Tips for more graceful looking parallel skiing?

[leisure skier]

Now that the season is starting to close in, I'm finally feeling more comfortable back on the slopes (and on my new Idylls - yay!), and want to perfect my parallel turns a bit more when it gets steeper than a blue. I love the way you skiers look who have their bodies facing down the mountain, legs super close, and make it look effortless.

My 6 year old daughter is starting to almost kick my butt on the slopes, and after just learning parallel turns a few weeks ago informed me that my skis are still in a tiny wedge when I'm turning sometimes. I realize she is right and sometimes I'm even still doing a tiny stem-christie (so sad considering I've known how to ski for 27 years - even though I've had about 17 of them not skiing!).

I know what I'm supposed to be doing and how it feels when it's done right. But am not always consistent, especially when it is a narrow winding and crowded trail.

What is the trick to looking good and not like a novice on the slopes with keeping those legs together?

 

[Jilly]

First off how about a lesson with a pro. The pro can determine what to work on, like why are stemming a bit, what is causing it. (I could name a bunch of things, but....)

And - legs should never be "super close" unless you're in the bumps.

 

[abc]

A couple of lesson will help a lot.

I love the way you skiers look who have their bodies facing down the mountain, legs super close, and make it look effortless.

Keep your hands in front of you and "body face down the mountain" would be a good start.

 

[bounceswoosh]

It's pretty common to get a little stem christie action when you're on stuff that's outside your comfort zone. Unfortunately, it tends to make the skiing harder. There are a lot of ways to approach it - as Jilly said, an instructor can pinpoint what's going on for you.

 

[Kimmyt]

Note that the people who ski with legs 'super close' probably look graceful because they've been skiing a long time. I constantly get yelled at by instructors to widen my stance when skiing, I am forever glueing my knees together. It's getting better now that I've been focusing on it, but it will be a long road. Even in bumps, legs shouldn't be that close, unless you're skiing competition-style bumps.

I swear by lessons as the reason for my improvement. You are never to old or too good of a skier to take one.

 

[badger]

Usually those beautiful skiers have a style that originated from the old straight ski technique. It's hard for them to get their legs apart. My husband is one of those skiers. So good and awesome to watch, BUT do you ever see these same skiers actually carving turns?(one cannot with legs together)
I see them doing more of a Z turn and hopping in turns depending on the terrain. Far be it from me to be critical though!
#1. I am new to the sport comparatively
#2. They rock in all kinds of conditions.
#3. And I will never be that good.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Note that the people who ski with legs 'super close' probably look graceful because they've been skiing a long time. I constantly get yelled at by instructors to widen my stance when skiing, I am forever glueing my knees together. It's getting better now that I've been focusing on it, but it will be a long road. Even in bumps, legs shouldn't be that close, unless you're skiing competition-style bumps.

I swear by lessons as the reason for my improvement. You are never to old or too good of a skier to take one.

And I am constantly getting yelled at by instructors to tighten my stance! I think I finally got a feeling for *why* this past Sunday. I realized that with a wide stance, and I mean quite wide, it is very tempting to lift my inner ski when turning down steep / choppy snow. I happen to have really good balance, so I can generally get away with it and not have one ski go haring off in another direction, so I guess that's why I didn't think it mattered too much. But then I really focused on keeping my feet closer together on a run down Imperial, and I just felt much smoother, with rounder turns and the skis acting as one platform rather than two (ie, exactly what Dirk had said would happen, not that I was listening). It felt good.

Agreed, the only time you need to be able to hold a dollar between your knees is skiing the zipper line, which is a very specific competition-oriented style. Outside of that, there's a reason we don't all use monoskis.

 

[tinymoose]

Like others have said, keeping your legs close together is a holdover from old, straight skis, so I don't know that I would really strive for that. But as far as grace, I think that comes with lessons (improving technique) and just plain mileage. I can ski a fair amount of terrain in control and while my technique is not fabulous, it's also not too shabby, but it's far from pretty or graceful. I've seen the videos. I'd like to think that as I continue to ski I'll become more fluid and my skiing will become more graceful.

 

[Skier31]

Perhaps what you are describing is flow - beautiful skiers seem to flow down the mountain with no jerky movements. The beginning and end of turns are seamless. The way these skiers accomplish this is by edge release at transition and gradual steering/edging through the turn. The tails follow the tips and there are no braking movements. Since you indicated you notice a stem occasionally, you may not be completely releasing your edges or you may need to steer more at the top of the turn. I agree a lesson is in order.

 

[Christy]

I agree with the lesson, then practice those turns relentlessly. I am still doing this. In my last lesson my instructor told us that almost no one does perfect turns--it's something skiers can usually work on their whole lives. Even for the instructor, she knew she should be initiating turns sooner. I also lose all good technique on narrow crowded trails, which are my least favorite thing (ie cattracks, even if they are flat). I also used to fall apart on steeper stuff but with practice I got over that. I'm still not a "pretty" skier and that's my biggest goal.

 

[marymack]

1) To echo, yes a lesson is a great place to start. Even an hour group lesson (shoot for a weekday if possible, mid-week/non-holiday can mean private lesson for group rate!) can at least give you some tasks to work on.
2) Equipment. Doesn't have to be new or top of the line, but boots should be fitted (and properly aligned as needed) and ski edges should be tuned.
3) Experiment. Go to a trail that you feel very comfortable on and play around:
A) Play around with different stances: (feet closer together and then feet farther apart). Today, a wider, more athletic stance is in vogue, but your stance will be dictated by your physiology, what feels good and what allows you to ski the best.
B) For upper body facing downhill, try this: hold your poles about halfway down the length of the pole and then hold your arms out at about a 90 degree angle so the poles form a "picture frame" in front of you. Try to ski while holding that picture frame so that you are always looking through it and looking down hill. This will help you learn what it feels like to keep your upper body facing downhill while your legs move independently below you.
C) Developing effortlessness/flow: imagine that you are skiing along a big red line in the snow. Try to anticipate where exactly you will turn a few seconds ahead of where you do.

 

[geargrrl]

To me the most graceful skiers are those who have flow and rhythm... not stiff at all, but a flowing movement down the hill.

 

[Mary Tee]

Usually those beautiful skiers have a style that originated from the old straight ski technique. It's hard for them to get their legs apart. My husband is one of those skiers. So good and awesome to watch, BUT do you ever see these same skiers actually carving turns?(one cannot with legs together)
I see them doing more of a Z turn and hopping in turns depending on the terrain. Far be it from me to be critical though!
#1. I am new to the sport comparatively
#2. They rock in all kinds of conditions.
#3. And I will never be that good.

My SO is one of those beautiful skiers, and it is the old "straight ski technique", and many people have told him he is not using todays shaped skis to their full advantage by keeping his legs so close together. But that said, he is one of the best, most graceful (and he hates it when I describe it like this, but...) and prettiest skiers I have ever seen. And yes, he does carve a turn, better than most. When I look at his tracks in the snow, he is most definitely carving!

I think geargrrl has it right...there is flow and rhythm. He keeps telling me to initiate turns from the knee and ankle and to keep my upper body "quiet". I think that is why he looks so graceful, and I think it has more to do with that than with keeping your legs close together.

 

[Jilly]

Quiet upper body and the turning effect from the lower body will create that smooth flow. I remember watching Cecilia at Roxy and saying to myself, someday....I will ski like that off the groomers! Any level 3 or 4 instructor here in Canada skis like that. I call the guys - Mr. Smooth.

As for the knees or really the feet too close together, you have a greater chance of the tips overlapping. If they are not weighted correctly its is NOT a pretty sight....more like a yard sale!

 

[leisure skier]

Thank you all! Yes all of these things make sense. When I started the season I took 3 1/5 hr private lessons each Saturday I was in the mountains. One of the instructors focused on when to plant the poles the entire time, to get me more comfortable on very steep hills, not much on the position of my body (had 2 lessons with him); the second instructor was very helpful and I wish I had a few more lessons with him as he focused on looking further ahead rather than directly infront of me to anticipate the turn more, also taught me how to slide when in sticky situations (which he said is a parallel basic that I never knew). That said, this was in Jan and I am now finishing the season still with much improvement to be made (though I feel more confident now).

I do think that the graceful thing also has to do with fluid turns in a steady S shape with rhythm. I am still a bit stiff and putting the breaks on a lot in between turns, and though I am not in quite as much of a Z shape as earlier, it could be a lot smoother.

I love the ideas above of holding the poles to make a picture frame of the bottom of the mountain to keep body forward, and also pretending to follow a red S line down the slope. I will try each of these this weekend. I also just read an article and am remembering the second ski instructor saying to allow the uphill ski to travel slightly ahead of the downhill ski, to help keep more weight on the downhill. Does anyone here find they do that?

 

[leisure skier]

also taught me how to slide when in sticky situations (which he said is a parallel basic that I never knew).

I meant to say 'side slipping'...

 

[marymack]

I also just read an article and am remembering the second ski instructor saying to allow the uphill ski to travel slightly ahead of the downhill ski, to help keep more weight on the downhill. Does anyone here find they do that?

I actually just heard a good explanation of this the other day. Its actually more of a consequence of good skiing than something you are actively trying to do. Because you have more weight on your downhill ski, it digs into the snow more and due to friction, it slows down. Because the uphill ski has less weight on it, it travels faster and does move a bit ahead of the downhill ski. Its important not to let it get too far ahead though because it will make your edge transition sloppy.

 

[Skier31]

I agree that tip lead is a consequence, not something you are actively trying to do. Uphill ski tip lead is caused by pivoting of the skis and is also a natural position due to the inclination of the hill itself as well as the increasing inclination of the skier. Tip lead is not the result of the amount of weight on the ski.

It is difficult to turn with no tip lead and keep proper alignment with the hill. Try some turns with keeping the feet next to each other and then try some turns and observe where your uphill ski is in relation to your downhill ski. Which one is easier? Observe your body position during each turn -see what happens.

 

[Indianaskier]

More support for lessons. If there is something you are doing over and over, no matter how simple it may seem, if it is not quite right you are training your muscles to continue to do that. As soon as someone can pinpoint what it is that is causing a person to do something not quite right, then they can help them re-train those muscles to do it better. If you want to do something better than you are now, by all means get some instruction and very likely you will unlearn what it is that is causing the problem. After you feel that right feeling, you then ski, ski, ski , doing that movement until it is almost second nature.

 

[Serafina]

yes, lessons. I'd suggest maybe 1 90-minute lesson instead of 3 30-minute lessons - I know that the optimal lesson time for me is 2 hours. I don't get many of those, but when I do, they're great! In a 30 minute lesson, you're spending all of it getting used to the instructor and the instructor getting used to you - you need some time for the instructor to diagnose the problem, figure out what to do about it, teach you that thing, watch you demonstrate that thing, and then do that thing with you until it start to settle into your muscle memory. This stuff takes time!

IME, the optimum width for your feet to be apart depends 1) on the ski (wider skis necessarily mean legs further apart), 2) the conditions (when the surface is variable and you're getting scraped off bits right next to crud, like we had last weekend, you need to have your feet closer together or you wind up with one ski on crud and the other on ice, and the physics of that are NOT pretty), and 3) the incline (the steeper it is, the closer those feet need to be so you can keep your weight on both skis). All that skinny-leg stuff is a holdover, like people said.

I also agree that the uphill ski tip riding forward just happens when you're skiing well. Trying to focus on that won't make you ski well. Trying to focus on keeping your upper body facing down the fall line, on the other hand, will make you ski better, as will keeping your hands out in front of you where you can see them. One of my ski instructors once said to think of carrying a tray full of beers downhill through a crowd of frat boys. Evocative, yet useful.

When you're making rounder turns your skiing will become more fluid. When you're braking in your turns, and no matter how awesome you are, sometimes you have to do that - there's crowds, or some haphazard individual in over their head on the run downhill of you, lots of reasons why you might not be able to afford to pick up speed - the turns are not as round. You can still make round-ish turns and keep your speed low, even on steep runs, but that comes way after making nice round turns on wide-open less intense inclines. But the roundness of the turns is a major factor in making the smooth linkage that you're seeing when you talk about skiers being graceful.

Another important element, IMO, for graceful skiing is planning. If you're getting constantly sandbagged by surface changes, or unexpected terrain, or you aren't able to see, plan, and execute a line so you wind up turning at awkward points, it's harder to ski gracefully than it is if you have a good sense for the shape of the hill and can pick good spots to make a turn, and get yourself to those spots and ready to make the turn consistently. Your real experts, now, I think, can take anything and everything the hill throws at them and look good, but lesser mortals need to pick our battles...