During my recent posts I have emphasized the importance of balance and a centered stance when skiing. Balance is one of the four skills associated with skiing; the other three skills are rotary or leg steering, pressure and edge control movements. Skiing encapsulates all four of these skills and for efficient skiing blends these four skills dependent on the terrain and snow conditions.
If you are reading this prior to your first day of skiing or afterwards, my observations on each of these skills will provide you with some insight while making some metaphoric comparisons to everyday life. I mentioned earlier, for me skiing is life and for my life skiing is an integral part of my identity. If I had to choose one primary skill above the others as stated earlier balance and stance dominates, otherwise you become a spectator sitting on the ground, or in the lodge sipping hot cocoa. Of the other three skills, then rotary or leg steering, guiding your skis where you want to go wins my vote. Like driving a car or riding a bicycle, you need to guide or steer your way towards your intended path. Just as in our daily routines we need to provide direction, and guide ourselves towards our intended destination, goal or objective.
When you side step up the hill with skis or sliding down the hill in a gliding wedge, positioning your skis requires the ability to turn your feet, lower and upper legs. Once you have accomplished the gliding wedge with a balanced centered stance you then can guide your v-shaped wedge slowly to the left or right, and beginning with a more serpentine turn shape. In my lessons and while training other instructors, beginning with small amounts of leg steering and thinking of direction change versus turn, the easier it will be to maintain a centered stance. Think of a flowing meandering stream, start your turns more like figure A, and once you are comfortable you can begin to add more turn shape by adding more leg steering. Just like erosion begins at the outside of the river bank where the stream turns, as a result of increase pressure, so does the ski turn create pressure to build on the outside ski.
For when we begin to change directions is life, these changes can add new-found pressures where there were none before. Or perhaps, responding to added pressure you decided to make a change. As with skiing the skill blend between leg steering and pressure are intertwined, and depending on the desired outcome determines the skill mix.
Skiing is a natural sport, which I define as being bio-mechanically connected. The movement patterns in skiing match the movement patterns off the snow. For walking, running, pivoting from one foot to the other as you try to out maneuver your opponent or the person who exited a door in your path without looking. The metaphors drawn from skiing to life are endless for me, perhaps this makes me a renaissance man, or perhaps someone who has spent way too much time on the slopes. Regardless, I hope by reading these posts, your anticipation for the winter and going skiing for the first time or as a seasoned skier is building as the summer heat continues to build. Escape the heat and change your altitude and attitude, head up to the mountains. Go Now!
Next post, Controlling Pressure.
If you would like to share any thoughts please leave a comment in the section below.
Happy Trails,
David
Winter Fun! 
This is good, really good. I like the idea of thinking direction change instead of turn in order to maintain a more centered stance. I think I’ll use this next winter. Dad
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