Snow Skills

A simple focus to improve edging in downhill skiing is to develop an awareness of the relationship of your foot to the angle of the ski. As the skis tip onto edge, your foot bends at the ankle in a sidewards motion to build your balance on the side of your foot. The big and little toes are the most obvious body part along the foot, so focus on edging by honing your ability to balance on those sides of the feet. For parallel turns, one foot balances on the little toe side of the foot and the other balances on the big toe. For wedge turns, both feet balance on the big toe side of the foot. This is a great example of big benefits from little moves: edging takes little more effort than balancing on the sides of your feet!

And yes, this focus is ideal for teaching a child how to improve their edging. A child’s awareness of the world begins at their center and extends out toward their limbs. A child will explore the concept of standing on the big/little toe sides of their feet with enthusiasm and needs little additional reinforcement to learn this move on their own. Calling out “Stand on the big toe and little toe, let’s go!” is enough to center a child’s attention on edging in a parallel turn while keeping you all moving and having fun.