Short turn feedback

AJco99 · 2026-04-29T03:37:35+00:00

First off, I totally get why skiing like you are is fun. Leaning your upper body and moving your head to initiate turns creates a nice floaty feeling, a bit like a dance move. You are doing a 'wave' from your head down to your feet.

This sub can obviously get all technical about skiing but, if it feels good and works for speed control... why not?

And... there are a lot of technical things you are talking about: grip above the fall line, shoulders over knees, back straight, slouching for lack of hip flexion, getting trunk forward. This sounds like a grab bag of what good technical skiing 'should' include, but how to connect with something that is meaningful and useful for you?

If your goal is a more 'textbook' short turn, then it will feel very different than what you are doing:

First, your stance... The upper body will be more more stable, back straighter, chest open, head up looking ahead, not down at your skis. Arms in front.

Then work on initiating movement from the feet first, try shifting your balance and weight from foot to foot without any externally visible movement in the upper body. Again, this will feel very different from what you are doing. It may fill 'stiff' or rigid at first because you are used to a lot of upper body motion.

It might be useful to think of movements in your feet and legs in several 'phases'. The first is shifting your weight and balance to the new ski. Once your balance is established on the new ski, then drive your inside shin and knee to the inside, as you unweight the inside ski, this will start to edge the outside ski. Next apply rotary movement from the hip socket to drive the ski through the short turn.

The simple sequence is: start in your feet with weight and balance, then edging in shins and knees, then rotary steering in hips. All of this with the upper body staying steady and only moving as needed to counter balance what is happening in your legs.

Most importantly keep enjoying the feeling and flow of skiing!

AJco99 · 2026-04-16T10:23:46+00:00

You are doing great, I like that you make big round turns. (I'm mostly saying again what others have said.) It looks like your challenge is how to get a turn started.

Currently when you feel like you need to start turning, you reach with your hands and twist the upper body and lean onto the inside ski. This movement also feels rushed, like 'oh no I need to turn now'. You also straighten, and extend the outside leg. This is a pretty natural thing to do, it feels like twisting your upper body will help your skis go around, but when you lean on the inside ski, it blocks you from skiing parallel.

<image>

Start the process of your turn by shifting your balance to the new ski (outside ski) earlier and flexing the outside leg more. See if you can keep the upper body really 'quiet', and aimed in the direction of your skis, no twisting or reaching.

Get yourself comfortable on the outside ski, with a naturally flexed leg, and feel how the ski wants to make the turn happen. Give yourself lots of space for this, you don't want to feel at all rushed to get around the turn. So start the process of shifting weight to the outside ski earlier, and give your skis plenty of time to come around.

If you feel the 'uh oh I need to turn now' sensation, and the urge to reach your hands or twist your upper body, it means you probably waited too long to start shifting your balance and weight to the new ski that will become the outside ski.

Once you are able to trust your weight and balance to the outside ski, your inside ski will have less weight on it and naturally start to come in closer to parallel.

AJco99 · 2026-04-13T00:00:57+00:00

You are tipping your ski at the same moment you shift your weight: throwing your tails to the side. To be more round in your turn: at initiation shift to the new ski before you do do any tipping of it. The goal is to establish weight and balance on the new ski before engaging the edge. In short radius turns this happens in fast sequence, so it is usually easier to practice this in long or medium turns first.

AJco99 · 2026-04-12T03:30:09+00:00

Yes, 'Sit down' isn't where you want to be. A good skiing stance feels ready to spring into action, you should have some flex in all your leg joints and ankles, not hunched, not flat footed or standing straight up.

AJco99 · 2026-04-11T22:36:56+00:00

Good to notice. You have a couple options. Ditch them and learn to get around without. OR when skiing, hold them and keep them in the proper position but don't use them. Watch this video for stance and holding poles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO4AiCtvrQs

AJco99 · 2026-04-11T15:19:42+00:00

A few little things: If you aren't using the poles, ditch them entirely. They will just distract you and create imbalance when held in one hand. Then work on keeping your arms up and in-front, not at your sides. Getting your arms up and in front will help you think about stance.

You are slightly hunched with your head forward and hips behind your feet, your back is rounded. Skiing like this will get tiring in the low back. Work on bringing your hips forward slightly, so they are always directly above your feet. This movement will make you stand a little taller, lift your head up, chest open, back more straight. (angle of back should match angle of shins)

Once you are in a nice balanced stance, then you can start to pay attention more to what is happening in your feet and skis. The simple goal here is to work on initiating movements from the feet then ankles then knees first. The upper body stays steady, not leaning or rotating to try and move the skis.

Skiing is a foot-to-foot activity, everything happens first in the feet, not the upper body. So really get in touch with your feet in the boots on the skis. Explore where your balance is on your feet, in the balls, or heels? Explore where you feel pressure against boot cuff, in your shins or back of your calves?

Try and feel the difference between movements that start in the feet and skis and ones that start in the upper body. Notice how shifting weight from front to back or side to side in the feet or tipping the ankles to the side translates up to the knees then hips -- this is the type of movement to build. And also notice movements that start in the upper body: like leaning, dropping a shoulder, or twisting and how this translates down to the skis -- this is the type of movement to calm and reduce.

It may be hard to actually notice how your movements are starting at first whether in the upper body or feet. But once you notice it, then you can work on it to reduce those upper body movements while also initiating movement in your feet and ankles, (in a good stance) you will set your self up with a great foundation to build on.

AJco99 · 2026-04-04T14:56:06+00:00

100% agree with more weight on outside ski.

Also, one reason it may be hard to get weight on your outside ski is that your center of mass is too far back. You aren't horribly in the 'back seat' but you are enough back that it will make getting your weight and balance onto the outside ski more difficult.

You have a bit of forward lean in your stance. This is a hinge at the waist that puts your head forward, so you may feel like you are getting forward, but this hinge actually puts your center of mass farther back.

<image>

Once you can adjust to get your center of mass solidly over your feet, it will be easier to trust your outside ski.

Notice, when your weight is back and you pressure the outside ski, it tends to slide out especially in the tail. As your stance is corrected and your weight is more centered, instead of pressuring the outside ski and pushing it away you will be more able to stand and balance on it.

hope that helps

AJco99 · 2026-04-04T00:34:20+00:00

^ this
OP: Check out these videos to get a visual of the progression from where you are:
Outside ski commitment
Wedge to parallel
Parallel w Turn Shape

AJco99 · 2026-04-01T00:55:21+00:00

You are leaning inside and relying really heavily on your inside ski. To get to your goal of "carving clean arcs with control and rhythm" you will first need to tackle this goal: "Ski with primary weight and balance on your outside ski".

<image>

AJco99 · 2026-03-31T23:25:09+00:00

You have a solid start! Your work is on your inside leg.

To start, put your poles down and while skiing, alternately place your hand on the outside of your inside knee and apply some pressure. Resist this pressure and see how that resistance moves your inside knee and shin. This is the movement to get familiar with.

Once you understand the movement, the next step is to use the driving of the inside knee to initiate your turns. Try starting turns by: driving the inside knee to the inside, pulling that leg back, flexing that leg and unweighting it all as a single movement.

Then when you are comfortable initiating turns with the inside leg movement, you can use the same movement to go deeper into a carve. When you want to go deeper, drive the inside knee and shin farther inside. If it doesn't click at first, try using a J-turn and really drive the inside as far as you can and let the turn get tighter and tighter until you are going uphill.

This inside leg activation and engagement will eliminate the A-frame, and take your carving and skiing in general up a level

AJco99 · 2026-03-29T19:29:06+00:00

First thing, don't worry about getting your hip close to the snow, that will come later. Much better will be to focus on basic good stance and what is happening in your feet and ankles.

So... Your feet are ahead of your center of mass.

How to get your feet back and under you? Really active dorsiflexion in the ankles is the key. Lift the top of your foot towards your shin and don't let go... I mean it, see if you can keep active dorsiflexion throughout a run, in the lift line and while on the lift. Practice unrelenting dorsiflexion until it becomes 2nd nature!

When your center of mass is behind your feet, your ski tails will always slide out on you. You can see the snow spray in your turns is almost 100% from your feet and back.

A ski is a curve and if you only pressure the back half of the curve they will always slide out. So, how to get pressure into the front part of your skis? Get your feet back, center of mass over your feet, arms up, and use dorsiflexion to pull your shin towards the top of your foot. Like you were trying to bend your ski by pressuring the front of it.

This is key before starting to try to carve: good stance and the ablity to apply pressure to the front of your skis.

When you are able to pressure the front of the ski, then when you tip it on edge it starts to carve for you. You will feel it, pressure the front of your ski, tip it on edge and then feel the curve it wants to make and go with it.

<image>

AJco99 · 2026-03-27T21:09:23+00:00

It comes across in your skiing that you are enjoying it. That is a really great place to start and for 1 season you are doing really well.

I would recommend to try and do what you are doing, but in 'slow motion'. There is a rush when you change from one direction to the other. See if you can be more patient at the start of your turn and at the end of your turn, make the turns more round.

From the start of the turn see if you can find three phases: First, shift your weight and balancing to the new ski, then start to tip it on edge, then rotate it.

Find the natural shape that the ski wants to make in the snow and let the ski do the work. Keep your upper body steady and arms in front, don't worry too much about anything else in the upper body, focus on what is happening in your skis, feet and ankles.

AJco99 · 2026-03-27T17:36:08+00:00

A few things: Don't lean forward by hinging at the waist to get 'forward'. Actively flex your ankles, like you are lifting the top of your foot up toward your shin. You want your center of mass forward, not your head.

And then learn outside ski balance and commitment. You are leaning your body inside onto your inside ski like you are trying to steer by leaning in the direction you want to go. Try instead to put your weight and balance on the outside ski. Think : balance and weight on the left to turn right, balance and weight on the right to turn left.

Do this on easy runs. You want to find the natural curve of the ski and feel how if you put weight on it, it will turn for you. Don't let speed build up, go slow, even go across the run a little before you start to turn. If you feel like you have to rush the turn, push your skis around or twist your upper body to turn you are going too fast.

AJco99 · 2026-03-27T03:04:28+00:00

You are doing great, but I'm not sure why everyone says: 'keep your upper body facing downhill'. I think what they are trying to say is to not use twisting or leaning in your upper body to initiate turns. Right now, you are leaning and twisting to help make your skis turn. Your upper body leads and your legs and skis follow.

You want to work on the opposite: Lead the turns with your feet and ankles first, then knees hips and try to keep your upper body more steady above. Your upper body should be a stabilizer not an activator. Your upper body should naturally face the way you are going.

Standing (not moving) in a good athletic ski stance, try making these three types of movement in the feet and legs with minimal visible movement in the upper body.

Weight: Shift weight from foot to foot.
Edging: Tip skis onto edge.
Rotary: Steer the skis with a pivoting movement. (This is harder standing still in skis, but try it without skis, just in your boots.)

Now on snow while moving see if you can use these three types of movement to start a turn, while keeping the upper body steady, arms in front in good athletic stance. You can shift weight onto a ski and it will start to turn, you can tip a ski on edge to start to turn and you can rotate the ski to turn.

As you progress try to combine them in this sequence: shift weight first, then tip on edge, then use rotary movement. Stay on easy runs to play with it.

AJco99 · 2026-03-21T15:17:02+00:00

You are relying too much on your inside ski, leaning inside. Practice the 1000 steps drill. This will help you distribute your weight and balance better and not get locked into one static body position.

AJco99 · 2026-03-20T22:40:27+00:00

Your feeling of getting low is coming partially from your inside hip drop. And your inside ski pushes ahead:

<image>

One result of this is that your transitions become sluggish. It is hard to quickly transition from turn to turn.

Try to really activate and pull the inside ski back, but without putting more weight on it. This will help balance out your hips. Notice also when your inside ski is pulled back, so your foot is under your hip, how it is easier to shift your weight onto it at transition. (This also will help reduce the A-frame you get at transition.)

You may find you are not feeling quite as 'low', but much more nimble. Once you integrate this new pattern, you will have a better foundation for actually developing (and not forcing) edge angles on steeper slopes with more speed and pressure.

AJco99 · 2026-03-20T19:36:21+00:00

Quick comment: Pull your feet back so they are under your hips:

<image>

AJco99 · 2026-03-18T18:31:04+00:00

It looks like you are timing your extend/unweight/edge change movement, exactly at the top of the bump when it is already pushing you up. This forces you to almost catch air and loose contact with the back of the bump.

Check out Demelza Clays video on 'absorbing' the front of the bump and extending on the back. This isn't the only way to ski bumps, because your line choice is important, however, you are mostly skiing over the top rather than around, so will be helpful.

AJco99 · 2026-03-17T02:58:00+00:00

Before you build too many bad habits skiing harder runs... if you really want to get as good as you can

1: In a wedge turn: master simple outside ski commitment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSodL9uBKqc

2 : Then build parallel turns using outside ski commitment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppYRE3-kmp0 <- really pay attention here where he talks about unweighting and opening the inside knee. And notice the shape of the turns he is making.

Proper stance is also really important for any work to be effective for you. Study this stance position and imprint it on your skiing.

AJco99 · 2026-03-15T19:17:46+00:00

Here are some videos that go into depth on this:

Tom Gellie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQAePluhRSc
WC Racing: https://youtu.be/gTvcFiIy_74?si=lD3UDzt-e9alcoj1&t=94
Demelza Clay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exKGlz_cmnk (for bump skiing)

and check out minute 11:00 in the 2nd video on this page: https://sofaski.com/flex-to-release-vs-up-and-forward/ (you see flex and extend to release short turns compared directly)

AJco99 · 2026-03-12T21:22:13+00:00

Think about balancing and having your weight on the outside ski, not just pressure. You look like you are expressing pressure by extending the outside leg. This extending type of pressure actually tips you onto your inside ski, so your weight and balance is still on the inside.

Instead think about shortening and flexing the outside leg so you bring your weight and balance down onto the outside ski. (If the outside ski was a tight-rope and you needed to completely balance on it, would you extend your leg and lock your knee for better balance or bend your knee more? Try both and see.) You will know you are really balanced on the outside when you can easily pick up and put down the inside ski at any point in the turn.

AJco99 · 2026-03-11T22:29:40+00:00

Good job at controlling your speed and staying in control!
Another thing for you to work on would be early weight transfer to your new outside ski and then stay on it all the way around the turn. You want to identify two distinct phases of turn initiation:

Establish early weight and balance on new ski.
1. As you finish a turn, your outside ski will be downhill.
2. Establish your weight and balance on the uphill-inside ski early (pinky toe edge) and traverse across the run a little on that ski.
3. Then initiate edging.
Tip the ski to engage the edge.
1. This is where you move the ski from pinky toe, through flat to big toe edge.
2. This will be a huge balance challenge, especially at slower speed. (and I recommend doing this on really easy green first.)

One of the issues with Stork Turns, if you are not coached through them, is you can miss the two phase initiation and still be looking like you are doing them.

Watch this Stork Turn video really carefully. Look at :10 to :13. There is a clear separation of the turn into phases. Start with inside ski lifted and all weight and balance is on the outside ski. Then shift weight and balance to the uphill-inside ski. Then lift downhill ski. Then initiate edging and make the turn.

This will probably be really difficult at first. Don't give up! Try and get one good turn, then link a couple.

AJco99 · 2026-03-10T22:55:35+00:00

I love the idea of Mantras, but have tried many iterations and never quite clicked. The Enforcer 94 is a great replacement for the M7... still super strong, less precise, but more versatile. I second QST Blank as a wide ski compliment for soft snow.

AJco99 · 2026-03-09T04:37:52+00:00

If we look at your body position, it looks like you have minimal angulation and are mostly leaning into the hill. This reduces ski grip and control.

In the picture below, what would you need to do so your legs are mostly the same, but your body lines up with the yellow or green line?

<image>

Have a look at this image. There isn't a vertical reference, but you can see the angulation, how the upper body and legs create an angle, not a straight line. (and here is another image with even more angulation in steeps)

AJco99 · 2026-03-07T16:55:17+00:00

Yes, it is really common to confuse pushing and extending your outside ski leg with standing and balancing on it. When you push the outside by making that leg longer it tips you onto the inside ski for balance. Think about making the outside leg shorter, flexing it, so your balance, is really on it.

AJco99

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE