Guide to Downhill Skiing

Progressing from awkward-looking snowplough turns to perfect parallels is the biggest leap you'll make in skiing. It's tough, but not rocket science; it's simply about getting your mind and your body working in parallel, too.

Parallel skiing is the Holy Grail that most skiers are desperate to search for. But the key to successful schussing is to think in curves, not in straight lines. If you link curves then parallel skiing is easy.

Just as parallel skiing and snowploughing look worlds apart, they feel worlds apart too. Before, you were learning to feel for your edges, but now the focus is on pivoting your skis and letting the curve do the work.

In theory, the first part of a parallel turn should be the easiest, because gravity is already trying to pull your skis down the hill in the direction you want to go. But as you're traversing, before starting a turn, your skis are tilted on to their uphill edges. While you're 'holding an edge' like this, your skis actually resist the pull of gravity down the hill. To go from a traverse to a parallel turn, you need to release those edges by flattening your skis and eventually rolling them onto their opposite edges, the 'new' edges that will control the turn.

LET'S TAKE IT STEP BY STEP

As you traverse across the slope, extend your legs and body and stand upright. This will make your skis flatten, allowing them to drift naturally down towards the pull of gravity. Once the turn is underway, roll your skis onto the new edges and drive them around the rest of the turn. Try to think of pivoting, rather than edging, your skis by imagining pivoting your feet on a large circle.

Remember that parallel lines never meet, so keep a wide stance throughout your turn and don't pull your feet together as if you were on a monoski. Keep the feeling of working the skis and legs independently of one another.

As you turn, try not to worry when you feel the speed kick in around the curve. Instead, relax and enjoy it - you aren't going down the hill, you're curving around, so don't panic. Let it curve before thinking about curving back the other way - always think of linking curves, not straight lines.

Concentrate on learning to stand on your skis and steer them, rather than pushing them to make them turn. There is a subtle difference. Remember, you are the driver, not the passenger.

The problem most novice parallel skiers have (and one I grappled with for weeks) is an inability to release both edges simultaneously and tip both skis together onto their new edges. You'll generally find it easy enough to get the new outside ski (i.e. the right ski when turning left) to do it because of your snowplough experience. The problem is getting the new inside ski to do the same thing at the same time.

To master this, concentrate on steering the skis around the curve and focus on tilting the new inside foot from the 'big toe edge' over on to the 'little toe edge'.

Don't forget your pole plant. Your poles are much more important to you now you're paralleling and will help to stabilise your upper body, which, for short, rhythmic turns, should always face down the hill.

Plant your pole at the same time as you extend your body upwards to start the turn. In short turns, this will really help you to turn your skis just by pivoting your legs, instead of rotating your whole body. In long turns, it will help you to keep your upper body facing down the hill and your hips angulated into the turn, which should automatically keep your skis on edge.

Finally, how about mastering that showy parallel stop where you spray your waiting mates with powder? To do this, learn to pivot your skis, rotate and skid to slow down, instead of careering out of control while grappling for an edge. It is paramount that you learn to scrape off speed as you travel around your curves rather than edging, because once you fi nd your edges, you'll only pick up speed and crash into your friends instead of slowing to a heroic halt.


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