Get Your Skis Apart! - Page 3
By Todd Murchison, February 7, 2001

Let me point out that there are some skiers out there who have a fairly narrow stance but still keep very independent foot motion. The narrow stance might still inhibit their full potential as skiers, but some very fine skiers have the habit of a narrow stance. Another tricky thing about looking at skiers is the confusion of what the legs look like in a turn. An expert skier in the middle of a turn will aggressively press their legs and knees in the direction of their turn; if you just look at the legs you might think they are pressing their feet together. But a quick look at the feet will show that they are not keeping them pressed together. You can look at this yourself right now: go stand in a doorway, feet spread in a natural walking/running stance. Now lean over and let your hip rest on one side of the doorway, feet staying where they are. If you now press your knees in the same direction your hip is pushed you'll see that your legs are very close together. However your feet have not moved at all. This is why there is often an illusion of a closed stance to some observers. Another thing that can fool you is diverging skis, while we call it parallel skiing many experts will actually ski with their skis at an angle to each other, making a V. When seen from the back the tails of the skis are seen to be close together, however if seen from the front or above you would see the skiers feet are still independent of one another.

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