How to Soften Movements on Skis

Video Transcript

"I'm Ivan Madar. I'm a professional ski instructor and I'm here on behalf of Expert Village. Okay, where we are going to start is with a nice, relaxed, athletic position (which means everything in your body is flexed). Your ankles are flexed, your knees are flexed. Your skis are parallel about shoulder's width apart. And you just let the skis run. Stay right over your boots. It's that simple. Now, it is very important to do this on a proper slope. This cannot be on a steep slope, because otherwise you wouldn't stop as you don't know how to stop yet. The way we are going to stop is: from this straight running position, we are going to stem the ski outside and rotate the ankles (your heels out, and toes in). That is called a wedge position and it is one that will slow you down and eventually you'll learn how to stop this way. Let me show you. Okay, now pushing the heels out is not a difficult as long as you keep the ski flat and in an appropriate range. So, that is the first thing you want to learn: how to slow yourself down. Without slowing yourself down, you will be out of control and you won't be able to ski no matter what level you are in."