Snow Skills

Want to become an expert skier? Use your pole swings all the time.

The motion of your poles can provide a significant boost to your skiing skills on diamond terrain. The ability to swing your outside pole to establish the beginning on a new turn will add timing and flow to your skiing and produce steadier balance and movements in higher-gravity areas. Focus on swinging the pole evenly out and back and let that swing be the result of wrist movements as opposed to a reaching motion by the arm. Skiing without a pole swing is like The Lone Ranger without Tonto: it’s really noticeable that something’s missing.

The use of foot powder in your winter boots of all kinds will help keep your feet drier and warmer during your adventures.
Use any kind of anti-bacterial foot powder in your sock to help absorb excess sweat and pull moisture away from your feet.

It will help keep your foot warm, by absorbing normal moisture expelled from the foot. It also helps to keep the boot smelling okay; be aware that no foot powder can completely remove foot odor from well-used boots, but at least some will help keep the odor manageable.

Note that foot powder in itself will not overcome poor choices of footwear or socks: there’s no substitute for investing in quality insulated boots to enjoy the outside in the winter. For socks, wool or synthetic materials are best and absolutely, positively never use cotton socks in the winter!

Cotton will not provide any insulation once it gets wet and just your normal perspiration is enough moisture to make you cold and wet.

Bode Miller won a World Cup Downhill Victory in Wengen, Switzerland to tie the American individual record of World Cup Skiing victories. The victory was Bode’s 27th overall and a repeat of his downhill victory on the Lauberhorn course last year. The Lauberhorn course is the longest one on the World Cup circuit at 2.8 miles.

Phil Mahre and Bode now share the American record of 27 individual wins. Bode went independent of the U.S. Team last May and trains and tours without their support. A native of New Hampshire, he’s a graduate of the Carrabassett Valley Academy at the Sugarloaf resort in Maine.

Sir Edmund Hillary has passed away at the age of 88 in his native homeland of New Zealand. Hillary and his Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, were recognized as first recognized men to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. Hillary may be the world’s most known adventurer: New Zealand honors him by placing his face on their $5 bill while he was knighted Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire after his summit success.

Here’s Hillary and Norgay, shortly after returning from the summit.

An adventurer in every sense of the word, Hillary gave back to the country where he had his most famous moment by setting up schools and clinics to improve the life of the Sherpas. In a world that seems to shrink as technology advances, his accomplishment on Everest may stand as one of the last great adventures on Earth. His autobiography, View from the Summit, is an excellent read and we recommend it to hikers, climbers, and wanna-be adventurers!

Smartwool’s Lightweight Next-To-Skin Base Layers are a great solution for an all-conditions base clothing for winter outdoor recreation.

These base layer garments are made of 100 percent Merino wool, which is soft on your skin while the moisture-wicking properties help keep you dry in all weather conditions. With less moisture against your skin, dry means warmer, especially in extreme temperatures and winds.
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For Skiers, remember the basics: put most of your weight on the outside ski.

Here’s a simple tip from a thinking focus:

“Keep your inside leg light.”

When I think about keeping my inside leg light, the outside leg becomes ‘heavy’ in the sense that it’s the primary place for my weight. The ‘light’ focus lets me enter a turn with more balancing on the outside foot than inside, a ballpark of 60% of the balance for a typical turn. The ‘light’ 40% of weight on the inside leg can only be accomplished if I let my body move toward the outside at the top of the turn

Be aware that the percentage of balance mix will vary with snow conditions, terrain, and speed; regardless, thinking about keeping your inside leg light will direct your balance to the outside ski where it belongs.

For Intermediate Skiers, keep your stance hip-width and steady through the turn.

Standing on a level surface, hold your poles straight up and down against the outermost part of your hips. Now create a stance where the outside of your boots is aligned to the inside of each pole. With this hip-width stance, identify how far apart your knees are and focus on maintaining that width. Beware the part of the turn just past where your skis face down the hill; this is the point where the feet tend to want to come closer together. Resist that tendency and improve your turns by keeping your feet hip-width apart.