by RJ Nichoalds

 A few years back, one spring day at Mt. Hood Meadows, one of my skiing mentors and friend, Rick Saul, AKA "Rico" handed my "Full-Cert" pin to me and said: "Congratulations, by the way, your wedge turns Suck". He then went on to tell me how I could get my skiing straightened out if I would fix my wedge turns.

The problem with my skiing was I recently returned from a season living in Sun Valley where we had limited snow and there were no bumps anywhere on the mountain. I think I only skied one day the entire season on a ski shorter than 210cm and maintained this turn radius for several years after coming back to the Northwest. Rico’s advice went in on ear and barely registered before it went out the other.

Then a couple years ago, it finally came back to me. I was teaching a private lesson where I had to get an eight year old up to speed with the rest of his class. For some reason, I remembered Rico’s advice and decided to try to make some accurate Wedges and Wedge Christies while I was teaching this young man. I couldn’t make either of these turns without having to make step or a physically muscle the rotary movements. Then it hit me, the ground. I simply tipped over. The eight year old that was with me laughed so hard, I had to run him into the trees before he wet himself.

I finally figured out I was initiating my turns with my head and shoulders and gravity was quickly becoming my enemy. After we got out of the woods and went back to skiing, I began to initiate my turns with my feet, followed by me Center of Mass, keeping my head and shoulders, the bulk of my mass balanced over my feet. Voila, I could actually make these turns work without lifting a ski or hopping.

From that day forward, I have been using flat terrain to improve my lower end maneuvers. The more my Wedges and Wedge Christies improved, the more my high end skiing followed suite.

So, at the beginning of this year, take some time on the flats and start out slow, really slow. Take the flattest pitch on your mountain and make the slowest Wedge Turns you can make. Work up through the progression to the Basic Parallel and keep it slow. There are just a few rules to follow: no jerky motions, no pushing off with your poles, and no stopping. Focus on starting everything at your feet and move up the body to the Center of Mass. As you educate these smaller muscle groups, your high-end skiing will come around. Continue these exercises throughout the year and watch your skiing improve.