Snow Skills

The Wedge stance is to skiing what the pawn is to chess. A pawn is a piece that’s very active and important early in a chess match, but usually has very little value late in the game. Most folks are taught a wedge on their first day of skiing, but it isn’t really the best stance to use in other situations. After all, no one’s going to be racing at the Turino Olympics in a few weeks in a wedge, right? Most skiers begin to leave the wedge behind early in their skiing career, so just how can working on a wedge turn improve an experienced skier?!?

The answer is simple and useful: more obvious than in any other turn, the wedge stance provides the best visual proof that the hips have to change position in relation to the feet to make a turn. A skiing turns relies mostly on the shifting of the majority of the body weight from one side of your stance to the other. Try this; while standing in a wedge stance, observe that your zipper is centered between your legs. You probably feel the same amount of pressure on both legs. Now shorten your left leg and lengthen your right leg. Note that as your zipper (and hips) moved toward your left leg, the majority of your body weight (and balance) is now built on the left side. Now shorten the right leg and lengthen the left leg to move your balance to the right side.

From a wedge stance, that shifting of balance is very obvious where it isn’t as visually clear in a parallel stance. Now make round wedge turns on easy terrain and focus on how the hips shift in relation to your feet. By changing the position of your hips to either foot, you’ll be alternately building balance on either side of your stance.

O.K., you can put the wedge away for another day. Go back to the stance you’re most comfortable with and go skiing. Take with you the image and sensation that the weight change in a turn results from orienting your hips mostly over one foot, followed by over the other foot.