Ski Tips From Ski School

[mamajill]

 

Where Are You Looking?
Are you looking far enough down the slope when you ski? Frequently students look too closely at the snow directly in front of their skis when going down the
mountain. If you can see your skis when you are skiing, that's like driving a car and looking at the gas pedal or riding a bicycle and watching the front tire. 
Keep your eyes on where you're going, not where you are!

Where Should Your Hands Be?
Your hands should be in front of your body. You should be able to see them even with your goggles on (goggles limit your peripheral vision).This is frequently higher than you think. Remember to keep your elbows in front of the body. This will also promote better balance and better pole usage.

POP
Do you have POP? Pop stands for "parallelogram of power" stand with your shins contacting your boot tongues. Notice the angle of your shin bone. Now match this angle with your uppoer body - so if you drew a line from your hip to your shoulder it would match the line from ankle to knee:

This makes you ready for dynamic skiing and helps you stay forward!

Two-Footed
Are you skiing two-footed? You should be! Powder and soft snow separates the real skiers from the wannabes. Practice entering your turns with a 50/50 weight distribution. The deeper and more challenging the snow - the more you want to maintain this two footed move throughout the turn. Skiers who always put "all" their weight on the outside or "downhill" ski are limiting their control in a variety of snow conditions. Ski two-footed for better balance, more power and fewer crashes! 

How To Handle Icy Conditions
Conventional wisdom would tell us that when we hit an icy patch we should get hard on our edges and dig into the surface. This works fine if you have finely
tuned skis with very sharp edges. (and perhaps you've hit a rock?...or
two, this season) Try reducing the edge angle and use a flatter ski to
handle the ice. A larger amount of base area will contact the snow, and
the resulting increase in friction will help with directional control.
Hopefully, you won't get much of a chance to practice this technique!

Golden Arches
Getting fatigued in the powder? I hear it all the time “just lean back to ski powder". Wrong! This will burn out your quads faster than you can say Paradise. You do want to move your power zone to the "back of your arch". Too far back is when your calf jambs into the back of the boot and your weight is totally on the heels. If you want to ski longer on a powder day and avoid an ACL injury---stay away from getting "too far back". To get the "back of the arch" feeling--- simply stand in your ski boots and try lifting the front of your foot without sitting back. Another way to say it is "try lifting your toes". This will settle your weight into the arch area and put you in a strong place on your skis. You know you're doing it right when the muscles on your shins are tired ---and your quads and knees are fine at the end of the day!

Helmets
Helmets are a fantastic addition to our sport and a great way to reduce serious injuries, but it is important to remember that they need to be fit and adjusted properly in order to achieve maximum protection. Helmets that fit or are worn improperly are DANGEROUS. The head should fit all the way into the top of the helmet and be snug all the way around the head. The most common problem we see is the manner in which kids wear and adjust their helmets. The helmet needs to be worn so the FOREHEAD IS COVERED and the strap goes UNDER THE CHIN. Improperly worn and adjusted helmets can CAUSE injuries to the neck, jaw and face when the head contacts the ground during a fall. Please ask your instructor to evaluate your child's helmet if you think there may be a fit problem.