Carve that Inside Ski
It's all about Pressure Control
by RJ Nichoalds

OK, we all own them, but do we really know how to use them? Parabolic, shaped, hourglass, big side cut skis, however you want to refer to them, they are here. The question is, are you using them the way they are designed?? Lets take a look at the differences in the technique applied to current shaped skis as opposed to longer straight skis. Specifically, let’s explore the difference in Pressure Control.

Before we get started, let’s define Pressure Control in two different ways. Fore/Aft and Lateral/Side to Side.

Fore/Aft Pressure Control consists of whether the weight is on the front of the ski, the tail of the ski, or evenly distributed from the middle of the ski. Lateral Pressure Control consists of how the weight is distributed between the two skis, typically expressed in percentages of 100/0, 70/30, 50/50, 30/70, 0/ 100 etc.

When skiing on longer straight skis we learned to control our Fore/Aft Pressure by loading up the front of the ski to initiate the turn, and leverage the tail of the ski at the finish of the turn. We also learned to apply Lateral Pressure by directing 100% of our weight to the outside ski. Along with these moves, active rotary was required to “guide” the ski throughout the turn. This method worked great in its time, but the new skis are allowing us to get more out of the ski with smaller movements.

Today’s larger side cut skis are softer, although torsionally stiffer, giving us better end results without the huge upper body leveraging movements. So, all we have to do is pressure the middle to forward part of the ski, slightly tip it on an edge and the ski will start a turn by its-self. Once the ski starts to turn, all we have to do is move our body in the direction of travel to keep up with the ski and stay in balance.

First, lets apply Fore/Aft Pressure Control to the newer shaped skis. If we look at a ski from the side, we can see that the binding is mounted so the toe piece to the ball of the foot is approximately the middle of the ski. So, it makes sense that if we align our torso so gravity pulls our mass to that zone, we will be distributing the pressure over the entire ski. How do we do this?? “ Flex and extend your ankles, knees, hips, and spine to balance over the whole foot as you control pressure on the skis so you can flow with the terrain.” (Efficient Body Movement in Skiing, Oct 1999) Sound familiar?? In other words, skeletally align your body to stand in your boots so you feel constant pressure on your shin and the entire bottom of your foot.

Second, let’s apply Lateral Pres- Pressure sure Control to the newer shaped skis. Because of centrifugal force, it makes sense to apply more pressure to the outside ski, right?? But, what if we do this by leaning our upper body so far to the inside of a turn that gravity is no longer applying pressure to your feet?? It might work great as long as the snow is so perfect that we never lose and edge. But, what happens if we hit a patch of ice?? The ground can be pretty hard, right? So, the key is to find the appropriate balance of pressure between your two feet that is appropriate to the terrain. How do we do this??

Direct your balance to the outside ski in a turn. 1. The outside ski bends more than the inside ski in a turn. 2. The shoulders stay level to the horizon or they level out through the turn. 3. The inside half of the body leads the outside half through the turn. 4. The inside leg is flexed more than the outside leg in a turn. (Efficient Body Movement in Skiing, Oct 1999)

One of the most important factors is what to do with our inside ski to make it carve parallel to the outside ski? If we use a slightly wider stance, the inside ski can also carve parallel to the outside giving us additional edge hold. It can also provide additional support under our body in the event we lose the edge of the outside ski. This is done by learning the feel of carving the outside edge of the inside ski.

Now that I have you sufficiently confused, here are some on-snow exercises to play with to get the feeling of getting that inside ski to carve. For these exercises remember one thing: SKIDDING IS BAD.

Traverse 1 Task: Glide across the hill with your skis shoulder length apart, leaving two “clean lines” in the snow. Feel: Experiment with moving one foot in front of the other until you feel slightly more pressure on the downhill ski than the uphill ski, and the uphill ski is carving. Pay attention to make sure your lower legs are parallel and not “A” framed. Result: You should end up with the uphill ski slightly ahead of the downhill ski carving BOTH skis.

Traverse 2 Task: Start with your skis directed at a 45-degree angle down the hill. Glide across the hill with the objective to see how high you can finish across the hill. Again, leaving two “clean lines” in the snow. Feel: Experiment with directing your ankles and knees up the hill to create the appropriate edge angles on your skis. Your hips and upper body should remain aligned over your skis to remain in balance instead of leaning up the hill. Result: You should start to feel the beginnings of a pure carve turn with BOTH skis.

Slow Pure Carve Fall Line Turns on Flat Terrain Task: Start with your skis pointed directly down the fall line on a relatively flat slope. Make a carved turn in one direction leaving two “clean lines” in the snow similar to the above-mentioned traverses. Change direction linking two consecutive turns, and repeat. Keep going until you run out of terrain, or are traveling too fast. Feel: Feel the pressure increase on your new outside ski and lighten on the inside ski. Experiment with the ski lead and edge angle to control the pressure on the inside ski so it carves parallel to the outside ski. Result: You are now making pure carved fall line turns.

Slow Pure Carve Medium Radius Turns on Moderate to Flat Terrain Task: Start with your skis on their uphill edges, directed at a 45-degree angle down the hill, similar to the description in Traverse 2. Once you are gliding across the hill, move to your new edge angles by tipping your ankles and knees towards the belly of the new turn. In order to achieve this, you will also need to move your new inside ski ahead of the outside ski directing more pressure to the new outside ski. Be careful not to move that inside ski so far forward that is stops tracking on the snow. Feel: As you move to your new edges, feel the pressure move from your downhill ski, to your new outside ski. Feel the pressure move from the ball of the foot on the downhill ski, to the pinky toe on the same foot, which now becomes the inside ski. Result: You are now making a medium radius carved turn.

Now that we have the feel of both skis carving at slower speeds on flat and moderate terrain, continue to experiment with higher speeds and steeper terrain. As you begin to get the feel at slower speeds, incorporate these feelings everywhere on the mountain. If you start to lose it, as terrain gets more difficult, slow it back down. I promise, if you can perfect these exercises at slower speeds, your higher end skiing will improve exponentially.