Put Them On Edge

A clear and concise tutorial on how to make a proper carved ski racing turn.

By Mike Hancock

Look at just about any ski or snowboard designed within the last 10 years, and you’ll notice a distinctive hourglass shape. This design makes them incredibly easy to turn, if you take advantage of the feature. The vast majority of people on the hill don’t.

Just looking at the first picture on the left, you can see that if you tip the ski to the left, the built-in arc will turn you left. Tip it right, and the ski will turn right. Simple as that. Yet for some reason people feel the need to ride a flat ski and use a rotary, twisting motion to change directions instead of using the design of the ski.

Imagine the “S” to the right is two linked turns. The beginning, or initiation, of the turn is in green. The middle, or “fall line” portion, of the turn is in red- basically the point where the ski is pointing directly down the hill. The end, or completion, of the turn is in blue. The completion of one turn flows seamlessly into the initiation of another. 

Most skiers initiate (green) a turn on a flat ski/board, pivot the ski/board in the fall line (red) to change direction, and then jam on their edges at the completion (blue) of the turn. By waiting to engage the edges at the bottom of the turn, they are trying to fight gravity. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that gravity always wins. The result is skidding, which leads to loss of speed and loss of control. Make friends with your edges and gravity, and you’ll be faster and in greater directional control.

So what should they be doing? If you look at this series of pictures of former US Ski Team member Eric Schlopy, you can see he has his skis on edge high in the turn (green). He achieves this by moving his body straight down the hill ahead of his boots. This movement locks the skis into a clean carve long before there is significant pressure on them, and is all that is needed to initiate the turn. No twisting required.

As he progresses into the belly of the turn (red), the amount of edge angle increases as his body moves further inside of the arc that his skis are carving.  To avoid falling over inside the turn, he levels his shoulders to balance his weight over the outside ski and uses the g-forces pulling him to the outside of the turn to remain upright.

As he passes the gate, his skis already are pointed in the direction of the next gate. Again, no twisting or muscling required.  He’s just balancing on the edges he set up at the top of the turn. He keeps his body driving forward and shoulders level. He brushes past the gate, making contact with the back of his bicep- he does not plow straight through it.

As he completes the turn (blue), he keeps his body flowing forward and into the next turn, where the process starts all over again. Notice at no stage did he spend any significant time riding a flat ski. Arc-to-arc , edge-to-edge, cleanly working with gravity to maximize speed and control. That’s all there is to it. Yeah, right.

So, to summarize:

• Start the turn by sending your body straight down the hill, ahead of your skis.
• Allow the skis to come out from under your body, which will increase the amount of edge angle and further lock the skis into the turn- well before the fall line and increased gravitational forces that come with it.
• Level the shoulders

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Mike Hancock has always been late for everything. Although he was an extremely active youth, the biggest thing he did in his 20s was gain 80lbs. He was 30 before he started skiing seriously, and spent a great deal of money and time becoming a marginal alpine ski racer. He now coaches and races with the Alyeska Masters, and runs a small NASTAR-esque racing league. Not content to be lousy at only one expensive sport, he actively sought one where excess weight is a serious disadvantage - road cycling. He now races to experience acute embarrassment and learn the value of lung-searing pain. Although he has lost a considerable amount of weight, he still considers himself a fat-fat-fatty. He's not the only one.