The analogy of “holding a tray of drinks downhill” is an easy one to visualize because let’s face it, most of us can relate to drinking. But once you’re able to ensure the turning effort is coming from the legs and not from swinging your arms and upper body around, can you forget about your hands? Is your hand position in skiing really that important? To master mogul fields, carved turns and steep chutes, your hands can be more useful than you realize.
In a carved turn
by MATT BARNES in December 2016 issue
Keep your hands up and out to the sides. To create a powerful carved turn with your hip close to the snow, you have to get those hands out of the way and use them to balance. Often I see people thinking they are getting “low” in a turn by dropping the inside hand down to the snow. However, this can prevent them from getting low by creating an imbalance that causes the upper body to rotate. Instead, think about getting your hands up and out of the way, and allow your hip to drop down low. And for those who relate better to après-ski analogies: you’re holding two drinks up as your bum slides onto a bar stool. Now there’s some fun dryland training!
