The Angle in the Ankles

by Scott Weimer

Fall 2002

We all know that skiing is a sport of being in balance and always moving to stay in balance. But, how much of a movement do we need to stay in balance and where should the movements start?

We have all heard the saying of stacking our bones to make us strong. Now, picture yourself standing in your boots with your skis on in a relaxed position. Are you standing straight up or are your ankles and knees slightly bent with your shins pressed against the cuff of your boots?

In this position, you should be standing with your ankles flexed and your knees slightly bent which will cause you to rest your shins against the cuff of the boot. If you haven’t noticed, as soon as you flex your ankles your knees bend slightly which causes your torso to flex forward also. This position will keep your thighs in somewhat of a vertical position placing your hips directly over the ankle bone. The end result is that your bones are stacked, and the mass of your body is balanced over your feet. This creates a neutral and relaxing position for the body.

Lift your arms up and hold them like you are grabbing on to a steering wheel in a big truck. Imagine yourself having a bungee cord wrapped around your back and shoulders holding the ends with both hands and stretching it around the front of your body. Stretch the cord only enough to flatten your shoulder blades across your back.

A person will use the whole body as a leverage device to create the flexion in their ankles. Stretching the bungee cord forward in front of your body will help you flex forward at the waist. Be careful not to bend at the waist, just scrunch your stomach muscles.

Let’s relate this stance to our skiing. Our goal is to put ourselves in a position of staying in balance as we move across/down the hill.

On gradual smooth terrain traversing across the hill, starting with the flexion of the ankles and keeping your shins against the cuff of the boot. This will enhance your ability to stay in better balance. Get use to this position by flexing and extending the ankles slowly up and down against the cuff of the boot without loosing contact of the cuff. Concentrate on your ankles and not your knees. The knees will bend on their own while you flex your ankles, which will help keep your hips over your feet. Now, add the flexing of your torso by stretching the bungee cord out in front of your body to where your shoulder blades flatten out across your back. This will keep the upper body more stable and give you a more balanced platform. Try it both directions with both skis on the snow, then try it on your downhill foot and on the uphill foot.

Now take this to the next level and find some terrain that has some small bumps that might throw you off balance. Using the same movements as you slide across the snow, anticipate the action of the skis as you come into the bump by flexing the ankles, keeping the shins against the cuff being ready for the reaction in the skis as you go over the bump. Again, think about the ankle flex not your knees. Keep the torso flexed and your arms in front of the body. As you are coming over the bump keep your body forward on the skis. Keeping your ankles flexed and your shin against the cuff of the boot, this will keep your feet under your hips.

This is when a person that doesn’t keep the body moving forward and anticipating the reaction of the skis over the bump, will to fall behind, resulting in their hips being located behind the feet and ankle bones.

As you become more comfortable in going over the bumps using these thoughts and movements, take it to another run (not steep) that will have bigger bumps.

As you are working on these movements, the goal is to keep the tip of the skis on the snow at all times. As you are coming over the top of the bump, you should be moving forward by flexing the ankles and using the upper body as leverage with your hands, arms moving forward and flexing the torso. Again the knees will flex on their own to help balance the whole body over the feet.

This is where a person should be able to trust their equipment, knowing that the bindings will hold you in. If you have a tendency to step out of the binding, then you are flexing too much and using the upper body as too much leverage, try it again and find the sweet spot that will let you stay in balance and be more stable as you go over the next bump.

Take these movements and use them in a medium radius turn.

Exaggerate the movements, by extending tall coming up on your toes, keeping in contact with the cuff of the boot and moving your hips diagonally into the direction of the new turn. This will help you get the feel of staying flexed in the ankles and keeping your shins against the cuff of the boot. Extending and moving your knees into the direction of the new turn while keeping in contact with the cuff will enhance the ability to roll both skis to the new edges to start the new turn.

Start absorbing the end of the turn with your ankles and stretching the bungee cord forward and let the rest of the body follow the pattern. As you become efficient with the movement, make it more subtle.

Skiing with many different people and watching them ski, I have found that we some times fall short of using the whole ski in making our turns. As, I watch a person ski, I look at what section of the ski is spraying snow as they make a turn. Hopefully it is starting at the tip of the ski or in front of the binding.

Using these movements and concentrating on the ankle and stretching the bungee cord will make you become more stable and stronger throughout the turn and into the next turn by getting the tips to engage earlier in a turn, which will help develop good turn shape and better speed control.

If you find it difficult to create the angles with your ankles, you may consider looking at your boots. The boot that is so comfortable and warm could unfortunately be too stiff for you. Have your training director watch your movements and see what may be done to make the boot softer