Ski Longer and Feel Less Leg Pain

Learn to Ski

If you’ve been skiing a handful of times and don’t really look forward to going skiing because you know you’re going to be sore for a few days afterward, then read on!

Skiing is a physical activity. When you ski, you’re battling a number of things, like gravity. Gravity moves you down the hill or mountain, which is good but some people don’t have total control of it yet. The faster you go, the more every little movement you make with your legs matters. Even the smallest movements can make a big difference when you combine them with speed. So your legs do have to be in shape.

I’ll admit, the first 2 weekends of the ski season are a little rough. We’re coming up to the season now, so I’m trying to do more leg exercises but you can’t entirely duplicate all the kinds of strength at home that you’ll need out on the snow. So those two weeks, you’ll probably see me moving slower at the office and you might hear an occasional “ow” as I move around or down the hall. I’m happy to put up with the pain but even for me as a ski instructor, I have to get used to skiing every season (hopefully not so much this season).

Don’t Fight It

One thing beginner skiers tend to do is fight gravity. This is understandable because there’s often a lot of it. You want control because you want to be safe and not kill yourself, so fighting it makes sense. Totally. If you ski in what we call a “wedge” or “snowplow”or “pizza” shape, then you’re fighting the ski run. Your legs are taking the brunt of it and are working very hard. That’s why they get sore.

I’ve been asked a few times why it seems like most people skiing can turn and slow down so easily when the person asking me thinks it’s a lot of tiring work. It’s because there’s more than just that way (the snowplow) to get control and stopping power. These other ways don’t require a lot of work either, which is the cool part!

The Beginning Skier Lesson

Let’s go back to your first lesson for a minute. You never had skis on before. They were slippery and it was difficult to walk around or even stand up on them without slipping. We were all there at one point. Skis are long, slippery boards and people aren’t used to having them on their feet. It’s a bit like learning how to walk all over again. But you learned how to get some control on them by now.

During most first lessons, there are a few goals. You need to learn about the equipment, learn how to balance, learn how to stop, turn, learn how to use the ski lift and then make it down the run safely. Throughout that lesson (and all lessons / all skiing) safety is top priority. That first lesson was the first building block. You’re nowhere near a completed building with one block, right? As you’ve been skiing, you’re been adding some blocks yourself, too. So taking more ski lessons, once you have a foundation, is like adding a lot of blocks at once. So now it’s time to learn how to get rid of that snowplow! An important block to have!

Going From a Snowplow to Parallel Skiing

Here’s the good news… by making turns with parallel skis (versus a snowplow), you won’t be as sore at the end of the day, so you’ll be able to ski longer and you’ll be able to keep up with your friends and have more fun skiing! Awesome!

Look or think about your skis. How many edges are there total?

There are 4 edges. Two on your left ski and two on your right ski.

When you’ve been turning in a snowplow, the edges you’ve been using to turn with are your inside edges. This is the right edge of your left ski and the left edge of your right ski.

Let’s think about making a right turn. Your left ski already has its right edge down on the snow, right? (take a second to visualize that if you can – I know reading about this without actually doing it is not always as easy) Since your skis are “shaped”, which means they’re fatter at the tip and tail and thinner in the waist, that left ski with its right edge down is going to turn you to the right. Right edge down = right turn. With the snowplow, to turn right, you have more weight (more pressure) pushing down on the left ski. Because that ski’s right edge is down, you’re turning right more than you’re turning left. That’s how it works.

So to change that up, what you want to do is put the right edge of both skis down to turn right. Make sense? Let’s figure out how to do that…

1. Stand with your skis on the snow – on flat snow, please. Let’s call this the neutral position.
2. Try putting just the right edges of both skis on the snow. You’ll do this by pointing the little toe of your right foot down or by lifting the arch of your right foot. You will also do the same thing with the big toe of your left foot to get the right edge of the left ski down in the snow.
3. Now put the left edges back down and go back to where you started – back to neutral.
4. Let’s go on our left edges this time by putting the little toe of your left foot down. The big toe of your right foot should also go down.
5. Go back to neutral.
6. Repeat these steps about 5 or so times.

When you put your skis’ right edges down, you will turn right. When you put the left edges down, you will turn left. Guess what? Turning is another way to stop! Turn enough and you’ll start going back up the slope of the hill, which slows you down until you come to a stop.

Let’s Try it!

Find some very shallow terrain like a practice area and start moving down the slope and then make a right turn by putting both skis on their right edges. Keep turning until you come to a stop. Do that a few times and try going left and right.

Now go find an easy, green run like a “bunny” hill. When you’re at the top, instead of pointing your skis straight down the hill, point them at an angle to the side. You’ll have less gravity and speed to deal with. Make sure you have room and that it’s clear.

Get a little speed going and then put those skis on their uphill edges (the left or right edges, depending on which way you’re going), again the uphill edges – until you come to a stop. Do the same thing again (going the same way), with your skis pointing how they were before (not straight down the hill yet) and come to a stop again by putting your skis on edge to turn uphill. This is what we call “garlands” since it looks like garland you would put on a Christmas tree.

Try that same thing going in the other direction now.

We’ve just worked on what is the beginning (initiation) and ending (finish) of a turn. That’s good for you. What you’d want to do next is what we did on the flat snow earlier – which is left, neutral, then right. This will connect two turns together. When we make turns coming down the hill, that controls our speed and slows us down. The bigger turns you make (the more uphill you go), the slower you go. Get it?

Wrap Up

We were introduced to a new way of turning by using corresponding edges instead of a snowplow turn, which used just the inside edges. We make garlands in the snow to help us get used to doing progressive edging. I quickly went over what to work on next where we can link our turns together to slowly and safely get down the ski run.

What I’ve explained here is just one way to learn to turn. We ski instructors have many tools in our toolbox, so if this doesn’t work, then there are many other things to try. To find out those ways, go take a ski lesson. Tell them what you want to do. You can say that you want to stop using a snowplow to turn and you want to make parallel turns instead. They’ll know exactly what to do to get you there! Have fun!

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