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Left-Footed Turn Help

Mistletoes

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So I was skiing by myself today and my right ski would not get out of the way on my left-footed turns. This has been an ongoing issue for me. After a few runs I found myself picking up the back of my right ski to turn it. Since that's not a real efficient way to deal with the problem, I tried remembering what my instructor taught us on day 1. He said to imagine lightening up the inside ski like pedaling a bike. That helped but I could still feel my tail catching. I worked on this for a run and then tried to really take weight off my right leg but also to push my right knee out. BINGO! This felt good and I did not feel my tail catch the rest of the day.

So my question...since so much of skiing is counter-intuitive, do any of you Diva Instructors think there's something wrong with pushing/pulling out my right knee on my left-sided turns? It felt like the right move but I don't want to start a bad habit that I'll need to fix down the road.
 

mustski

Angel Diva
I'm not an instructor, but I am having a hard time fully understanding what you mean by "pushing/pulling the right knee. Are you moving the knee of the uphill ski in the uphill direction? If so, that is probably working to get that ski on it's uphill edge. I try to think of it as big toe and pinky toe. I tip the ski towards the pinky toe of the new uphill ski to start the turn, and use the big toe of the downhill ski to engage the edge and drive the turn. Although the new uphill ski is unweighted, the edge still needs to be on the snow or it won't turn along with the downhill ski.
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I am curious if on video, you are actually doing anything different with the inside ski/leg in the turn to the left? Are you left handed by chance?

Either way, my knee should be tipping to the inside for the inside leg as much as it is and at the same time as the outside leg.

Video is of course a much easier way to understand what the movement you are describing actually looks like on snow. Often times, a lack of early enough weight transfer to the new outside ski, coupled with lack of active tipping and turning of inside ski combine to make it a hard one to turn and have match what the outside ski is doing. Based on your description it might be what is happening and it is likely that you found your own solution (in terms of description of movement) to fix it.
 

Mistletoes

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm not an instructor, but I am having a hard time fully understanding what you mean by "pushing/pulling the right knee. Are you moving the knee of the uphill ski in the uphill direction? If so, that is probably working to get that ski on it's uphill edge. I try to think of it as big toe and pinky toe. I tip the ski towards the pinky toe of the new uphill ski to start the turn, and use the big toe of the downhill ski to engage the edge and drive the turn. Although the new uphill ski is unweighted, the edge still needs to be on the snow or it won't turn along with the downhill ski.
Yes, I am putting the uphill (inside) ski on the pinky toe edge. For some reason, it works better in my head by thinking of pushing the uphill knee into the slope.
 

Mistletoes

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I am curious if on video, you are actually doing anything different with the inside ski/leg in the turn to the left? Are you left handed by chance?

Either way, my knee should be tipping to the inside for the inside leg as much as it is and at the same time as the outside leg.

Video is of course a much easier way to understand what the movement you are describing actually looks like on snow. Often times, a lack of early enough weight transfer to the new outside ski, coupled with lack of active tipping and turning of inside ski combine to make it a hard one to turn and have match what the outside ski is doing. Based on your description it might be what is happening and it is likely that you found your own solution (in terms of description of movement) to fix it.
Agree video would be better but I was by myself today :smile: I am right handed. My inside knee was tipping toward the slope which felt like it engaged my pinky toe edge.
 

mustski

Angel Diva
Agree video would be better but I was by myself today :smile: I am right handed. My inside knee was tipping toward the slope which felt like it engaged my pinky toe edge.
That is a good approach and will work. You want to engage both edges even though the downhill ski is driving the turn.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yes, I am putting the uphill (inside) ski on the pinky toe edge. For some reason, it works better in my head by thinking of pushing the uphill knee into the slope.

I'm an instructor.

Starting a turn by doing something with the NEW inside ski (or foot/knee/thigh/leg) is great. When you consider a turn as being C-shaped, the NEW inside ski starts out as the uphill ski, then ends the turn as the downhill ski. Lightening that NEW inside ski, lifting its tail (an orthodox drill), rotating the ski, the foot, the thigh, the knee, to point it in the direction of the new turn is more than legitimate; it's good skiing. Some think of this move as pointing the knee, or rolling the knee downhill towards the snow (assuming you do this as you are heading across the trail, before and as the turn starts). If you roll the knee after the skis turn to point in the new direction, that would be rolling the knee uphill.

Ankle-tipping to tip the new inside ski onto the little toe edge (LTE) works. Sliding that new inside foot back a few inches as you lighten and/or turn and/or tip it works well too.

Semantic confusions:
The verbal descriptions always get confusing if one person is talking about the bottom half of a C-shaped turn and another is talking about the top half of a C-shaped turn. Using the words uphill and downhill are confusing if you don't know which part of a turn people are referring to. Also saying "inside ski" can be confusing when talking about the start of a turn.

Solution:
Always say NEW inside ski or OLD inside ski. Problem solved.

Another way of eliminating the confusion is to say "left ski, tip it left, to go left." Substitute for tip: "lighten" "point" "pull-back" or whatever. The point is do something with the left foot/ski to go left, do something with the right foot/ski to go right.
 
Last edited:

Mistletoes

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm an instructor.

Starting a turn by doing something with the NEW inside ski (or foot/knee/thigh/leg) is great. When you consider a turn as being C-shaped, the NEW inside ski starts out as the uphill ski, then ends the turn as the downhill ski. Lightening that NEW inside ski, lifting its tail (an orthodox drill), rotating the ski, the foot, the thigh, the knee, to point it in the direction of the new turn is more than legitimate; it's good skiing. Some think of this move as pointing the knee, or rolling the knee downhill towards the snow (assuming you do this as you are heading across the trail, before and as the turn starts). If you roll the knee after the skis turn to point in the new direction, that would be rolling the knee uphill.

Ankle-tipping to tip the new inside ski onto the little toe edge (LTE) works. Sliding that new inside foot back a few inches as you lighten and/or turn and/or tip it works well too.

Semantic confusions:
The verbal descriptions always get confusing if one person is talking about the bottom half of a C-shaped turn and another is talking about the top half of a C-shaped turn. Using the words uphill and downhill are confusing if you don't know which part of a turn people are referring to. Also saying "inside ski" can be confusing when talking about the start of a turn.

Solution:
Always say NEW inside ski or OLD inside ski. Problem solved.

Another way of eliminating the confusion is to say "left ski, tip it left, to go left." Substitute for tip: "lighten" "point" "pull-back" or whatever. The point is do something with the left foot/ski to go left, do something with the right foot/ski to go right.
Thank you for confirming that I'm on the right track and for the terminology lesson :smile: I'll have to try sliding the new inside foot back. Not sure I do that now. I'm just starting to actually feel what my body is doing and not freaking out/worrying about the terrain ahead.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Clarification: When you slide that new inside foot back, DO NOT move the hip above it back. No No NO! Just the foot. Keep the hip forward. New inside hip needs to stay/go forward through the turn.

Sometimes I forget to make this point. If the skier uses the hip to get the foot to slide back, that causes big bad problems.
 

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