Snow Skills

I was recently watching some World Cup racing and watching the racers hand positions made me reflect on where the best hand positions are in recreational skiing. Racers are moving at a much higher speed, of course, and the greater forces on them made me think that if a hand falls behind their body, their race is over (call the Ski Patrol).  That’s consistent with the basic tenet of skiing hand position which is:
Keep your hands where you can see them.

Stand in your skis and look straight forward, hands down at your sides. Without moving any other body part, explore where your arms can move to so that you can see you hands. This applies to just bearly seeing your hands; the periphery of your vision counts. You’ll find that bending the elbows so that your forearms are level with the snow will put your hands at the lower edge of your vision. Moving your hands out to the outer edge of your vision puts your hands far from your body; moving your hands up puts your hands above your elbows.

O.K., you can see your hands there, but try it again and this time focus on where your hands feel like you stay in balance. From these results, you can figure out that the best hand positions are above your hips, near your body without touching it, and no higher than your shoulders. That range of area is where you’ll help your balance if you keep your hands somewhere in that zone. Any hand position outside that zone means you won’t be able to see your hands and that’s proabably hurting your balance.