Ski Technique: Off-Piste Ski Technique Myths

UNRAVELLING THE MYTHS OF OFF-PISTE SKI TECHNIQUE
So many skiers begin the journey into off-piste skiing, only to find it too difficult. They struggle along trying to learn techniques that just seem far too tricky to master unless you've been skiing off-piste all your life. But everyone has to start somewhere. Even competent off-piste skiers took their first steps off-piste. How did they begin?. Phil Smith from Snoworks Ski Courses helps unravel some of the myths and mysteries of off-piste ski technique. After watching this you'll approach off-piste with a new vigour, understand the 'journey' so much better and have confidence that you too will be able to become a competent off-piste skier in time. A must watch for any struggling off-piste skier.

[@joannebouchard1]

Absolutely brilliant guidance. As someone who's skied over 20 years and very much plateaued (especially since we began skiing with our children) I've decided it's time to invest in some further learning. As I get older confidence has become my main barrier, followed by actually understanding the guidance being given. Your considerate thought on not skiing at a level well beyond those you are training sounds like a fantastic idea; I also very much appreciate the clear and understandable guidance you give in the video - no technical jargon, brilliant. Thank you so much, I thoroughly enjoyed this learning.

[@driftingsnow]

What a breath of fresh air! Thank you for making this available to those of us who are beginning to dabble a bit in the off piste! I’m sure that just having this common sense information will help me, although it’s going to be while before I’m back on the snow . . .

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Thanks George. That's great to hear. So many people try and fail and it's to do with all the stuff on the video. Good luck and enjoy. One step at a time. All the best, Snoworks.

[@Antifogasta]

Yet another brilliant video! Clear, very informative, myth-busting, and helpful Just like all the others! Many thanks. .

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Thanks Antifogasta.

[@MustafaRaheel]

Ive never done off piste,ive been doing on piste since 10 years and i ski averagely good,this gave me confidence,i always heard it is different technique,this gave me confidence,now gotta go to the mountains.

[@Benzknees]

Very good point about inexperienced off-piste skiers judging themselves against expert ones. I did that for years and often got the wrong idea about what they were actually doing, or lacked the skills to do what they did and got frustrated. It’s a pity all ski instructors don’t appreciate that.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Great, thanks Benzknees. Yes it's unbelievable that someone that has skied 300 plus weeks off-piste tries to tell a first week off-piste skier you need to ski like them. LOL. I find yoga sometimes like that when the yoga teacher does a pose that I have .00000001% chance of getting. Progression. The journey.

[@tyroneanderson8270]

Great approach to introducing skiers to off piste!🥳 You have helped flesh out many of my thoughts. I will apply this to my clients and friends and I have now subscribed to your channel.

[@dougelliott8106]

Stumbled across this through a combination of work avoidance and because I am really missing skiing due to lockdown. Don't usually comment on line but wanted to let you know that I thought this was a fantastic video. Really helpful and appropriate for my level of off piste experience. Thank you.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Hi Doug, Thanks so much for commenting. We specialise in helping people take the journey from piste to off-piste and have 100% success. The difficulty many skiers have is they think there is an off-piste technique that has to be learnt. This is untrue. You just have to learn to adapt your technique to different terrain and snow texture. Good luck. Maybe see you on a course some day.

[@pickletee]

These webinars have me questioning everything about my instructing style and the content I give to clients haha. I like how you tell how it is, straightforward facts and no bs. Definitely interested in doing level 4 or istd training with you once things calm down.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Tom, thanks for the feedback. That's the way forwards to become a great coach. Question yourself. Good luck and keep enjoying skiing and ski teaching. All the best, Phil.

[@darinsmith2458]

Yes. The mystery of off piste. You got a lot of stuff to think about and a lot of those myths have been what I have been learning. I totally agree with you on getting the right skis and I got skis 100 under foot with lots of rocker and camber and 15m turn radius. I think that is going to be the biggest part of my journey. I will try to watch this again when ski season starts..

[@philsmith7893]

Brilliant. Hope it helps. Good luck on the slopes.

[@rosemarybeale6238]

Phil - that was really good. My coach last winter told me I needed to ski differently off-piste: with a narrower stance, skis parallel, evenly weighted and use a rhythm such as 1 , 2 turning on 2. I have a really bad phobia of off-piste skiing and only a couple of people have managed to get me off-piste on a short section in easy view of others. It took BASI trainer and examiner Hannah Bryans to give me confidence and tell me it was ok to stem turn.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Hi Rosemary, thanks for sharing. Your experience is not unique. How can anyone ski powder if they have to suddenly learn a new technique? It's not possible. You can learn to ski using your existing technique and then develop from there and yes the 'Parallel Turn' is a bygone era. Have a read of this blog. Great skiers do not try to ski parallel. It's irrelevant. Good luck. You are up and running which is great. The journey has begun. www.snoworks.co.uk/blog/parallel-skiing-a-bygone-era-or-a-different-sport/

[@davidmc8478]

Great video, being able to remember what it’s like as a beginner is a real art. I thought of two sports with feet together - spring board diving and some important parts of gymnastics. So both jumping sports where you need air time or “hang” to move the body. So, it makes sense if your style is bounce or you are skiing in the 1980s.

[@food88food]

Wow, really glad I found this! One of the best discussions I have heard about powder skiing and I think it will really help me. (Intermediate forever)

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Brilliant. Let us know how yo got on.

[@pawelsz4825]

Thanks, what a down to earth attitude of true experience!!!

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Thanks. Hope it was useful.

[@woody40000]

I really like what you said about not needing to keep the skis parallel. Step turns are always a useful tool on steep, narrow, off-piste where the first turn can be awkward as hell. Rigid ideas of what you are "supposed" to do can be really limiting!

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Absolutely. Parallel skiing is a hindrance. Anything goes. That's the great thing. Freedom. Enjoy your next trip.

[@snapcase72]

Helpful! Thanks!

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Thanks snapcase72.

[@kevinrobinson5678]

Absolutely brilliant, what a Tip Top video. We have just started off piste skiing and have been struggling a tad on the various snow conditions. This video has given us a confidence boost to get back out there and give it a go, this morning. Looking forward to going on a Snoworks Ski Course. Cheers for a top video🙂

[@philsmith7893]

Amazing. So glad you enjoyed it. Off-Piste skiing is full off myths. Hope it all worked for you.

[@kevinrobinson5678]

@@philsmith7893 Hi Phil, we are getting there in a fashion. We definitely need to come over for a Snoworks ski course this coming season to sort a few things out. Cheers Kev

[@Lazzoboy]

THANKS!!!!!!!

[@fredericmayer899]

thank you to a great teacher ..a genius

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Thanks Frederic. Really appreciate it. Enjoy your next trip.

[@scotthunter7140]

WOW. What a great video.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Thanks Scott. Really appreciate your kind words.

[@agenthex]

About the myth of "weight" vs strength, while it's true that at very low speeds your "weight" doesn't vary as much, at anything remotely faster, the force (acceleration) of gravity coming down the fall line starts to greatly outweigh any force you muscles can apply. At anything closer to advanced level, skiing is more about controlling that force/pressure applied by gravity against the snow going downhill.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Absolutely, great point Agent00F. For expert skiers speed is the main influence of pressure and we can learn to adjust this using our strength. Many of our clients are venturing into off-piste for the first time so they do not have the luxury of traveling at speed, hence our focus on using strength. Thanks for joining the debate.

[@Osnosis]

In my teaching I call it “applied leverage”; skis are designed for this now, so we no longer have to twist the skis (as was sometimes necessary 30+ years ago).

[@davidmc8478]

I really enjoyed this discussion in the video. I think the scientifically correct word rather than strength is tension but if you use the word tension when teaching then your students lock up and become tense which is not what you want. It’s the same problem in martial arts which is why they use esoteric words like intention or awareness that lose meaning when handed down generation to generation. I think the way to teach it is by teaching to activate core muscles by drawing in to the mid position, feel that tension, tension but not tense. Now use that feeling in your legs.

[@richjones2767]

I was booked onto one of your backcountry weeks, unfortunately Covid got in the way but hoping for another try go next year. Caught a couple of of the webinairs, so much good stuff to think about regardless of what level you've managed to convince yourself you are 🤔

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Brill, Thanks Rich. Hopefully catch up on the slopes next winter.

[@powerhl]

1000% agree !!! Why I dont know you earlier ??? :)

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Huang, thanks for your comment. Really appreciate it.

[@ilipika4105]

thanks for your enlightenment!!!

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Thanks Teresa.

[@RicardoLRodriguezMD]

LOL, you sound like the older, wiser, and happier version of Paul Joseph Watson

[@ziggymatuszewski2803]

9:08 well, how about diving, trampoline , rowing... yeah, there are more than one :)))

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Absolutely, thanks for your input. Absolutely right.

[@stephenpavlik9007]

I can only think of one other feet together sport, which is also a water sport, and that is diving.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Yep, Stephen. Not many. Yest much of ski teaching focuses on doing the same with both legs. We are handicapping skiers. We have two legs that can do the same thing and different things. Thanks for your comment. Appreciate it.

[@ivoyanakiev6844]

Rowing - both feets together ;)

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Good point. There are more I agree. Thanks.

[@robdavies4294]

I definitely believed most of these myths

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

So did we. The difference is being in the environment. When you are skiing powder, skiing bumps, skiing ice. It either works or it doesn't.

[@bilgyno1]

Fantastic in content and presentation style! Many off-piste videos set the wrong expectations for beginners, both in terms of skiing and snow conditions. Kinda like a 500+ week instructor. Better to watch good tutorials, or even better, hire a good instructor

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Absolutely. Many people forget beginners can ski off-piste. In the days pre-piste bashers that's what happened. In fact it's easier to snowplough in off-piste than ski parallel. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@dan.b]

9:00 Trampolining

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Good point Dan. Trampolining, yes.

[@simonmoscrop5102]

Are you gary Sekker in disguise?

[@godin8262]

Well when I hear you need to use force to ski back country, Humm... Well like a lot a skiers on that video Yes you need to push and twist because if you riding in the back sit you will need to use your power to turn! But when you learn to stand center and focus on a good position there is not much more power needed from you all the power from the external force gravity centrifugal force and ... You could ski a groomer or backcountry crud you will still using more the external force. If we talk about the fact that you do not need to be and expert to do backcountry skiing YES, but as long you stay in a reasonably a comfort zone run YES. When you ski properly even on shit snow you do not need to force lot more if you need too it is very minimal with a good stance and rhythm, skiing is like dancing when is done right.

[@SnoworksSkiCourses]

Good advice, thanks.

[@simonmoscrop5102]

Skiing with your feet together helps prevent injury when you hit a rock, at which point skis may go in different directions. The less wide your feet are the best chance of survival. Take ski advice from a proffesional skier NOT from NUTTER like this