snow skiing pointers?

[austintennis2005]

I have skiied a few times back in the 90's but would like to go this winter again to colorado.

i would greatly appreciate if anyone could give me a few pointers and/or tips on what to focus on with my skiing form.

i remember from before that they said to always lean forward so that your weight is over the skis for control.

so just any type of high level basic pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[LeeD]

DO NOT lean forwards, that implys constantly pressuring the shovels of the skis, so you never stop your turns.
Instead, pressure the front of your ski boots with KNEE BEND and balanced fore n aft pressure. You load the front of your boots to turn, and you unload and put pressure on the heels of your boots to end the turn and/or start the new counter turn.
Roll your knees inward to initiate the turn, if you're going fast enought to turn with your sidecut. If you're going really slow, you have to UNWEIGHT the back of your skis to allow them to slide out, like a car fishtailing on acceleration. You stop this tail skid by applying weight to the heels of your ski's, and flatten the skis out.
Snowplow first, then stem christie, then parallel.

[N23]

^Stem christie. I used that term when chit chatting with some people at the resort and they were like, whoa, that's an old term no one uses anymore.

[r2473]

You won't learn to ski on the internet, but I will give you some advice......make sure you know how to stop.

[pabletion]

1. Watch out for that tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you'll know which one when it happens.....

2. When you fall down, do not fall into the back of your own sky.... ouch, man ****!!! Serves me right, latin boy tryin to sky!!!

[spaceman_spiff]

Best advice ever, from the movie Better Off Dead.


Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.

[FloridaAG]

Originally Posted by spaceman_spiff

Best advice ever, from the movie Better Off Dead.


Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.

Excellent reference. As an aside, I know the actor who played Stalin (the evil skier boyfriend) in that movie. He lives in Key West

[jonnythan]

LeeD pretty much has it covered.

Weight on the outside ski during the turn, keep your feet about shoulder width apart. Shoulders down the fall line, rotate hips and roll knees inward to turn.

Skip the snowplow BS. Parallel from the beginning.

[LuckyR]

The best advice I can give you is rather than concentrate on which ski to "weight", "unweight" the other ski.

[Fifth Set]

My tip is, if you like to play tennis, don't go downhill skiing.

When it comes to injuries that could harm your tennis, beginning skiers pick up loads of them.

There are plenty of Colorado snow activities that are less problematic, from cross country skiing to snow mobile courses. And, of course, some nice indoor tennis courts throughout the state if others in your group insist on seeking out broken limbs on the slopes!

[dParis]

When in doubt, wipe out.

Originally Posted by pabletion

2. When you fall down, do not fall into the back of your own sky.... ouch, man ****!!!

Did you get this advice from banned poster Tina?

Originally Posted by jonnythan

LeeD pretty much has it covered.

Weight on the outside ski during the turn, keep your feet about shoulder width apart. Shoulders down the fall line, rotate hips and roll knees inward to turn.

Skip the snowplow BS. Parallel from the beginning.

Good advice J and Lee. I'm always struggling to keep from putting all my weight on my heels. I'm not a natural skier by any means, so the heel weighting is probably a result of conscious and subconscious tentativeness. I'll keep your advice in mind as I try to gracefully glide down Paradise Bowl in Crested Butte in a couple of weeks.

[tbuggle]

the modern skis will damn near turn themselves, just stay on the front of them and stay aggressive.

complacent/passive skiing will get you hurt. when you are too tired to control your boards (toward the end of the day) STOP skiing before you get hurt. go grab a beer.

[GRANITECHIEF]

Don't ski drunk or on drugs. Don't crash into other people or objects. Don't do jumps like cliffs or park hits beyond your ability. Don't go to fast.

If you do decide to do these things, do them carefully and with a buddy.

[r2473]

Originally Posted by GRANITECHIEF

Don't ski drunk or on drugs.

There goes the US ski and snowboarding teams............

[SuperDuy]

Ughh I wont forget the one wrong turn I made at sunshine, on one side was the green then right below that a black diamond mogul run. Not fun was icy couldnt stop. Ended up walking down.

[GRANITECHIEF]

Walking down an icy mogully black diamond can be dangerous too!! Best just to wait there until the ice melts or powder falls.

[GRANITECHIEF]

Watch the movie "Frozen". Then don't try to get that last lift ride after they gate the lift off.

[r2473]

Originally Posted by SuperDuy

Ughh I wont forget the one wrong turn I made at sunshine, on one side was the green then right below that a black diamond mogul run. Not fun was icy couldnt stop. Ended up walking down.

Originally Posted by GRANITECHIEF

Watch the movie "Frozen". Then don't try to get that last lift ride after they gate the lift off.

My greatest "biff" was on the last run of the day. It was a great snow day, but everything had been tracked out.....except for this great shot under a portion of the lift. It was mostly roped off, but you could access it if you could make it off a ~10ft. drop that had a number of trees immediately after the drop. One was right in your way. Well anyway, I made it past that just fine and got to run. Only saw a few sets of tracks and it is a pretty big, wide open area. Somewhat steep, but not too bad. I was tired from a full day of skiing, but told myself I was going to take this last shot "hard".

The snow was about waist deep. I was trying to take it as fast as I could. Things were going great, but I got lazy on a turn, caught my ski, and did a full "superman". Biffed myself face first in the snow and had the full "garage sale".

Mind you, this is all right under the lift, so I heard plenty of loud laughter. I managed to find all of my stuff, get it all back on, and ski down to the parking lot. I was just covered with snow head to foot. When I got down, one guy told me it was the greatest wipe out he had ever seen and gave me a beer.

I was back out the next day.

[LeeD]

Yeah, walking down an ice hill can lead to death, as it did to some snowboarder a week ago. He slipped, and slid into a tree trunk, with his helmet off (since he was walking, not riding).
Problem with the advice of "just lean forwards" is that you can never counter turn, or stop your turn to initiate another turn in the opposite direction. You need to edge to turn, but you need to shift some weight to your heels and PUSH with your heels to stop your current turn, then redo the forward lean to initiate a new turn.
So stay balanced center, ready to move forwards or backwards depending on what you are doing. Like zooming fast straight down a hill, you lean BACK, to keep the shovels from catching.

[meltphace 6]

Listen to the planet!