Do you feel or fear being out of control on more challenging terrain? If so, I bet you suffer from turning to slow instead of turning to go syndrome.
Yes, contrary to widely spread and immensely popular rumors, turns are meant to help you go, not to help you slow. This is the closely guarded secret of folks who glide by with relaxed smiles as they dance down the mountain. Working with gravity instead of against it, they use a lot less effort and have a lot more fun. You can too – here’s how:
Understand speed control: The tracks you leave in the snow trace a path that controls your speed by taking a longer route from top to bottom than going straight. To go slower, make more turns or tighter turns, or do both. If you want to go faster, follow a straighter path.
Tip, then turn: You can only flop from turn to turn when you try to turn your skis before you tip them downhill. If you tip, then turn, you’ll be able to replace the desperate flop to get your skis back across the hill and dug into the snow as fast as possible with a flow from turn to turn. To flow instead of flop, start a new turn by moving your core toward where you want to go as you tip your feet downhill. This will roll your uphill edges out of the snow and flatten your bases against the snow. From this neutral position, it’s easy to tip and then turn your skis into the next turn and to flow forward into the next arc on a smooth and sinuous path of speed control.
turning to go at the top or start of a new turn with skis tipped into the new turn before they are turned
This is simple but not easy. It requires letting go of the natural tendency to lean uphill and away from the slope, an ability to tip your skis from edge to edge while staying over and moving with your feet, and knowing where you are going from turn to turn.
I can help you understand, experience, and own these and other skills in daily lessons and specialty clinics throughout the season. Call now to book a lesson to learn to turn to go instead of to slow and to flow instead of flop from turn to turn.