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Tips & Techniques - Skiing

Skiing Tips & Techniques

We have teamed up with some of our top ski school instuctors to produce guides on ski technique. The articles featured here include learning how to carve and how to conquer moguls. To ensure you get the most out of your time on the piste, check out our Ski & Snowboard School Listings and perfect your skills!

Choosing Your Line

One of the most common tactical issues that hinder effective performance is the line we steer and how it affects our control. Having spent many years watching skiers perform on a variety of slopes it is not unfair to say that the vast majority could dramatically increase their performance just by changing the shape of their turn.

The first step is to change the ‘mind set’. I am sure all the skiers I have watched are doing what they want to do! The jagged, rushed turns being a result of not wanting to point down the hill (fall-line) and therefore gain too much speed, or, pushing their heels out as they may, incorrectly, have been told. The effects on their performance are many. The sharpness of the turn makes it harder to balance, the skis do not interact with the terrain and snow surface efficiently, either braking away if the texture is harder, or tripping the skier up if it is a little deeper, and speed control becomes fragile. None of these factors create problems when the skier is in their comfort zone, when the gradient is not too steep, when the terrain is not too challenging and when the snow is complimentary. However, once the going gets tougher and the snow get firmer or deeper, the terrain gets bumpy or the gradient gets steeper, their performance breaks down. ... more

last updated 13-Feb-2008

Freeride & Powder Skiing

Courtesy of WARREN SMITH SKI ACADEMY online ski coaching.

All the technique clips are in Quicktime format. If you can't see the clip then you will need to get Quicktime

When skiing powder or freeskiing off piste terrains its important to realise, especially if you haven’t had too much experience in this type of environment, that certain things you may do on piste naturally might not work so well here.

Shoulders
A common problem for many skiers moving from piste to off piste is there upper body management, directly relating to their shoulders. When you ski on piste and are trying to make dynamic turns you tend to stand with rounded shoulders. This usually aids a dynamic stance.

		If your shoulders are rounded like so in powder or off piste terrains you may find them putting you out of balance. The main reason for this is that when your freeskiing you tend to find yourself trying to absorb large pressure shocks from the ever-changing terrain. If your shoulders are forwards when you’re in the process of trying to take the absorption you’ll find that no matter how much you try to take the shock by absorbing with the legs the shoulders will cause the whole body to be hurled forwards with a huge break at the waist. This almost always results in eating snow. Try to think about managing your shoulders for a while. Again, at first on piste, then when you feel you’ve got the hang of it try it in the off piste environment. A little bit of modification here can save a whole lot of time putting your skis back on in the powder just after that front flip that you didn’t want to do. (Clip ‘Powder – Shoulders’)
Wind Effected Snow There’s a major difference between light powder snow and new snow that’s been affected by high winds. When snow falls with high winds it gets compacted together and rather than having a soft forgiving feel to it, it actually becomes quite firm and not so easy to absorb into. When the fresh snow gets like this you need to take a different approach to skiing through it. The firmness of the snow means that you’ve got to work a lot harder to ski it. You need to adopt a way of skiing where your ‘powering’ through you your turns.
Power Turning
		Power Turning can be achieved by really forcing your legs out underneath you and keeping a constant pressure against and into the snow. As you start your turn allow yourself to rise above the snow as it will be difficult to turn in. As you come above the snow get prepared to start driving your skis back in it again to round your turn off. The amount of power needed to push the skis back in the firm surface of the snow is twice as much as you would normally need. It’s a bit like going in the gym and stacking up a couple of extra blocks for your leg extensions. If your working your legs with this degree of power you’ll find yourself powering through the firmly packed wind blow snow and actually enjoying what would have been a nightmare run. (Clip ‘Powder – Power Turning’)

last updated 26-Mar-2008

How to do Carving Turns on your Skis

If you want to feel the power of the curve this season you need to develop and hone your carving skills. So..... (click on the images for a larger view)

What is carving? ... more

last updated 5-Feb-2008

How to Ski Moguls

Skiing bumps (moguls) is one of the most demanding aspects of all mountain skiing yet it is one of the most exciting and satisfying when done well. Skiing bumps is almost a lost art (very popular in the 80s) as the modern day focus on carving has taken away the emphasis of bashing the bumps. Indeed some National Instructor Training organisations such as the French (ENSA) do not even include bump skiing as part of their syllabus.

Verbier is famous for off piste and backcountry skiing, but it also offers fantastic terrain for bump skiing and none more so than the Mont Fort Sector. ... more

last updated 5-Feb-2008

Moguls - Absorbing the Bumps

Courtesy of WARREN SMITH SKI ACADEMY online ski coaching

All the technique clips are in Quicktime format. If you can't see the clip then you will need to get Quicktime

Single Compression Turns
If you stood one day and looked up at a mogul field you’d usually see 20% of skiers struggling, 60% of skiers getting down ok with not too much trouble and about 20% which you look at and think ‘I wish I could do it like that’. Usually the 20% of good skiers who stand out from the rest do so because they actually absorb the moguls.

Basically when you absorb the bump your upper body remains up right in balance and your legs flex up usually to the height of the bump. Then as your going down the backside of the bump you uncoil and push out your legs, creating a fiction that controls your speed.

Absorbing the bump if you think of it holistically is a pretty difficult thing to do and the success rate isn’t very high. There is always so much to think about in moguls and trying to make new technical manoeuvres as well as all the rest is hard. What you need to do is break down the turns a bit. Firstly, if you can’t do it take it out side of the difficult terrain.

The Process
		Find a comfortable piste and practice making a single compression turn. Its almost opposite to the type of turn you normally make on piste. On piste there’s usually an extension of the legs to initiate. Here you actually flex and pull your feet up underneath you as you start the turn. Progressively pulling them up until the halfway point of the turn when you start to extend them back out again. (Clip ‘Moguls – Compression Differ’)
		Sometimes a great way to help yourself feel it is using some of the mountains natural terrain. You can just simply ski towards the hump or hip on the slope and go through the same process. As with the moguls try to keep your upper body travelling on the same level and let your legs flex up to absorb. Eventually with practice on these little humps to should be able to have a good enough range of movement to keep the upper body at the same level and soak up the whole height of the hump. (Clip ‘Moguls – Single Compression’)
		Move on to linking your compression turns together on piste. Make sure that the absorbing movement your making is that of the heel of the feet tucking up behind you and not your backside just sitting back. It essential you get this right at this stage as when you take it into a mogul field you’ll need to be in centre balance and ready the next 30 turns, not just getting pushed back and accelerating out after one. Once you can feel it right and feel your maintaining balance with the hips over the ball of the feet, progressively increase the range of your absorbing movement. Compression turns are a great practice and skill development exercise to give you first a better understanding of actually how to absorb and secondly allow you to build up skill and confidence before hitting the bumps. (Clip ‘Moguls – Montage’)

last updated 22-Feb-2008

Skiing: The Basics

Skiing is a very simple sport based upon the interaction of the skier, their equipment and the mountain. The skiers we admire and aspire to achieve harmony with these components, they are effortless, skilful, playful and in control. The skiers that do not achieve this harmony look wooden, forced and they struggle. Skilled skiers flow whilst others fight their way down the slope.

As we plan our trips to the snow and look forward to our skiing think how you can achieve this interaction and go onto the slopes considering these 3 components of your performance: ... more

last updated 12-Feb-2008

Stand Tall

Listening to some parents teaching their children to ski the other day, one phrase that kept being repeated was “Bend your Knees!” It is a stereotypical phrase and assumed that all ski instructors use as a stock comment. However the reality is very different.

I find that I spend much of my time asking skiers to stand taller. ... more

last updated 13-Feb-2008

Steeps - Dealing with Steeper Gradients

Courtesy of WARREN SMITH SKI ACADEMY online ski coaching.

All the technique clips are in Quicktime format. If you can't see the clip then you will need to get Quicktime

Body Projection As you begin to ski steeper terrains, you’ll need to learn how to modify your turn initiation so as to cope with the angle of the slope your on and to make sure your definitely going to make the turn successfully. I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation where were not quite sure if were definitely going to get the skis to turn. The steeper it get usually the heavier your skis feel and the harder it is to get over into the next turn. To avoid this happening introduce dynamics to your skiing focusing on a positive extension up and forwards down the hill as you initiate the turn. The degree of energy it takes and sometimes difficulty in getting the skis to turn at that degree of steepness warrants you learning how to initiate positively and dynamically.

The Process
		To begin with practice the dynamic projection on a not so steep slope. Something like a blue run would be perfect. As you make the turn allow the pole plant to connect positively into the snow and at this point project your hips and shoulders forwards, up and down the hill. You project by pushing up from the balls of your feet. It’s a bit like diving into the water at the edge of a swimming pool. It has to be forwards and up, not just up. The skis will become very light and much easier to manoeuvre on the steeper terrain. Develop the projection to a greater degree and eventually the skis will leave the snow momentarily. Steer the skis across the hill as you come to land on the snow as much as you need to for control on the gradient of terrain your skiing. (Clip ‘Steeps – Projecting on Piste’)
		Once you feel you’ve got the hang of the dynamic projection, try it out on a steeper gradient slope and enjoy the new found confidence and strength. Having the ability to do this will really help you when the going get tough and when the gradients increase. (Clip ‘Steeps – Arrows Projecting’)

last updated 25-Feb-2008