How to Traverse a Hill on Skis

Video Transcript

"I'm Ivan Madar. I'm a professional ski instructor and I'm here on behalf of Expert Village. Okay, now the first drill I'm going to show you is how to make a turn on the outside ski. All you do is start the turn with the outside ski and lift the inside ski up. This is how it looks. So, we just learned how to transfer weight from one ski to the other. The next drill would be traversing the slope and maintaining weight on a downhill ski, making sure you can balance yourself over the downhill ski edge. Now, that is called a traverse practicing drill. You are practicing to stand on your downhill ski, balancing your body over the downhill ski and lifting the ski just to make sure that all your weight is on your downhill ski. It becomes important later in maintaining your balance. When traversing a hill, make sure you are looking and your body is turned towards your next turn and you are lifting the ski with your heel up so that you are not leaning backwards. It is not this type of motion that would put you back. So your knees are flexed, pressing against your shins and lifting your heel."