Beyond the first time use the text below or use the video guide to track your score

                                                                 

If you are one of the people who returns after your first time, the right pace is critical. ​You may have skied a full day and made a lot of progress or maybe only lasted a hour or two depending on your fitness. 

 

Gradually move to more challenging slopes, and return if it is too challenging. Friends, family, and new skiers themselves tend to be in a rush and have a hard time telling when the terrain is too challenging that causes natural moves to return.

 

Going too far up the hill or to a run that is too steep can cause you to move back on your skis. This causes more skiing with the upper body, turning the shoulders and leaning in, because it is harder to turn from ground up. Remember it is "good turns before terrain".

 

Adding speed on gentle slopes increases the forces so you can experience the feel of steeper slopes before going there. The larger forces also help to move the skis from a wedge to being more parallel.

Learn to turn just enough to slow down or change direction to feel yourself continuously moving over the turn and down the hill.

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Work on different ways to turn and different size turns. Turning by point toes, pushing on toes, or combine pushing and pointing toes. Make a specific number of small and larger turns. Build confidence by being able to turn far enough to stop in both directions.

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                                                                 Intermediates   use the text below or use the video guide to track your score

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Intermediates can ski more challenging slopes and turn with the skis mostly parallel. They may or may not make pole touches. Many are  refining natural moves on steeper slopes, higher speeds, and in more conditions. Skiers who only ski a few times a season can have a hard time developing the control needed to ski slower especially on steeper runs. 

 

The ankles often are not being flexed. A friend or instructor can watch and provide a verbal cue saying "ankle" until the ankle starts flexing.      

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Moving back can be at the ankles, knees, hips, or waist. The knees are often flexed too soon, too quick, and too far that moves skiers back on the tail of their skis. This can be with ankles that are flexed too much, too soon, or not at all.

 

There may be only one turn size and speed. The right turn may be different than your left. Deeper, uneven, or firm snow is hard to handle.

 

It is good to go back to green runs and work on Ski Moves. Look for good consistent snow conditions and areas that are less crowded. If you ski with people who are always pushing you to ski faster or go to steeper slopes, meet up with them later.  

 

Set your expectations relative to your fitness, ability, and amount of ski time. If your friend is in great shape, athletic, and has skied a lot but none of that applies to you, it will be hard to try to ski with them and improve. You might just feel frustrated and think that you can not improve rather than enjoying skiing at your level.

 

If you are athletic, fit, ski frequently, play hockey, and rollerblade, you may progress much quicker than someone without those qualities especially if you work on Ski Moves rather than just going to steeper slopes and skiing faster.  

 

Going to steeper slopes without an athletic stance and good turning from the ground up, reinforces natural moves and can cause frustration, falls, and makes improving more difficult.

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                                                         Advanced skiers   use the text below or use the video guide to track your score

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​Advanced skiers cover a wide range from from those just getting down black diamond runs to high level experts. Some are happy with how they ski and may be more interested in where they ski. Many have used natural moves for a long time and have become good at using them especially in softer conditions.

 

Others have have learned from books, videos, or lessons and are applying some ski moves. They may turn their hips and shoulders downhill and move their hip way inside the turn early in the turn with little flex in their legs or a lot of bend at the knees so they use more of the tail of their ski.

 

Timing is a key element, the progressive flexing of the ankles and tipping outside the turn to keep moving over the turn. The unguided approach can work for a few, but most could be skiing better and there is a growing interest in big mountain instruction.

 

Some like to carve fast using natural moves on slopes that may be busy. They may be inspired by top athletes but might not have the fitness, ability, training, or time on the snow to control their speed and be safe. This contributes to catastrophic accidents and deaths. 

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In addition to working on Ski Moves, progress is based on fitness, ability, and amount of ski time. Many do not get to ski more than one or two trips a season which limits their ability to ski like athletes who are training every day. As some skiers age, they quit because skiing fast is too hard on their bodies and they can not slow down.

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At the highest level of competition skiing is very specialized and athletes train for years in their discipline. They participate in events like freeskiing, slopestyle, big air, moguls, or racing, that are timed or have tasks to score. Some are aware of how they move, but others focus on the task more than how they do it, that is for their coaches.

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Exercises can help, they can be mental task, a sensation to focus on, or a physical task to help you change your moves. They are usually done in a progression from: static, while skiing across an uncrowded slope, in the last part of a turn, a whole turn, and when  linking turns. Then gradually add speed, steepness, different conditions and turns of different sizes and shapes.

 

Ski Moves are timeless and consistent, but it is a continuous challenge to maintain them.  ​

 

Exercise videos  Step flex, step turn, step tip

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Ski moves   use the text below or use the video guide to track your score

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1-Athletic stance and ankle flex

2- Turn on the outside ski

3- Move over the turn.  

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​​​Athletic Stance - Total score is 5   -video​

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1- Stand with your arms in front like holding a lunch tray with poles pointing back

2- Feel the weight on the balls of your feet with your chest above

3- Flex down and up flexing the ankle first, go from slow to fast and stop, this is your athletic stance

4- Step from foot to foot, go from slow to fast

5- Bend your knees like sitting on a chair and compare how much harder it is to step from foot to foot.

 

Ankle flex- Total score is 10    - video

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Most skiers do not flex their ankles enough, or combine it with flexing the knees too soon, fast, or too much and end up on the back of their ski. A few stand with the ankles fully flexed, and knee flex for a low stance that limits motion. This increases turning with the upper body that restrict the continuous tipping of your body over the turning skis.

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1- Stand in an athletic stance. flex just your ankles as far forward as possible and return to start. Go from slow to fast.

2- In an athletic stance, flex just your ankles back as far as possible and return to start.

3- In an athletic stance, flex as far forward as possible then to the start position then flex back. Go from slow to fast. then reduce the range to just a small amount. Be sure just the ankles are moving and not the knees or hips. If it is hard to flex the boot, loosen the top buckles and power strap.

4- As you do number 3, focus your attention from feeling your ankles flex to the bottom of your feet. Build the connection between feeling where your chest is over the balls of your feet. In a turn you move fore and aft,  it is key to feel this connection. 

5- In an athletic stance, flex down and up starting with the ankles then up to the knees and hips. Keep the chest over the balls of the feet. Many will have problems flexing the knees too much which moves your hips back and puts weight on the your heels.

6- In an athletic stance, move each joint separately to increase your awareness and control. Flex just your ankles, then just your knees with no ankles, then just your hips with no ankles or knees.

7- If you can find a very uncrowded slope, repeat number three in motion skiing across the hill in a traverse. Be sure to look uphill so no one is coming.

8- If you can find an uncrowded slope, start in a slightly steeper traverse and turn uphill by gradually flexing the ankle of your downhill ski so you feel like you are pushing on your big toe. At the same time touch your downhill hand to your knee. This partial turn is called an uphill christie. 

9- Repeat number 8 in the other direction.

10- Repeat 8 and 9 but start with a steeper traverse so there is more speed and you make more of a turn.              

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Turn - Top score is 10 video

​​Most intermediates use their shoulders and hips to turn rather than skiing from the ground up. This limits their ability to ski on firm slopes, make smaller turns, and control speed. It takes a lot of practice to get more forward and turn from the ground up, some may get frustrated trying to improve or may not have the the time or desire to work that much. But even a small change in stance and turning can make skiing steeper runs with more control possible. Remember it is "turns before terrain" for safer and more successful skiing. You will work on two types of turns, using the ski to turn and turning with your feet, turns can be a combination of both.

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1- Stand with skis across the hill and poles in the ground lift one leg and point your big toe to turn as far as you can. Do it with the other leg. 

2- Stand in an athletic stance and slowly turn your shoulder one way the the other. Then turn your shoulders and hips. compare that to turning your foot.  

3- On an easy green slope, start in an athletic stance feeling your weight on the balls of your feet and chest above, ski straight downhill for three seconds and point both your toes a slight bit one way then back downhill before turning in the other direction. Continue making turns and feeling your feet turn as you move downhill. Be sure not to turn right away, turn too far, or turn too quick in the other direction before the skis point back downhill or you will turn your shoulders rather than moving from the ground up.    

4- The same start as above push on one big toe and point both big toes to turn, go straight downhill, and push on the other big toe and point both big toes in the other direction. Feel the skis turn under your body as you move downhill. You should be able to see your ankle flex as you push on the toe, if not try to flex it more. Try flexing each ankle three times in each turn.

5- Same start as above but ski straight for 6 seconds to build more speed and turn more in each direction to control your speed. Turn to a stop with your shoulders and hips looking more downhill than across the hill. Stop in both directions.

6- Same start as above and make three larger turns and three smaller turns, repeat to the bottom feel the turns from the ground up rather than using your shoulders and hips.

7- Same start as above and push and turn on one big toe to turn, and touch your hand to that knee. Repeat on the other side all the way to the bottom.

8- Go to an intermediate slope and make the same run as above feeling all the turning happen from the ground up.

9- Making turns as above focusing on finishing a turn and stepping on the other ski faster. The pattern is step and turn with the ankle flexing. The ankles will tend to stop flexing, it takes a lot of focus to keep them moving.

10- Making turns as above with more speed and focusing on slowly flexing down when turning and moving up and forward the next turn. The pattern is down to turn and up to start, like a smooth dancing moves.

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Move over the Turn  Total score is 5  - video     

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Skiers naturally move back and inside. Turn forces also push skiers in that direction which makes it hard to continuously move over the turning skis and down the hill. Going to steep slopes too soon creates more use of the upper body rather than skiing from the feet up.

 

1- Minimal turning- on an easy intermediate run focus on making the minimal amount of turn necessary to change direction and slow down. Feel your body move continuously over the turning skis and toward the next turn. If you are moving back, turning with your shoulders and hips, and leaning inside the turn you are moving away from the next turn.

2- Great timing for great turns- feel progressive ankle flexing and tipping that last to the end of your turn. Then feel your nonstop movement as you flow into the next turn. To remember what to do  think ski like P.A.T. (progressive ankle flexing, and tipping)

3- Uphill christie- is a main exercise that breaks down the turn to create great timing. Stand in an athletic stance with your skis across the hill and statically practice flexing you ankles forward. Then move the uphill side of your body forward and tip your upper body downhill as your hips move toward the hill( angulation). Then combine the ankle flex and tipping into one smooth motion. Start in a shallow traverse and make the same move. Do in both directions.

4- Hand on hip- do an uphill christie with your downhill hand on your hip. Push your hip in with your hand as you progressively flex your ankles. Do in both directions.

5- Pole swing- statically practice swinging your downhill pole with your wrist. then move downhill and touch the pole. Make larger size turns and focus on your pole swing and body moving together toward the next turn.

 

Variety- Total score 5  -video       

 

​1- Large turns- make large turns on an intermediate run. Focus on the moving over the turn and flowing into the new turn. Make large turns that are slower by turning more across the hill and some that are faster by turning less across the hill.

2- Small turns-  make small turns. Focus on moving over the turn. Make some slower and some that are faster. 

3- Do a combination of turns by making three small turns then three big turns. Do a slow set and a fast set. As you shift your attention and change speeds make sure you do not move back and natural moves return.

4-Steeper hills- as the hills get steeper your body will naturally move back. This can be subtle and hard to see in your video. Look to see if your body is continuously moving over your skis, or if it is getting pushed back, down, or inside.

5- Ski moves-  As you ski more, it is tempting to just go for steeper runs and more speed, but spend time working on ski moves and you will handle steeper runs with much more confidence and control.