Arthur, Sam 2

Arthur

Arthur manages a full circuit on her own. Once she understood that a snowplough looked like a slice of pizza she just got it. (I did however explain in detail how the heels are pushed out and the legs turned inward right up to the hip joint – and took hold of one of her legs and rotated it for her.) The key to overcoming difficulty was most probably her feeling things clearly. She was happy with her achievement and skied all the way back to the village centre – albeit very slowly.

Sam

Feet Forward Technique
“Feet Forward Technique”… gives security through the start of a turn on steep terrain by tightening the turn radius (applies to skis running forward across the slope and not to “pivoting”)

Pushing the outside (uphill initially) foot forward during the turn. The foot never gets in front of the other foot – it just tightens the turn instead.

The exercise is practised with skis off and standing in ski boots. For this static exercise we use ski pole support with the body faced downhill with the uphill foot pointing across the hill and the downhill foot pointing downhill and the heel jammed into the snow. The uphill boot is pulled over onto its inside edge and pushed forwards in a natural arc.

Here is some video of exactly the same action in ice hockey training. In skiing the direction of travel would be straight downhill instead of straight ahead on the flat ice.

Pivot (Skis sliding Sideways)
Pivoting is derived from the skis sliding sideways and can be developed from side slipping (It’s a braking form of turning). With a “pure pivot” as an exercise there is no forward travelling of the ski across the hill. Support for the centre of mass is now provided by support from a downhill pole plant. This is the real reason why we have ski poles! There is a full dedicated explanation of pivoting at the following link: “PIVOT

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