Snow Skills

There are many learning styles in skiing including visual, thinking, doing, and feeling. When you’re out working on your skiing by yourself, feeling has an advantage over the other three in that it provides direct and tangible feedback through your body. The other three really require external reinforcement by a coach to help you determine if you’re making the desired moves or not. Since feeling allows you to work solo, so to speak, it’s a useful method for a self-check to determine if you’re moving in a balanced stance. How your gear feels on your body is excellent feedback and one specific sensation to know if you’re balanced is where you feel your ski boots on your calf.

Put on your boots and lock into your bindings in a room with short carpeting. Shag is too high and hardwood or concrete floors don’t play well with sharp ski edges. Stand in a balanced, hip-width stance where your legs are as long as you can make them and still be comfortable. Begin to move your body in a clock-wise motion such that your feet are stationary and your body is rotating around them. You’ll be taking yourself out of balance, so use your poles for extra support if you wish. Picture the action being similar to the movements of a joystick for a game console.

You’ll be feeling the top brim of your ski boot on different sides of your calf as your body moves around. Now stop moving and put yourself back in the original stance with fairly long legs. Notice that you no longer feel the boot brim on your calf. Finally, flex your knees and edge the skis lightly to either side. You should be feeling the boot only on the front of your calf. That’s direct feedback: if you’re feeling your ski boot on your calf anywhere but the front, you’re not in balance.

Making a feeling check of your stance on your first run can set you up for a more successful day of skiing. By relying on your body’s feedback, you can assure yourself that you’re building your balance in the most effective way.