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"SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT": How to Develop Balance on Skis
by Bill Jones, Ski Instructor
Certified Professional Ski Instructor (Registration #110478)
Can you put on a sock while standing on one foot? And
likewise while standing on the other foot? If so, you may have the balance to be ready to ski.
  See
how they lean? Why don't they fall over?
Objectives of skiing in a balanced stance are two-fold: 1) You will have more
options to move into slightly out-of-balance positions to cause the skis to
perform as you wish in special situations, and 2) because you will be able to
use the skis more to cause your turns rather than your muscles, you will have
more strength to effect the most efficient movements, and you will also be able
to ski more hours in the day, more days in the ski vacation, more weeks in the
ski year, and more years in the ski lifetime.
Muscle tone and practice are where balance come from. Body mechanisms such as
inner ear devices may also play a role, but we pretty much have to use what we
already possess within that area. Skiers can exercise off the slopes to tone
muscles. They can do daily chores like putting on socks while standing on one
foot. Or they can walk a rail or stand on one foot on the top of a short post.
There are also balance boards which consist of a slotted drum and a board with a
rail that slides along the slot as the drum rolls and the skier stands atop the
board. To learn balance on
skis while on a slope, however, will probably require some special exercises and a degree
of "I can do it" commitment. Humans have a natural tendency to seek the vertical
position. But to be balanced against the forces of a ski turn, a skier often must be
oriented off the vertical. Many skiers must be coached and coaxed into this new feeling.
One simple tip, however, is to keep the eyes up so that landscape elements (trees,
horizons, posts) give references to where horizontal and vertical lie. Looking up also
helps you see where you are going and gives you more time to plan your course and
reactions. (One instructor asked for a bottle of wine every time a student looked down,
and was owed probably a freight-car load by winter's end, although he didn't collect any.)
Lightly touching or dragging a ski pole along the snow surface, like an antenna,
can also give a feel for
slope angles and one's positioning.
Of course, skiers wishing to improve balance should not push beyond the upper limit of
their comfort or reality zones. That is usually counter-productive and results in
substitution of moves that presently seem more comfortable than the ones that
need to be learned. Instead, pick slopes that are not
so steep as to inhibit making the needed moves. Then practice on similar terrain until
ready to try the next degree. Eventually on really steep slopes, the needed move seems
like a dive down the hill to get into the balanced position. One student called
the turn so effected a religious turn; "It takes faith," he said,
"to move into the scary position so the skis will turn. But it
works!"
Here is Dick Durrance, skier from the 1930s known as "The Man on the Medal"
because his racing form was copied on trophy medallions awarded at top U.S.
races. See how he dives down this stee p
slope, his overall form actually forward on his skis (a bit too forward and
low for today's standards.) The inset shows his
position as if the skis were on a flat. In this position he can more effectively use
all his joints and his weight is distributed along the skis; imagine his problem
if he kept his body vertically aligned while going down such a steep slope! In
the inset he would almost be lying flat backwards on his skis; his ski tails
would dig into the snow from his weight there and he could not turn. from
Skiing Heritage magazine 3rd issue 2010.
There is also the "upside-down turn" used by some top racers, in which the
dive down the hill is so extreme the head is below the skis! For most of us,
that is too much. But it works at the proper speeds.
There is a big word that pertains to balancing: proprioceptive. It relates to
feeling one's muscles internally. We all know what it feels like when we touch
an object. There is also an internal sensation we get when we tense a fist or an
arm, for instance. Try it. Becoming aware of these proprioceptive sensations
helps us fine-tune our muscles so that we hold body elements--especially legs
and feet but the abdominal core and arms as well--in position or as we move them
among positions. Holding muscles tautly but not tightly will hold our skis the
same way so they can perform for us with precision.
"SKIING
IS A SLIDING SPORT"--a skiing web manual: Skiing
Web Manual Contents
Why Read
This Skiing Web Manual That First Lesson
A Little Skiing History
Motion in Skiing
Conventional Skiing Wisdoms
Skier Excuses Fear in
Skiing
Conditioning for Skiing How Skis
Work
Equipment and Technique
Ski Equipment
How Skis
Work
HOW
TO DEVELOP BALANCE ON SKIS
A Skiing
Turn Simplified Tactics for Terrains and Snow
Textures and Racing
Skiing Tips and Tales--a potpourri
Exercises for Developing Skiing Skills
Children and Skiing
Age and Skiing
Gender & Skiing
Culture & Skiing
Skiing Ethics and Slope Survival
Slope Safety Skiing
Environment Glossary Acknowledgements
SkiMyBest Website Contents
This "How To Develop Balance on Skis" page last modified
02/03/2012 01:20:22 PM. Did you come here from a cached page? For latest version, copy to your browser: www.SkiMyBest.com\skihowba.htm.
Copyright © 2012 William R Jones.
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