How do you handle skiing on ICE?

Slider345 wrote:Hi Everyone,

My first post, but as an ESF qualified instructor and BASI top level instructor, I felt it important to post on this one.

I'm not in total agreement with some of the comment here.

Firstly, If you are anything from beginner to intermediate then no comment on here will help, you need to see a professional and giving advise on skiing on eggshells is, to be honest, ridiculous. Sorry, that's just the way I feel on that one.

For the more advance skier, it's just a method. Think about a rally car turning on a corner. They turn one way, then the other to keep the car on the slide, but with control.

Skiing on ice is quite similar.

The only difference is that with skiing you have several pivot points. Pivot one, ski direction, Pivot 2, knees, pivot 3, hips.

So lets look at pivot 1 - The skis will be in the direction of the turn....simple
Pivot 2 - Knees - They don't pivot as the can't. They are included as you will feel pressure on the knees due to the opposite directional pivot of the hips.
Pivot 3 - Hips - They will turn the opposite direction of the skis. This will put the edge into the ICE as 37% more effectiveness than not pivoting the hips in the opposite direction.

Now....stand up. Stand as if you are skiing. Pretend you are skiing down the slope turning to the left.

You must use your edges of course, that goes without saying, so you should feel your left side of each foot leaning towards the snow, and the right side up off the snow slightly.

Now with you top part of the body pointing directly down the slope, turn your hips in the opposite direction to your skis (to the right)....

It feels a bit weird at first, but for the more advanced skier, this will give you all the grip you need on the ICE.

You can still fall, skid etc, but it works and is the way professional skiers ski on downhill comp slopes, so a bit of speed helps.

Slider345 wrote:Hi Everyone,

My first post, but as an ESF qualified instructor and BASI top level instructor, I felt it important to post on this one.

I'm not in total agreement with some of the comment here.

Firstly, If you are anything from beginner to intermediate then no comment on here will help, you need to see a professional and giving advise on skiing on eggshells is, to be honest, ridiculous. Sorry, that's just the way I feel on that one.

For the more advance skier, it's just a method. Think about a rally car turning on a corner. They turn one way, then the other to keep the car on the slide, but with control.

Skiing on ice is quite similar.

The only difference is that with skiing you have several pivot points. Pivot one, ski direction, Pivot 2, knees, pivot 3, hips.

So lets look at pivot 1 - The skis will be in the direction of the turn....simple
Pivot 2 - Knees - They don't pivot as the can't. They are included as you will feel pressure on the knees due to the opposite directional pivot of the hips.
Pivot 3 - Hips - They will turn the opposite direction of the skis. This will put the edge into the ICE as 37% more effectiveness than not pivoting the hips in the opposite direction.

Now....stand up. Stand as if you are skiing. Pretend you are skiing down the slope turning to the left.

You must use your edges of course, that goes without saying, so you should feel your left side of each foot leaning towards the snow, and the right side up off the snow slightly.

Now with you top part of the body pointing directly down the slope, turn your hips in the opposite direction to your skis (to the right)....

It feels a bit weird at first, but for the more advanced skier, this will give you all the grip you need on the ICE.

You can still fall, skid etc, but it works and is the way professional skiers ski on downhill comp slopes, so a bit of speed helps.

In reality, it's hard, but it's doable. See a ski instructor in resort to help. If you need a recommendation in French Resorts for the right school, PM me.

Sorry to others. I am not being rude about your comments, It's just a very precise technique.

Frank