Kicking bad ski habits

[Sheena]

I seem to have picked up this very bad habit of picking up my ski to turn when I get in steeper terrain, especially in powder or tracked powder.

Are there any drills or tips that anyone knows of to help with this?

 

[NannyMin]

I still do this once in a while in moguls. I've found that the "Virgin Clutch" eliminates this.

 

[Kano]

My last ski instructor suggested holding onto the softball between my ankles....

same thing, different mental image !

Kano

 

[Gloria]

What you need to concentrate on first is turning the skis at the same time, and weight distribution. Essentially what is happening is you are transferring your weight from one ski to the other too quickly. Once you pick that ski up, you have an uphill ski that is unweighted and a downhill ski that is 100% weighted, so when you put weight on that uphill ski, the transition is abrupt, causing it to move much faster than the other and then you have to pick that slower ski up and such is the viscous cycle. Try slowing your turns down, working the skis in unison and trusting that a more gradual change in weight will ultimately bring that ski around for you. And try keeping some weight on your uphill ski. I know it's hard when you get on steep stuff and you just want that turn to happen quicker, you just have to take a deep breath and work it a little more fluidly.

 

[Lori_K]

There's a great thread over on EpicSki addressing this same issue. https://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=66328

Long story short, it's not always a bad thing, depending on steepness of terrain.

 

[Little Lightning]

Lessons!

Remember, right ski (think knee, foot, whatever) to go right, left ski to go left.

I did it for years. It turns out that I was turning my left ski to go right, thus causing me to lift my right ski, I had to get it out of the way.

Lessons helped me figure this out and practice helped me to eliminate it, almost.

 

[Gloria]

There's a great thread over on EpicSki addressing this same issue. https://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=66328

Long story short, it's not always a bad thing, depending on steepness of terrain.

Thanks for putting this up, that was kind of my first thought, depends on how steep we are talking. I am interested in seeing what they say here.

 

[sibhusky]

I admit it, I do this all the time. It's a vestigial stem left over from when, well, that's how you turned. I am trying to fix this as well, when I'm on "technical" time terrain. (Stuff that I use to work on technique because it's not scary. I figure if I do it enough on the easy stuff I'll start to have some muscle memory developing.)

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Lessons!

Remember, right ski (think knee, foot, whatever) to go right, left ski to go left.

I did it for years. It turns out that I was turning my left ski to go right, thus causing me to lift my right ski, I had to get it out of the way.

Lessons helped me figure this out and practice helped me to eliminate it, almost.

Love this tip, really works. I had this habit for several years after moving east. Too downhill-ski-dependent. For the most part, I have kicked it. This tip really makes it easy to remember. I like it.