Turning Technique

Question
Dear Cindy,

I've been skiing for about 15 years now (although only a few days per season). I consider myself really still at the intermediate level since I'm not totally comfortable skiing black diamond slopes nor can I do smooth parallel turns with my skis fairly close together like the advanced skiers.

I have two questions:

1. What tips do you suggest that would help me ski with my skis closer together? I read some of the archived questions and thought I read something about the importance of ankle flexibility -- is that true?

2. I've always had a stronger "side" when it comes to turning, i.e., I can make left turns more effectively and confidently than I make right turns. Is this common for most people? Is there a trick to developing my other "side" so that I can turn both ways equally well? (I am right handed, if that has anything to do with it.)

Thank you!  

Answer
Dear Bonnie --

Breaking out of the "intermediate rut" takes a different route with each person.  So your "best" or perhaps fastest way will depend on your learning style.  If you learn by reading, understanding, then doing, you could read Lito Tejado-Flores book "Breakthrough on Skis" or "Breakthrough on New Skis" depending on whether you use the older skis or the new super sidecut skis. These books will help you understand the mechanics of skis and of skiing, so you can breakdown your style, and perfect it.

If you learn better by seeing or hearing then doing, a private lesson with a good coach, or even a small group lesson will help you move forward.  

Stance and balance are crucial to making the breakthrough to upper level skiing.  A good athletic stance, feet under the hips, and knees and ankles flexed is important.  You will move up and down from this position to unweight the skis and then pressure the skis as needed to perform various parts of the turn.  You should have a good ski shop check your ski boots to ensure they are not too stiff for you to flex, in your style of skiing.  Boots in a shop are often softer than they are on a mountain merely due to the temperature difference, so just checking them yourself may not be sufficient.

While you are at it, have the shop check out your boot cuff and lower leg alignment.  If you have a strong difference in ablity to turn one direction, your boot many not be flat on the floor when you stand comfortably.  This means you can never get your ski completely neutral (flat) when you ski, so either you cannot release a ski edge early enough to initiate a turn, or you cannot roll onto an edge comfortably enough to ride your edge and carve a turn.  Checking your canting or alignment in your boots may be a simple fix.  If lack of a neutral stance is your problem, and canting cannot fix it, you may need a shim between your ski and your binding, so that you can be completely neutral when you want to stand flat on your skis.

Unfortunately, without seeing you ski, I cannot judge whether it is your technique, boot alignment or canting that will help you balance your turning ability.  If the ski shop does not see a problem with your neutral stance in your boots, have a good coach watch you when you ski. They may be able to see something in your technique that is leading to the imbalance.

If none of those more technical issue are the problem, you may have just developed a habit of being comfortable going one way more than the other.  A technique that has worked for others to break this habit, is to go back to very simple terrain, and ski on one ski.  Use your "good" side first, to convince yourself you can ski that way.  Then ski with the "bad" side.  You will have to use both edges of a single ski so you will really feel how a neutral ski slides and how a weighted edge will carve.

I recommend continuing to improve your skiing and your comfort in different terrain without worrying how close your legs are together.  If you watch the racers ski, their leg separation varies with the speed they are going and the type of turn they are making.  As you get better and more comfortable, your style will look both more graceful and more athletic even if your legs are not locked together.

Best of luck in your skiing quest.