Snow Skills

It’s a question a 4 year old would ask: “Why does the ski turn, Daddy?” While this might seem like a tough question, there are surely many other topics which are more difficult for parents to address with their children than why a ski turns. Why a ski turns is simple in concept, if fairly challenging in execution. A ski is built with a specific shape and flexing characteristics that allow it to prescribe an arc in the snow if it’s on edge and is weighted in the middle.

Imagine setting your ski on the kitchen table. It would touch at the tip and tail of the ski, with the middle of the ski raised off the table. That natural bend built into the ski is called camber. If you climbed up on the table wearing ski boots and locked into the bindings, the ski would have full uniform contact from tip to tail. The ski would be straight and that’s called neutral camber. Now a couple buddies pick you up and move you, skis and all, to set you on a couch. Because of the softer nature of the cushions, your feet would sag down lower than your tip and tail; that’s called reverse camber.

If you tip a ski in reverse camber onto its edge, it’s positioned to prescribe an arc in whatever it’s sitting on. Since snow is closest to the couch in this analogy, it’s soft enough to let the ski cut a curved track in the snow. The degree of that curve is dependent upon how much weight is applied and how much edging is created.

That’s the end of the turning lesson; skis are designed to turn and will do so if you let them do them job! The keys are to weight the ski in the middle and applying edging that’s effective. Any conditions short of that will result in a loss of control and probably cause the skier to over-compensate by making some other, forced move. There are probably a million movements you can make with your body while skiing; the best ones support the action of the ski going into reverse camber with edging. When improving your skiing, focus on positive motions, not the negative ones!