Your ski posture and stance affect your speed, control and overall technique. Incorrect posture impedes your ability to advance your skills. In some cases, poor posture makes you more susceptible to injury. Despite their importance, the rules of ski posture are confusing. As the ski equipment industry developed new, more efficient skis and boots, instructors modified ski technique and posture. A certified instructor can teach you the alignment methods for modern ski equipment.
Common Posture Mistakes
Even the most subtle alignment mistakes may alter your ski technique. If your skis are parallel with knees rolling inward, this creates what instructors call an "A-frame" alignment, with one ski pole behind the body, which may cause the skier to shift his weight toward the tails of the ski and minimize edge control. Backseat skiers have similar edge control problems. Backseat skiers tend to lock their knees and shift all their weight to their ski tails. Their bodies sense this is incorrect, but they don't know how to make the proper adjustments. Backseat skiers overcompensate by rounding their upper backs and reaching their ski poles way out in front of their body.
Stance
A ski equipment revolution occurred in the 1990s. The shaped ski, with its curvy sidecut, radically changed instructors' theories about skiing posture. The old-time straight skis had no sidecut, so the skiers of yesteryear had to perform dramatic weight shifts for turn initiation. This required a tight, narrow stance. In contrast, shaped skis use the skis' edges for turn initiation. Edging your skis requires space between them, so modern ski technique uses a hip-width or shoulder-width stance. Wider stances create a larger base of support, so instructors often tell novice skiers to use a hip-width stance. Like any rule, however, exceptions exist. Deep-powder skiing uses weight shifting, as opposed to edging, and it uses a slightly narrower stance.
Lower Leg Alignment
Your ski tips are tasked with the responsibility of initiating turns and controlling the direction of your turns. Based on your leg movements, your ski boot communicates directional information to your skis. Keeping your knees flexed and your shins against the boot tongue provides the most effective communication link between your boots and lower legs. If your posture shifts your weight backward, so that your calf presses against the back of the boot, you delegate directional control to your ski tails. They were not designed to do that. Weighting your tails inhibits your ability to carve your turns and control their direction.
Upper Body
The next time you ride the lift, look down at the slopes and note how skiers initiate their turns. Many use their upper body for turn initiation -- a throwback to the straight ski days. All modern skiing movements initiate in the feet and ankles. Your upper body stays facing straight down the hill, with your deep core stabilizing muscles engaged.
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