Ski Tip: Getting out of the back seat.

[@johncullen1135]

What he didn't address, which is very important, is terrain selection. So often skiers get themselves into the back seat because the terrain they are on intimidates them. He is correct in that spending all day in the back seat will increase fatigue. However, what he didn't address was that being centered and in the front of the boots allows for an increased ease of turning, reduced fatigue, and the ability to turn when you want to. My advice as a ski instructor is to begin his drills on gentle terrain and then increase the steepness and difficulty as you wish and desire.

[@Rocstoneau]

John Cullen good advice thanks, cos I am intimidated even on the baby run.

[@PhaedruS007]

This is what I’m trying to overcome. I used to ski the local hills with ease 3x a week in high school. Then take 10++ years off and now I’m fighting the snow and blowing out my quads in the first hour. Being a fearless teenager certainly helped.

[@vmor___]

Great Point😊😊

[@nebno6]

Great point, when I feel too fast I naturally lean backwards, now I've gone back to greens I'm more forwards

[@jamesmason2228]

Nothing works until you're in the middle of the ski. And people never sort that out on terrain with any degree of challenge. Sometimes it's a bitter pill to folks - who want to go higher - to tell them that they need to start somewhere else. Hopefully? Your hill has easy terrain accessed by up hill lifts - so that you don't have to bum out your lesson by putting them on the beginner slope. And you can play games with your lesson too - do things on the easier terrain "while we're here - let's do this" - when you're on the way to other terrain. Where you know what you're going to see!

[@butterfaceee]

Watching this on a lift, thanks for the tips no more thigh burns!!!

[@muhamedfaour3710]

Great video , thanx a bunch I just got back from a ski trip and my som took some videos of me skiing , I noticed my weird position on the slopes compared to other good skiers so I looked it up , it turned out I am a backseat skiers , I use my heels rather than my shins ... thank you again

[@therealshimo]

I have been skiing for 12-13 years and I still make this mistake. Thank you for the tips!

[@randomperson4560]

Cheers I’ll try that out! Im quite a decent skier but somehow I always felt like I look a bit strange when I ski ... now I figured out that this was because I was leaning backwards too much ...

[@muhamedfaour3710]

It’s exactly how I felt watching my own video skinning when my son took a video behind me

[@emjaynie2]

Great bag of tricks for this oh-so-elusive but essential skill. In my own development as an instructor, how to stay forward finally clicked with me (many years ago now thank goodness!) when someone presented how to stay forward, not from above the boots, but from inside the boots. I often jokingly say that I can get forward at the top of a run, but when I start to ski, the wind blows me into the back seat again :) But when I focus more on flexing my foot up against the top of the boot, which in turn also presses the shin into the cuff of the boot, and settles the heel into the heel pocket, I have much better results personally. This drill can be practiced even on the chair, then on the slope, statically, traversing, then in full turns. Same thing you're talking about, only another part of the body to focus on to get there. (Heel in heel pocket not to be confused with being "back" inside our boots; it still puts the pivot-point right at the back half of the arch, where it should be).

[@pr4nk5tr]

emjaynie2 like engaging the calve muscles? I always had the problem of the downhill leg extending, causing lower back pain

[@gogglebro9421]

@@pr4nk5tr I agree with you that flexing the foot upward would tighten the cafe muscles. I don't know your level of skiing, but expert skiers will pull there feet back underneath them to stay centered. As for the downhill leg being so straight, that is often a blocking position, which can be strenuous. This is common when skiers are on too steep of terrain and do not have enough confidence that their skis will turn in order to control their speed. Not having the benefit of seeing you ski, my comments may or may not apply to you, so my comments are of a general nature only.

[@falllinemaniac]

Thanks I abandoned my poles years ago and have developed a severely lazy gentle and boring style straight down the fall line striving for the most perfect zipperline. Additionally, in steeps, bumps, cliffs and trees I have become a complete utter smearer and sideslipper. I use edges when appropriate, but then I'm rarely hitting an unnecessary groomer. This has me back seat and two instructors fairly copped me to it. I do use the dolphin in the bumps to keep me honest. Anyway the superman and the Heil H*tler motion from the opposing hand to the ski is what I developed to get me perpendicular to the slope. Thanks again for the great drills.

[@usnfinley]

this is great..on the flat...keeping your weight forward and moving in the fall line on the steep...ahh well

[@jamesdunn9714]

What you call a dolphin turn some call a stork turn. Dolphin turns as I know them are a pushing of the feet forward and a pulling up of the tips followed by a pulling back of the feet and a lifting of the tails. But the turn you show whether I call it a stork or you a dolphin is a good exercise.

[@weirdbeard1980]

Yeah, he's doing a stork turn demo. Definitely not a dolphin turn. The only time I've ever taught dolphin turns are with other instructors or in a park lesson.

[@soleaguirre100]

Thanks excellent tips!😊Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱

[@grasuh]

Sometimes I wonder why the boots are not designed with enough lean forward so the skier don't even need to worry about this.

[@dennismalkowski4132]

That last drill is not the dolphin turn, it's the stork turn. The dolphin turn involves pushing both feet forward and then pulling them back so the tails come off the snow. It's a much more challenging drill than the stork turn drill.

[@ottonousiainen9202]

I thought this was a lesson on getting out of the back seat of the car

[@awaken77]

it's hard to do with skis attached :-)))

[@SuperQdaddy]

Look forward..lean forward and point em down hill...leaning back is to relaxed and will cause you to lose balance...and have to catch yourself...it happens stay focused..look ahead at least 20 -30 ft...your flow will be easy...dont look down and fight the mountain...look ahead and ride it..

[@bngnyc]

just what i was looking for! thanks

[@KarenHamilton-le1dk]

Great instructional video, but I found the background music very distracting.

[@Rocstoneau]

I like these good drills.

[@mikroskosmos5315]

I noticed this was happening to my gf and sure enough her quads were way more sore than mine. I'm showing her the video. Btw, what are the best runs for powder off the Lookout lift or should you just stick to the Backside? Thanks! (^_^)

[@espada9]

Sure makes your legs tired.

[@pepicakardelj]

or ... poll your toes up and see if you can feel the toes touching the top of your boots =)

[@marccormier2813]

Lifting the uphill ski with the tip down is a great drill for leaning to be forward on your skis. However I think a real dolphin turn involves hoping between the arc of each turn and driving your tips into the snow. A dolphin turn is quite difficult to master.Harold Harb demonstrates the dolphin turn in this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGOYepuGhtesla8.

[@allenzhang8261]

I always land back seated doing 360, how do I fix that?

[@francisling3196]

Try corking them

[@KillingtonSSSvideos]

being well balanced on skis is a function of the pelvis being over the feet. Drills that change hand position or pole tricks to create this sensation miss the mark. both of those first drills can be done in the back seat. in fact, I find people tend to squat when they put their arms forward, making the problem worse. The goal is to get the pelvis up and over the feet to initiate every turn, so why not just go straight to that, rather than using pole tricks and jazz hands?

[@dianebuckle5093]

I don’t find dolphin drills help me at all 😕.... agree with above comment can be done while squatting and often I am just using core to balance and weight still not over bindings.

[@TheGruntski]

I agree with you. Weight forward starts at the ankles and goes through the hips. If a person squats they end up sticking their butts out as well. What tends to happen on a steep is that as a person comes across the fall line they accelerate and the skis come out from under them even if they started the turn with weight on the front cuff of the boot. Mogul instructors teach people to pull their heels back under them as they come down the steep front face of a mogul. It may be just me but on a steep, when I maintain pressure on the front area of the boot it almost feels like my foot is going back behind me, rather than my hips going forward, but it's all relative motion. Thanks for your comment.

[@Rocstoneau]

KillingtonSSSvideos I do squat, you’re right. 😱👍

[@hundercool]

thank u so much!

[@Macsinvideo]

Excellente

[@Dubmcbogie]

Using a 130 flex boot is the 1st mistake...

[@timsd0nahue]

Amen brother.

[@cameronbrule7912]

To be honest (and I don't know why), I kind of like the burn at the end of the day. I lean back a lot and I kind of like the burning that happens especially while and after skiing deep powder and moguls.

[@nancybodine5814]

just like Phil and Steve Maher brothers AT OREGON skiing down a larger badger bowl and holding tuck positions; M.A.B.

[@rodgeorgiu1]

Bad advice to keep the weight over the balls of the feet. The weight should be over the arch of the foot. The easiest way to get forward is to pull the feet back

[@ArcFixer]

Weight on arch, no. Pull the feet back, yes. If you're centered on your arch, you're skiing in the back seat.

[@barbaracostello8187]

Why didn't you demo the dolphin turn in motion? That would have been more helpful.

[@MartisCampVideos]

It is demonstrated as he talks about it around 3:30

[@zerotoadventure]

I feel the pressure on my shins and feel like I'm leaning forward, but everyone says I'm not. Any ideas as to what is going on here based on experience?

[@scottchristopher4560]

Lots of possibilities: Boots might be too stiff, might be your natural body position, boots might have less forward lean than others. One change to try is heel lifts in your boots. Hand position is critical as noted in video. Have someone video you skiing so you can see and discuss your position. Have fun.

[@MrDogonjon]

First open the door... get out ... walk around to the other side and get in to the drivers side. That probably means ditch your old boots and get performance fit race boots. Now you are in a speed machine so you better learn fast to be fast and do it right because mistakes can get you hurt so stay engaged with your cuffs where stress tension is managed.

[@Bushwackerinpa]

listening to this advice will cause your hips to be too far forward and static jsut like the demostation skier who can not effectively move on their skis because they think hips should be over feet. It should be controlling the COM(body) over the BOS(skis). not statically holding forward.

[@nancybodine5814]

Dolphiin turn EXCELLENT for balance; and gastrocnemius strngth; keep ALL 5 ligaments in chk; M.A.B.

[@ethan.guidry5676]

But my shins hurt when I lean forward

[@saml5073]

Ditch the hire boots

[@Bocsaphoto]

@@saml5073 what are hire boots

[@opensourcecurrency]

"If your shins hurt...you are probably skiing correctly." But pull your socks up out of the boot so they dont bunch, and thermals and pants always outside of boot. Wear one thin sock (a little shin cushion is on most ski socks). Also, the ankle buckle must be snug for heel hold, but the shin buckle or strap does not have to be really tight.

[@legag68]

No point of doing this if you keep drifting like he his. You need to carve as well. If you drift all day, your legs are going to give up quite early.

[@anthonysears871]

Wtf. Aint it! But social media allows great place to honor yourself! Lol! Oh yeah! Try the corners of the boots. Remember the edges?

[@marianszetei3698]

First buy the right ski boots which allow you to lean forward. Most of the ski boots do not!!!!

[@cwgumby]

Mellow

[@ubergeraldine]

Why do so many vids have cheesy guitar music?? It detracts from the narrative.