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  "SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT": a skiing web manual
The Final Skiing Skill-pressure management  
by Bill Jones, Ski Instructor
Certified Professional Ski Instructor (Registration #110478), Level III

As often stated, skiing skills include rotating, tipping, and pressuring--all the while maintaining balance so we stay upright. All these elements are blended while we ski, however, and it may not be possible to isolate one or even to rank importance since all are needed. As our skiing skills progress, however, pressure management becomes increasingly important. If we think of the pressure on our skis as the result of how we tilt and rotate, we will note the important effect we can produce depending on how much and at what rate we tilt and rotate. The more progressive our pressure management and the more we get the pressure on the part of the skis where we want it, the more likely we will have a good ride.

Dave McCoy said it better (McCoy is the founder of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in California, a race coach, and father of several Olympians):
"We have several demonstrations, like using pillows and passing them from one to another...or unloading a carload of watermelons. You get a team of men passing one. They don't lift and throw the thing. They get a pushing rhythm where the weight is just carried rapidly along. Each person barely touches the weight of the melon.
"Well, that's the way we translate this to skiing. Skiing is a sensitive touch of the snow. You carry your weight down the hill with a light touch to change its direction, rather than a severe, continuous turning moment. A continuous moment like that tends to slow you down, just as if  you were to catch the melon before throwing it to the next person..." --Skiing Heritage, July-August 2015, page 26. [Slowing down may be a goal at times, and that, too, can be accomplished with pressure management; overdoing slowing, however, takes energy--ed.]

"SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT"--a skiing web manual:   Skiing Web Manual Contents   Why Read this Skiing Web Manual  That First Skiing Lesson  A Little Skiing History  Motion in Skiing  Conventional Skiing Wisdoms  Skier Excuses   fear in Skiing   Conditioning for Skiing  Equipment and Technique  Skiing Equipment  How Skis Work  How to Develop Balance on Skis  A Skiing Turn Simplified  THE FINAL SKIING SKILL: pressure management  Tactics for Terrains and Snow Textures and Racing  Skiing Tips and Tales--a potpourri   Exercises for Developing Skiing Skills  Children and Skiing  Age and Skiing   Gender & Skiing  Culture & Skiing Skiing Ethics and Slope Survival  Slope Safety  Skiing Environment Videos and Apps  Glossary  Acknowledgements SkiMyBest Website Contents  
This "The Final Skiing Skill: pressure management" page last modified January 9, 2022. Did you come here from a link on another website? For latest version of this page, copy to your browser: http://www.SkiMyBest.com/skipressure.htm. Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. William R Jones.