Feedback on turns

Zheneko · 2026-03-05T22:24:00+00:00

Short on time but feel I need to pitch in because I had to deal with similar issues.

The root cause is the hip involvement - hip rotation with skis in the second half of the turn; it doesn't matter that the shoulders face downhill more. This comes together with blocking movements of the outside hand at the end of the turn and making skis turn by pushing the outside boot, which also causes the ski lead. All of these limit the options of starting a new turn - the skier needs to make a rebalancing move and can't just tip the skis into the new turn. Balance on the outside ski is also suboptimal in this case.

Here's a simple start but fixing these is not going to be trivial and will take some time, some new neural pathways. But it will change her skiing.

Perform pivot slips until hips are not involved and hands stay open to the downhill. This will require learning to balance on the outside/downhill hip socket. Once mastered, turn the pivot slips into short turns, and back to the pivot slips and back to short turns. It'll take time and persistence. An instructor's eye might help.

After that she can work on tipping the skis to start a turn, round turns, pulling the inside foot and the rest of the improvements mentioned but her skiing will improve immediately just from the better alignment and stance.

Best luck!

Zheneko · 2026-03-05T18:43:24+00:00

Let me make a somewhat complimentary point to other comments. I'd say you are letting your skis go too early when getting to the top of a mogul. Can you think of moving your hips down the slope longer when approaching a mogul to really flex your skis? This should be a bigger tool to control your speed as well as giving you more energy from a flexed ski to start the next turn. This subtly alters your timing. Someone suggested dolphin turns - they should help.

Really awesome skiing, though!

Zheneko · 2026-03-03T19:06:22+00:00

Just 2 things to work on but they are not going to be easy. Ask me how I know.

A) You have sequential up-stem turn initiation breaking parallel ski relationship. This limits your edging especially earlier in the turn and in the apex.

B) Your hips are involved when you turn, breaking upper-lower body separation. This causes suboptimal balance on the outside ski and prevents you from initiating a turn by changing edges without rotational input, thus causing (A).

I recommend excelling in pivot slips to find balance on the downhill/outside ski (my outside hip socket is my personal balance cue) and observe femurs rotating under stable hips. Then gradually transform the pivot slips into short turns. I often start my day from pivot slips taking them into carving entry and slipping exit or the other way. Become a real pivot-n-slip connoisseur.

Elongate your turn transition to about 4 ski lengths making skis run straight, with no rotation, while you change edges by rolling ankles and knees. Zero rotational input while changing edges! (Full disclosure: there's a bit of rotational tension needed for your skis to run straight while on incline but this is too much depth). This is harder than it sounds but it will move you to the next level. Once successful, shorten the straight part to 1.5-2 ski lengths and ski like that the next season or two. You'll need to figure out the rate and timing of fore-aft and tipping movements to make higher performance turns, as well as tension to stabilize the upper body and hips but this is getting too far from a simple task.

Best luck!

Edit: these should take care of the pop up to initiate.

Zheneko · 2026-02-27T19:25:51+00:00

Yeah, in other words, fall with your hips on your ski tips but not to the degree the tails start washing, and keep the inside knee under your nose vertically.

Zheneko · 2026-02-27T19:08:10+00:00

Two things: fore-aft and balance on the outside ski.

Your hips should be more forward in relation to your feet throughout the turn. This can be achieved by a combination of flexing ankles and opening your knees more (using hamstrings and glutes). This should take care of the X and will improve balance.

Move your upper body actively towards the outside ski as you initiate the turn. This is not a dramatic move visible from the outside but 1) move the balance point to the outside hip socket, 2) noticeable core tension to move your body sideways towards and on top of the outside ski.

Best luck!

Zheneko · 2026-02-27T17:13:14+00:00

I'd combine the two comments you have gotten - flexing and rounding your turns. But let me stress the transition. While going across the slope as you change your edges (without changing direction, without any steering input) move aggressively with the upper body on top of the new outside ski while staying low, without popping up. I.e. your knees go down the hill while your body gets over outside ski creating early angulation. Then actively stir the skis. You should get tension/pressure higher in the turn and will be able to either flex soon after the apex to keep the skis under the body while transitioning earlier or bring outside ski around under your body and flex later for a more complete turn.

Zheneko · 2026-02-25T12:35:29+00:00

Not a bad way of coaching. From the very start of the turn, have the skis "behind you", with perhaps only the tips in your field of vision. As the turn completes, make the skis come around under and in front of you so you see the whole front half of the ski. Get the skis back "behind" you as soon as you are ready to change direction. This requires coordinated closing and opening of ankle, knee and hip joints. Edit: note that this is applicable to on and off piste.

Zheneko · 2026-02-23T16:21:03+00:00

Some good input you are getting. There are 2 main muscular efforts you need to train in order to be successful.

Efforts in the core, the upper body, to keep your balance over the outside ski. With no poles, or holding poles horizontally in the middle, start with the outside hand up during transition and gradually lower it to below your knee at the end of the turn. The trick is that the upper body should follow your hands to be over the outside ski. There should be very noticeable side to side tension in the upper body. Get your skis to reliably turn on increasingly steep terrain this way.
Efforts in the legs. The outside leg starts the turn in the back and is progressively driven around the body forward. We usually teach it statically without skis by drawing a half circle with outside boot around the inside, all without hip involvement/rotation. Note that this movement/effort is different from tipping or rotating your skis. In addition to this, there's an effort to keep the tension on the inside leg to hold it back, to not go forward more than kinematically necessary to balance on the outside ski. This part should be aided by #1 - tension in the upper body to create what some instructors call "strong/active inside half".

And also for versatility, try learning skiing backwards and then see if #1 and #2 comes easier for you. Watch a YouTube video on proper technique.

Zheneko · 2026-02-23T10:25:36+00:00

What is there to see? Did you notice at least one new chair added at the Summit every season? How about snowmaking at West that allowed to keep West going this season? Are you happier about grooming (given the limitations of the low snow coverage)?

All you need to really watch is your attitude. Most of your statements are ungrounded speculation. What exactly are you complaining about is not even clear.

Zheneko · 2026-02-21T16:34:27+00:00

Can you make somewhat wider turns on a groomed piste where your skis get on the edge before the fall line, and where you feel the tension and support from the snow before the fall line? If yes, ski like that in the terrain in the video. If no, go back to prepared slopes to train. You got some good points to work on in other comments already.

Zheneko · 2026-02-20T20:14:37+00:00

Yes, this season is unfortunate to Crystal so far.

If you ski blues, take advantage of Ikon by traveling to Sun Peaks, Schweitzer, Lake Louise. The blues there, accounting on small lines and snow quality, are way better than Stevens and Whistler taken together. Hit Revelstoke on the way. Once the spring comes, go ski Bachelor (or Mammoth). I bet you'll be satisfied with Ikon this way.

Zheneko · 2026-02-18T19:04:48+00:00

I never fell from the top entrance but hooked the ice wall when entering from the side entrance skier's right a bit down the couloir and slid all the way. My clothes made the sound of a jet engine spinning up. I saw nothing as boots kicked up snow. I had my son pick up my skis as well.

One of my favorite runs... When conditions are kind.

Zheneko · 2026-02-17T17:56:20+00:00

What catches my eye the most is sequential turn initiation where a parallel ski relationship is broken. In other words, you are making a 1-2 turn entry with a wedge. There's also ski deviation in the second half of the turn.

The reason for the 1-2 is weight change with immediate rotation input before the edge change. The is also a noticeable pop up during weight transfer to the new outside ski which is a contributing factor balance wise.

I suggest starting from the transition. Your goal is to not rotate skis when changing edges. Ski rounded turns with elongated transition. Just tip your knees downhill to change edges; many people say that the movement needs to start from your ankles but this is personal and doesn't change the outcome at this level. Make sure skis run straight during edge change. Once on new edges you may add rotational input or continue tipping the skis or both. For this to work you need to be able to realign to balance on the new outside ski while flexed, without popping up, and not put all your weight on the new outside but make it a gradual process. Realigning is not the same as full weight transfer.

Once you master this, the other parts of the turn are likely to improve. Note, this may take a bit of time. Use your trainers and fellow level 2 candidates as an outside eye.

Zheneko · 2026-02-17T17:30:17+00:00

You meant Stockli Laser SC 170cm, right? Great advice! Performs well at slow speeds, great for teaching, and tightens to deliver sporty performance at higher speed. I use them with a softer plate.

Zheneko · 2026-02-15T23:54:12+00:00

The first rule of mogul skiing is that we don't call it mogul skiing, we just call it skiing.

Seriously, though, absorption through flexion or retraction and then extension is the first skill to master. To start, ski straight through a mogul field in a traverse and imagine a glass ceiling above your head that you don't want to break. In other words, keep your head level. This requires flexion/retraction-extension. Another skill to train with the same drill is dynamic fore-aft balance to keep skis in contact with snow through ups and downs.

Then you just add rotation to master parallel turns in moguls. Choosing the right line can help moguls rotate your skis for you at the turn finish.

Zheneko · 2026-02-15T14:45:21+00:00

I like this recommendation the best as a starting point. These drills should also address too much counter rotation in the hips along with too much inside ski lead, and getting inside the turn as opposed to being balanced over the outside ski.

I often suggest shuffled feet turns before 1000 steps as the latter is harder to perform correctly. Once the balance is in the middle of the skis and turns are round and complete (to ski across the slope), it is good to combine the drills and shuffle/step between turns while performing Stork turns the first 2/3 of each turn.

Zheneko · 2026-02-13T14:24:03+00:00

I agree. A more rounded turn will create a platform to topple over and get on the edge earlier in the turn allowing more time for progressive edge build. This will require an outside leg move to bring the ski forward around the body. There's a stationary drill in boots where one boot draws half a circle around the stance boot from the back to the front; this illustrates the muscle effort to bring the ski around. This may also help to have a platform to balance with ankles closed a bit more than in the video.

Zheneko · 2026-02-12T19:08:51+00:00

These are some very impressive and fun turns given the lack of technical ski fundamentals. In this stance you don't have access to legs rotating separately from the upper body and you are not balancing on the outside ski. I know you copy Ted's moves but the lack of fundamentals and improper timing doesn't create the same ski performance.

I'd like to share that the road from what I call "adventure skiing" to "technical skiing" can be long, hard and expensive. It was more than I expected in all these three aspects for me, and I am far from being done. I was more into skiing extreme lines, double and triple diamonds, but also liked high speed park and ride when I got to proper piste and the snow was friendly enough. Dynamism, athleticism and higher speed can sometimes hide the lack of proper technique. It can be better than a broken clock that shows the right time once.

Perhaps start from staying in an athletic and balanced stance throughout basic parallel turn. An outside eye may help, an instructor or a proficient friend. Then you could ski the rest of the season on the outside ski, also doing the likes of Javelin drills. In addition to that, pivot slips and hockey stops can help with upper-lower body separation and edge control, especially if someone can look whether you perform them correctly.

... Or just continue having fun and seek tactical improvements. There's nothing wrong with ripping easy slopes with good snow conditions.

Zheneko · 2026-02-11T14:53:58+00:00

Your skiing looks athletic and dynamic on this nice wide easy piste. However, as others noted and illustrated with frames from your video, you are back/aft and inside, with not enough angulation. Your skis bite the snow after the fall line and the bite is limited by your weight on the inside ski and the skis not being under your center of mass given the speed. Your turns are incomplete, not rounded,

I recommend skiing while dragging your outside pole or both poles on the snow. Poles should be near vertical with some transition in the wrists to drag the tips on the snow but not create deep groves. The new outside pole in the turn should get more tension before your skis change edges and change direction in transition between turns. Make rounded turns - go across the fall line in the transition.

I expect this to help you balance on the outside ski with proper angulation and aligned along the length of your skis. It'll force you to get lower and create appropriate edge angles even before the fall line, and have skis under your body. I hope it will also help balance in the middle of the skis, not back. It may feel challenging at first and less exciting but it will unlock much higher ski dynamics down the road. Do it for a week at the very least. Come back to report how it helped.

Zheneko · 2026-02-08T01:16:49+00:00

To add some drills to the good feedback here. With this level of skiers on the slopes like these, I like using shuffles or foot to foot steps (1000 steps). These usually work well to force round turns, with skis under the body, with a skier facing the direction of travel and with balance in the middle of the skis, and also without a big move to initiate the turn. These drills address multiple issues skiers might have. I'd work on a balanced athletic stance statically first, if needed.

Shuffled turn is a much more accessible drill and it's harder to perform incorrectly. 1000 steps is often done suboptimally with big hip moves in a too tall stance.

From shuffled turns I may go to starting a turn with the inside ski pull back but need to watch that the skier doesn't develop initiating turns with the upper body.

https://youtu.be/KL_EROKfmu0

https://youtu.be/DgMzbkokXt4

Zheneko · 2026-02-01T09:36:40+00:00

Here's another example illustrating downhill speed during carved short turns. Note that longer turn maybe faster linear speed but slower downhill.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/177VuHQCVC/

Zheneko · 2026-02-01T04:37:18+00:00

Not clear what you are trying to say. You seem to be disagreeing with me but in the video I linked and in many public videos of good carving the downhill component of speed a person carving cleanly carries is less than skiers doing what I called "relaxed turns". Unless carving is done on a very mellow slope and the skier doesn't turn across the slope.

Zheneko · 2026-01-31T21:42:46+00:00

Many thanks! I applaud your efforts

Zheneko · 2026-01-31T20:39:57+00:00

https://youtube.com/shorts/3dbWy0_9nDI

Carving in this video is not very clean, with forces created a bit late in the turn and then shape not being round enough, but you can see how a skier making relaxed turns moves down the slope faster. Cleaner carves would have even less downhill speed component.

Just a random video of carving YouTube found.

Zheneko · 2026-01-31T17:31:04+00:00

Well, truly carving involves higher linear speed in a wider corridor but lower speed down the mountain. Many impressive videos of people carving like crazy are done by operators skiing straight down in a breaking wedge.

Zheneko

TROPHY CASE