Snow Skills

Dynamic parallel turns are the Holy Grail of the skiing world; they’re the highly-skilled turns that will get you to any place in any condition at any ski area on the planet. The path to improvement of dynamic parallel turns is made up of very small steps To improve your dynamic parallel turns, focus on leading into the new turn with your inside thigh.

Stand on a flat surface in your ski gear in a neutral position: arms at your sides, elbows bent, hands in front, legs slightly flexed, feet in hip-width position. You’re going to similate a right turn; now shift your weight to your left leg and stand on your right edges. Notice that your legs bent and extended to allow your balance to move mostly onto your left leg while your knees moved right (towards the new turn). Your hips shifted only slightly to the right as a result of that move.
Go back to the neutral position.

Place your right hand on the top of your right thigh, mid-way between the hip and knee joints. Simulate a right turn again by making a weight-shifting weight move to your left leg, only this time focus on letting your right hand move to the right in the same manner as your knees; you’ll need to extend your left leg a little more and flex your right ankle and knee a little more to accomplish this. Notice that your balance has still been developed on your left leg, but that your hips moved significantly to the right, in the direction of the new turn.

That’s an important factor in creating a dynamic parallel turn: your weight shift to the outside hip needs to allow the hips to move forward into the new turn. Where your hips go, the body follows. By letting the hips be positioned ahead into the turn, you’ll find better balance that allows you to improve your edging, steering, and pressure moves.
Now go make some turns on easy terrain and let your inside thigh lead the way into the turn. You’ll find you feel like you’re always moving with the skis, never behind them.