Arm Positioning when skiing Moguls
One of the most common problems with skiers in moguls is their arm position and how they manage their arms throughout the turns.
Hand Distance
Your hands need to be slightly closer together than when carving on piste. For carved turns with good lateral movement a wider arm positioning is better to help you balance more with moving from side to side. When mogul skiing there is much less lateral movement, so a narrow arm posture is more favourable and will help avoid arm and upper body rotation. The further out your arms are in moguls the more prone they are to being pulled around with the momentum of the turns.
Elbows Out
Sometimes even when skiers have learnt to have a narrower arm posture they still find that the arms get pulled around a bit, especially when their speed and performance increases. When you reach this higher level of mogul skiing and find the arm starting to be pulled around with the greater forces around you, start to think of ‘Elbows Out’. Keeping your elbows outside of the line from your shoulder to your hand will prevent the hands being pulled out so much. Even when you feel this in a static position it actually feels stronger.
Practice making turns outside of the moguls with this type of arm positioning. If you can get used to it without having to think of other things at the same time you can learn it quicker.
Slowly introduce this into your bump skiing and you’ll feel an immediate difference. It’s a great thing to think about what ever level you are at. This is typically a point worked on at competition level mogul skiing but fits in and is appropriate at all levels.
Discuss Ski Technique with Warren Smith
If you would like to ask Warren any questions about the ski techniques or exercises described above, or otherwise discuss them, please write in to our Ski Technique Forum.