Short Turns

3 essentials elements to build a solid foundation

Body – Shape – Rhythm

Body

The first rule of short turns is to be able to turn the legs independently of the body. You will have heard this as facing down the hill, or put another way, turning your feet across the hill.

Think of your body as the pivot point of a pendulum, it stays in on place while your feet travel away, return and away again. This is you controlling the rotation from a strong position.

As long as you are in this strong position your feet will want to return under you in grippy turns and you will have the torque needed to twist the feet in skiddy turns.

Having the body stable in one direction (down the hill) facilitates Balance and Torsion (around an axis)

Torque is a cross product between Linear Force (the legs) and the Radius about the Rotational Axis (the body)

Shape

Whether your goal is grippy or skiddy turns, both have their uses, the shape of the turn is crucial to your performance. As a rule of thumb, the shape needs to be a semicircle.

Choose a size of turn, in this case a relatively short one, and try to distribute the turning of your feet all the way around the arc.

The hairpin bend!

Turning the feet too fast will make the arc cucumber shaped or a zig, zags.

Freefalling!

Not turning your feet enough, shapes the turn like a lemon boat allowing the skis to run away with you.

Rhythm

You can’t overestimate the positive effects of being equal on both sides. Maintaining a steady rhythm to your turns is the foundation of equilibrium. A metronomic rhythm is the glue to hold points 1 and 2 together. Everyone tends to have a good side and a bad side. The trick is to improve points 1 and to make the side letting you dawn, as good as the side holding you up.

Pay attention to your pole plant, this is where you really need one. It’s lick the punctuation in your skiing, a full stop at the end of every turn. For short turns, powder and bumps you are always planting your pole down the hill, not across it.

3 simple drills

Body – Ski poles pointing down the hill on a specific marker in the distance.

Shape – ABC turns, steering the skis to the fall line before steering them to finish the turn.

Rhythm – The ticking metronome. Either counting the rhythm in your head or better still, have someone down the hill waving a pole to set the beat.

At the end of the day it’s like your golf swing or yoga positions, the more you practice, the more consistent you get.