Lazy leg!

So I've been skiing as a beginner for a long time and only this season have I really gotten into really getting better. The problem being that the years spent going out only a handful of times a season have taught me some bad things. I can comfortably ski down blue/red trails with enjoyment and control and can survive many of the less "extreme" black runs. But as we know just getting down is far from an accomplishment so this season I've toned it down and stuck to mostly blues to practice technique and control drills I've found in videos. I've been getting very comfortable with carving turns and linking them through some "bumpy" terrain, my biggest problem is that I feel like I have a really lazy inside foot. Sometimes when I make a higher speed turn I feel like I use both legs and really feel the ski bite down on both legs, but usually I feel like my inside ski is just "sliding" and I just keep it on an edge so that it tracks with the other ski without serving any real purpose. Short of a real lesson I've been searching and searching for drills to overcome this, but have had a very hard time doing so. Though I've found with a little more speed it starts to go away as I have to really pressure both skis to get a nice turn.

Has anyone had any experience with overcoming this or teaching someone to overcome this?

Edit: Btw, hello to all with my first post, these forums rock I've been lurking for a while, but it's my first real post.

So basically all your weight is on the outside ski with very little on the inside? Is that what you were getting at...?

Yes, it would see that would be the case.

Yes, thats called lazy skiing.

Hi skiing_monkey, welcome to J2ski. I am guessing from some of your terminology that you are based in the USA or Canada.

If that is the case you have some advantages, and some disadvantages of your Euro cousins. Ergo, snow quality and management, and things like cost of instruction.

It sounds as though you have strong capabilities. You are looking at how to develop them.

The most obvious route is to take some regular lessons. If this is not an option, can you find a way to hook up with an experienced group of fast running skiers? Maybe a Uni or trade group, local ski club.

There are great things to learn from this route, you can emulate technique, you learn about using terrain, and you will be pulled into areas that you might not have considered.

From what you say, you have already discovered that getting some speed up assists in weight balance. So ski fast!

Yes there are drills that you can do to resolve this, and you can also think about the incorporation of your drills into a normal run.

I commend you on raising the query, and that you are trying to think your way through your current issue.

Hmm I tried to google "lazy skiing" and it just happened to be a bunch of lazy people trying to ski :lol: That or just mentioning skiing folk being lazy during training. Maybe a more specific term will help me find others with my problem in the hopes of fixing it!

I am in fact in North America, but I hail from Russia. I've already since left Uni here and graduated. Maybe hooking up with some more experienced folk is the answer. For now I'll try to answer it with more volume! I have a year off so time is filled with winter mountain biking and skiing :D

Thanks for the replies thus far, any other info would be awesome as well. Hope to make my stay a long and fruitful one!

It sounds to me as if you have a similar problem to me which I think I have identified and have been trying to put right. In short you are still using your inside ski during the turns as opposed to your outside ski. This is primarily caused by your body postion. Like me everything is rosey until you hit the steeps or you try to quick short turns.
I identified my problem on a DVD called Sofa Ski School.

I am not qualified to really give advise but exaggerate the postition of your body forward and away from the hill over your down hill ski. This will then release the weight from the uphill ski which catches or slides.

More than happy to explain further but hopefully someone more qualified than me can explain it better and help you. It is common problem that those who are very good intermediate skiers suffer from and have to over come.

Never was a teacher!!

Scarlet, the OPs problem seems to be the complete opposite of what you are describing :wink: