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by Bill Jones, Ski Instructor CSW # 18: "Turn the new outside ski first." [The "outsideski" is the one that is on the outside of a turn, so a turn to the left would put your right ski on the outside. At the start of a turn this is often the uphill ski, a bit confusing because it had been the inside ski until the end of the last turn. Think of a single-lane curvy road you are driving on; with each turn, the "out-side" of the car switches.] An eyeball survey of alpine skiers reveals that most turn the outside ski first when turning. But some skiers--usually the ones appearing to have the most skill or the ones winning the races--turn the inside ski first. (For terminology, if you are turning to the right, the outside ski is the one on the left and so this is also called a left-footed turn as that foot will receive more pressure as the turn developes.) It seems turning the outside ski first is the most natural movement for people to make, and indeed telemark skiers do just this. But stand (nos skis) crosswise on a moderate slope and then start down the hill. Which foot will start first? Experiments show it is almost always if not always, the new inside foot. So why do skiers do this the other way? Initiating a turn with the outside foot will likely result in two undesirables: 1) the strong impulse started this way cannot be finessed as the turn progresses, potentially resulting in an overturn or complete spin to the uphill side; and 2) somewhere in the turn the position of the skis must be reversed so that at completion the tip of the outside ski which is now downhill will be behind the uphill ski, the desirable positon for reguilating the tipping of the ski for pressure and speed managment, thus causing an unneeded motion. Turn the inside ski first; it will avoid the above two problems and will allow both skis to engage their edges in the snow earlier in the turn, causing the ski to turn you as it was designed to. If in your skiing you have been turning the outside ski first, adapting to turning the inside first will likely be strange and seem wrong. Practice doing it anyway and observing the effect you get. But do this practice on terrain comfortable for you. A thesis to be tested: Are muscles of a leg that is turned to the side of ones body (and thus on the new inside of a turn) stronger than the muscles of a leg that are turned toward the inside of the body? These movements do use different muscle groups--adductors and abductors. Test this on yourself by sitting in a chair with legs extended while someone holds one foot and then the other while you rotate your foot toward your side and toward the other leg. Which direction (toward your side or toward the other leg) feels strongest? For this writer the leg that turns away from the other is stronger and this extra strength could be useful in starting a turn with the new inside ski rather than the new outside ski. This might also be involved in explaining why skiers who turn first with the supposedly weaker new outside leg tend to straighten that leg and so push it away from the body, with the straighter leg thus carrying more of the presssure on the bones rather than with the muscles. Complicating this is that a leg with a bit of a bend at the knee resists lateral deflection more than a straighter leg. An interesting topic beyond the scope of the present, but perhaps is covered in biomehanics lterature.. main CSW contents
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