Get Your Skis Apart! - Page 4
By Todd Murchison, February 7, 2001

It's a real challenge as a ski instructor sometimes to present this information to students. I'll say lets play with using a more natural stance on your skis. They say I worked for years to perfect this style and now a young punk like you is going to tell me its wrong! Nobody actually says that but those are the vibes that are put out now and then. I empathize with them because I too spent years learning to ski with my feet locked together, thinking it was the cool way to ski. I will often demonstrate a Stein imitation to the student to impress upon them the fact that we could ski this way if we choose too. But once you've discovered the power of a natural stance on your skis, you'll never want to go back. The harsh fact is, skiing with the feet glued together no longer looks cool to real expert skiers. If fact it looks pretty silly! There are a number of names now for this type of skier: The Ego Skier, so named because it isn't as fun or functional a way of skiing as using a natural stance - but since they think it looks cool it inflates their ego. The Dig Me Skier, they often look up to make sure everybody sees how they are skiing. The Sperm Turner, so named because the way they wiggle their hips to pivot their skis combined with the swishing of the skis looks like what the name implies! The hallmark of these skiers are: desperation to keep their boots pressed together, powerful rotations of the hips and/or upper body to get the skis to pivot, and a skidded rather than carved turn. You don't see the top racers or extreme skiers sashaying around with their feet pressed together!

If you are a victim of the lingering Stein syndrome, don't despair or get indignant. Instead be happy because the keys to a new level of skiing fun and grace are in your reach! It can be one of the easiest changes in your skiing, or the hardest, depending on how ingrained the habit is. All you have to do is make a conscious effort to try and stand on your skis the same way you stand when you are in your tennis shoes. Stand naturally and just trust all of your weight to the inside edge of a ski, you'll turn, then commit all of your weight to the inside edge of the other ski, you'll turn the other way. No contrived body positions necessary, just let your body do the motions it was designed to do. Technology can be wonderful thing, so get out of the 50s and get rockin and rolling on your skis by getting those feet apart!

Todd Murchison is a Ski Instructor and Instructor Trainer. As a former resident of a ski museum he has subjected himself to older ski technology many times, gaining respect in the process for those who had no choice!

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