Transferring weight

Ouch!

What a great question!

So central to skiing effectively!

First most skiers think you ski on two skis! Wrong! You ski on one ski,,one edge and constantly shift from one ski to other ski! That is weigth transfer!

Most skiers slide about,,flat on ski bases! You can tell them by their ski tips,,as they wander left and right!

Effective skiers skiers ski on the edges of the skis!

Why?

Safety: When skis are on edge they are like missles and no ice, bumps, crud, etc,,will deviate them!
Effeciency: On edge you have less resistance, need less muscular power to hold skis on "track" Thus you can ski all week with no sore muscles!
Pleasure: Skis on edge are so much more responsive to your slightest knee pressure! They are like a great lover who responds to your slightest move!

What you must do is like tadpoles who wiggle here and there with their tails,,you must shed those tail movements and pressure the tips while on edge!

Now we come to the "faith leap"!
To go on edge you must believe in yourself and place those skis on edge! Yes the steel edge is narrow ,,but staying on ski bases will not help you get out of your tadpole mold!
Once you feel that ski "carve" you will never go back to the tadpole stage!

One small point about downhill ski pressure! This is only the case when you do a long GS type turn across ski hill! You can also transfer weight while skiing fall line when doing SL type turns!

Hope this helps you!

Thanks for that!

Nelly,
Think of those tadpoles!

Those tail wiggles!

Watch as you go up ski lift 95% are tail wigglers!

pavelski wrote:What a great question!

So central to skiing effectively!

First most skiers think you ski on two skis! Wrong! You ski on one ski,,one edge and constantly shift from one ski to other ski! That is weigth transfer!

if you did that the unweighted ski would fly about and be deflected by the tiniest alteration in surface or terrain. It would also be mechanically inefficient to transfer all the weight in one movement, in fact it would be very difficult to even do.

The proportion you unweight or balance the weight will vary on terrain, extremely 50/50 but commonly around 80/20 or 90/10