Where’s the Middle of My Skis?
Now that the ski season is underway, you need to return to last season’s level of performance as quickly as possible. Like any sport, skill can deteriorate with downtime, however a little early season tune-up will help us pick up where we left off.
In the case of skiing, balancing more or less in the middle of your skis is a great place to start. Of course, to know where you are along the length of your skis, you need to develop a little awareness of what the middle feels like.
With that in mind, let’s create a few cues you can use to quickly find your awesome.
Here the skier is a little forward. If this is you, you’ll feel your shins bang against the front of your boots. This results in the skis skidding out during the latter part of the turn.
In the middle (more or less), this happy skier here feels a gentle pressure around the whole of his leg inside the boot, possibly just a little heavier against the shin. When you feel this cue, you’ll find it easier to grip and cope with changes in snow and terrain.
Now our skier is back. If this is you, you’ll feel pressure against the calves. The result of this is that the front of the skis will not grip at the top of the turn and direction change will likely be achieved by pushing the heels out to tip the skis up and create a steering angle, making it hard to maintain grip.
The objective is simply to try and keep your shins in light contact with the front of your boots as much as you can. Now, relax and enjoy being awesome!
NIGEL HARRISON and TOBIN LEOPKEY of Section 8 Snowsport Institute offer ski improvement camps for intermediate and expert skiers in all terrain and conditions in B.C., the Alps, Japan and Chile.
www.section8ski.com
