How to Do Railroad Track Turns on Shaped Skis

One of the thrills of skiing on modern shaped skis is providing intermediate skiers with the opportunity to do what was only possible in the past for professional ski racers--to carve turns on skis.

With the invention of shaped skis, even lower intermediate skiers can experience the fun of performing true carved turns. One of the best ways to learn how to make carved turns is to learn how to perform "Railroad Track Turns." Railroad track turns are called that because of the two, parallel marks left in the snow by the ski's parallel edges.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A pair of shaped skis
• Moderately flat to steep slope

1. Begin by standing with your weight evenly distributed over your skis. There should be an equal amount of weight on both the right and left skis. The skis should be flat and directly under your hips.

2. Push off on a flat to moderately steep slope. Your ankles, knees and hips should be slightly bent and your hands should be held in front of your hips as if you're riding a bicycle.

3. Keep your center of gravity directly over your 2 skis. Imagine a plumb line attached to your navel, falling directly to the snow.

4. Maintaining your center of gravity between your 2 skis, slowly roll both ankles toward the left. There should be an equal amount of movement with both feet. If you do this properly, you should begin to feel the edges and the sidecut of the skis engage that results in turning the ski.

5. If you would like to make a sharper turn, increase the amount of ankle roll and you should feel your skis turning sharper. To stop turning, relax the ankles back to the original position until you're skiing on flat skis again.

6. To turn to the right, repeat Steps 1 through 4 in the opposite direction.

Tips & Warnings

• Begin practicing railroad track turns on a very moderate slope where your speed will not increase too quickly.
• Maintain your center of gravity directly over your skis.
• Do not attempt to learn railroad track turns on too steep a slope.
• Never allow your center of gravity to move from below your navel.