HOW TO CONTROL YOUR SPEED WHEN SKIING | How to slow down, control your speed and remain in balance

[@peterginsburg2465]

The lifting of an up slope leg never helped my students to get centered on their skis, especially when going cross slope. They would go right back to their "tail wagging" position with weight back. If they hit ice, their their tails would slip out. What I discovered from my own skiing, that centering on your skis depends on how developed your lower leg muscles are. Beginners and intermediates tend to have weaker lower leg muscle control. Because of ski boot design, one can easily sit back on their boot backs, if they have little lower leg strength. And then they turn into "tail waggers." I had a lot of success in getting students centered on their skis by going back to the wedge (snow plow) position and getting them to apply pressure on their toes to turn while in wedge position. To do it right, you have to move more forward on your skis, which actually strengthens lower leg muscles and gives more control. If you sit back on your skis, you can't put pressure on your toes, you just force yourself back and put more weight on the backs of the skis. Once you get the students forward, and push down on their toes to start and maintain a turn, in wedge position, they'd gradually get more centered. Then we'd gradually transition to more parallel ski positions. And once you get them to be centered on their skis, then maintaining a carved turn gets easier with more control, THEN, you can get them to make those circular carving turns. My main problem with upper intermediate, "tail wagging" students who wanted more control, was when I insisted we go back to practicing wedge turns first and controlling turns with our toes. They weren't happy about that, with some complaining to my ski school director about it, especially in private lessons. Those skiers never did learn to center their weight on their skis. The key to getting students to do all that you say, is to get them "centered" on their skis first, which is the most difficult thing to get them to do. Once they're "centered," tilting their legs more, and all the other advanced maneuvers becomes possible.

[@ricardomarinho7819]

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