The basic skills of alpine skiing include balancing, edging, pressure and rotational movements, explains the Professional Ski Instructors Association of America. When a skier initiates a turn, he finds his balance, places his skis on edge and shifts his weight onto the lead ski to add pressure to the carve. The rotational movement that follows steers the ski in the desired direction.
Alpine ski racing training includes exercises that are specific to slalom and downhill racing. The exercises improve your flexibility, conditioning and agility on racing skis. Many programs offer entry-level through advanced tr...
Skiers actually perform a series of linked turns that control the direction of their movements while keeping speed in check. The ideal alpine ski turn requires balance, spatial awareness, skill, coordination, patience, confiden...
Alpine skiing requires great physical conditioning. Skiers need strength, agility and endurance, but they also need tremendous balance, explosive power and anticipatory skills as they careen down the mountain. Great skiers do a...
The backseat is ski instructor lingo for keeping most of your body weight on the tails of your skis. "Get forward," another instructor cue, describes the safest and most efficient alignment for alpine skiing, but the forward po...
Edge, pressure and rotary are the primary movements of alpine skiing, but these skills are impossible without balance, according to the Professional Ski Instructors of America. The ideal downhill ski training programs combine o...
Downhill skiing, also called alpine skiing, is a complex and challenging sport, which requires you to perform unfamiliar movements while maintaining balance, alignment, agility and coordination. Certified ski instructors accel...
Expert alpine skiers boast a cooperative relationship with the forces of gravity. They let gravity pull them down the hill, while subtle ankle and leg movements control the direction of their ski turns. Efficient technique mini...
Determining how alpine or downhill skiing affects the heart rate poses numerous challenges for the exercise scientist. Unlike cross-country skiing, which is continuous, alpine skiers do a run, then spend time on a lift line. Te...
Too short and the kids on the bunny hill may ski circles around you; too long and you might spend more time falling in the snow than skiing on top of it. Rely on a number of factors when choosing the right alpine, or downhill, ...
With each Winter Olympics, no sport offers more excitement than the slalom ski competition. As part of the Alpine discipline, slalom requires quicker, more precise turns than the giant slalom, Super-G or downhill due to the clo...
In sport, not all athletes are created equal, and each athlete brings his own unique mix of skill, athleticism and mental game to the playing field. Competing in the Paralympic Games is no different. Regardless of their physica...
Today, there are an estimated 40 million alpine skiiers worldwide, indicating how quickly this relatively new sport has grown in popularity over just a few decades. Writing at the International Skiing History Association websit...
During the late 1990s, ski gear manufacturers solved this problem by creating the lightweight, flexible, female-specific ski. At first, only a few companies saw the importance of designing a ski for women. Now, just about every...
Alpine skiing takes place at lift-served areas and alpine skis are designed for all types of snow conditions and speeds. Skis are made of materials such as polyurethane foam and plastic. They come in many sizes and styles depen...
O'Rourke's sentiment that skiing "consists of wearing three thousand dollars' worth of clothes and equipment and driving two hundred miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and get drunk." Most alpine, or downhill, ...
Alpine, or downhill, skiing is a sport that is easy to try but requires instruction and practice to master, explains the website KidsHealth. One part of having a successful alpine outing is finding the right size skis. Alpine s...
Alpine skis are designed to accommodate skiing on groomed runs with varied levels of difficulty at lift-served areas, REI.com notes. Beginners need an Alpine ski that is easy to turn and manage, while more advanced skiers use a...
While there are no traditional ski "resorts" in the Pocono Mountains, there are plenty of lodging options within a short drive of Poconos ski areas. Health-conscious skiers will be happy to know that Alpine skiing is a great wa...
Massachusetts secondary schools have a lot to offer students. The state's schools provide a wide selection of team sports, academic coursework, classroom sizes and student clubs. Many schools have details on their websites so y...
For skiers who prefer groomed trails to untrampled powder, alpine skis are likely the best option. These skis are designed to be used on slopes of varying degrees of difficulty, but do better in packed snow, where performance a...
You should tune your alpine skis once per season, or every 12 to 15 skiing sessions, to ensure they continue to perform well. Tuning your skis involves removing nicks and dents from their surfaces, flattening their bottoms and ...
They feature a stiff plastic shell for stability on downhill slopes, as well as a soft inner liner for maximum comfort. Fit is the most important element when it comes to choosing alpine boots, according to "The Complete Idiot'...
When ski length was the only concern, ski selection was an easy process. As the ski design process gained sophistication, manufacturers began offering gender-specific skis, as well as skis suitable for different ability levels ...
Fluid, efficient skiing depends on technique and equipment. Skiers need to choose the best equipment for their skills and terrain preferences, and maintain their equipment by tuning their skis regularly. Tuned skis move in harm...
Most skiers don't know the difference between types of alpine skis. There are five types of alpine skis: universal twin tip skis, park and pipe twin tip skis, backcountry twin tip skis, skiboards and telemark ski widths. Knowin...
If you were one of the 54.7 million alpine skiers who visited the ski areas at American resorts in the winter of 2008-2009, according to the National Ski Areas Association, you probably spent your fair share of time riding on c...
Before jumping into a race course, though, it helps to have a solid foundation of alpine skiing skills. If you were already an accomplished skier before you lost your sight, then you’re halfway there. But even if you wer...
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing as it's often called, is a sport where athletes race down a hill as fast as they can. Each athlete typically gets two runs and the fastest time wins, often by split seconds. The sport originat...