feet, they will lean back at the hips. Their body wants to move back so it does not fall forward. They have to feel the weight on the balls of their feet and the chest above so they can do it on a slope.
Quality and safety standard Video
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1- Be in an athletic position, not leaning back
2- Turning the feet, not turning their shoulders, or leaning inside the turn
3- Link turns and turn to a stop in both directions
Make good turns before going to steeper slopes. Turns before terrain.
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​Problems to look for
1- Moving back at the ankles, knees, waist, or all three
2- Starting with a wedge that is too wide
3- Turning too soon before there is enough speed
4- Turning too far across the hill which slows them down
5- Rushing from one turn to the next rather than going straight first
6- Moving the knee inside, move the hip out, or flex the knee rather than the ankle
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The traverse
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This approach is in contrast to traversing and trying to do the top part of the turn first by turning downhill. Doing this encourages turning with the shoulders and leaning inside the turn. There is very little gravity to help on a gentle slope and if you are going slow there is not much momentum and it is not working in the same direction as gravity.
If you have to use a traverse do the finish of the turn first by turning uphill a bit. This is a pre-turn that that uses momentum to make the turn and then move over the turn and downhill with less chance of turning their shoulders.
Releasing the downhill edge, turning the feet downhill, and gradually transferring weight is a more complex, and a much less successful way for beginners to try to turn, especially children.
Traversing also teaches skiers to defensively brace against gravity. It is often a crutch when people have stance and turning problems. Moving with gravity and momentum teaches people to ski downhill not across the hill while turning far enough to control their speed.
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Intermediates
Often have trouble controlling their speed, making small turns, and skiing parallel because they are skiing more on the back of their skis. They have reinforced their natural moves and made them habits that are even harder to change. They often flex their knees too soon, too fast, and too much relative to their ankles, because they never learned to flex their ankles first. Video
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Goals
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1- Athletic stance and ankle flex
2- Parallel turns from the ground up with pole touch
3- Moving over the turn with progressive ankle flex and tipping(angulation)
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Gliding wedge turn
Review - On a gentle slope, in an athletic stance, use a narrow wedge, with more speed, and make slight turns by pushing on big toes or turning both feet. Hand to outside knee. Skis often become spontaneously parallel. When they do not, look for a lack of ankle flex so they use their hips or shoulders to start the turn.
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Parallel turn
Turns become parallel spontaneously by stepping on the new outside ski early and moving down to finish and up to start the turns
Active matching if needed
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1- Stand in a narrow wedge with skis across the hill. Push hand on the downhill knee and match the skis. Do from a shallow traverse, then a steeper one. Do in both directions, then link.
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2- To make skis parallel earlier in the turn, stand in a narrow wedge with skis across the hill. Plant both poles downhill. Stand on uphill ski and project onto poles and match the skis. Make this same move from a traverse that is almost downhill. Do one in both direction, and then link.
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Move over the turn​
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1- Ski across the hill and turn uphill which is called an uphill christies exercises. it is the most important exercise. It allows the skier to work on inside lead, progressive ankle flex and tipping(angulation) to move over the turn. The timing should be continuous while turning. Shift the focus to the upper body moving over the turn. Inside lead allows the hip to continuously move inside the turn, so work on it first.
2 Pole touches- stand with skis across the hill and swing the downhill pole with the wrist and touch it to the snow. Touch the right pole before a right turn and the left before a left turn. When moving into the new turn it is swing, touch, turn.
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Advanced
Advanced skiers, may be trying to ski advanced runs with more confidence and control, to those wanting to work on something specific like slalom and giant slalom turns or moguls. Higher speeds, steeper slopes, or challenging conditions increase forces that cause then to move toward the hill rather than over the turn. They have taken natural moves to a high level but have found their limit.
1- Evaluate by looking for progressive movement over the turn. Natural moves will cause them to move away from the next turn and create problems controlling speed or making smaller turns. One turn may be stronger than the other.
2- Statically review athletic stance and ankle flex.
3- Turning both feet for skidded turns will be a realistic goal for most students. Uphill christies exercises for inside lead, progressive ankle flex and tip (angulation). It will be hard for them to do without moving back, rotating, or banking.
4- Progressions can be used: make the move statically, in a traverse, uphill christie, garlands, fan exercise, one turn, and link. Make opposite and extremes move to increase awareness.
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5- Add a variety of turn, sizes, shapes, speeds, steepness, conditions, moguls, and park for those interested. Smooth (continuous) movement over the feet while loading the skis, keep Big MO going downhill. Know the "visual skiing position" that shows right timing of the skiing moves at the end of the turn.
Visible Skiing Moves
The Image
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The progressive ankle flex and tipping keeps the body moving over the turn. Moving the inside half forward allows the upper body to tip to the outside of the turn as the hip moves in (angulation). Progressive ankle flex and tipping, ski like (PAT)
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Timing is critical, the flexing and tipping must be progressive while edging the skis so the body moves over the forces of the turn that push skier back and inside. Visible Skiing Moves that are well timed look like this when the edging ends- See more pictures at the bottom of this page
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Mikeala Shiffrin Killington 2023 win
1- Ankle flex 2- Inside lead 3- Angulation
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Lindsey Vonn turning right
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Ski Moves are TIMELESS
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Ski Moves in small mogul turns by
Patrick Deneen former US Freestyle Team
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Visible Skiing Moves provide visual goals that make specific feedback easier.
This more simple approach does not mean easy, Visible Skiing Moves require a lot of work to develop and maintain. They are opposite the way people naturally move, so it is a constant challenge to develop and maintain them in a variety of speeds, slopes, turn sizes, and conditions.
Without these clear and consistent goals it is very hard to improve. It is even more challenging because it is hard to know how we are moving, even if we know what moves to make. So it takes clear consistent goals and specific feedback.
If goals are regularly changing with new trends, it becomes very difficult to improve.
Common Goals
It can take very long time to perform Visible skiing Moves especially when natural moves have been reinforced into habits. But some people do not ski enough or lack the talent it takes to reach the high expectation they may have.
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Moving back on the tail of the skis is a big and hard to fix problem. So it is important to make as much progress as possible in the short lesson time you have, without spending it all on improving the athletic stance.
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Most people do not have the time, money, or desire to rebuild their skiing. Realistic goals for most are to develop a bit more athletic stance, and to turn their feet more than their shoulders while tipping over their outside ski (angulation).
Put it together
Athletic stance and an weight transfer are followed by inside lead so progressive ankle flex and tipping move a skier over the turn.
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1- Stance- Athletic flexed over feet, move forward as skis are loaded and back when released
2- Weight transfer- as soon as the skis are released
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3- Inside lead
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4- Flex ankles progressively and /or turn the feet
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5- Tipping to the outside of the turn (angulation) progressively while edging
To remember them think ski SWIFT
This is a formula of how to apply the moves that includes timing so the momentum keeps moving over the turn
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Move quicker for smaller turns. Turn more across the hill to ski slower in big or small turns. Keep clear the difference between rate and duration. Skidding can also be used to ski slower.
A list of skills or fundamentals without a recipe of what to do with them is not enough. It is hard to make a cake with just ingredients and no recipe.
Ending a turn
Skis are loaded with pressure when turning, and it is released at the end of the turn. Pressure increases a lot after the fall line when the turn forces and gravity start to align.
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Flexing the legs while still edging starts to unload the pressure and keeps the body over the skis. It is an option to start ending the turn sooner. It would occur before either retraction or extension.
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Knees will flex more when turning further across the hill and the pressures get very high, but ankle, knees, and hips move to stay out of the back seat and not tail gun.
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The end of a turn is usually thought of as when the edges go flat at crossover. But viewing the end of the turn as when the edging ends, is when the body stops turning. It makes just two parts to a turn, loading and unloading the skis.
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When starting a run, the bottom or top of a turn can be made first. When linking turns, a good finish makes a good start, and a hard and early weight transfer can help move a skier into the new turn.
Using the back of the ski​
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Many skiers flex their knees early, quickly, and a lot relative to their ankles. Some can maintain momentum into the next turn with enough flex, so they do impressive skiing, but it is more on the back of their skis. Others just get stuck in a park and ride situation.
This can be very hard to change, so it is often best to move beyond this in the limited time of a lesson. But adding pressure to the front of the skis tightens the radius of turns and provides a greater sense of control for students. It also improves their small turns.
World Cup skiers can't always make the turn they want, recoveries can be on the tails and inside ski, or the tails may be used to make a given turn.
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Review
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Pictures from US Ski & Snowboard
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