Five Strategies for Steep Slopes (Beginner)
- Combining Pivot and Snowplough
- Feet Forward Technique
- Downhill Stem combined with Feet Forward Technique
- Sideslipping (Joystick control)
- Side Stepping
Rules for basic parallel dynamics
- Dynamics 2 (Skis Parallel)
- One Leg or No Legs – Moving the Centre of Mass
Combining Pivot and Snowplough
Snowplough provides an important platform for learning how a ski pivots.
While traversing the slope in a snowplough weight must be kept on the downhill ski.
Conventional ski instruction tells us to transfer weight to the uphill ski to start a turn – but that is only useful for race training advanced skiers. First of all a skier needs to know how to use the plough to generate complete control of speed – and that means NOT transferring weight. Weight is allowed to always be on whatever ski is further down the mountain. That ski will always be on its uphill edge and so it will act as a supportive brake. Through the first half of a turn this supporting/braking ski will gradually pivot (sliding sideways) as the plough comes around the turn. Meanwhile the outside ski in the turn requires the adductor muscles to be engaged – so as to shift the body (centre of mass) slightly towards the centre of the turn and edge the outside ski slightly more than the inside ski – to enable a deflection/turning force from the ski. When the plough is pointing directly downhill the outside ski in the turn will take over as being the furthest down the mountain – continue to keep the adductor muscles in that leg engaged until the turn is complete.
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.
Downhill Stem combined with Feet Forward Technique
There’s a tendency for habitual snowploughers to always push out the tail of the uphill ski to get it pointing downhill at the front. Better to push the tail of the downhill ski toward the upcoming turn centre, thus pulling the Centre of Mass that direction. This also reinforces the braking/pivoting action of that downhill ski. The uphill ski then only needs to be pushed forward to aggressively tighten the turn radius.
Sideslipping (Joystick control)
The main practical purpose of sideslipping is to get down the mountain without picking up speed. Many learners are deprived of this skill because it is generally undervalued and has become even more neglected due to the complete domination of carving skis. Wider skis are easier for sideslipping in a greater range of conditions. Parabolic skis have some trouble gripping on ice during a sideslip, but modern “double rocker” off-piste skis give a smooth and grippy sideslip in just about every condition, including ice.
The skis are kept on edge by the lateral stiffness of the ski boot shafts. Skis over 100mm wide underfoot begin to create problems on hard snow due to the extra leverage from the edge through the shaft of the boot. Those skis can be very unpleasant on-piste and it’s one limit of how an “all round” ski can be defined. Anything wider than 100mm is not “all round”.
In ski teaching the sideslip serves specifically for developing fall-line skiing. Fall-line skiing is where the skier’s body travels directly downhill and not so much across the hill. This would apply to bumps, steep off-piste such as couloirs and deep powder snow. Slalom is not “fall-line” skiing. (The mechanism of initiating the turn with a sideslip is called “pivoting”.) The skier should be able to sideslip on either ski or both at the same time. It’s normal to start off with both skis on the snow, skis parallel and with the majority of weight on the lower ski just to get a feel for it. The stance is normally quite narrow to prevent the uphill ski from catching the lower edge. Most beginners have trouble keeping the skis close together if they have previously learned to snowplough.
It should be noticed that only the uphill edges of the skis are in contact with the snow so the downhill edges are in the air.
Pulling the legs together with the adductor muscles on both legs ensures the best options for control. Pulling both legs inwards keeps a narrow stance and when the skier practices sideslipping on one leg it ensures the that centre of mass can easily be placed above the appropriate hip joint. Sideslipping is facilitated by subtle movements of the centre of mass – moving it downhill to slide and slightly back uphill to stop. There’s no need to use the feet or knees to try to sideslip – just moving the centre of mass in a manner resembling a joystick rapidly leads to developing awareness of how subtle movement of the centre of mass has pronounced effects.
Sideslipping can be practiced on the uphill ski only, with the adductor muscle pulling in the downhill direction and the pressure still kept on the uphill edge of the ski and hence on the outside edge of the foot. You don’t try to stand on the outside edge of the foot the pressure there is an effect of the ski boot construction / lateral stiffness of the boot cuff running up the lower leg.
If the fronts of the skis are pushed downhill (Joystick Control – by moving the Centre of Mass forward slightly) then with there being no contact of the downhill edges the skier goes into a controlled forward diagonal sideslip on the uphill (braking) edges only. Likewise if the tails are pushed downwards during the sideslip then it turns into a backwards diagonal sideslip. Being able to alternate between straight down the fall-line and the two diagonals is a precursor to the skill necessary for pivoting in the fall-line.
Side Stepping
When all else fails – side stepping! Just avoid sitting down and especially avoid taking the skis off!
Rules for basic parallel dynamics
Dynamics 2 (Skis Parallel)
- Skis must be travelling forward – like a bicycle
- This is mainly about using the outside leg (start of new turn) to push the centre of mass into the centre of the new turn – for the whole duration of the turn
- There is no “balance” when skiing – dynamics is the physics of disequilibrium
- You are looking for stability from organised accelerations (ski technology!)
- Notice in the photos below the outside leg is essentially straight in a skating action (flexion for absorption and other purposes is primarily at the hip joint)
- The centre of mass goes down toward the snow – and to complete the turn it comes back up – like a motorbike in a turn
- There is no “Centrifugal Force” acting on the skier – only a deflection inward away from a straight line. This deflection is used to lift the skier up at the end of the turn – which involves “finishing” the turn – I.E. turning almost back up the hill.
- Remain square to the skis (follow the skis around the turn with your body) until you are really comfortable with movement of the centre of mass and clearly aware of moving it.
Model photos showing unambiguous dynamics…
One Leg or No Legs – Moving the Centre of Mass